Whenever...

And so Rebecca continued to irritate those of us who weren't falling head over heels in love with her; in other words, She annoyed the shit out of the whole school, with the exception of Scott.
But being her irritating self was obviously not enough. She would often practically jump at any chance to bully, mock or embarrass me. She told lies, she spread rumours and attempted to sabotage most of my work. She would do anything to get me to break down and cry, but thankfully, with Stacey and her tough/stubborn support, I never did. I never gave her the satisfaction she wanted.
The hardest thing however, was knowing that Scott, as caring as he once was, now longer gave a damn.
This naturally brought me and Stacey even closer together. We spent every day and many sleepovers helping each other with maths, english, music assignments, our lines and dances for the show, etc. But the thing we enjoyed most was planning Rebecca's downfall.

Oh we had no idea what to do, or how we were going to do it, but it was just fun imagining the shock and hurt on her face.
Yes we are very cruel, evil people.

However, with spending so much quality time together, Stacey began to notice the dark circles underneath my eyes and I could see it really bothered her.. I knew she was on to me and I was running out of excuses use.
And believe me, when Stacey is curious about something, she doesn't back off until she gets the FULL story.

"Look Helen" she began, unsure of how to start the topic, "we've been friends since kindy so it's kinda natural that I should be worried about you from time to time,"
"Yeah," I nodded slowly, knowing exactly what she was getting at.
"I just want to know why you're not sleeping these days"

I HAD thought about telling Stacey, really , I had it's just that I hardly understood the meaning of it myself, so I couldn't exactly expect her to, could i?
It wasn't that I didn't trust her, cuz I do, I trust her with my life. It's just I was really apprehensive of how she might react.

"well..." I began slowly
Stacey moved into a more comfortable position as if she knew this was going to be a long story.
"Ever since the night before Scott dumped me, I've been having these dreams."
I paused, so as to allow her a space for an opinion. But instead of stating one, she just nodded for me to continue.
"Well they keep recurring, lately it's been happening every night, It's basically all I've been dream about over the last 6 months."
"What are these dreams about exactly?" She questioned, curious.
"Well.." I twiddled my thumbs, nervously.
"I'm usually running down this hall way and then I see Scott, so I call out to him, only he doesn't hear me. I follow him cuz I know something's wrong. Then the roof caves in but it only crushes him so I end up using my hands to clear away the rubble to try and find him. Only I never do." I ended with a sigh of relief.
It felt so good to finally tell someone about these dreams. Whether Stacey thought I was mental or just immature, I couldn't tell, but I was sure she'd help me out one way or another.
"So you've been having these dreams more frequently lately?"
"Yeah," I confirmed, "every single night now"
"Hmmmmmm" Stacey began to think. She always thought of good solutions, so I had no doubt she'd find one to this 'problem'
"Sometimes recurring dreams happen for a reason" she said suddenly.

What could this mean? I wondered.. That Scott was gunna die? That I'd lose him forever?
But before I had a chance to press her with more info, she had to leave.
"I'll see you tomorrow!!" I said, dissapointed
"Bye!" She called back

And that was how Stacey found out.

I did indeed have the same dream again last night, and just like every other time, I woke up out of breath and terrified. However, instead of attempting to fall back to sleep again- which i know would never happen- I began to think. I thought about why Rebecca was targeting me all the time. The immediate answer WAS obvious, I'd known it from the start: She wanted Scott. But was that all she wanted? I mean She has what she came for doesn't she? I'm not longer a threat. So ...?

Then It dawned on me why the stupid behaviour was still continuing, getting worse each time.

..She thinks it's just a game... She thinks hurting people physically and emotionally is just a game!!!!!!!

The discovery left me shocked, but I recovered quickly. Billions of flames of anger began flaring inside me. As morning arrived, I struggled to calm myself down, but failed. The urge to slap her at the morning rehearsal was almost too overwhelming to bear.
She has no right to do that to me!!! Or anyone!!

****************************************************************************************************

In music, Stacey slithered next to me with a guilty look on her face.
"Hey" She whispered, breathless. "What've I missed?"
"Nothing much," I answered back, "Why are you late? where have you been anyway?"
"Whoa!" she laughed nervously, "What's with the question overload?"
"Nothing..." I replied, "Its just not like you to be late, that's all"
"ok ok," she held her hands up in defeat. "I've been doing some research in the library."
"What sorta research?" I asked, interested.
"Research about your recurring dreams" she answered, lowering her voice so no one would hear.
It had never occured to me to go find out about the meaning of the dreams. Stacey really was a genius in herself.
"So what have you found out?" I was careful not to sound too eagar.
"Well, like i said last night" she continued, running her fingers through her hair to calm herself down, "These dreams have to keep coming back for a reason."
"Yeah.." I nodded for her to go on
"Well, recurring dreams are actually really rare, they can sometimes be a hint for us to do something.."
"Like what?" I interrupted, amused. "to keep chasing after Scott? To wear gloves whenever I'm going to run down a hall way?"
But Stacey's face showed no humour. She was serious.
"But other times," she continued, "Recurring dreams are a warning."
I looked at her, begging her not to say what I was thinking...
The silence was intense as we were both lost in our own thoughts.
At last, Stacey blurted it out. "Helen, I think you're having premonitions!!"