Harper looks at Luna with a funny, scrunched up look on her face, chuckling a bit to herself as she continues walking. I stare at Luna, and she stares at me as we continue around the bend.
Once the park, Tip Town, comes into view, Nora takes off into a sprint, running through the small rocks as she makes a beeline for the slide. Harper follows her, heading toward the monkey bars. She climbs up to sit on top of them and looks around. It seems like she’s sitting on top of the world. Queen of the castle or something.
Queen of Tip Town.
“Stop that,” Luna snaps, pulling on my arm.
I look down at her slender fingers gripping my skin, her nails so deeply embedded in me, my skin turns white. It hurts, but my shock overpowers everything else.
“What?” My eyes narrow at her words.
She drops her fingers. Crescent shaped nail prints are left in my skin. “Stop looking at her like that.”
“Like what?”
“Like you think she’s pretty. You can’t like her.” Her voice is small, sharp, but still soft and melodic.
My eyes blink quickly at her words. I don’t like her.
I don’t like girls. Girls are gross.
“I don’t like her.” My tone is almost angry as I growl the words at her.
She looks hurt, a little angry, too. “I can tell you do. But you can’t, because you’re supposed to be my friend. Not hers.”
My mouth opens like a fish and I grapple at her words.Wait, what?
“You’re my friend. You’re mine.” She kicks a little dust at me, then turns around and speeds off toward the swings.
You’re my friend.
You’re mine.
The words ring in my ears long after the dust settles.
CHAPTER TWO
LUNA
I’m on the top of a cliff. I’m not sure why I’m here, or where I am exactly, but I stand over the cliff and watch the angry waves below me, roaring against the rocks below. They echo all the way up, making the crashing noisy. So noisy I feel like I’m inches from the waves. My toes curl around the side of the cliff. One wrong move and I’d plummet over the side. I take a step back because it feels like I’m too close.
Sand grates against my bare feet. It feels like a different type of sand, a little chalky, dusty. It starts raining sand, and it blows me toward the edge. There’s nothing to grab on to, the wind too strong I can’t even force myself to the ground. I open my mouth to scream, but my mouth fills with sand. I cough and cough against the grainy thickness filling my tongue. The wind and sand push me closer to the edge even as I try my hardest to back away from it. It rains harder, the sand making the visibility impossible.
I reach the edge once again, my bare feet scraping on the sharp corners.
And then I plummet.
I jackknife from my bed, the fall feeling so real, like I was falling in real life. The entire dream felt real, from the cliff, to the sand, to the scrape on my foot.
My foot throbs now, and I grab my foot, feeling along the sole to make sure it’s not bleeding.
It’s not.
I hear the water lull against the beach outside, and I shiver, wanting now more than ever to escape the water. My sheer curtains blow in the wind, and I so desperately want to go climb in between my mom and dad and snuggle with them in their own bed.
Mom says I’m too old to sleep with them, though. And nightmares are something I seem to have frequently.
But I’ve never had a dream like this before.