Stuck with Mr. Popular ( COMPLETED)

chapter-13

Sophie Esinberg's POV

"You've made friends here," Dany chirped, catching me off guard. I snapped my head in his direction, noticing the annoyed expression on his face.

"What do you mean?" I asked, genuinely curious.

"That Raymond guy, he's the school badass, isn't he?"

"Oh, Ray. Yeah, he is. But we're just friends, Dany. We don't hang out or anything," I replied. I couldn't understand why I felt the need to explain myself to him. After all, he hadn't been there with me all these years. He probably didn't even know how antisocial my life had been. He wasn't there when I used to sit alone in class or during break time. I had no one back then.

"Well, that's evident," he retorted sarcastically.

"Anyway, there are only two days left until the submission, and I don't think Ray will even think about talking to me after that," I continued, my tone tinged with a hint of sadness. Deep down, I didn't want to lose him. Throughout my high school years, I had been a loner, and finally, I found a friend—or at least I thought so. Why would I want to lose that?

We fell into a heavy silence as Dany drove me home. He had been invited to dinner by my mom, who used to adore him more than me when I was thirteen. I resented him for that. Dany and I were inseparable back then.

Every morning, our dad used to drive us to school. The worst part was that he would always come before I was even awake, and most of the time, he was the one to wake me up.

And when I say the worst part, I truly mean it. He always found peculiar ways to vex me. When we were ten, he once applied makeup to my doll and, while attempting to wake me up, jerked me a little. I shot open my eyes only to find my doll looking like Annabelle. I screamed  my lungs out and nearly jumped six feet in the air, while Dany stood behind me howling with laughter.

But wait, there's more. When we were fourteen, he placed water balloons on my mattress and pushed me aside while I was sleeping. I woke up to find myself soaked in freezing water. It was a nightmare. I caught a cold, and Dany spent the entire day apologizing.

Hah, I actually liked those memories.

My thoughts came to a halt as we pulled up in front of my house.

****

I was enjoying a peaceful sleep, until I felt something tickling my foot in my dream. I pulled my foot closer to my chest and curled up, still half-asleep. The tickling sensation moved to my ear. It felt like someone was lightly tickling me with a feather or crumpled tissue paper. I shrugged and shifted a bit, turning my back to whoever was disturbing my sleep.

Even in dreams, I couldn't get a good amount of rest. What the hell? Sometimes, our actions in dreams mirror what's happening in the real world, right? Like when we have a nightmare, our eyes automatically open with fear, even though it's just a dream.

The same thing happened to me. Unbeknownst to me, I was unconsciously responding to the tickling.

Tickling once again.

I shifted once more, this time deciding to turn towards the corner, just as I did in the dream.

THUD.

"Ouch, ouch, ouch!" I exclaimed as I realized I had fallen on my butt while sleeping. My elbow struck the floor, causing me to groan in pain.

Rubbing my elbow, I looked up to find Daniel Anderson in my room. "Oh, shit. I'm so sorry, Kim," Dany said, holding a crumpled tissue paper in his hand. Wait. So it wasn't just a dream.