author's notes: A dream that I had one night and actually remembered the next day. I sat down and wrote it. Some of the dialogue between the characters may be a little hard to follow though my friends understand it. We're really close and so we finish each others sentences and say things at the same time a lot. Anywho. Enjoy.

The beach is really full today. Too many people to count. As I walk down the sand, I can barely see the ocean itself and I'm only a few hundred feet from the edge of the water. Lifeguard stands dot the shoreline and the occupants enjoy the nice tan they're getting. The bright sand is filling my tennis shoes, but I'm too lazy to take them off. I'm not quite sure why I wore my pants and shirt to the beach. To my right, the side without the water, even more people fill grandstands surrounding a game of some sort. I mostly keep my head looking towards my feet so I wasn't sure what they were there for. But they were awfully loud. I start humming to myself. A song was stuck in my head. I start singing out loud. No one was paying attention to me anyhow. Why would they pay attention to some girl taking a stroll down the beach? It's strange, really. There's a strip on the beach were no one is. The people are all close to the water or in the long grandstands to my right. I keep walking, and singing. Something shiny flashes in the water and catches my eye. I continue singing and watching. It looks like a tail. A head pops up out of the water. Like a dolphin, whatever it is keeps splashing up and down, diving in the water. I look down at my shoes again, though still singing to myself. It had not been a good day for me. All of a sudden there's a commotion down by the water. I stop my song, tired, but more mentally than physically, and I lift my head again. I start walking for the commotion, but when I see that several people have moved to surround something, I stopped, not wanting to be near people at this point. Between them I can see something looking at me. A bright tail flashes in the sunlight. A mermaid? No. I scrutinize the face trying to peer at me through the small crowd. A merman. He wants me to come closer. To come and talk to him. A few more people notice the strange being and move towards him. His eyes plead with me, though he is fairly far away, to say something to him, anything. He doesn't exist. He can't be real. I shake my head sadly as I look back at the ground. Sand. Never ending sand. Gleaming in the sunshine. Sand that fills my shoes...

--

"Hey, come on! Don't you want to dance?"

The laser lights of the large gym-ish building flash to the beat of the song, building up the rhythm.

"No way," I shook my head, "I'm not that good."

She shrugged, "If you say so." she frowned as she was pulled away by her boy.

I sat by myself, though there were plenty of people around, watching the dancers. Two platforms hung from the ceiling, one higher than the other, and dancers on them began something that looked suspiciously like it had been choreographed. Three circles of people formed on the gym floor itself. I had thought this was just a senior dance, meant for us young people to enjoy ourselves but I was sudden glad that I hadn't agreed to go and dance. They must have thought all of this up at some point in time. There was no way they would be able to do all of those lifts and turns at the drop of a hat. I saw some of my friends standing by the doors down to my left. However interesting the dance was, I got up to go and talk to them, feeling slightly irked about the choreographing. I thought that they would have at least invited all of the seniors to come to the practice for this thing but no. I rolled my eyes as I stepped down to the floor; the human race was playing favorites again. Kind of like they have a habit of doing when, say, a coach's daughter is on a team. Especially when the coach's daughter isn't any good at what she's doing and yet she gets to be on the court all the time... I shook my head, clearing my mind of those thoughts. Just because the world was unfair...well, why couldn't it ever be unfair in my favor?

"Hey, are you seeing this?" one of the girls I was walking towards asked. Her boy was behind her hugging her middle. It seemed as though I was left out of a lot of things lately. The other couple, in the same position as the first, snickered, but not at me. I turned to see the end of some elaborate dance step.

"Wow. I guess I am sort of glad they didn't ask all of the seniors to participate." I curled my lip.

The rest of them laughed at my funny facial expression. They all think they need a boyfriend, I thought as I chuckled a little myself and looked at the girls. Well. Most of them at least. I know that neither of these two started out in their relationships that way. Neither of them need a boyfriend to justify themselves; their self-esteem is just fine. My philosophy is, if you 'need' a boyfriend, you aren't ready for one.

"Eh, this is kind of boring," the second guy said.

"And yet incredibly entertaining at the same time," I nodded sagely as the dancers executed another lift. "Ow, hey!" A finger poked my ribs.

The guy grinned at me as he put his hand back to his girlfriend's middle.

"Make him stop," I pleaded commandingly at his girlfriend as he poked me again, twice. I started poking him back, and then I tickled her.

"Okay! Okay!" she wriggled, laughing.

"I'm thirsty. Is there anything good with the food stuffs?" I asked, realizing how thirsty I really was.

"The best thing ever," the first girl started,

"Chocolate!" the three of us said at the same time. We busted out laughing as the guys gave us a funny look.

"You guys are really weird," one of them said.

"It takes one to know one!" Me and the first girl said at the same time.

"Great minds think alike," I began, putting on my sage face once again,

"And we do too," the second girl finished.

The three of us laughed again.

"Pet, pet," I patted the air in front of me.

"Ignore, Ignore," the second girl turned her head away.

"Piercing shriek, nasal plug," we pointed our fingers at our noses, "superiority complex," we both said, "My cup," our hands held like a cup, "My favorite cup. He broke my cup," our heads hang in sadness, "I am angry," angry arms, "Running away from home. Bindle," we act like we are holding a bindle over our shoulders.

I doubled over laughing while she did the same.

"Okay, now I'm really thirsty," I stood back up, wiping funny tears from my eyes.

"And I'm hungry," one of the guys piped up.

"You would be," us girls rolled our eyes then laughed again.

We walked out of the gym and towards the food.

--

It didn't take all that long to stuff our faces. I led our little group back into the gym, the two couples behind, enjoy the company and the comedy. The dancers were still dancing. Or maybe it was different people. Anyhow, they were still dancing some choreographed junk. I had to admit I was amazed at how robot-ish they all were; Even the people on the platforms were in step with everyone else. I walked towards the place I had been sitting at earlier. Like before, there was still a mass of empty spaces, enough room for all of us. I put my foot on the stairs and looked up to see someone sitting next to the spot I had been in.

"You!" I said, standing with my foot on the stair, dumbfounded at the person.

"Me," he answered pleasantly.

My heart jumped, or rather quickened for a beat or two. I took the steps two at a time, but realized that it couldn't be him. I passed him, and my seat, and sat up at the top, only a few rows up from him, knowing my friends would join me.

It looked to me as if he sighed because his sides rose and fell like they do when someone sighs. He got up, his dark sandy blonde bangs in his eyes slightly, and sat down next to me. I watched him the whole time.

"You...you're not...you can't be...it's not possible," he looked at me so intently that I stopped. Those eyes were the same eyes that I saw on the beach, peering at me through the legs of the people around him. They were blue eyes, I noticed. But this time, the eyes weren't pleading for talk, for help, escape from the humans around him. He was wearing normal clothes: somewhat baggy, light colored jeans and a long sleeved shirt.

I didn't ask all of the questions floating around in my head. They didn't really matter at all anyway. He wrapped his arm around me, pulling me close to his side. Then he looked up as the rest of my cronies sat down, one couple next to us and the other on the row right beneath us. They didn't say a word; it all seemed perfectly natural to them. They all started talking about something, half-watching the dancers and half-having a conversation. I relaxed into his side and felt extremely safe. He shifted a little to get more comfortable and I could feel the muscles in his arm and shoulder. He was strong. Very strong. And yet his arm rested lightly over my own.

I closed my eyes, shutting out the dancers and their music. I thought I could faintly hear his heartbeat, or maybe it was just the pulse in his arm. He was real. As real as I was. And that was a very good thing.

--

Yeah I know. The whole dancing thing was weird. But I can totally see it happening where I come from. And I didn't alter anything from the dream, this is the dream in its entirety. Amazing itsn't it...I can tell you care...

-Lotsm