1 Table of contents Table of contents 2 Prologue 3 Another Day 4 The Dream 12 (Name) 25 2 Prologue If I'd left this state when I had the chance, I would not be in this mess. I had to save the world along with the girl and now I’m in this mess. I should have left. “What's wrong now?” I moaned. “Get ya ass over here and look at this!” Bailey beckoned me. “Get over here,” Damien said. I go over to the window and look out at the field. “Holy shit,” I blurt. “Put the school on lockdown,” I say. All I hear is the screeching and I want it all to stop. 3 Another Day 3 days before The roar of the crowd is better than any drug to me. You can keep your Tylenol, doc. The rush of a touchdown, the adrenaline of a game-winning catch fuming inside me, the spirit of the game - that's heaven right there. It is the last game of the season. If we win we go to the playoffs, if we lose, we lose. Everybody seems to know the importance of this game; even the players themselves appear keen and energetic as they march from the dressing room to the coin toss, the fans rising in celebration. When the referee blows his whistle to indicate the start of the game, every Rockfield Raven fan rises; what follows is a deafening noise as the fans try to show their support to the selected three players on the field. The game starts on a high note as each team is trying to score a touchdown. The importance of this game and its result will have an immense effect on both teams. The feelings and emotions of the players are high as each team tries to secure the needed result from the game. Finally, the offense takes the field with the game at 25 - 19. We are losing, but I will never give up. “Let’s show them whose house this is,” I say, “tailback throw 24 on 1. Break!” As I go on the field I make eye contact with every one of my teammates and get ready for the snap. “Down... set... Hike!” I clutch the ball with my gloved hands and drop back 3 steps, waiting for the right moment. I see the wide receiver coming from my hindsight and toss it to him. Now all I do is run. I do a banana route and go straight. I look up and the ball is coming right for me. I catch it, cradle style, and start running. I juke and spin and hurdle to the touchdown. We kick the field goal and win the game. I love the way the crowd cheers when I make a touchdown. I also love when my teammates pick me up and call my name. We are going to the playoffs. At least we were supposed to. 4 BEEP... BEEP... BEEP As I turn over to cut my alarm clock off I see my brothers, Devon and Bailey, sleeping peacefully in their bed. As usual, I am the only one up. I get up and make my breakfast, which is usually cereal and toast. I turn on the TV and there is a weather warning. “There will be a rainstorm in the week. We learned that it might be acid rain and it will happen unexpectedly. There may be...” I cut off the TV. I go to the football field and practice my throwing and running. When I get back to the dorm, I see Devon and Bailey waking up. “What’s up bro,” I say. “What up,” they say in unison, groggily. “I‘ll see you’ll at school,” I say. “Aight,” they reply. 5 When I get to school, I eat breakfast even though I already had it. An apple, cereal with chocolate milk, and toast with grape jelly. I also buy a purple Gatorade and head to class. In the hallway, people congratulate me as if I saved someone. I see my teammates and go talk to them about the game. After that, the bell rings and I go to my 1st block, which is Gym class. Once I get there, I get dressed like it is any other day. We play basketball and I am breaking a good sweat when the bell rings. I go to my 2nd block now, which is English. When I sit down at my desk, I look out the window. Outside the sky is blue except for a few strands of stratus that trail like airplane trails. Whoever painted the walls in here must have had an imagination bypass, but then isn't that the education system all over? Fill our minds with facts we can google instead of teaching us how to think, question facts, experiment and explore. I could do this myself. I think as I answer the stupid questions in my book. I look up at the wall and see a poster that says “Life May Be Bad, But It Is Not The End Of The World” I shake my head at the quote as if I am saying no to it. I think to myself, I wish it was the end of the world. This is so boring. Finally, the bell rings, which means we get to go to Power Hour. So about the Power Hour thing. You have 2 halves, each one is 30 agonizing minutes long. I have an hour to eat and do anything else you want to do except go off the premises. You can do make-up work, play on your phone, listen to music, play football in the commons (which is pretty much a playground without equipment), hang out in teachers’ classrooms, or go to the gym and sit on the bleachers or play basketball. So yeah, I eat my lunch and most of the time play football. If the commons are closed I go to the gym and play basketball. I love most sports and am good at them but my favorite ones are basketball and football. I love football but not the pads and helmet. They say that all that armor in football just encourages the kids to hit each other harder but most of the time I give the hits, and if I get hit, I deal with it. I don't need to have any other classes after that because I already got all my other credits and English 4 Honors is the last one I need. I just take Spanish and food and nutrition class for 6 fun. The only reason why I go to Gym class is that I love action and I need to get rid of some of the energy I have penned up inside. As I’m walking to the water fountain, I spot Audrey coming down the hall. First of all, let me tell you about this beautiful girl. Of course, I have a crush on her. I mean, who wouldn’t? She has soft brown eyes, brown, curly hair, and long eyelashes. Don't even mention her beautiful smile. She is the most astonishing girl I have ever met... easy to talk to and fun to be around. She is smart, funny, pretty, athletic, and emotionally warm. She was the kind of person who made you proud to be who you are. She never tried to be fake. Okay, back to the present. “Hey Prince,” she says. “Hey,” I say with a small wave. Okay, so not so easy to talk to. I don't know how to talk to this gorgeous girl. I can always say hi but anything beyond that is foreign to me. Me talking to her is like a baby trying to walk right when they come out of the womb. Not a pretty sight. My knees start shaking and I develop a stutter. This stutter is really bad though. Damien says that I should tell her how I feel, but I don't know how to or what would happen if I did. The person who’s not afraid of anything is afraid to talk to a girl. Funny. “How have you been?” I manage to ask her without stuttering. “All right,” she says, flashing that million-dollar smile. “You?” “I-I’m doing good.” “You’re the talk of the school,” she says. “Yeah, I know. I wish I wasn’t though.” “Why?” “Because, if I even mess up a little, I could ruin my reputation. The school’s reputation.” 7 “Oh yeah. That’s true,” she says. There is a moment when I think I should tell her how I feel but that moment passes when my brother, Devon, comes up to me. “I was lookin’ for you,” he says and then sees Audrey. “What you need?” I ask him. “Wait a second. Is this the one you were talking about?” he asks me smiling. “What are you talking about,” I ask him. “Well, you were right when you said she was pr-” I don't let him finish and drag him down the hallway. “I’ll see you tomorrow,” I tell her. “Sure thing,” she says, smiling, which almost makes me trip as I walk away. I go over to Devon, who is smiling goofily. “What was that?” I ask him. “I thought you needed a little push forward. You like her right?” “Yeah.” “You tell her yet?” “Of course not.” “You gonna have to man up” “I know. I know.” “Just had to make sure.“ “What did you wanna talk about.” “That storm that was on the TV, it’s getting worse.” “You wanna go now?” “No, it might die down. Let’s wait a little more.” 8 “Aight. You tell Bailey what’s happening.” “That’s where I was going before I bumped into you.” “Well, see you soon.” “Yeah. You too.” To be honest, I wasn’t even paying attention to him. My mind was still on Audrey. This was the first time I actually had a conversation with her without stuttering a lot. I smile as I walk to the gym. I walk onto the court, thinking about how I can get better. I always want to try to get better. I start by doing layups. Those are pretty easy. Then I go to the free-throw line and shoot from there. Next, I go to the three-pointer line and shoot from there. This is the easiest shot for me. My sweet spot is in the middle. I usually always make it. I am more of a three-pointer guy. My favorite position is point guard but I play as a shooting guard. Then I do something that I made up called Around The Court. Layup, two-pointer, free throw, free throw extended, three-point line. I do this around the court until I end back at the three-pointer. If I miss just one shot, I start back at the beginning. It gets me sweating and my heart pumping. As I am finishing up, I feel someone’s eyes on me. When I turn around, I spot someone in the bleachers. I have no idea if it is a male or a female. 9 “Enjoying the show?” I ask after I finish my Gatorade. The person turns around and I’m surprised to see it’s a girl. I walk up to her and am surprised that I have never seen her before, and I know everybody. She has magenta hair, a narrow jaw, and turquoise eyes. She’s kinda pretty in her own way. “Who are you,” I ask “My name is Aliza.” “What are you doing here. I’ve never seen you before.” “You’ll find out soon enough,” she says “What the hell do you mean,” I say, “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t cuss in front of women. What do you mean?” “I’ll see you soon,” she says, walking out of the gym I see Damien coming into the gym, looking at the girl as she walks out. “Have you seen her before,” I ask “No. Who is she?” “No idea. I’ll find out soon enough. Her words, not mine.” “You want to practice some more. I’ll feed ‘em to you.” “Aight,” I say, still wondering about the mystery girl. We practice for what seems like hours. Each of us take turns feeding the ball to one another. If you ever need anything in life, it’s one true friend. Sure, I have tons of friends. But they’re just my friends because of my status at school. If I stop being number one, then they would all leave without second-guessing. Damien is my one true friend. He would stick with me to the end. I kill someone and he’d be like “are we burning or buryin.” He gives me all the support I need and he’s honest with me. He will tell me if it’s the right or wrong thing. And if I still do the wrong thing, he’ll be right there with me. 10 We finally finish up in the gym and as we’re walking out we see Devon and Bailey coming toward us. “You’re sweatin like a tsunami,” Bailey says “Yeah well, at least we were workin,” Damien says “By any chance, yall see a girl with pink hair?” I ask “No, but if I do, I’ll make sure to tell her your feelings,” Bailey says “This girl isn't the one I like. I’ve never seen her before. She looked like she’s been through a rough time though. I almost cussed her out.” “You, the gentleman,” Devon says “Exactly” “Why do you think she was here,” Damien asks “I don't know. But I hope it’s for nothing serious.” “Let’s forget all that and talk about your crush,” Devon says “Lets not,” I say “Give us the deets,” Bailey says “Fine. I was going to tell her how I felt but my knucklehead brother came and ruined it.” “Oh, my bad,” Devon says “You’ll get her next time” “I don't know. I’m pretty sure she doesn’t like me. Maybe as a friend, but nothing more than that. I don't even know if I should confess or not anymore.” “Well, do or don’t, we’re still here.,” Damien says “Yeah, thanks. Now who wants ice cream from Culver’s,” I ask 11 e Dream 2 Days Before Most of my dreams are a way to express myself. Their full of fun things to do. This dream wasn’t. All i could see was blood. I see death everywhere. Corpses of my friends, my teammates, brothers. When I touch them, their skin is ice cold. Their lifeless eyes froze in fear. I gasp and pull my hand back. One of the heads turns and looks at me. Nothing but dark holes where his eyes should be. I see spiders crawling out of them. “You did this. You could have prevented this from happening” “Wait. What happened.” “Listen to the warnings, the signs” I turn around and see the girl with the magenta hair coming straight at me. Behind her is something I can’t even describe. It wasn’t human. At least not anymore. The skin was rotting and peeling away. I could see bone in some places. Blood gushing out of wounds. It ran right past me but turned around “Wake up!” It screamed, its voice like a fork scraping on a plate. I jolted awake, gasping for breath. I looked over at the clock. It reads 5:00 a.m. 12 “You good in there,” Devon asks “Yeah. just had a nightmare.” “Want to talk about it.” “No,” I said I didn't want to talk about it. Didn’t want to worry them. I don't know what the nightmare meant, but I know it was important. Somehow, I knew it was more than just a dream. I could tell that it meant something. I know I gotta stay alert, more than I usually do. I will also be looking for “the warnings and signs” the corpse was talking about. I just want to know why Aliza was in my dream. Now more than ever I have to talk to her. I have to figure out what all this means. I can’t go back to sleep, so I exercise. Push-ups, pull-ups, sit-ups, squats, weights. I do anything to take my mind off the dream. I can’t shake it though. I start playing NBA 2K17. It is way better than 2K19 and 2K20. The career mode in 2K17 has a better story compared to the career mode in the others. The alarm clock finally beeped and I reached over to turn it off. I turned off the game and got dressed. I finally made up my mind while I was playing the game. The first thing I am going to do when I get to school is find Aliza. I make myself some cereal and head off to school. “See y’all at school,” I say “See ya. Don’t forget to confess,” Devon says “Sure.” 13 When I get to school, I wait by the door looking for Aliza. I am the first one here so I should see her when she gets here. I look around at the trees and the grass and I see how colorful it is. How vibrant and full of life. But I know it won’t stay that way if what I saw in my dream was real. All the death and blood on the ground, making the grass a dark red, felt wrong. It was cold and dark. The rotten stench in the air as I made my way through the corpses on the ground had gotten more and more intense, almost to where I had to gag. All the death that, apparently, I can stop. “Hello,” I come back to the present and see a hand waving in my face. “Oh, sorry about that, I was daydreaming,” I say When the hand move, Audrey is standing in front of me “It’s okay,” she says, smiling “What were you saying,” I ask her “I needed to tell-” I see Aliza walking towards the school “You think you could tell me it at lunchtime. I have something to tell you too,” I say “Yeah sure. Where are you going?” “I need to talk to someone real quick,” “Well, see you at lunchtime.” “Yeah see you.” I turn away and start walking towards Aliza. When I’m a few steps away she sees me. “We need to talk,” I say 14 “Okay sure,” she says stopping “No, in private,” I say, pulling her through the doorway of the auditorium. I feel a slight pinch on my arm. “Don't pinch me,” I say “I didn’t,” she says “Sure,” “Okay, what do you want,” She asks “Why were you in my dream last night.” “I don't know,” she says, smiling “I don’t believe you,” I say “Like I care if you believe me or not.” I sigh. Guess we’ll do it the hard way. “Well whenever you want to talk, come find me,” I say and walk out of the classroom, not turning back. I finally get to Spanish class. “You’re late,” Ms. Mesa says “Sorry, señor. It won’t happen again.” “I’ve heard that before. Grab a seat.” 15 I sit down but I can’t focus. And it’s not because Audrey sits in front of me. Well, maybe part of it is but not all of it. It’s because of the dream. That stupid dream that I can’t get out of my head. I stand up and walk to the pencil sharpener to clear my mind. My legs are wobbly. I close my eyes and the next thing I know I’m on the ground. I open them and see Audrey and Ms. Mesa beside me. “Are you okay,” Audrey asks “Yeah, I’m fine. I’m always fine. I just need to take a nap.” I fell my body shutting down. “Never mind, it’s not a nap. I’m passing out. Well, I guess this is the best time to do it. At least I won’t remember anything. I really like you, Audrey,” I say as I close my eyes. I go into a deep sleep. The last thing I see is Audrey’s face, smiling, which isn’t too bad. I see bits and pieces like frames in a photo. People standing around me like I’m a pot of gold. The teacher calling someone on the phone Devon busts through the door and starts pushing people away. He gets his phone out and starts doing something on it. I’m too dizzy to know what that something is. Bailey, Devon, and Damien carrying me to the Nurses. Yeah, good luck with that. What’s she gonna do? Give me a bandaid and tell me my temperature. 16 The nurse saying something to Devon that I can’t quite understand and Bailey and Damien sitting across from me. “I’m f-f-fine,” I say groggily “No, you’re not. Just go to sleep,” Devon said “I could use a n-nap,” I say and, with that, I pass out. Again. I finally wake up. I sit up groggily. “Take it easy, bro,” Damien says I turn around and see Bailey, Damien, and Devon sitting across from me. “Hey, guys. What the hell happened.” “You were injected with something” “That bi-”, I turn around and see the nurse there. I really don't care if she knows right now. “That big girl must have done it.” “Who?” Devon asks “The one with the pink hair” “Alice or Alika or somethin’.” “Yea, her. Anyways, I’m good to go,” I say, standing up Devon pushes me back down, “Not yet. Bailey, give it to him” I look at Bailey and see he’s holding something out to me. “What is it,” I ask 17 “Audrey told me to give it to you,” Bailey says I unfold the paper and start reading. Something inside of me breaks a tiny bit. Dear Prince, I could tell you liked me. I like you too. Just not the way you like me. I like you as a friend. Or a brother. I hope you find what you’re looking for. Your Friend, Audrey “I want to be alone please,” I say “You sure,” Devon asks “Yeah,” I say When everybody’s out of the room, I read it over and over again. Thinking I missed something. I didn't though. I should have known it was coming. It felt worse than the hardest tackle I’ve ever faced. Something changes in you when the girl you like says she like’s you like a brother. I lie back and go to sleep. Well, my dad always said that you gotta take the punches and live with them. I could hear him saying I told you so. Always expect the worst, son, and you’ll never be disappointed. I wake up again to find Audrey sitting next to me. 18 “What are you doing here,” I ask her “Just came to check on you,” she says “I’m fine.” “You get the note?” “Yeah. I got it. It was very inspirational” “So you understand.” “Of course. I gotta go,” I say, shakily getting up “You should stay in bed.” “I’m fine. I’ll see you around.” “Yeah okay. You sure-” I walk out of the room and close the door before she finishes her sentence. I can’t deal with her right now. I have other important things to do. One of them being Aliza. For now, though, I just wanna do something I’m good at. I dribble the ball and do a post-move score. A basketball court is where I feel most at home other than a football field, and it is the one place on earth I can be where I know what I’m doing and what I’m talking about. I started playing basketball because of my original favorite player, Steph Curry. When I play basketball, I feel great. I don’t worry about school, family, or problems. Or that one girl who just breaks your heart. I think about what’s in front of me, and how I can get the basketball in the hoop. I hear the gym doors open and look back. I see Damien coming in. “You here to tell me it wasn’t meant to be,” I say “No, just here to practice,” he says 19 “Aight,” “But if you want to talk, you know I’m here.” “Yeah. Thanks for being a good friend.” “For life bro. Ride or die.” “Let’s get to work.” I put up the cones and we worked on our dribbling first. Then we drove to the lane and did lay-ups. We worked on our threes. We worked on passing, footwork, shooting, defending, and blocking. We also did suicides. Suicides are where you set up 4 cones an equal distance apart in a straight line. You start at the first cone. You sprint from cone 1 to cone 2 and sprint back to cone 1. Then you sprint from cone 1 to cone 3 and sprint back to cone 1. Then you sprint from cone 1 to cone 4 and sprint back to cone 1. Finally, you sprint from cone 1 to cone 4, cone 4 to cone 2, cone 2 to cone 3, and finally, cone 3 to cone 1. It’s a grueling workout, but it gets you sweating and your heart pumping. It also helps build up your leg muscles so you can be faster on the court. When we finally finish up, Damien goes over and sits on the bleachers. “You remember what coach says, ‘No sittin down, Hands on your head’ that was some sound advice,” I say “Yeah, yeah. I finally get it when he said, ‘You don't always have to be number one. What’s the point of being number one if there aren’t any other numbers.’” He says, mimicking the coach’s voice. “Yeah, he was a good coach,” I say, taking a sip out of my Gatorade “You wanna go to the weight room,” Damien asks “Sure. Just don’t be tryin to lift more than me,” I say, laughing We go through the hardwood doors and I take a look around to see if anyone’s there. Fortunately, it’s just us. The gym and weight room are like my second home. I don't think I will ever forget this place. I won’t forget the wide mirror stretching across the back wall with the mats 20