Dreams aren't real. No matter how big the nightmare monsters grow. No matter how sharp their many teeth and claws are. Rachel's known since she was eight that what happens in your head at night means nothing. That the moment you open your eyes in the morning—poof—no more monsters and no more terrors. Just the beautiful morning sunlight to wash away all that nonsense.

But Cassie...Cassie's never thought like that. Dreams are important to her, whether that'd be as moments of wonder that'll have her smiling as she shares them with Rachel or dark phases that will drag her mood down for the day.

So, a short "we're fine" assurance won't do anything to snap Cassie out of this funk. But that's okay. There're other ways to do this.

"I said we're fine." Rachel repeats, brushing off the chill at Cassie's earlier words. Her comforting tone strengthens into one that brooks no argument. "And we're going to keep being fine even if we're going to be a little late for class."

Class doesn't matter right now. Most of the teachers in school don't seem to care if you miss a few minutes here and there. But Cassie's the girl to always be on time to class and to avoid disappointing anyone even if she has the best reasons to. So, this should work. This should snap Cassie out of whatever worries she has about those dreams.

Jake, who's grades teeter on the bottom edges of the B's on good days, startles as if the cursed school bell itself just rang out his doom. He glances wide-eyed at Rachel who's already decided to shoo him off if Cassie insists on sitting out here for longer.

Cassie doesn't startle, she doesn't fret about being late. Instead, she shudders before pushing herself away from the wall. And then she looks right at Rachel, the shining in her eyes dimming into resignation, as if marching to class when she feels this horrible from her dreams is just something she's got to do.

"Yeah, you're right, Rachel. Let's get to class."

Rachel's breath catches as she stares at her shorter friend, but then she forces it out. Okay, that didn't work. There's still something wrong with the way Cassie's looking at her, like she isn't sure Rachel is even here. That's not right at all. A stupid dream shouldn't be doing this to Cassie, but it is. Jake meets Rachel's eyes over Cassie's head, and it's clear that his nervousness at being late has been swallowed up by concern. It's also clear that that he doesn't know what to do either, which is frustrating because Rachel can't think of anything else to try; so, what now?

"Hey Freak, wait up!"

There's the thud of a body slamming into another wall of flesh. Rachel turns back to the corner that the three of them had come around. A few feet past the brick wall, a boy hits the ground, his arms are already curling around his blond head as the boy who smashed into him rises far enough up to pull back a fist and start pummeling him.

"Yeah, Andy! Get him!" shouts the other boy who practically prances around the corner.

"You think that you can scratch me! You and your disgusting little fingernails think you can scratch me!"

The boy doesn't respond, just curls up tighter under the barrage.

Which is fine. It makes it a lot easier to yank Andy back without having to worry about him snagging on the boy.

Jake's already snatched the waste of space's other arm and together they haul him up and throw him back. The brat yelps as he stumbles onto his butt.

"Andy," Jake just says in a calm and steady voice. "what are doing?"

Andy jumps to his feet. His face is twisted by a scowl that looks especially ugly under the red lines across his face, but he doesn't come any closer. His friend Tap-Tap steps back even, and Rachel has to resist the urge to smile.

"That little freak scratched me in the face, so I was teaching him a lesson." Andy's eyes flicker from Jake to Rachel. "Oh come on, he attacked me."

"After you kidney punched me on the bus." The voice shakes painfully as the boy behind Rachel pushes himself off up to sitting, but his blue eyes are sharp with anger. "Like you always do, every single day."

Tap-Tap, for once, speaks before Andy. "He's lying. We weren't doing anything to him."

"Yeah," Andy dares to insert. "We were just trying to be his friend, and then he scratched me in the face."

Rachel snorts. "Sure you were."

Andy glares at her. "He's a freak. Everyone knows that, and he scratched me in the face." He states, obviously giving up on dumb lies.

Rachel steps closer, looking down on the bully. "And I'll punch you in the face again if you don't scram."

Andy flinches, quickly backing out of range in case Rachel lunges at him. Tap-Tap looks to him for guidance before backing away as well. But Andy, being the idiot he is, has to throw in one last insult.

"What? Is he another Marconni that you just have to protect with your big, girly muscles?"

Jake moves forward, but the two stooges turn tail and run before he gets close to them. After they've disappeared around the corner, her cousin sighs in frustration.

"What a punch of lowlifes." Rachel, from her position no longer even with Jake, attempts to glare holes in the wall that those cowards ran past. "It's like they can't function if they're not pushing someone around. Well, they can barely function when they are, so I don't know why they even try."

Andy and Tap-Tap have been a pain in the butt since kindergarten when they "accidently" shoved shorter kids then them off the swing sets. It's only gotten worse as they've grown bigger and definitely not smarter.

"Yeah." Jake agrees before looking back at the boy that they had been chasing. The boy who isn't looking at either of them in favor of glaring in humiliation to the side.

It's Tobias. The kid who sits in front of her and doodles during Ms. Hanna's history class. But not in a I'm-not-paying-attention sort of way. Rachel's glimpsed a few of his drawings, half-finished wooden ships with clouds drifting above, and they've always depicted whatever setting's associated with the period that's being covered.

He's skinny underneath that over-sized bargain grey hoodie. It's no wonder that he's being bullied. Tobias couldn't throw a hard enough punch if he wanted to. But he can scratch an idiot in the face.

"So, you got sick of them too, huh?" Rachel grins. When Tobias glances at her, he startles. His gaze sticks to her instead of darting back to the field that he was staring at, and Rachel grins wider.

"They wouldn't leave me alone." He admits hesitantly. He's watching her with trepidation, as if she's about to magically be creeped out that he gave Andy what he deserved.

"Yeah, they do that a lot. Just gotta knock them around a bit until they learn to leave you alone."

"Which is never." Jake grumbles, even though it's never been him that Andy and Tap-Tap tend to target.

Tobias shudders at that fact. "Yeah, just," He scrambles to his feet, only wincing a little at the hits he took. "Not looking forward to that never bit." His eyes dart back and forth between the two cousins before settling on Rachel's forehead. Which, that's okay. He's a little embarrassed by almost getting his butt handed to him in front of a bunch of people.

"Thanks." He mumbles before nearly darting into Cassie. Cassie, who's staring wide-eyed at Tobias who stumbles away from the girl he didn't even notice.

"You. I know you."

Tobias startles again. His shoulders hunching at the incredulous tone and his gaze sticking to Cassie now who just keeps staring back in shock.

"You were there. You were in my dream last night. I know you were."

"Wait, you had a dream too." Tobias blurts out. A blush bursts across his cheeks as he realizes how ridiculous that sounds.

At least, it should sound ridiculous, not as if any chance at normalcy today has fractured apart.