Free Immortal Light: Wide Awake by John D. Sperry

could change at any moment.
    “ We’ll see,” she replied as she
stood to walk her mostly-full tray to one of the large plastic tubs
for dirty dishes.
    “ Well, we’d better do more than
see,” Kat responded. “You gonna eat that?” she followed up,
pointing to Lucy’s tray.
    Lying in the center of her tray was a
perfectly fresh, green, and raw floret of broccoli. Lucy looked
curiously at it. It must have snuck in there with all the cooked
garbage vegetables in her bowl.
    “ No, go ahead; it’s
yours.”
    She sighed as she found herself halfway
between the man of her dreams and the man in her dreams.
     
    ***
     
    Lucy sat in the quad after school waiting for
Kat, and hoping to see either Mark or Benjamin. Unfortunately, she
knew Mark probably wouldn’t show up because of football, and
Benjamin was probably unlikely to show up without
Samantha.
    “ Hey, Luce!” Kat’s voice came up
fast behind her. “Dave’s going to give me a ride, is that
okay?”
    Lucy turned around to see Kat right next to
her, and standing about twenty feet off was Dave, holding Kat’s
bag.
    “ Yeah, that’s great.”
    “ You feel any better?” Kat asked,
clutching Lucy’s shoulder.
    “ I’m fine. Go. Have fun.” Lucy
winked at Kat, who stood up and flashed a gleaming
smile.
    “ I’ll do my best,” she said, then
turned to run back to Dave. “Call me later!” she yelled over her
shoulder, and Lucy waved her on.
    Looking up at the afternoon
sky, Lucy saw that dark gray clouds had filled the expanse. Figures , she thought.
“You were supposed be a good day,” she said to the cosmos. “Now,
I’m just confused.”
    She stood up and grabbed her heavy backpack.
Taking the stairs back down to her car, she felt her phone vibrate
in her pocket. It was a text from Kat.
     
    Kat: going for ice cream with
    dave at six, you in?
    Lucy: no, you go. have fun. i’ll call u
    later
    Kat: OK, *hugs*
     
    As she approached her car, she
noticed a motorcycle right next to it. Sitting facing away from her
was the tall, sinuous figure of Benjamin. Lucy’s overworked heart
beat heavily once again. She didn’t know what to do because that
mysterious internal force was drawing her to him, but deep down she
had no idea why.
    “ Hey,” she called out to
him.
    She had absolutely no idea what to expect, but
at least he was there, the winner of her after-school sweepstakes.
As he sat up and turned around, she noticed he had been reading a
book.
    “ Hey, yourself,” he said with a
smile.
    “ So, how was your first day of
high school? Was it everything you thought it would be?” Lucy
asked. She could feel herself getting a little heated. All day he
had hung out with Samantha; she had to have had him brainwashed by
now.
    Benjamin bobbed his head back and forth. “It
was alright. Your friend, Samantha, is quite the character. She
asked me out to a dance on Friday.”
    Lucy closed her eyes and sighed heavily.
“She’s not really my friend; we’ve just known each other forever.
That sort of happens in small towns.” She tried to not look
completely dejected, but her shoulders couldn’t help but
sag.
    “ Bad first day for you, huh?”
Benjamin asked, watching Lucy throw her backpack into her
car.
    “ Meh, it was fine, I
guess.”
    “ Well, maybe tomorrow will be
better.”
    “ Here’s hoping.” Lucy wanted to
stay and talk with him. Her entire being screamed to be with him,
but she was tired. “I’ll see you tomorrow, I guess,” she
said.
    It was hard for her not to sound despondent as
she spoke, so she just got in her car, started it up, took a deep
breath, and closed her car door.
     
    ***
     
    By the time she made it home, she had all but
forced Benjamin Raven from her thoughts. She knew she couldn’t
compete for him and she knew what she had to do, but it was
something she didn’t want to do; she had to somehow forget about
him.
    Slowly walking upstairs to her room, she
dropped her bag on the floor and flopped onto her bed. She