Have you ever had a dream that you never wished to wake up from?

Well, I just did. I was at this feast table where lots of food was placed before me. It was like tortoise and the "all of you" story. I wanted it all for myself. But then the host asked me to wait for the eggs to get ready. Those damn eggs took forever to get ready. Just as I saw someone coming in with the last tray, I woke up. I fucking woke up. Some people will say it's no big deal. But walking away -or waking up- from food is a very big deal for me. Wait a minute!

I rubbed my eyes and looked again. It was still there. The tray with the scrambled eggs and bread.   I looked around just to be sure I wasn't dreaming. I was sure, if I saw the other plates or even the large chicken, I'll know I was still dreaming. But I didn't see any of those things. Just the tray of bread and egg. I was alone. Who'd prepare those if not myself?

Adrenaline suddenly kicked in and I jumped out of bed. As I ran out of the room, a lot of thoughts were racing in my mind. Who'd dropped the tray in my room? The witch from snow white trying to poison me? No. That's silly. A burglar?

I immediately stopped in my tracks. If there was a burglar in the house, it wouldn't be wise to run towards him. Except this was a horror movie and I wanted to die.

"I was wondering what time you were actually going to wake up." A voice said from the base of the stairs and I screamed and immediately covered my mouth. That was a foolish thing to do. Screaming. What if the burglar decides to kill me now for making a noise.

"Barbara, are you okay?".

It took me a few seconds to realise what was happening. Sleep and fear had joined forces to make me forget the face and voice of my aunt. Now to think of it, why would a burglar ever make scrambled eggs for the occupants of the house?

"I'm sorry. I guess I was still sleepy."

"I guessed so. You've been asleep since I arrived yesterday. I guessed you were very tired." She walked up the stairs.

"Yesterday? I don't feel like I slept for too long."

"Well, you did. I was just preparing tea when I heard your footsteps. I guess you've seen the eggs I kept for you." I nodded. "Good. Go brush and get ready for school." I nodded again and turned back to my room then stopped at the door.

"Aunt Marie," she looked up at me. "Welcome back."

Knowing that I wasn't dreaming and I wasn't being attacked, I peacefully had breakfast. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I kept asking myself if the eggs were the same ones to be served in my dream.

__________________

"I always knew she was a whore." A short, dark haired girl snickered beside me.

Immediately I walked into school today, I knew there was a new gossip spreading around the school. But what? Now, hearing this girl, I suspected it was a girl they were talking about.

"Yeah. She's always been a whore. I hear it runs in their family." Her friend laughed and then her facial expression turned serious. "But the other one. She's not like that."

"Videos don't lie. People change, you know."

What she said reminded me of Aurora and how she became my friend and enemy in the space of one year. I waited to hear more but it turned out they were done talking so I headed to my class.

I held the door to the computer lab and as I pushed it open, a hand covered mine. I traced the hand to the face of the bearer.

"I know, I know. You'd be shocked." Hailey laughed and let go of my hand. "I just wanted to talk to you."

"Okay. What do you want?". I wanted to be nice but I remembered my birthday and what I'd overheard. I couldn't trust them.

"Chill sis." Sis? I wanted to scoff. "I..we haven't seen you in a long time. Mum is going to be away for a few days so we were thinking if you'd like to stay with us for a while. Catch up on old times and fun stuff."

"I'm sorry, I can't." I pushed the door.

"Come on" she pleaded with her eyes.

"I'll think about it." I offered her a fake smile.

"Alright. I'll see you this afternoon." She turned and left. Phew! What do they want from me this time?

Inside the classroom, the rumours began again.

"Has Eric seen it yet?" A boy sitting at the front row asked his friend as I walked past them. His friend just shook his head.

Eric? What concerned Eric and two girls? Did he have sisters? Or was he cheating on Aurora?  I took those unanswered questions to my seat and quietly sat down.

Normally, I wasn't one to listen to gossip but these days, I  don't know if I'm going to be the next to be gossipped so I  have to keep my ears to the ground.

"I guess you've already heard what's happened." Cameron slumped on the empty seat beside me.

I shook my head." Heard what? "

He opened his mouth to talk but sighed instead. When he opened his mouth again, he was interrupted.

"Cam, I need to talk to you." Dory said with tears in her eyes. Had Eric cheated on her? Well, I expected it. Wait a minute! I called her Dory. I wasn't meant to.

"Excuse me." He said to me and stood up to follow her.  What is going on here?

Ten minutes later, he came back.

"What's going on? Did Eric cheat on her?" I asked him immediately after he sat down.

"I'd rather not say." He frowned.

"Oh really? You're going to keep it a secret from me when the whole school knows already? What if he cheats on her? It's not like he's a saint or something. We all knew it will happen soon."

"Can we not talk about this when she's around?" He motioned to Aurora who'd probably come back from the restroom where she'd been crying.

"Alright." I paused for a while. "No. Let me ask you a question. Is it me you like or her?" I don't know why I asked that but he looked at me like I'd asked him what kind of underwear Martians wear.  "Forget it. I know it's her." I said and looked at him. Expecting him to object. Expecting him to say anything. He didn't.

I looked around for any empty seat to move over to. Luckily, I saw redhead sitting all by herself. I picked up my bag and went to sit beside her.

"Hey." I tried to start a conversation.

"You shouldn't be mad at him" she said instead of a simple 'hi'.

"What do you mean?"

She sighed. "He's only being a good friend. I don't think she did it either."

"Did what?" I thought she was being cheated on. Or did she cheat?

"You don't know?" I shook my head, scared that she wasn't going to tell. "Well, there's this video of Amelia and Aurora doing a kind of strip tease for someone whose face didn't show in the video."

"Seriously? She went that far?"

"She doesn't admit to doing any video. Especially not with Aimee." She dug into her bag and brought out her phone. "I don't know how to explain it so I'll just show you."

The video started with Amelia who was already in a blue lacy set of underwear. She seemed to be moving her body to the tune of a song but it didn't match the song in the video. She paused for a while and then Aurora came in to join her. Or so the video showed. Amelia didn't look back or acknowledge Aurora's presence. She just continued dancing while Aurora took off her clothes. When she was down to her underwear, they both took it off together. At this point, Amelia appeared to be smiling while Aurora looked uncertain. It didn't look at all like something they planned to do together. None of them even acknowledged the others presence. They just seemed focused on the person they were stripping for. One thing was certain. The video was edited.

"Who sent the video to you?" I tried my best to sound interested rather than questioning.

"A friend. But if you'd like to know the main source, it's a guy in the football team. Eric says he's mad at him. " she pulled me closer and whispered. "I don't think it's true. I saw them both shaking hands this morning as if nothing happened. And you know, he's very popular too. I heard there's a private Instagram account it's posted on and a few people from other schools have seen it. Everyone feels pity for the boyfriend who's obviously Eric. He's gotten so so popular."

Wow. That was so much information. I almost regret why I hated her at first. I turned back to Aurora who was crying on Cameron's shoulders and almost felt pity for her. But then I remembered the video Eric had made of me. She hadn't believed me. Forgive and forget. That's a very funny phrase. Do people ever forgive and forget. Forgive, yes. But how do you force your brain to forget the painful things people did to you? It's not like there's an amnesic pill you can take to wipe out a particular memory.

"I think you should go back to your seat now." Redhead motioned to the chair beside Cameron which was still empty. I shook my head.

"Nah. I'll sit with you. Cindy."

"Cool. It's nice talking to a girl for a change. "

"You don't talk to girls?" I asked, complete amazed.

"No. I have six brothers and they all have lots of friends. I've been surrounded by boys all my life."

"And how does it feel."

"Nice, if you're the type of girl who enjoys sitting down and listening to names of girls who are on the hot list." She let out a short laugh. "Your name is on the don't list."

I felt bad. I guessed the don't list meant girls who are unworthy of being hit on.

"Hey. I know what your thinking. That's not what it means. The don't list is actually the list of girls they know won't easily fall into their charms. You know, when you didn't try to steal Eric from Rory, you made an unsaid statement. Almost every other girl would have jumped at the opportunity of dating the most popular boy in school.".

" I just hated him, that's all." And it was the truth. I just hated him.

"Barbie." I swear I haven't heard that name in a long time. I looked up to see Aurora standing beside me. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry I doubted you. And I know what the video looks like but trust me, I didn't do it. Not with her anyway."

"So you stripped for him." I said flatly.

She just looked away and sobbed. My hands itched to reach out and hold her but I didn't. I just looked away.

"It isn't right." Cameron said from his seat. "What you're doing isn't right."

"Yes. Go ahead and criticise me." I shot back at him.

"You like him. don't you?" Cindy whispered.

"No I don't." I whispered back.

"Deceive yourself." She stood up. "It seems we won't be learning anything this first period so I'll see you later." She grabbed her bag and walked out, leaving me with Aurora sobbing beside me.

I turned to her. "Crying doesn't change anything." Ouch! That sounded harsh.

"I understand. You don't want to forgive me. I don't even want you to. I deserve this for everything I did to you."

"I'm glad you understand." Another involuntary harsh statement. "I'm sorry. It's just that I can't bring myself to sympathise with you.  I know the video's edited. But it doesn't change the fact that you willingly stripped. I didn't. I was only checking my damn dress for stains and yet you didn't believe me. You chose to cling to your boyfriend. Where's he now?"

"Barbara stop it." Cameron finally stood up. "Now's not the time for revenge."

"Yeah. Now's time to console your soon to be girlfriend." I grabbed my bag. "Good luck."

"Wait!" Aurora called out to me but I wasn't in the mood to listen.  He could hold her all he wanted. It didn't change the fact that.... The fact that what exactly? That I was jealous that he was consoling her? What's wrong with you Barbara.

I walked back into the class.

"You're right. I acted stupidly. I'm sorry. I hope you get over it."

"Thank you." A fat boy replied as if I was referring to him.  I ignored him and walked back to my seat.

There was a neatly folded paper placed on top of the desk. I opened it. Cameron's hand writing.

No, I don't like her the way you think. She's only my friend. Oh,and my shithead of a cousin's girlfriend. No, she's not going to be my new girlfriend. And I must say, or write, I've never seen you this jealous. ;-)

This idiot actually drew a wink emoticon and I was smiling.

"Hmm. I see you're smiling." He looked up at me. "Who sent you a love letter?"

"An idiot." I smiled.

Is the prodigal daughter about to come back home?

I know there's a love triangle but is there anything like a crush triangle?