Chapter one (4)

Dad looked at us like we were insane, which only made us laugh harder. When we finally calmed down. I put my plate in the sink and slung my backpack over my shoulder. Then Gabby and I said goodbye to Dad and to Bram ( who flat out ignored me ), and took off.

As we rode down in the creaky old elevator, Shabby faced me, her eyes wide.

" All right, tell me ," she whispered. " Did it happen again ?"

"You mean the dream? I shivered, remembering it . Grabby was the only person that I told a about nightmare that kept coming back. " Of course."

The elevator's oak-paneled doors slid open and we walk into the lobby . " I wish I could just figure out what it's means." I added as we wave to my doorman. James .and stepped out into the cool October drizzle .

Grabby tapped one finger against her bottom lip, looking thoughtful . Both her parent are psychologists, so grabby.and her little Brother, Carlos, are always overanalyzing everything . " Maybe the nightmare represent your worries ," she mused .

"Worries about what?" I asked. I titled back my head to gaze up at the gargoyles that jutted out from the top.of my apartment building. The hideous, gnarled stones faces dropped with rain . When I was younger, I liked to pretend that my building was actually a big, rambling haunted house , smack in the middle of the Upper West Side .Sometimes I Still likes to imagine it, especially on a gray day like today .

" Student council, " Gabby answered swiftly, opening her umbrella . "You're nervous about today's meeting."

" I don't need a dream to tell me that,"

I sighed , linking arms with Gabby and huddling under her umbrella as we walked north along Central park West . People zipped by us on there way to the subway , sipping code and talking to there cellphones.

"But if you're right," I added , " it's all your fault ."

Back in September, Gabby had declared that we should both sign up for an after-school activity because it would look good in our college application. When I'd reminded Gabby that we.were in the seventh grade -- and that she already took ballet ,and I took an art and drawing class she'd give me one of her Practical Looks and told me to just trust her.

So that was how I'd been strong-armed into joining student council, which meets Monday and Thursday afternoons. So far it's been pretty awful. The one good thing about it is that Gabby and I can use the meetings as catch-up time, because our only period together this semester lunch . And at least today's meeting would be about the upcoming Halloween Dance, which was something I was actually I interesting in. Halloween is my favorite holiday . it's the one one of the year when everyone else is as into dark, spooky stuff as I am .

"I'm sorry, Em" Gabby Saud brightly as we crossed 86th street. "But you can't hide in to your room all the time, avoiding the world and sketching "

why not? I thought sourly as our school, West Side Preparotory , came into view up ahead. Those things sounded way better that any extracurricular activity.

Maybe Gabby didn't get me so well after all.