In Your Dreams

CHAPTER 27



Rain pelts the Jeep’s windows as Kieran and I huddle together in the backseat before school on Monday, my first day back after the accident. Kayla’s generously gone inside to do some work in the library, allowing us a few precious moments alone since I’m still grounded and we’re all too aware that our time together will be coming to an end for a while when I leave for my dad’s right after school lets out.

“So when you get back in July, I want you to start teaching me how to play basketball. More than the basics, I mean,” Kieran tells me at the end of a long kiss.

“Like, teach you to run plays and stuff?”

“I’m not sure I can actually run plays without going head-first into the court, so maybe just diagram stuff for me or something. Your mom explained a few things to me at your Regional game, but I want to understand the finer points better so I know everything that’s happening when I watch you.”

“My mom barely understands anything beyond five players trying to put a round ball through a hoop, so I wouldn’t trust whatever she told you,” I tell him after giving him a kiss on the cheek in thanks for wanting to learn about such an important part of my life. “I could probably teach you to shoot free throws or something, though. You wouldn’t have to move around as much, and I’d be able to stand next to you in case you thought you were going to pass out. And maybe I can draw out some of the sets we run and stuff like that.”

“That would be awesome. It’d be even more awesome if you weren’t going to your dad’s at all and we could start my big jock makeover now.”

I snuggle into him, resting my head on his shoulder. “I’ll be gone for a month. You won’t even miss me.”

“Oh, I’ll miss you. If I know anything, I know that.”

Hearing him say he knows he’ll miss me, I can’t help but ask about the subject we’ve been avoiding since we met with Morgan on Saturday night. “Speaking of knowing things, are you upset I’m not…you know…like you? As far as the dreams, I mean.”

“Never in a million years,” he says, his voice sincere. He squirms so he can look at me directly and ask “Why? Are you?”

I’ve thought about this a lot since Saturday, and while I’m sure I wasn’t fully prepared to deal with the possible consequences of dreaming about the future for the rest of my life, I was willing to learn to live with it, just like Kieran. At the same time, though…

“No,” I answer him. “I’m okay with not getting hints about what’s coming, especially if I can avoid seeing things I don’t want to see ahead of time. I mean, thinking I’d gotten a glimpse of something bad on Prom night but I didn’t know enough to stop it was pretty scary.” I pause for a moment, and Kieran looks down at me. “But…” he prompts.

“But, on the other hand, there’s kind of this weird disappointment, too. I mean, the dreaming thing is no joke, and I get that, but…we would’ve shared something with each other we didn’t share with anyone else. How many people can say that?”

Kieran runs his hand up and down my forearm. “Zip, we share everything that matters. We laugh at the same things, we like the same books…” He gathers me to him. “And we’ll share other things. Better things. I promise.”

His promise is barely off his lips when I raise my mouth to his. The temptation to ask if he’s seen glimpses of these better things gnaws at me every bit as much as the ache for him that grows each time we kiss, but I ignore it. I have no clue what’s coming in the future, but at least I know I have him, along with a caring family, great friends, good grades, and a realistic shot at a title in a sport I love to play, all of which is more than some people get in a lifetime, whether they know what’s coming or not.

“And you’re really okay with the fact that Morgan can’t save you, or whatever?” I ask for the millionth time since we found out Saturday night that no one alive knows the formula for the drug that made Kieran the way he is. And while he’s assured me that he’s fine, this is the first time I’ve asked when I can see his face.

“It is what it is,” he says, the corners of his mouth turned down as he shrugs. “I mean, I’m disappointed, but it is what it is. I’ve never known anything else, so I guess I’ll live. It’s like…” He rubs his thumb along the top of my hand, frowning as he thinks. “It’s like you and basketball. You can’t remember a time when you didn’t know how to play, right? It’s just a part of you.”

“True.” I nod, although the analogy doesn’t totally hold up. I like my abilities, while Kieran usually seems annoyed by or outright frightened by his.

“So we both have our own set of powers,” he notes. “Only yours are superpowers and mine aren’t-so-superpowers.”

“Being good at basketball isn’t a superpower. Unless you’re Michael Jordan.”

Kieran puts his fist under my chin to lift my head. “Hey—take a compliment for once, okay? Just accept that I think you can leap tall buildings in a single bound.”

I roll my eyes and exhale. “Oh, fine,” I start, and even if I did want to protest further, Kieran ends the moment with a quick kiss before pulling away from me so he can pull his phone from his pocket. “We’d better get going,” he groans after checking the time.

With a heavy sigh, I slip into my vinyl rain jacket and raise the hood. Kieran’s already warned me that in my absence, word had gotten around that I was now The Girl Who Wrecked Her Car Driving Her Boyfriend to the River to Hook Up, a lengthy title I’m not thrilled about but am totally willing to accept to since it’s so much less impossible to explain than the truth.

I open the door, crawling out into the storm before Kieran. “Okay,” I yell against the sheets of rain, slinging my backpack up on one shoulder. “Let’s do this.”

Hand in hand, we run toward the side entrance, backpacks bouncing against our backs. Lucky for me and my newfound social status as a car-wrecking slut, the parking lot is almost empty of students since we’re just a few minutes from the warning bell, the few people who are still outside huddled under umbrellas and hidden under jacket hoods. Once we’ve reached the double doors, we stand aside to let some sophomores go into the building ahead of us, and we’re alone again.

Kieran leans in for one last kiss, my hood falling off as I angle my face up to his. “Ready?” he asks when we part, his hand on the door.

“No. But it’s not like I have a choice, right?”

Kieran grins and opens the door for me. I step through and jog up the few stairs, Kieran falling in next to me, and we start down the hall toward whatever’s waiting for us.



END OF BOOK ONE





ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Thanks to my friends and family, who support me not just in my writing, but also in whatever life throws my way. In particular, I’d like to thank Stacey McNamara, who has read early drafts of most of my work and still likes me anyway.

I’d also like to thank Cleo, the greatest cat in the universe, who sits on my lap when I write and never complains that she’d rather be doing something else.

Above all, I’d like to thank my husband, Heath, whose unconditional love keeps me going and gives me the confidence that I can finish whatever I start.





ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Amy Martin wrote and illustrated her first book at the age of ten and gave it to her fourth grade teacher, who hopefully lost it in her house somewhere and didn’t share it with anyone else. Not counting that early adventure in self-publishing, In Your Dreams is Amy Martin’s first Young Adult novel. You can find out more about her books at http://www.theamymartin.com.