A swirly cloud of something that looked like fog filled the room and then faded into the night. A young woman lay sleeping in bed, the covers pulled up to her chin. The clock next to her showed "6:59", then quietly flipped to "7:00" and began to beep.
D.J. was asleep, and right in the middle of a very strange dream, when the loud beeping of the alarm woke her up. She blinked her eyes a few times, rolled over, and turned off the alarm. She lay in bed for a moment, remembering what she was supposed to do today. Whatever it was it had to be better than yesterday, she thought, especially since she'd finally gotten her leg casts off. Well, she smiled as she carefully swung her legs off the bed, the past is the past and so are my casts. No more worrying about what happened; time to look toward the future. And what better time than today, she thought -- because today is a brand new day!
And then a voice shouted from downstairs, "You don't want to be late for school, honey! Time to get up!"
"Yeah, yeah, mom," D.J. grumbled and slowly made her way to her bathroom.
An hour later D.J. was parking her beat up little car in the school parking lot. Her spot was close to the library which D.J. liked since she normally ended her day there and her car was only a quick little stroll away. Not like last year, when she'd been assigned a parking spot way over by the football field. That was clear on the other side of campus. Happily, D.J. was now a senior and senior priveleges included the best parking spaces. Unhappily, the space next to her's just happened to have been assigned to Dave Abbler. Not that D.J. hated Dave, not that D.J. despised or feared Dave. It was just that Dave Abbler was one of the most obnoxious people D.J. had ever met. To make matters worse, since transfering to the school a year ago Dave had somehow decided that he and D.J. were the best of friends and there was nothing she could do to convince him otherwise.
As D.J. pulled her backpack out of her car a voice called out to her. "Hey Deej! Glad to see you walking again!" Turning around D.J. saw that it was Lizzie. Lizzie Frucosi. D.J.'s bestest friend. Slinging her backpack behind her, D.J. hurried up to Lizzie and the two headed off to class. But they hadn't gotten past the grassy outer yard before another voice called out her name, a voice that had to shout over the coughing, wheezing, ear-splitting racket of a certified wreck on four wheels. (And it was actually certified, Dave's dad had picked it up at an insurers auction) "HEY! D.J.! LIZZIE! WAIT UP!"
D.J.'s shoulders slumped with despair and Lizzie sighed morosely. It was Dave Abbler.
As his engine grinded to a halt, Dave kicked his door open and waved out at the two girls. If he noticed their looks of less-than-joy he didn't show it. But then that was Dave; he never seemed to realize how he affected the people around him. Long ago D.J. had decided that either he was the most dunce-headed guy in school or else he simply chose to ignore whatever he didn't particularly want to notice. She still wasn't sure which it was though.
A second later D.J. and Lizzie realized that Dave wasn't alone in his car. The side passenger door screamed loudly as it too was shoved open and out stepped Jeremy Sawyer. Jeremy actually was Dave's best friend. And it was a strange pair they made. Dave was a hyperactive guy, some would say even manic. Jeremy on the other hand spent most of his time half-asleep; before class, in class, between class, after class, on the bus bench, in the market check-out line, etc.etc. The weird thing was, for a guy who was never paying attention to anything he always seemed to know what was going on.
Well, the two young men ran up to the two young women and then the four of them marched together into the hallowed halls of Mark Twain Highschool.
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Thu Oct 23 01:55:38 2003
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