“It’s okay. It was just a dream,” Jaden said, soothing me.
Her voice calmed me. My friend was sitting with her arms protectively wrapped around me. I took several deep breaths to calm myself before looking around the room. I noticed that Aaron was no longer there and I wondered how I’d gotten into bed. Jaden’s bed looked untouched and she was still wearing her clothes, which was odd since I was fairly certain I’d been asleep for a while.
“Why are you still dressed?” I asked.
Jaden looked startled by the question and it took her a while to answer.
“I stayed up working on my project again,” she said.
It was obvious that she was lying and I saw right through it. I looked at her, trying to find a clue about what she could be hiding from me, but I was too tired to push it.
“When did Aaron leave?” I asked, deciding it was best to change the subject.
“Right after you fell asleep. He picked you up and put you in bed.”
Jaden’s voice was distant, as though she were thinking about something else and not really paying attention to our conversation.
“Go back to sleep, Shay,” she said. “I’ll be right here if you have another dream.”
She moved to her own bed and pulled out a book and a book light. She apparently didn’t see the need to put on her pajamas or get any sleep. This was becoming a very strange pattern for her.
Jaden’s strange mood bothered me. I didn’t know what she was hiding, but it seemed to be bothering her. I was still trying to decide whether or not I should ask her about it when I drifted off to sleep.
When I opened my eyes the next morning, I was surprised to see that Jaden was already awake, despite her late night. She was sitting on her bed reading a book. I briefly wondered if she had gotten any sleep at all or just stayed up all night reading.
As we walked to breakfast, my heart seemed to beat faster with the anticipation of seeing Aaron. My excitement was only slightly dampened by Jaden’s continued distraction and strange mood. I made a mental note to ask her about it later.
“Good morning,” Aaron greeted us, as we sat down at our table.
I noticed that he seemed distracted as well and I wondered what I had missed when I fell asleep the night before. Had I snored? Did I drool on him?
“Good morning,” I replied. “Sorry about falling asleep last night. I guess I haven’t been sleeping very well. I’ve been having weird dreams.”
Surely whatever I’d done couldn’t be bad enough that my blanket apology wouldn’t smooth things over.
“It’s alright,” he said, giving me a reassuring smile that caused my heart to stutter.
I smiled back, confident that Aaron wasn’t upset with me. Perhaps the two of them had argued about something. If so, I wasn’t sure I should get in the middle of it. On the other hand, I didn’t want there to be unnecessary drama.
I turned my attention to Jaden and noticed that she was picking at her food again. Her chin rested on her fist and she stared out the large window that was next to our table. I’d never seen her with such a lack of appetite before. It was starting to become worrying.
“Is everything okay, Jade?” I couldn’t stop myself from asking.
“Huh? Yeah, I’m fine,” she responded.
“You seem a little down. Maybe we need a girls’ night,” I suggested.
Girls’ night was code for manicures, pedicures, and facials in our room. It had always cheered us up in the past, but was something we hadn’t done in a few months.
“I can’t,” Jaden said, too quickly. “I’m going to town after dinner. I’d ask you to come, but…” she paused and glanced at Aaron. “it’s for your birthday, so I don’t think it’s such a good idea for you to be there.”
“You’re doing something for my birthday?” I asked. “You know I don’t really like gifts and I always spend it with Andrew anyway.”
“You only turn eighteen once, Shay. Everyone deserves to have one party.”
“A party?” I groaned. “Jaden I would really rather you didn’t.”
“It’ll be fun,” Aaron said.
I turned to glare at him, but I melted instead. If Aaron thought a party would be fun, I wasn’t about to argue.
“Okay,” I agreed. “So do you want to do something tonight since Jaden is busy?”
“I’m sorry. I can’t I’m really behind on my homework.”
I noticed the way heh looked at Jaden as he spoke. If they wanted to have their secrets about my birthday, I’d let them. I ate the last bit of my breakfast and took all of our trays over to the trash. As I walked back, I noticed Jaden and Aaron talking quietly, just as they had the night before. It didn’t bother me, since I knew they were busy planning my party. It didn’t make sense for them to have any other secrets.
Aaron stood before I could sit back down.
“Are you ready?” he asked me.
I nodded and we walked to Anatomy. We didn’t talk at all during the lecture, but I noticed that Aaron seemed to be paying more attention to me than to Mr. Downey. I did my best to focus on the lecture, but it grew more difficult as the class progressed.
When the bell rang, Aaron surprised me by walking me to my English class, something he’d never done before. We didn’t hold hands, but he walked very near to me, as though he wanted to. As we said goodbye, it seemed to me that he didn’t want to leave my side any more than I wanted him to go.
Although my good mood was diminished by his absence, I walked into class feeling better than I usually did. The class passed slowly and I grew increasingly more anxious. I tapped my foot in anticipation, causing those sitting near me to cast dirty looks my way.
I was up out of my seat the moment the bell
