woke. | II

hady

Sometimes I honestly don't know what I would do without Alex. My life would be so different and I wouldn't be the same person that I am. But at times like these, I want to strangle her. Since being around her makes me so much more straightforward than I naturally am, I tell her.

"Why wait? Now's as good a time as any." I use my sweetest voice and I curl my arm around her neck.

She glances at me slyly from the corner of her eyes, "And I'm the bad influence?" I could feel the vibrations as she spoke and I jerked my arm closer to me so that the last word sounded distorted. I smiled victoriously and let her go.

"Did I ever tell you I love it when you get all... Handsy?" She giggled in a mock-sultry way. In that moment, my phone rang and just like that I was slammed back to reality. 

I don't quite follow. What were you two texting about?

Daniel's text looks so... Proper. Alex would have laughed. 

we can't rmbr I looked up from my text and nudged Alex, "Do you remember anything about last night?"

"Uh," She rolled her eyes skyward as though the answers were there on the ceiling, glaring at her through fluorescent eyes, "I remember trying to get to Dana - like a complete idiot - the way Daniel said worked for him. Then, waking up this mor- wait, my dad said something about..." She trailed off and whipped out her phone.

"Daddy, zuo wan ni gen wo jiang shen me?" We both stood in the corridor, our schoolmates brushing by with a smile here, a nod there but all I could focus on was the phone she held pressed to her ear. "Mei you, wo zhi shi hao qi. Ni na me chi hai mei shui?" The only words I knew were "mei you" which meant "nothing". She tried to teach me, but it's hard to pick up Mandarin. The words are all brass and edges.

"English, please." I said once she hung up.

"He was surprised the eversleep hasn't gotten to me yet. Apparently, I got up to go to the kitchen at around 3 in the morning." She stated before taking a peek at my phone, "That's when I texted you! What were you doing at that time?" 

"I can't remember. I thought I went to bed at 11ish..." 

"Why can't we remember?!" She raged, "This is such bull! How come Daniel can and we're stuck in this freaking state of limbo!?" She didn't say freaking.

You said there were no dreams but maybe you are unable to remember. This selective amnesia seems to be prevalent. Might I suggest keeping a dream journal? Keep it by your bed, write in it every morning once you wake up. It'll help you remember more and forget less.

I showed Alex the text and she grabbed my phone, "Oh, this is too precious!" She gasped whilst laughing like a maniac. "What is he- Who is he texting?" Her laughter slowly developed into full out guffaws, "DOES HE THINK YOU ARE MRS COLLINS?!" She practically collapsed onto the wall and held the phone out to me. I took it wordlessly, but deep down, I was dying to laugh with her. It was contagious, but I kept my composure just to spite her and then sent Daniel a reply.