Prescient

Chapter 3

My alarm went off at 8:00 am, and I rolled over, slapping at my bedside table, searching for my phone. I didn't have to work today, and after what happened yesterday, that satisfied me nicely. I set my alarm, not because I had somewhere to be, but because I would sleep all day if I didn't. Still, I hit snooze several times and didn't drag myself out of bed until 8:30.

I had been having the most boring dream. Although I know, it wasn't a dream at all. I saw these events as if I were standing there watching them in the same room. Something that had either already happened or that would happen.

Yet, it wasn't the usual doom and gloom premonition dreams I was used to. No presaging disaster. No sadness, terror, or violence. Just the boring everyday chit-chat of a trio of teenagers.

The star of this dream looked familiar to me, yet I couldn't think where I might know her from or where I had seen her before. A girl called Kaylah, who sat around with two of her friends at a little café I'd never been to before, but I knew it was an actual place downtown. If I went looking for it, I would find it and it would look exactly as it did in my dream.

One of Kaylah's friends, Marcy, was mindlessly twirling a stirring stick in her cappuccino, wholly absorbed in her friend's news.

She is the complete opposite of her friend in practically every way. While Kaylah's chest-length hair (naturally brown) is dyed honey blond with copper streaks down the left side only, Marcy dyed her hair pitch black with bleached white streaks. Kaylah wore lip-gloss but no other make-up while Marcy laid the layers on her face thickly.

"I can't believe your folks are letting you have a boy-girl all-night party for your sixteenth," Marcy said to Kaylah, finally throwing away the stirring stick and taking a sip of her drink.

"I know, right. They aren't even going to be there until midnight either. They're going to go to dinner, then a movie and promised to stay out until 12," Kaylah says.

"Wow, that's huge. Your folks are so awesome. They must really trust you to have a party with boys, alone in the house – especially seeing as they are so strict about you not dating."

"Mum's not really that strict about it. She just keeps telling me I should be more focussed on school. It's Michael that's super strict about me not dating, but I think he looks at me like I'm still just a little girl and any guys I might know are just friends. Like I'm too young to even think about being interested in boys like that."

"He's pretty cool, though. Much cooler than my dad."

"Yeah, he's great. Great enough to give in to mum and me bugging him to let me have this party anyway."

"So is Camden going to be there? You have invited him, haven't you?"

"Well, no, I haven't but –"

"You have to invite him, Kay. Don't chicken out."

"Don't be a pain, Marcy," their other friend said, a boy named Tyler. "She doesn't have to if she doesn't want to."

Neither of the girls notices the strange look lurking just beneath the surface of his face. An expression barely there and hidden well. From the outside looking in, it's obvious he is interested in Kaylah more than a friend; his annoyance at the mention of this other boy is a testament to that even if the pink shade his face developed during the discussion isn't enough.

"Ty, I love you but shut the hell up," Marcy says. "Kaylah, you need to invite him. Don't leave it until it's too late and risk him saying no because he already has plans."

"I have plenty of time. The party is a month away still. Besides, he's probably already busy anyway. He probably won't even want to come. Why would he? It's not going to be a full-on rave or anything."