A/N Hi there! How are you? Good. Anyway, I'm starting this because I got a plot and story idea, so please, enjoy!-Piper
     "Felicia," my teacher, Mr. Takanako, said, "Felicia. Felicia!" I popped up my head and looked at him, my glasses slightly sliding down my face.
     "What?" I asked quietly. Everyone was looking at me, slightly giggling. It really made me uncomfortable. I don't want to be looked at, it makes me feel like everyone is judging me and seeing through me, it's just uncomfortable, okay?
     "Would you please read the poem?" Mr. Takanako asked.
     "What poem?" I replied. Everyone chuckled and I sunk lower in my seat.
     "The one on page 346," he answered, "And please, get your head out of the clouds and join us down on earth."
     "Yes, sir," I said. I flipped to that page in my book and began reading. "The hours of light, shortingly bright," my voice shook as I read, along with my hands, "Enlighten the world in the darkest days, bringing hope and pride, filling the hole deep inside, truly reconciling our fates." A sigh of relief escaped my mouth as I finished and my hands stopped trembling.
     "Beautiful, Felicia," Mr. Tatanako complimented, "Now class.." He continued on explaining a deeper meaning to poetry, but my mind wandered away from class and to the whiteboard on the front of the room. It was very dirty, hadn't been cleaned in a long while. Other words were scattered along it, like the date, what we're doing in class, and something new. On the very top corner of the board, there was a small heart. It was drawn in black, but not filled in. On the inside were the initials, RQPT. Below it were two dates, that I couldn't quite make out. It looked like 1985-2015. Somebody had died. But who?
I assumed Mr. Tatanako would know, as it was his whiteboard, but without thinking that the heart had just appeared and had this year on it, I raised my hand. And by the time Mr. Tatanako called on me, it was too late to save anybody's feelings. "Yes, Miss Felicia?" He asked.
I swallowed hard. I really didn't want to ask now that I had realized how bad of an idea this might be, but if I didn't even ask a question, that would be really embarrassing, everybody would probably laugh at me, and I would have to sink deeper into my chair. And I was already near the bottom of it, so there was no going back. "What does the heart on the corner if the whiteboard mean?" I asked. Nobody chuckled as they saw Mr. Tatanako's face turn grim, they just turned to the front of the class and looked at the little heart on the corner of the whiteboard. A boy to my right, who was named Ryan and happened to be one of my closest friends, tapped my arm.
"Wow, you really were dazing of to have seen that," he whispered.
"Yeah," I replied, "And I'm not so sure that I should have seen it. Look at Mr. Tatanako, he looks so crestfallen."
"You're right," he answered back, "Let's hope it doesn't mean much." I looked back at Mr. Tatanako, he still hadn't spoken. A few tears seemed to drip down his face. But, he finally began to speak.
"I suppose you would've found out sooner or later," Mr. Tatanako said, "I might as well tell you now. Yesterday, my wife passed away. She has been ill for months, she had cancer. We both knew it would happen one day, we just didn't know when until yesterday night. I loved her so much, and now she's gone. But we should be happy that she was here, not sad that she's gone."
"Oh," I said quietly, to myself. Just then, luckily to save us from Mr. Tatanako's tears, the final bell rang. Everyone packed up their stuff and headed out in the halls and off to their home rooms. I walked with Ryan, as we had the same home room. "Well, asking that was a bad decision," I said, still shocked by Mr. Tatanako's words.
"Yeah, no kidding," Ryan replied.
"Oh well, as he said, he was probably going to tell us at some point," I said.
"Well, on a less depressing note, how's it going win your crush?" Ryan teased, poking at my arm.
"Oh, shut up," I giggled, "You know nothing would ever happen. I'm way too shy to ask him out, and if he asked me, I don't know what I would even say."
"Which is why you need to break out of your little she'll you've built around yourself!" He exclaimed, twirling inside of our home room, while walking backwards and still facing me. This guy was talented. "Open up and be free!" He set his stuff down on his desk and made his hands into a bird shape and had them fly up.
"One day I will," I laughed, "But not today, not this week, not this month. But one day." I set my stuff down on the desk next to his and walked outside of the room to the lockers that covered the walls right next to the room. He followed me out as his locker was right next to mine.
     "Well, if you don't ask him, I might have to do it for you," he laughed as he pulled his stuff out of his locker.
     "Oh, no," I said, shaking my head fiercely, "Don't do that! That'd be so embarrassing. Promise me you won't do that."
     "I will make no promises," he replied, bowing his head as he sauntered back into home room.
     "Oh no you don't, mister!" I exclaimed, running in after him. People kind of stared as I tackled him down in the back of the classroom, which made me uncomfortable. It felt like their eyes were boring into my back, it's just creepy and an absurd feeling to me, and not in a good way. "Promise me you won't do that," I whispered quickly.
      "What's the rush?" He asked calmly, "Are people staring?"
      "Stop talking about other things and promise me you won't ask him out for me," I replied fiercely.
      "Fine, I won't," he answered, dragging out his sentence as slow as possible. Man, this guy could be real annoying sometimes. I stood up and tried to casually walk over to the desk with my stuff while hiding my face with my backpack in hopes that nobody would look at me. I packed up my stuff and slung my backpack over my shoulder. The bell rang and I began to walk out of the classroom.
     "C'mon, Ryan! Hurry up, my mom expects us home by 2:30," I called out. He ran up behind me and walked with me out of school. Ryan and I walk home together as we live next to each other and we usually hang out after school to do homework and study and such. It's always nice because he, along with my family, is the only person I can really be open and be myself around without curling up into a ball and violently shaking. That once happened to me once during a class presentation, let's just say I fainted later and got a not-so-great grade on it.
     When we got home, my mom was making snacks. "Hi mom," I said, grabbing a carrot.
     "Hi, Felicia, hi Ryan," she smiled, "How was school?"
     "Good," Ryan and I replied in unison.
     "That's good to hear, and Ryan, your mom told me you have to go home a little early to go to a family dinner, she also said you can go as well, Felicia," mom added. Ryan glanced at me and smiled.
      "It's nobody you haven't met," he whispered.
      "Yeah, I've met my classmates, doesn't mean I'm comfortable around them," I said.
      "It'll be good for you, come on, please?" He asked.
      "No, and I have a test to study for anyway," I replied.
      "Fine, none of my grandma's chocolate cream pie for you, then," he said, crossing his arms.
      "Just bring me a slice, please?" I pleaded.
      "Fine, but only because I know you really don't want to go," he said.
      "Thanks," I replied, "You're the best."
      I went to sleep later that night with a bit of remorse. He really wanted me to go, but then again, he always wants me to break out of my shell, but it isn't that easy. It's just not comfortable for me to share my personality, it makes it feel like everything about me is open for everyone to prod and poke at, and I only want people who love me to do that. As I fell asleep, I drifted into another one of my dreams.
A/N tell me how you like it! I'm formatting it so one chapter is a day, and the next is a dream, the dreams will probably be a little shorter or the same length, but we'll see how it goes! Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy this book!-Piper