"10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1! Happy New Year!" As they all looked at the television, the huge metal ball landed on the ground.

Dream laughed, having already stuffed her face with half her body weight in candy and chocolates. "Thanks guys, this was great."

"No problem," Sawyer shrugged, looking around. They had managed to decorate Dream's hospital room with a few balloons and streamers, and brought over a ton of food that night.

"Yea, you were looking kind of glum," Zac said. "We needed to cheer you up."

"Well thanks, this was awesome."

"Hey, now that it's a new year, what do you guys want to do?" Savannah asked.

"How about binge watching a tv show?" Zac suggested.

"Game of Thrones?" Axel said.

"Ew, that's too gory," Savannah made a face. "How about Pretty Little Liars?"

"Do I look like a pretty little girl to you?" Zac glowered at the name of that show.

"Actually, yes," Dream joked.

"Hey," Zac complained, putting a hand on his chest. "That hurt."

"That's revenge for calling me a nerd all the time," Dream retorted.

Zac scowled.

"Riverdale?" Sawyer asked. "I really like that."

"Eh, I don't like Riverdale so much, although Cole Sprouse is lit," Savannah said.

"Hm," Dream thought. "Hey, speaking of Cole Sprouse, how about the Suite Life on Deck?"

"That's literally my entire childhood!" Savannah squealed. "Yes!"

"Sure," Sawyer agreed, while next to him, Axel nodded in approval.

"Suite Life who?" Zac said.

"Don't even deny it. You definitely watched it as a child," Dream teased.

"Okay, maybe I watched like five minutes of one episode."

Dream stared at Zac suspiciously.

"Okay, maybe a couple episodes."

Dream raised her eyebrows.

"Okay yes, I watched the show! Happy now?"

"Yep," Savannah grinned.

They all crowded around the bed, as Dream put the show on the television.

"Look at Ms. Tutweiller," Dream sighed. "She's such a good teacher. I wish I had teachers like that."

"You do," Zac reminded her. "You have many, many teachers besides she-who-shall-not-be-named. Also, Ms. Tutweiller isn't that great of a teacher."

"Huh?"

"Come on, she was so excited for her students to skip class," Zac explained, "Does a good teacher do that?"

"Hush it," Savannah hissed. "Some of us are still trying to watch the show. Besides, that doesn't happen until Season 3 and we're only on Season 1 right now."

"See, Ms. Tutweiller was a showgirl," Zac commented a few episodes later. "That is the mark of a great teacher, that's for sure."

"Would you rather your teacher be a psychopathic murderer and kidnapper, or a showgirl, you choose," Dream bit back.

"You know," Savannah said, "It's getting kind of late."

"Yeah we've been watching these for almost two hours now. We should really get going. Continue some other time?" Axel suggested.

"Sure," Dream yawned. "I'm getting tired myself."

"Okay."

As her friends left, Dream couldn't help but wonder what life had in store for her.

It seemed like in television shows, there's always a good ending. No matter what, the outcome is always positive. Everything is comical and lighthearted.

But was her life like that? Dream found herself unable to answer that question.

---

"Rise and shine!" Dream woke up to a nurse coming into her room. She rubbed her eyes. What time was it?

"It's the start of a new year," the nurse said in a cheerful voice. "And..." she paused for dramatic effect. "You're going to be released from the hospital today!"

"Wow," Dream sarcastically said, "I'm still injured but I'm being released just because it's a holiday? Yay me."

"No, the doctors said you've recovered well enough to leave the hospital," the nurse answered cheerfully.

"Oh." Dream shrugged, wincing because her arms were still slightly sore.

"Well, you just need to check out, and here is your hospital bill..."

Dream stared at the piece of paper the nurse handed her in shock. "Ten thousand dollars?" she shrieked. "Where in hell am I going to get that much money?"

"I think it's a better idea to keep your money in banks instead of hell," the nurse smiled, leaving the room.

Dream huffed angrily.

"Good morning, Dream," her dad entered the hospital room.

"You're in a good mood..." Dream hesitated.

"Yeah, I heard you were being released from the hospital today!"

"Well I have some, er, bad news."

Her dad paused. "Hm?"

"Maybe you should see for yourself..." Dream slowly said, handing her dad the bill. He stared at it for several minutes, his eyes wide.

"Oh..." he put the bill down, pulling at his hair.

"Well?" Dream asked.

"Maybe I can ask Marc for a loan," he sighed, "I really hate to use such a good friend for money like this, but what choice do we have?"

"Ugh this is all my fault," Dream complained. "I never should have tried to sneak out."

"No," her dad shook his head. "I shouldn't have grounded you."

Dream's face lit up. "Wait, does that mean I'm ungrounded?"

"You still need to recover. Your body fell from the tenth story of a building. How you even survived is beyond me."

"Yeah, it's beyond me too. Did you just hear a loud crash, rush downstairs, and find my unconscious body or something?"

Her dad paused, frowning. "Actually we didn't hear anything."

"Wait, then how did--"

"A girl knocked on the door to our apartment and told Ava and I that you had fallen out of your bedroom window and that you were unconscious."

Dream frowned, suspicion growing. "I'm confused. Who is...this girl?"

"I don't know. I felt like I'd seen her before, maybe around a couple times, but I didn't recognize her."

"And...what did this girl say?"

"She said...I forgot exactly, but something along the lines of 'Dream just fell out of her bedroom window and is now unconscious, please come quick.'"

"She knew my name?"

"Yeah." Her dad shrugged. "I was so worried about you that I didn't think much about it, but now that you point it out, it is kind of weird. But she's maybe a classmate or something? She looked like she was about your age."

"What did she look like?"

"Around the same height as Ava, so about five foot six, maybe? Her skin is kind of pale and she has black hair."

Wait. No.

That's impossible!

"How was she dressed? Like really fancy, or casual, or?"

"I didn't pay attention to her clothing! I rushed downstairs and got an ambulance to rush you to the hospital! And she kind of just...disappeared."

Dream picked up her phone, going on Instagram. She didn't follow Francesca or Fatima but she hoped their accounts were public so she could get a picture of them.

It didn't seem like Fatima even had an Instagram account, but Francesca did, and thankfully, it was public.

"Did she look like this?" Dream clicked on the most recent picture Francesca posted. In the picture, Francesca was posing outside an old, seemingly abandoned cabin, and she captioned it, "Vacation fun." Dream frowned. That was odd, but she wasn't going to judge.

"Yes, actually. That's her."

"Dad, that's Mr. Baren, and ah, Mrs. Woods's daughter."

"Really..." her dad frowned in disbelief

"Yeah, but she also saved Zac and I last time we got kidnapped. Also, she saved me and all my friends while we were freezing to death. And, when her brother was trying to kill us with a poisonous snake. And now, after I fell from the window of an apartment on the tenth floor. Come to think of it, she's saved my skin many times."

"Well, tell her thanks for me," her dad said.

"But dad," a thought suddenly entered Dream's mind, "It's impossible for a person to survive a fall from the tenth story. And I'm not even hurt that badly, you'd think I should have been paralyzed or something."

"Well, call it a miracle then. I'm just thankful you're alive and well. And, of course, not suicidal."

"Or maybe it wasn't a miracle," Dream thought aloud.

Oddly, Dream thought something must have prevented her from dying or getting seriously hurt. She didn't remember what happened after she jumped from the window, but she definitely didn't have a parachute and there was definitely nothing under her to cushion the fall.

So how in the world did Dream survive?

---

A/N

Hey everyone, I hoped you enjoyed this chapter! I had a lot of fun writing it (Suite Life On Deck was sooo good, I miss my childhood so much ahahaha).

We have less than 20 chapters left *gasp* so starting next chapter, some big things are going to happen. Big, I tell you.

(Wow I'm so bad at creating dramatic effect)

Anyways, that's it for today! Vote and comment if you want to, and I'll see you next time!!

Next update: Monday

💙, Stella Rose