3 A Drunken Clue

"I'm such an idiot!" I scold myself

"True," Rosie says, asking for no explanation and not giving one herself.

"Are you drunk?" I ask, smirking

"Maybe a li'l," she giggles

"Rosie McCarthy, walk in a straight line, right now!" I stop walking and watch as Rosie confidently walks diagonal to where we were headed.

"Alright, shorty, how much did those guys get you to down?"

"Uh..." she scrunches her eyes in concentration, "A lot. "

I nod, laughing, and take her back home.

"Rose," I say while taking her heels off for her.

"Hm?"

"What would you say if someone told you they kept having dreams of a guy they've never met before, but they think they've fallen in love with him a bit, even if he might not be real?"

I hope her muddled brain can comprehend that.

"I'd say they're a monkey." She says, plonking down on her bed.

"A monkey?" I'm confused. Sometimes, my sister gives these deep analogies and metaphors, so it might be useful. "Why?"

" 'Coz they've gone bananas!" She chortles

Simple enough.

I snort and turn off the lights, heading for the door.

"That's what I told grandma when she told me the same thing: she's a monkey!" She slurs.

I flip the lights back on, "What about grandma? Rose? Rosie?"

But she's knocked out, so I turn the lights out again and head to my own room.

a) I don't wanna sleep. I can't sleep, I mean, I just woke up.

b) I don't wanna meet an angry cute guy who might hit me in the face.

c) I'm hungry

d) I'm thinking of insects because the window's open and they're being loud.

I sigh and pick up my phone. I ring up one of my classmates.

"What's up, Vanessa?"

"Put me to sleep."

"Ugh. You are trash," he sighs, "You owe me, McCarthy."

"Hm,"

"Once upon a time....."

I am in the forest again, but he isn't here. I must've scared him off. I wait for a while, relaxing in the peaceful sleep I have for once, although I'm slowly getting more and more anxious.

Was that it? Did I break the chain that continued the dream? Did I really scare him away? Will I never have these tiring dreams again?

'Hold on,' I sit up, 'I couldn't have scared away a figment of my imagination. Unless,' I feel my hopes rise, 'no, no, he can't be real.'

I lay back down on the grass and look at the sky for the first time. It's a deep shade of black- blue with a smattering of stars littered all over.

For once, I notice how detailed these dreams are: the gentle swishing of the trees and rustling of leaves.

I walk around after a while, this being the longest dream I've had in the past month, meaning hopefully, I'll wake up rested.

The only weird thing about this is that the only creations apart from nature are me and that guy. No birds, no rabbits, nothing.

As I hop over a twig, I think for a moment.

It's the same forest. Which would make this the same dream. Which means only that character is missing. So, how do I summon a character from my dream?

I try picturing him but I can't think clearly. Maybe it's because I'm imagining in an imagination.

I sigh and sit at the edge of a creek, letting my foot swish around in the water that has no temperature in my dream.

"Your face is swollen from oversleeping."

"I'll take that as a compliment," I tell Matt Creevey at college.

He laughs and snaps a picture of me.

"Cut it out." I say morosely, and fake a slap his way.

"Guess no sleep suits you better." We head to our separate classes.

I manage to somehow bag a detention slip by being in between two girls gossiping about Justin Bieber. Not that I dislike the guy, but, he got me into detention, ugh.

(Author's note: no disrespect intended)

Matt is highly amused as I walk into the detention hall. He then enters the hall to ask if the teacher made a mistake and confusedly walks out when the old guy shakes his head.

The professor says we can do homework or read.

Some smart alec decides to ask if we can sleep and the professor says, "knock yourselves out."

So, now I'm watching a full blown brawl in the detention hall and as shown on TV, the prof is in the teacher's lounge.

Oh, what the heck, might as well sleep and see if there's any progress to my dream.

I rest my head on the table and miraculously am still able to fall asleep after oversleeping.

Yup. Still at the forest. No dream boys around. But there is a tree with cherries on it, so I climb up and pick some. They're tasteless, as should have been expected by now, but they make something to do instead of lying around in wait.

No luck.

I wake up just before the bell and the fight has stopped. But that didn't mean the boys with blood on their knuckles and faces didn't get another detention slip.

I head back the long way, intending to not have to walk with Creevey and end up walking with his sister instead.

Shortly, her boyfriend Seth joined us and as promised by her brother, I got front row seats to a classic Allie-Seth breakup- makeup, even though the promise giver wasn't present.

Allie stayed to chat with my sister, probably telling her she saw me walk out of detention. I hope she didn't mention that.

"You got detention?"

Well, so much for that.

"Um, yes." I bite into an apple.

"Why?" She's gone a bit ultrasonic

"Two girls were talking beside me on either side and the professor handed us all detention slips." I say, in between bites. "It wasn't my fault, Rose."

She sighs, still frowning, but takes my apple and cuts it into slices.

"Eat like a lady, please?"

I roll my eyes good naturedly and take the plate.

The bell rings and I forget and offer to open it.

"Hello, Vanessa."

"Hello, Professor Grant." Drat.

"Professor! Welcome. I'm glad vanessa was in for once. She usually can't wait to run off to the Creeveys'." She laughs and pats my back.

"Would you like to be a part of the session today, Vanessa?" Professor Grant asks and, before I can answer, Rosie chimes in with an, "Of course she would." Smiling politely.

So I have no choice but to smile stiffly and say okay.

"Wonderful." They both smile at me.