Chapter 1: Dancing in the Clouds

Valerie waltzed lithely on the dance floor, beaming at her dashing dance partner. He was gracefully light on his feet, spinning her fantastically as if they were both floating in the air, secluded from the candlelit elegant curtains and glossy grand piano. A romantic song soared through the air and into her ears, dangling rubies swaying in tune with the music. Her stunning crimson silk dress, with glittering swirls in her bodice and diagonal creases in her full skirt, was a paragon of splendor, suited to her amethyst eyes and golden, cascading hair.

“Oh, Brad, what a delightful time your sister’s society ball has turned out to be,” sighed Val into his navy blue velvet jacket.

His perfect smile melted her heart. His emerald eyes twinkled with passionate love he could only feel for her. He brushed his black curls out of his eyes and touched her cheek, already glowing from the intimacy of the moment.

“Valerie, your mere presence spreads delightfulness anywhere you may go, and I can’t live without your every laugh, every smile, every dance.”

Clasping her delicate fingers in his own thick, brave hands, his lips approached hers slowly, gently, lovingly.

“Oh, Brad,” Valerie whispered before she too was caught up in….

“Valerie! Time for school! You’re going to be late,” shrieked a voice entirely unlike Brad’s raspy baritone.

Valerie’s day dream had already finished before it had even begun. She groaned, attempting to hold the details of her fantasy closer to her heart. Alas, her mother brought her feet to the ground from the heavens of the fantasy she treasured.

She loved to live in the clouds, in a world entirely isolated from her own boring daily reality. Her own reality contained no romance and no dazzling heroine to speak of. Instead of a golden-haired beauty with amethyst eyes, she was a short, mousy, shy little thing with brown hair that would never be tamed and even more boring brown eyes which refused to look unique.

Her life wasn’t particularly horrible, she just longed for the romance she read of in books and watched in movies to be a part of reality instead of a distant dream. Since that romance never seemed to happen, Valerie had to content herself with fanciful yearnings and impossible day dreams in different time periods to her own. Although her life was unique since she did travel more than most and loved each and every place she saw (all her fantasies included her favorite vacation destinations), her own daily routine couldn’t have been duller and she longed for adventure, romance, and anything which would change it to something worth looking forward to.

After groggily accepting that reality was back to annoy her once again, she jumped out of bed and threw on the first clothes she saw: a sweater and jeans, another blah combination which she hadn’t bothered with. Why waste time with my unchangeable, disgusting appearance in my reality, Valerie reasoned, when I can be forever beautiful in my dreams? Yawning at the thought of another friend suggesting that romance was possible if she would only try looking pretty in reality to attract one of the mostly worthless boys who attended her school (the ones worth it didn’t know she existed), she threw her books into her backpack and rushed out the door: she was five minutes late, as usual.

“You forgot your breakfast,” screamed Valerie’s mother worriedly, holding an apple in Valerie’s direction.

Hurriedly swallowing the apple, she kissed her mom goodbye. Although she did nag her incessantly, she knew it was only out of love. At least in her reality she did have the love of her family, which she was grateful for every day and loved in return with all her might.

Racing to catch the bus again, she caught up with it by jabbing her boot in the door and smiling sweetly at the bus driver.

“Humph, I won’t stop next time,” she threatened.

“Thank you,” Valerie responded in her twelve-year-old voice, which despite her eighteen years of experience never left her throat.

“When you get to high school, you’ll have to learn more responsibility, you know,” the driver said in a motherly tone.

Sighing at the five millionth time that she had been mistaken for a middle schooler, she said, as politely as she could muster with her wounded pride, “Thank you, but I’m a senior in high school ma’am.”

Gaping in shock, as everyone did when Val revealed her own real age, the driver could think of nothing else to say.

Plopping down next to her loyal friend, Sunny, Val asked if they had any math home work.

“Who can think about work at a time like this?” Sunny gushed

“Ooh, why? Anything interesting finally happen?” exclaimed Val, at the edge of her seat with curiosity.

“Don’t you know? Our lives are about to be changed forever! No longer will they be dull, but fantastically ideal like your day dreams!”

“This day will change the rest of her lives. New guys have arrived and one of them looks exactly like the Brad from your dreams. Maybe today will finally be the day when you get your long awaited romance,” Sunny said serenely, gazing out the window hopefully.

“Who knows? My reality might just become more interesting than my fantasies,” smiled Valerie to herself.