Once Upon a Dream

Chapter Three - Rosalie

Nissa's rusted heap of metal jerked to a stop on the street outside my house, and her speakers boomed loudly all the way across the yard.

"She's a lovely girl, but I could do without that racket every morning," Aunt Fawn said as she leaned out of the screen door and handed me an iced coffee.

I stared at the car from the wooden porch swing. If I got up and got in, I was committing myself to at least eight hours of learning on very little sleep. But then again, if I didn't get in the car, Flora and Fawn would probably murder me.

They didn't play around when it came to school. Apparently it was one of the few things required of me as a human child, and it was the least I could do, according to my aunts.

So instead of soaking up the sun on the porch and lazing the day away, I took a huge slurp of the iced coffee and shuffled my feet forward until I was buckled into the passenger seat of Nissa's death contraption.

"You look like shit," Nissa yelled over the radio. "You have that dream again?"

God, did I really have to have such a big mouth and tell the entire world that my psyche was nocturnally screwed up? The answer was yes. Especially with Nissa. I knew all of her secrets, so it was only fair.

Except Nissa's secrets were things like I'd rather kiss girls than dudes, and I sneak into the skate park after it closes because I'm scared to skate in front of other people. Whereas mine were more like I'm haunted by people and places that don't exist and falling in love with a literal dream boy.

"I'm fine," I lied after a moment under her intense glare.

She shifted the car into drive and it shook violently as she slammed her foot on the accelerator. "Whatever. Don't tell me then."

I held on to the handle above the window and tried to maintain a calm exterior as she weaved in and out of traffic illegally. "Oh, come on, Niss. You know it's not that deep."

She shrugged a shoulder and rolled her eyes. "Like I said. Whatever."

"What's with you today?"

The bare trees of the neighborhood gave way to concrete buildings as she maintained her breakneck speed. "I just have no interest in unpacking your dreams this morning if you aren't going to make me."

I bit my bottom lip out of habit and nodded. "Harsh, but fair."

"It's just, like, your aunts treat you like a princess—given it's the locked-in-a-tower kind—but still. You literally have so few problems in your life, your brain has to make them up. And here I am down one parent and completely ignored by the other, but we never seem to touch on that."

Leaning forward as far as the seat belt would allow, I tried to catch her expression to see if she was joking or serious. "Do you want to touch on that?"

She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. "No," she laughed. "I most definitely don't."

"Then what is it?"

The red brick and slightly greenish glass of Douglas County High came into view, and she sighed at the line of cars leading to the parking lot. "It's just," she paused, taking a moment to steal a glance in my direction, "don't forget some of us have real-world problems while you fall in love with your little dream guy."

"Phillip."

Nissa's eyes widened as she slowly turned her head back in my direction. "Do not name him. My dad used to say when you name things, it makes it harder to let them go. Like strays or lobsters."