“Carmine, we need to talk.” Anna looked more serious than Carmine had seen in a long time.
She and Mia had managed to convince Carmine to meet them in the courtyard after school. Carmine had about twenty minutes before track started, so she reluctantly agreed. She looked across the table at Anna, then glanced suspiciously at Mia. Why were they both looking so worried?
Suddenly, she wasn’t sure that meeting them here like this was a good idea. The way they were looking at her felt more like a trap. Or an intervention. But Carmine hadn’t actually done anything wrong, so why did she feel so uncomfortable? It could be time to start thinking up excuses to get out of here, before it was too late.
“I have track soon.” she started.
“We know – this’ll only take a second.” Mia promised. Slowly, Carmine nodded.
“So what’s up?” she asked cautiously.
“Is everything ok?” Anna asked, full of concern.
“Of course it is.” This was the fourth time she’d been asked this week! Why the sudden interest?
“You don’t look like everything’s ok.” Anna persisted.
“Conner told me that on Tuesday.” Carmine rolled her eyes.
“And what’d you tell him?”
“The same thing I’m telling you – everything’s fine.”
Anna pressed her lips together in a thin line. “Carmine, you look really ill. What’s going on?”
“Nothing.”
“I know you were having problems sleeping earlier this year.” Anna said gently.
“You were?” Mia cut in, raising her eyebrows.
“Yeah – I was. Thanks.” Carmine snapped at Anna. She’d told her friend that in confidence.
Even though she’d been sort of planning on telling her friends about those dreams, this wasn’t really the way she’d pictured it. And the way they were acting, Carmine was starting to think it might not be such a good idea after all. They already thought she was sick – she didn’t want to add delusional too.
“How long have you had problems sleeping?” Mia asked. Carmine was surprised to hear the worry in Mia’s voice. It wasn’t that Carmine thought Mia was uncaring or anything, but she hadn’t expected this level of concern.
“Couple months maybe – Look, it’s no big deal.” she added as Mia’s eyes widened. “Besides, I’m sleeping fine now. I’ve been getting great sleep, actually.”
“Really?” Mia’s eyes narrowed. Anna didn’t look convinced either.
“Yes, really. For almost a month or so. No nightmares, no problems whatsoever. So see?”
“How much sleep?” Anna asked. Carmine didn’t know why, but she couldn’t help feeling it was a test.
“..Maybe ten hours.” she said after some quick addition. It was more like twelve or thirteen, but there was no way Carmine was dumb enough to say that.
Anna glanced at Mia. “Is that normal?” she asked.
Carmine smothered a grin. Of course Anna wouldn’t know – she’d been a vampire for so long there was no way she’d be able to remember what a normal sleep pattern was. Mia, on the other hand, did know.
“No, it’s not.” Mia said, staring directly at Carmine.
“So I’m making up for lost time. What’s the big deal?”
“The big deal,” Mia told her, “is that it’s too much sleep. And if you really were getting that much, you’d look a lot better than you do.”
“Are you saying that I’m lying?” Carmine stiffened.
“We’re not saying that.” Anna cut in. Just like Anna, Carmine thought. Trying to avoid a fight. “We’re just worried, that’s all.”
“Well, don’t be. There’s nothing to worry about – that was over a month ago I was having problems, remember?”
Anna winced, and Carmine knew she was remembering their last conversation on the subject, back when Carmine was so scared she didn’t know what to do. Well, good – maybe Anna should feel a little guilty. At least Carmine had managed to sort this problem out on her own before it got too bad.
“So what happened a month ago?” Mia asked. She looked almost as hurt as Anna. But Mia wasn’t just going to drop it like Carmine had hoped.
“I finally had a good dream.” Carmine told her.
“What kind of dream?”
“The kind where someone took me out of the forest and away from the...nightmare.”
Despite her anger, Carmine held back; she still didn’t want her friends to know it was the Dullahan that had been the cause of her nightmares. She might have wanted to see the looks on their faces when they realized how bad it was, but it wasn’t worth having to actually admit it.
“So who was it?” Mia asked.
“Who was what?” Carmine replied.
“Who took you away? Was it Conner?”
“No.” Carmine rolled her eyes. It figured that her friends would automatically assume she had a crush on the only other single person in their group. “I don’t know who he is exactly – he doesn’t go to this school.”
“Doesn’t?” Mia asked. “What’s that mean? You still have dreams about him?”
“All the time.” Carmine could feel herself blushing.
“Is he cute?” Anna asked suddenly. She had a kind of weird look on her face.
“Yeah.” Carmine said, surprised. Anna was about the last person Carmine would have pegged to ask that kind of question.
“After your dreams – the ones where he’s there – do you feel more tired when you wake up?”
“I don’t know – I never really thought about it.” Carmine admitted. After a minute she added, “Maybe a little. Why?”
Anna shook herself. “Nothing. I’m just trying to understand what’s been going on with you.”
“Just trying to understand the appeal?” Mia asked. She sounded jovial enough, but she was studying Anna as much as Carmine was. Anna blushed.
“I guess...something like that.” she mumbled.
“So what do you and this mystery man do in these dreams?” Mia asked.
Carmine could feel herself turning bright red, but she kept her mouth shut; there was no way she was going to tell her friends about that! Mia started grinning like a maniac, but Anna didn’t seem to find it nearly as funny.
“You should be careful.” Anna told her. “If you’re not feeling better after you wake up, that’s not good.”
“Really, don’t worry about me.” Carmine said defensively. “I might not feel great when I wake up, but I’m more than ok while I’m sleeping – and that’s a huge improvement over how I have been. I’m fine, really.”
Carmine thought her friends would be happy for her. Sure, having a recurring dream about one particular guy she didn’t actually know might be a little weird, but it sure beat dreaming about a Dullahan any day. Anna, however, didn’t seem comforted in the least.
That night, the boy appeared in Carmine’s dream again. He smiled in that gorgeous way of his and Carmine couldn’t help but smile back. Her knees got weak, just like every time before. It was funny, no matter how many times she saw him, she could never get used to the way he looked at her. Still, something in the back of her mind was bothering her. Usually she was more than happy to tune everything out when she was with him. But something was different this time.
The conversation she’d had with her friends kept drifting back to her, no matter how hard she tried to forget it. She couldn’t say why, but something about it kept nagging at her. Maybe it was that look Anna had when she asked if this boy was cute.
If Mia had been the one to ask, Carmine wouldn’t have given it a second thought. Mia and Zev might be casually dating, but that didn’t seem to be a reason for either of them to stop commenting on the looks of various kids at school. But Anna was different.
Anna had been going out with Luke since sometime around the end of freshman year. And in all that time, Anna had never mentioned once that he might be cute – even though he was easily in the top five in their class. Carmine had started to wonder if Anna even noticed things like that. Which is why her question this afternoon was all the weirder. How did she know?
The boy took her hand in his, kissing it as his brilliant blue eyes looked straight into hers. She studied his face for a minute, trying to see what had worried Anna so much. What had she picked up on that Carmine missed? When she didn’t respond to him, he lowered her hand back to the ground.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
“Nothing.” she told him. “I was just thinking about something my friends said about you today.”
“You told them about me?” he asked. Something in his eyes seemed to go cold.
“Well, yeah.” she tried to laugh it off. He didn’t laugh with her. “Anyway, it’s no big deal, I told them I was fine.”
“Of course you are. Why wouldn’t you be?” he asked, his eyes almost resuming their usual cheeriness. But he still seemed a little distant somehow. After a minute, he looked back at her. He gently pulled a stray lock of her hair back behind her ear as he said, “Still, I don’t think you should talk about me with them.”
“Why not?” Carmine asked.
“They won’t understand. People never do.”
People never do? Carmine wanted to ask what that could possibly mean. How could a guy she’d literally dreamed up have any idea what people other than her would or wouldn’t understand? Still, something in his eyes made her not want to ask the question. She’d never felt like she was in danger with him before, but that look on his face made her suddenly reconsider. Instead, she told him, “They’re pretty understanding about the weird things that go on in this town.”
“Still, I think this should be our little secret.” He grinned in that charming way of his and Carmine was agreeing before she knew it.
“Ok.” she told him.
“Good. Now, where were we?”
He resumed kissing her, and Carmine let him. She got caught up in his gaze so easily, she couldn’t bother to think of anything else.
The conversation they’d just been having floated right out of her mind. Even that nagging sensation she had earlier was gone. Whatever had been bothering her was obviously nothing – her friends were just jealous. And with that final thought, she closed her eyes, kissing her boy and paying attention only to him.
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26Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ60Qs6mBs0O
Carmine woke up the next morning, feeling tired as usual. This time, however, there was no accompanying feeling of bliss. For the first time in a month, Carmine wasn’t disappointed that she was awake. She thought back over the night before, wondering what had changed. She remembered everything that happened. That was one thing she’d always been grateful for about those dreams; they were so vivid, so clear that she couldn’t help but remember every detail.
She wandered into the bathroom, reviewing everything that had happened in her mind. It didn’t take her long to remember. She was halfway through brushing her teeth when that conversation slowly started to drift back to her.
She’d talked with that boy a few times, sure. But their conversations usually weren’t that long. Somehow, that always seemed to be the last thing on her mind – there were other things she’d much rather do than talk. But she couldn’t help but feel that last night’s conversation had been especially important. So what had they talked about?
Carmine remembered how she’d mentioned her friends. He’d gotten a really weird look on his face – kind of creepy, actually. And then there was what he actually said to her: people never understand. Did that mean he’d met other people before? Or was it just part of her dream? And since when did dreams have to actually make sense anyway?
But that was the problem – her dreams with that boy always did make sense; she couldn’t just dismiss this so easily. Especially since she couldn’t shake that nagging feeling in the back of her mind that something was off about this whole thing. Then Carmine remembered Anna’s question: do you still feel tired when you wake up?
Carmine stared at her reflection, studying it carefully. She knew she had dark circles under her eyes, sure. But was that really so unusual? Carmine doubted it – especially not in high school. But then she factored in how pale she was, and how thin. Carmine would have guessed she’d lost ten pounds at a glance. Suddenly, for the first time, she could see why her friends had been so worried about her – she looked like death. It was almost enough for Carmine to have her mom take her to the doctor. But Carmine knew it wouldn’t help. Thinking back on last night, she figured there was only one way to stop this. She had to talk to Anna.
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and then Add to home screen.