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"Oh," he said, as my back hit the wooden wall. Damn it, of course. With nowhere to go, his arms locked me in between him and the wall. He stared down at me as he said, "So you're trying to piss me off?" His lips were surprisingly close to mine. No guy would ever be this close to me in real life, let alone me being able to handle it; I would've been so timid and afraid. But this was the dream world. I could speak and be as brave as I wanted to. "Yeah, I am," I said. "What are you gonna do about it?" He paused as his eyes looked between the two of mine. Then, he smirked and swiftly closed the gap between our lips. In a small town in New York, Hazel is your average quiet type. In a school full of clichés, she falls perfectly under the category of "nerd" and has her own little nerdy group of people she loves to hang around. They respect the fact that she's non-verbal. The thing that plagued her, surprisingly, is not her inability and refusal to speak, but her ability to go through anybody and everybody's dreams. This is not something she can control, nor something that's necessarily dangerous. It just happens. One second she's in darkness, the next second she happens to be in someone's dream. But, when she stumbles into a dream of a guy she never knew existed in her grade of 500 students, albeit his popular status, both her worlds get flipped upside down."Not necessary."The shot rang out across the gas station as droplets of blood splattered across my face. The arms of the murderer unwound themselves from my body as he fled, leaving me with a gaping hole where my heart used to be. I stood there, staring at my heart as it took its final, agonizing breaths with tears running down its face."Hey, Haz!" Anastasia said. Her voice tore me out of my trance. My eyes met the taupe inner walls of my locker, my fingers still locked around my Macbeth book. The cover felt damp under my fingertips. "Hey... you good?"I gave her a mechanical nod and then glanced over in her direction. She laughed with no remorse. "You look beyond tired."The hell hole I called school was the reason for the lack of energy coursing through my body-my eyelids were like lead, and my head throbbed in a painful ache. I stayed up all night studying for my Spanish test-why did I even have to take Spanish when I couldn't speak?The bell rang, and she raised her eyebrows at my lack of acknowledgment. I was busy pushing that dark memory of mine to the back of my head. "Hello? You all right? We gotta go, or we're going to be late."I quickly grabbed the various items I would need for my classes before lunch and followed her through the glossy beige and white tiled halls. Could I nap today at all? Psychology was probably my best bet since that class was a bore-the teacher didn't seem to care about what he was teaching. So I wouldn't miss much except maybe a PowerPoint that looked like a third-grader prepared it.

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