Chapter 2

The fog and cold of the drafty New England weather met her immediately. She walked to the curb and saw Blaze, her close friend since elementary school and one of the few people who understood her standing there waiting for her. “Finally! I’ve been waiting for about 10 minutes now,” he said, running his hands through his jet-black hair.

“I’m sorry... I barely got any sleep and might have stayed in bed a little longer than usual.”

“When do you get any sleep?” he replied knowingly.

“I know... it seems like I haven't gotten sleep in years. I really hate the insomnia, it makes you think about things.. things you don’t particularly want to think about. And then you think you‘re about to fall asleep and you remember that you have trouble falling asleep and it‘s hopeless after that.”

“I’m so glad I don’t have trouble sleeping,” he said.

“Yeah, you don’t know how lucky you are.” They walked in silence for a while. To Jadis, Blaze was one of those people that you are such good friends with that long periods of silence seem natural instead of awkward. Pretty soon, they reached a large brick building with a sloping green lawn.

“ There it is- Springville High School, home, sweet home.” He let out a derisive snort and said, “Yeah right, more like Hell on Earth.” Blaze held out his arm, stopping Jadis. “Whaddya say we skip today, huh?”

Jadis looked into his dark brown eyes and saw a playful glint in them. “Blaze, you know I can’t afford to miss any more days of school. And even if we skipped, what is there to do in Springville, huh?”
“What we usually do- head to my house while my mom’s at work, listen to music, and talk. Good enough for me.”

“Come on,” I said, pulling his arm and dragging him to the school doors. We waited a minute before opening them.

“And another day of torture begins,” Blaze moaned, then we opened the doors and walked to homeroom.