Dream in the Land of the Elves

I entered and saw a beautiful clearing in front of my eyes, with green grass and some white flowers here and there. Not so far from the entrance was a midnight-blue lake that sparkled in the moonlight. At one of the edges of the lake, just at the other side of where I was, there was a big, flat rock. Half in, half out of the lake.

Behind the lake there was a very deep forest, but it seemed so beutiful and magical
I wanted to go there and see every little detail of it.

I stared at that beautiful scenery with my mouth wide open. It almost seemed as if I was inside some kind of painting, created by the perfect painter.

"Wow." I barely whispered. Why would they prohibit us to stay away from this beautiful place?

I began walking towards the lake, listening to the gentle sound of my feet walking on the soft grass. With my hands still in my pockets I stopped at the lake’s edge, looking at it as if it was the starlight night on earth.

I was really amazed by the beauty of this place. I had this feeling as if I wanted to stay there all my life. I walked to the rock across where I was and climbed on it, sitting comfortably on it’s surface. I bent my knees to my chest and wrapped my arms around them. I guess I have found my favorite place in this school.

I stayed there for what seemed eternity. I looked at my watch and saw that it was almost 1:00 a.m. I needed some rest for the next day so I stood up and started walking to the wall. This peaceful atmosphere made me sleepy, so it wasn’t that bad to go.

When I got out, I made sure to close the wall and hide it behind the vines so nobody would find it. I wanted to keep this a secret for myself. I really didn’t know if anybody else knew about this secret entrance, but if they didn’t, I wanted to keep it to myself. After closing it, I tucked my hands in my pockets again and headed to the dorms.

*****
An annoying alarm woke me up the next day. I had been at the clearing for a long time last night and I really wanted to have more sleep. Besides, school began in like three or four days, why did I have to wake up so early?!

I grunted and turned my body around so I was now facing the wall, but a pair of hands took the covers away from me. I opened my eyes with a lot of effort and turned to see who was the idiot who had woke me up.

"Good morning sleepyhead!" Mac almost shouted in my ear. "Did you sleep well?"

"Ugh." I mumbled and closed my eyes again.

"Come on. We are going shopping today!" she said cheerfully.

"Why?" I snarled angrily.

"Because we need new clothes for the beginning of classes." she said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Oh, right. We obviously need new clothes for the new school year." I said sarcastically, still with my eyes closed. "Besides, it’s still early."

"Early? It’s almos 10 o’clock." she said.

"Exactly." I replied.

"Come on, don’t be lame and go take a bath." she insisted.

"If I go with you, you promise to let me get more sleep tomorrow?" I said annoyed.

"I promise." she said putting a huge smile on her face.

"Ok. I’ll go, just let me take a quick bath." I stood up to grab some clothes. I chose some dark-blue jeans, a skinny, royal-blue t-shirt and my blue converse. I headed for the showers, and when I got there I started stripping myself.

I took a twenty minute bath and slipped into my clothes. I never put on makeup, because I liked more the natural look; also I left my hair air-dry because I had it naturally straight, and I liked it that way. When I got to my room both Mac and Amber were ready to go.

"Oh my God, guys." I said surprised. "You are fast."

Mac laughed and Amber gave a little chuckle. "Come on. Everybody is already waiting for us downstairs." Amber said still with a little smile. Ummm…this girl is strange. First she keeps sending me this death glares and now she acts all friendly. Well, I prefer her to be friendly.

When we got to the first floor of the dorms Irina and Eva were waiting for us.

"Good morning Mina." Irina said smiling.

"Hi." I said, trying to make my tone more friendly than annoyed, but failing miserably.

"Wow." Eva whispered. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah. I’m just a little tired, that’s all." I said.

"Ok guys." Mac said. "We’d better get going because the guys must be a little tired of waiting for us."

"Ok." we said in unison.

We walked to the main entrance of the school and the boys were already there waiting for us. I guess I made everyone wait, but it’s not my fault that I needed more sleep...Well, maybe it is, but who cares right?

"Hi Mina." Jeff said putting a big smile on his face and pulling me into a hug. That put me in a better mood.

"Hey Jeff." I said returning the hug and smiling too. "Hey guys."

"Hey." Declan, Mike and Aidan said in unison.

"So, we’d better go if we want to have a really good shopping afternoon." Irina said.

I followed them to the parking lot, where there was a big jeep parked on the students lots.

"Wow. Whose that?" I asked surprised.

"Oh. That’s Jeff’s." Eva answered. "We need it if we want to go all of us."

“Right.” I muttered.

We all walked towards the Jeep and we almost didn’t fit in it. I guess we really need it. Jeff started the engine and we headed for the mall.

*****
It wasn’t a long trip from the school to the mall. It was like twenty minutes. We arrived and parked the jeep in the parking lot. Everyone stretched their arms and legs, because we had been slightly tight in the jeep, even though it was quite big.

We entered the mall and I was surprised. It was really big, with electric stairs and like three stories or so. I didn’t know how the hell we were going to visit all the stores in only one day. I’m not really a shopping person, I mean, I like to go occasionally, and that’s usually when I need to go. But if you told me to go a whole day shopping. Well, I could really be a pain in the ass sometimes.

"Where do you wanna go first?" Mac asked me excitedly.

"Ummm...I don’t know." I frowned. "Wherever you wanna go."

"Ok." Mike interrupted. "I’ll decide where to go first."

"So…Where are we going?" I asked.

"To Converse!" he said happily.

We went to some more stores like Forever 21, Wet Seal, Hot Topic, Vans, etc. We didn’t go to that many stores, and I had bought some stuff too with the few money I booked for the first days there, but me not being a fan of shopping, was already a bit tired and hungry.

"Guys." I said. No one paid any attention to me. "Guys." I repeated. "Guys!" I practically shouted.

Each one of them turned around to look at me with a bit of irritated stares. Well, at least I got their attention. "Ummm...Would you mind if we stop to eat something?" I said more quietly.

They all relaxed. "Yeah, of course." Declan said.

We went to the fast food area to find a lot of food stands. I saw a McDonald’s, a Kentucky Fried Chicken, some Chinese food, Japanese food. I even saw a stand of tacos. I wonder if they taste the same as in Mexico. Well, it never tastes the same. I decided to eat Japanese food. I really love it, as I love Japan itself.

Everybody went to buy their food, while Aidan and Eva chose a table for us to sit down. After I had paid my food and had it already in a tray, I looked for my friends with my eyes. The place was so crowded I wasn’t able to find them, until I felt a hand grab my arm. I turned around to see the black-haired guy I had lunch with the day before. I guess his name was Gerard.

"Oh. Hi." I said surprised.

"Hey." he said in a bored tone. "Are you alright? You seem kind of lost."

"Right. I was looking for my friends, but I can’t find them anywhere." I said sheepishly.

"Who are you coming with?"

"Probably you don’t know them."

"Try me."

"Okay. I came with Mac Sakuraba, Amber Le-"

"Yeah, I know who they are." he cut me off. "I think I saw them by the Italian food stand."

And where, if may I ask, is that frickin’ stand?!

"You don’t know where it is right?" he guessed. I shook my head no, my face turning red from the embarrassement. He rolled his eyes. "I’ll take you there." He took my tray away from me and carried it himself, nodding his head for me to follow him. I followed him, passing other food stands and dodging people in our way. I was trying not to lose sight of him all along the way. God, this guy walks fast.

We finally got to the Italian food stand, and at a nerby table I saw my friends. Gerard accompanied me to the table, still holding my tray.

"I finally found you guys." I said. "I couldn’t have done it if Gerard hadn’t found me first."

Everybody put disgusted faces when I said Gerard’s name, who appeared at my side a second later. "Hi." he said with that bored tone of his.

Nobody returned the greeting, they just scowled and looked away.

"Gerard!" I heard someone shout. We all turned our heads to see who was the one shouting Gerard’s name. Finally I found the owner of the voice. It was Liam, running towards us with Brianna, Erin and Trevor behind him.

He arrived to where Gerard and I were standing. "Hi." He said with a smile, catching his breath.

"Hi." I said blushing slightly. As usual my friends all looked away, trying to hide their disgusted faces, and failing completely.

A second later Brianna, Erin and Trevor came to where we were.

"Ugh. Why are you with these people, Gerard?" she said rolling her eyes and placing her a hand on her waist.

He looked away with an irritated look. "It’s none of your business." he said coldly.

"Ugh. Whatever." she growled.

"So, what are you doing here?" I asked Liam curiously.

"We just came to do school’s shoppings." he answered. "And what about you."

"Same thing." I frowned.

"You don’t seem too happy."

"Well, it’s not that I hate shopping, but I don’t love it either." I explained. "I just go when I need to."

He laughed. "I know what you mean."

"Limy, can we go now?" Brianna said in a baby tone, clutching Liam’s arm.

He looked annoyed when she did this. "Can you stop calling me that?" he told her, shaking his arm to get her off him. "And please wait a minute ok? We’ve been here for like three or four hours just shopping for you."

She made a frown, getting her arms off Liam’s. Hurt showed in her eyes. I wonder what happended between Brianna and Liam.

"Ummm...Mina." Liam said. "What are you doing tomorrow?" he asked me.

"I don’t have anything planned." I answered. "Why?"

"Well, I was wondering if you’d like to go out with me." he said nervously, blushing slightly. I heard someone growl audibly. I turned my head and saw Jeff sending death glares to Liam. He must hate him very much, to be looking at him that way.

I blushed too. "Yeah. I’d love to." I smiled widely.

He sighted in relief and smiled. "Great! Then I’ll pick you up at your dorm at 7 o’clock, ok?"

"Yeah, that’s great." I said. "See you tomorrow."

"Bye." he said. His friends said good-bye to us, well me, and left.

"What was that?" Irina asked with surprise in her face.

"Uh...I don’t know." I said nervously. "Gerard just helped me find you guys. I didn’t know he came with the other ones."

"No, I was talking about Liam, what was that?"

"Oh." I mumbled. I felt the color and the heat rising to my face. What am I supposed to tell them? "Hey. Liam and I are flirting with each other all the time."...NOT. They’ll be mad at me. I decided to just tell them the truth. I was a very bad lier, and every time I lied I got caught.

"Well, the thing is..." I took a deep breath "I-like-Liam-very-much." I spat, impossibly fast.

"What?" she asked. Everyone was looking at me with confused faces.

"I like Liam very much." I said slower so they could understand me. Jeff glared at me. Why is he looking at me that way?

"Oh." they all whispered. "Well, we can understand that." Mac said. "The only thing we can’t understand is why Liam acts so nervous around you. As if he is scared that you might reject him."

"Yeah." Mike agreed. "I swear I had neer seen him act like that in front of a girl before."

All this just confused me again. And more. Why would he be so nervous around me? I mean, I’m nothing special, nor that beautiful either. I’m just like any other girl, right? I sat down, still thinking about this. The conversation just went to other topics, which I was not paying any attention to.

When we finished eating, we decided to return to the school. We arrived and the guys all said good-bye to us, they all were irish, and we were all international girls. That sounds kind of funny.

Eva and Irina said good-bye too. They said they had to do some family stuff before concentrating full-time in school. So Mac, Amber and me went back to our room.

"So you like him, huh?" Mac asked me with a weird face.

"Umm…yeah, a lot." I said giggling. Thinking of him makes me feel something funny in my stomach.

"I’ve never seen him act so weird in front of a girl before, maybe he likes you too." Amber said with the same face as Mac. I blushed. I could be very shy when it came to talking about the guy I liked. So what I did was blush. All the time.

"We-Well, I've never had a boyfriend before, so I don't really know when someone likes me or not." I stuttered nervously.

"You've never had a boyfriend?!" Mac asked, well, more like yelled, at me. "Are you kidding?"
I put a worried expression on my face. "No." I muttered.

"You're not kidding, right?" she said, a surprised look spreading through her eyes.

"No." I said looking down to the floor. "Is it bad that I haven't had a boyfriend?"

"Well, I wouldn't call it bad, but surprising." Amber said, also with surprise in her face.

"Oh." I whispered. "I was never that interested in having a boyfriend before, so..." I trailed off.

"Don't worry. It's nothing." Amber said reassuringly. "Excuse her reaction." she said nodding at Mac. "She overreacts too much."

I laughed. "Okay."

"Yeah. Sorry 'bout that." Mac said giggling. We all burst out laughing.

Maybe it was surprising that I haven't had a boyfriend yet, but I was fine with that. Besides, I was probably very close to having a boyfriend now. I just had to wait and see how our date went around.