Avery

"Have you been drinking caffeine before bed again?" My best friend Elisabeth asked as we walked into first period geometry.

"I'm telling you, El, it was so realistic! And I still remember everything about it."

She slipped into her seat in the third row and I sat down in the desk behind her. She turned around in her seat to give me a stern look. "Whatever. Now let's talk about what we're going to do tonight!"

I groaned and gave her my most pleading look. "Please don't do anything too over the top. I just want a quiet night with a few friends. Please."

Elisabeth gave me her "yeah, right" look. I was definitely not the sweet sixteen type, so she had taken it upon herself to come up with something for me. "Come on, you only turn sixteen once!"

Fantastic. "You're planning something." Just then, her boyfriend Drew strode in and plopped into his seat next to her. I turned to him for help. "She's planning something. Tell her to stop planning something."

In response he flashed me a triumphant grin then exchanged a suspicious look with Elisabeth. "She's going to kill us, Ellie-bean."

El shrugged her shoulders and set to work on lasts nights' homework. There was still ten minutes until the bell rang. "She'll thank us later!" She said as she opened a new page in her notebook and copied the work from the boy next to her. He always gave her his work because he was in love with her, and Elisabeth was never the type to waste an opportunity. The poor guy had no chance though. Her and Drew had been going out for over a year, and they were disgustingly in love.

"I'm going to kill you!" I agreed, ignoring Ellie's comment. "Anyway, stop changing the subject. Back to the dead kids."

Drew looked at me like I had three heads. "Umm, dead kids? Should I be concerned?"

"For her sanity, maybe." El chimed in, not even looking up from her notebook.

I elaborated before he thought I was an ax murderer or something. "It was a dream!" He nodded, although he still gave me that weird look. "It was the weirdest thing!" That started me on another rant about my bizarre night.

"Someone's been drinking too much caffeine before bed." Drew said when I was finally finished.

Ellie perked up in her seat. "That's exactly what I said!"

I huffed and crossed my arms over my chest. This dream had been fresh in my mind all morning, but my friends obviously cared more about my coffee consumption than anything else.

The bell rang and I glanced over at Mr. Mayer seated at his desk with the local newspaper. I stopped cold when I saw the headline. "El! Ellie!" I frantically pounded on her back until she turned around. "Look at the newspaper Mr. Mayer is reading!"

She grumbled something unintelligible before turning to face the teacher's desk. She sat ramrod straight as the words sank in. The headline of the newspaper read "Tragic Car Accident Kills Toddler—Mother Devastated".

"Oh. My. God." she turned and looked at me. "You don't think…" Her sentence trailed off.

All I could do was shake my head in disbelief. For the rest of the period, I faintly heard Mr. Mayer's voice as he explained rotational symmetry. It was all I could do to stop my mind from spinning with images of Tommy's face, the way he cried for his mother, those innocent blue eyes.