Dreamer

CHAPTER ONE: RUBY TUESDAY

There’s no time to lose, I heard her say

Catch your dreams before they slip away

Dying all the time,

lose your dreams, and you could lose your mind

Some people want to become doctors. Some want to be mechanics; others want to be models. Then there are also people who want to change the world, and those who want to destroy it… Me? I was never one for dreaming big. It’s possible that when I was a little girl, I too had curiosity in my eyes, fascination in my mind… hope in my heart. Dreams.

If I ever had that, I didn’t remember. And it didn’t even matter. Why should I spend my life chasing after stupid little fantasies? People who set up unrealistic goals are just setting themselves up for disappointment. Because reality never lives up to dreams.

Maybe I was pessimistic, maybe I was realistic, I didn’t care; I didn’t have time for philosophy. If there was any water in that glass, half-full or half-empty, I would drink it. Times were tough.

Yeah, times were tough. That’s how I got driven into doing what I did. Sometimes I wished that things were different, but where was that going to get me? All I could do was move forward and take everything in stride. If I could keep moving forward, I could make a better life for myself. I wanted to be free.

Like I said, I didn’t dream big , but I did have a dream. A dream that could be accomplished.

My dream was to finish high school.

XxXxX

“All right, well, you’ll just have to fill these forms out, show some proof of identity, pay the $25 registration fee… and that’s it. You can work on those now and let me know if you have any questions.”

I looked down at the small stack of papers set down on the table I was seated at. I sighed and peered up at the boy sitting before me. He had introduced himself as Nathaniel. He had nice golden hair and a pair of eyes to match it. He seemed like a real nice guy, but also real strict. Well, I guess that was expected out of the student body president.

I also noticed that he was gorgeous. Downright beautiful, really. But… thoughts like that were going to get me in trouble, so I pushed it quickly out of my head. He wouldn’t be interested in someone like me. Sure, he was super kind, but I knew it had to be out of obligation.

I glanced back down at the sheets, uncapped my pen, and began. It started with general questions: Legal name, date of birth... phone number, street address, postal code, legal guardian. Sure, these may have been general questions for other people, but not for me. I knew my name, and when I was born… and that was basically it. I lived where I worked and my boss was definitely not my legal guardian.

A legal guardian was someone who looked after you, cared for you, and protected you. The people I lived with matched none of the criteria.

Putting the address of my workplace wasn’t the best idea… so, I made one up. When would they ever need to know where I lived, anyway? And schools didn’t usually call often, or for fun, so I decided that putting down my work number couldn’t do much harm. I hoped.

I spent five minutes printing my name in fancy script. Desirée Fontaine. Desirée… it meant desire. I didn’t really have any of those, but I didn’t choose my name. No one really desired to keep me, either. I was always just tossed around… I guessed that name was just one of life’s jokes.