Matthews Dunlop.

I was having the best dream ever. I swear I was, and trust me I would know—I didn't normally have many dreams that made total sense by the time I woke up.

The dream was first about cars, sports cars, and drag racing, and I was to battle one of the badass drag racers of all time. The thrill and exhilaration I'd felt in the dream was so real that when I woke up my heart was still beating fast, and the best part of the drag racing? Elena was there to watch, cheering me the loudest as I went. And in the end, I won. We kissed after I did, in the dream. And next thing I knew, the dream had evolved into our wedding day or something and Elena was dressed in a beautiful wedding dress, running around the room and getting her stuff because she was late. And me, I wasn't even ready yet, still dressed in my drawstring pants and tank top. All of a sudden, she stopped hurrying about, turned toward me, and yelled, "Matthew we're gonna be late for the wedding!"

And that's when I woke up, breathing hard, my face drenched in sweat. My alarm was beeping furiously, a futile effort at waking me up while I was still asleep. The time read 7:00 am. Groggily, I turned off the alarm with a bang on its head, realizing it was because of Elena in the dream that I'd woken up.

And then I realized something. Today was Monday, the twelveth of January. And it was 7:00 am already. What was I missing...?

"Holy shit!" I exclaimed shooting up from my bed at once, all the sleep having cleared from my eyes. It was the start of the new term and I was already so late for school, shit!

I threw off my clothes immediately and jumped into the shower. The water was cold, cold, but I didn't care. I stayed under it briefly, soaping my body as the icy beads of water bounded down on my skin, my body, and by the time it was 7:05 am, I was done already.

I got out immediately, having dried myself, and yanked out baggy pants, a checkered shirt, and my sweater because the weather was cold outside. Slipping them on without even applying any lotion, I grabbed my sneakers and stuck my already sock feet in them. Then I remembered the lotion. Taking some, I splattered it on my face and rubbed it down.

Only then did I pick up my phone from my dresser where I'd left it the night before. Switching it on, I grabbed my backpack and headed out of my room.

I ran downstairs to greet my parents.

"Hi, dad." I gave him a brief mom. "Hey, mom." I gave her a miss on her forehead.

"Hey, buddy, how you doing?" Dad asked, putting down the magazine in his hand.

"About to leave," I told him, already heading out of the kitchen where they were.

"You're not going to have breakfast?" Mom asked, turning in her seat toward me.

"No, mom! I'm late already!" I called getting to the front door.

I didn't wait for a reply as I grabbed the door handle, pulled open the door, and stepped out. Hurriedly, I went down the porch steps and over to my car in the parking lot, covered partly with snow. Wiping the most I could down, I got into the car and turned it on, luckily I'd warmed it for minutes last night. The moment it started, I hit the road.

Ten minutes later, I arrived at school, speedily pulling into the parking lot. But the time I arrived, it was already 7:30.

Way to go, big boy, I thought as I got out of the car and locked up. Being late on the very first day, was pretty dope. I was even lucky to find a space to park my car in the already overcrowded parking lot.

Only when I began walking the school building did I take a break to look at my phone. Just before I got to the door, I decided to stand by the corner and go through my messages.

There were a ton of messages, especially comments under my last post on Instagram. And then I went to my Snapchat. Right there at the very top was a message from "Lee XD" which was what I'd saved Elena's name as.

Tapping it at once, my mind was still not used to thinking of Elena as my girlfriend and therefore spoke a beat every time, I read the message.

Where are you????

It's 7:20, Matt. Where the fuck are you??

7:30 now. Are you even coming? You should've told me you weren't though, I mean we spoke last night and every other night, so you should've at least said something.

"Shiiittt!" I cursed, turning off my phone at once and slipping it into Jean's pocket.

I pushed open the front door at once and walked into the teeming crowd of students, all excited after a few weeks vac and telling their friends who I'm sure didn't give a damn about how they spent it.

"Goddamn," I muttered, already heading to the homeroom where I hoped Elena would be.

My hopes were dashed when I walked in, already panting and she wasn't there. Matter of fact, no one was yet.

Letting out a sigh, I turned around and ran a hand through my gel-free hair. Gel-free because I didn't have time to style it this morning.

Where could she be?

I got out my phone from Jean's pocket again, heading straight to my contacts. I was going to call Elena.

The phone rang for the first time for almost two minutes before it cut. Jeez, was Elena ignoring my calls?

Well, technically, it's your fault if she is, a pesky voice said to me in my head. You should've at least looked at your bloody phone.

"Shut up," I voiced, already thinking of making another call.

"Are you talking to yourself?"

At first, I didn't recognize the voice, but the singsong nature brought a name back to me. Clara.

At once, I turned around to face to face. She was standing before me, clad in skinny jeans and boots, a white cashmere sweater, and an equally white tote bag.

She had no smile on her face like I was familiar with every time she was talking to me. Not that I expected one. Not after standing her up at prom for Elena and deleting her number afterward because I didn't want any external interferences between my and Elena's relationship. As more than best friends.

"What, no?" I chuckled uneasily, running a hand through my hair again.

"I'm pretty sure you said "shut up" to yourself because there's no one else here but you and me," Clara said.

"Alright fine," I sighed. "Yeah, I was talking to myself. I just voiced a thought. Is there a problem though? They're my thoughts after all."

"There's no problem." Clara shrugged. "Which is why I don't know why you were denying it at first."

"I guess I shouldn't have." I shrugged too.

"I guess you shouldn't have," Clara echoed.

Seconds later, we fell into an awkward, extremely awkward silence. Matter of fact, it was one of the most awkward silences I'd ever been in in my entire life. Look at me thinking the silence between me and Elena after we first kissed was so very awkward.

"So," she began, letting out a breath and crossing her arms. I noticed she'd shifted her weight to her right foot, tapping her left slightly against the tile floor of the hallway.

"You're just like every other boy huh. And here I was thinking you were different. Maybe you were worth it. Worth my time."

I played dumb, raking a hand through my hair once more to get it out of my face. "I don't know what you mean."

"Oh, you very well know what the fuck I'm saying, Matt, so don't act dumb with me." Clara snapped.

I was budging. "I don't know what you're talking about, Clara."

"You used me!" She exclaimed then, gaining the attention of a few passersby.

"No, I didn't." I frowned.

"Hell, yes, you did. You used me, stood me up, let me then, and then decided to forget everything you ever knew about me."

This time I remained silent as she rambled on.

"You should've told me that you didn't want to be anything more than friends right from the start."

"I think I made it pretty clear," I told her.

"No, you fucking didn't asshole. Two hours on a call doesn't show you don't want to be anything more than friends. It sends off another meaning and if you'd had any brains, you'd have realized that!"

Jeez, I thought Clara was the nice one. Ouch.

A thought came to me then from that pesky little voice. Heaven hath no fury than a woman scorned.

But I didn't scorn anybody, I retorted in my mind.

"And then you went on to leave me hanging on the very prom day!" her voice brought me back. "On the very day, not a day before, not two days before, on the bloody day itself. How would you feel if Elena did that to you?"

I know, I shouldn't have done what I did.

"Things happened so fast, Clara." I tried to clarify myself.

Ignoring me, she went on. "And then as if that wasn't enough, you deleted my number.

"I did not!" I lied involuntarily. It'd come so quickly that I'd been unable to stop the words.

"Oh for God's sake shut up!" Clara retorted, a deep frown contorting her facial features. "Stop acting dumb already."

She had no right to yell at me that way because technically and literally and from my perspective, we were nothing more than just friends. And I could delete her number if I wanted to because my mom got me the phone I was using and not her.

"You used me," she went on. "I can believe I thought you'd be any different. You chose someone like Elena over me."

"Don't talk about Elena," I cut in. "Don't say a word about her."

"Or what?" She narrowed her eyes at me, stepping up close. "What will you do?"

"If you're looking for someone to pick them, go find someone else, there are a ton of them, but do not say one more thing about Elena or us before I lose my shit."

"What will you—" she began when I interrupted her.

"You what?" I stepped back from her. "Fuck this." And then I turned around and began walking away.

"Yeah, that's right!" She yelled after me. "Scurry back to your albino piece of shit!"

It took all my might and willpower to not stop, turn and walk back to Clara and say the most hurtful things I ever said to anyone, but I overcame the urge and kept with my unfazed stride.

I took a turn right and the moment I didn't, I straight up collided with someone. Luckily I was taller so no heads were knocking together.

"Elena," I breathed, grabbing onto her wrist.

She yanked it out of mine immediately, punching my arm as she said, "Where have you been all morning and why didn't you call me?"

"I woke up late and I didn't have time to call," I tried to explain but she wouldn't let me.

She turned away from me and began walking away. "Yeah right."

"I'm serious!" I called, going after her

"I not having it Matthew," she said, taking a turn into a more lonely part of the corridors.

"I woke up late because I was having a dream about you, Elena," I said sincerely.

At my words, she stopped and looked at me. "You better not be bullshitting me."

"I'm not," I replied. "I'm serious."

Her lips curled into a smirk. "What was it about?"

"Well," I began when she stopped me.

"Wait," she said. "First things first."

And then she walked up to me, grabbed my collars, and pulled me down into a kiss, one I welcomed ever so quickly.

I think we have found ourselves a new villain.