Sleeping Jenny by Aubrie Dionne

gave me nightmares.
    Sucking my lower lip in frustration, I took a deep breath and turned. Exara shone like a giant diamond, her tunic glittering with hundreds of tiny mirrors. She’d tied her auburn hair up in a bun of twisting braids. Surrounded by her Barbie lackeys, I was outnumbered, so I just seethed in silence.
    â€œCome on. Let’s party.” Exara wove her arms around her two closest friends and pushed by me. My silence worked. At least I hadn’t provoked another embarrassing burn.
    I stopped at the entranceway, disbelief and hope jolting through me. Wait a second. Where’s Maxim? Weren’t they going to go together?
    I specifically remembered Exara and Maxim talking about their matching outfits at lunch. Maybe Maxim was already inside? I stepped into the cafeteria. Lights flashed from the floor to the ceiling and techno music blared. Apparently music hadn’t evolved much in three hundred years. In this case, it had even gotten worse.
    Holographic images of geometric designs were strewn everywhere, reflecting on people’s foreheads, cheeks, arms and legs. I raised my arm and watched a parade of triangles stream by. Definitely an alien world.
    If I’d gone to the old Ridgewood Prep Autumn Ball, the theme would have been underwater with streamers. No, I had to be here in trigonometry hell. Already my brain hurt thinking of all the equations they could form. What happened to a normal autumn theme? Like pumpkins, falling leaves, or ghosts and goblins? Had they lost touch with nature completely?
    The techno music grew to a crescendo and then disappeared, silence ringing in my ears. People applauded, then all heads turned to a stage at the back of the room where Shizznizz had sat the other day, banging his head to his music in his earphones.
    Maxim walked onto the stage, along with some other students. He wore a silver shirt tucked into tight, black plasticky pants. Strapped in front of him was a red guitar.
    I almost fell backward. Holy crap, he was hot.
    Exara stood in the front row, her multifaceted prism dress catching the light in all the right ways.
    Earth to Jenny. He’s already taken . By a beauty queen of a young woman, no less.
    Shizznizz started banging on the drum set, and the techno beat resumed in time with his beat. The lights flashed in pulse with the music, and my heart sped in primal beats. Maxim strummed an electric chord that made my knees weak, then opened his mouth and sang.
    Higher we go
    To the stars
    Each level we build, a new division arises
    Where will you be?
    In such a fragmented world
    Love can be hard to find
    But what is life without someone
    On your level
    People started dancing, but I just stared. For a second Maxim’s eyes met mine across the room and his lips curved up as he sang. I blushed and looked away, disappearing behind a group of giggling girls.
    Why was I so drawn to him? Was it because he was the only person at Ridgewood to pay attention to me, to talk to me like I was a person? Maybe. It went deeper than that, though, and I didn’t know why. I was missing a piece of the puzzle.
    I plopped down onto a chair in the back. Nothing was going to happen, so I needed to stop dreaming in the clouds. I scanned the room for someone, anyone to talk to. I had to get my mind off Maxim and his wonderful voice resonating deep inside my gut.
    I tried to picture what Angela would do, but all I could see was her dancing with Chad in an alternate Autumn Ball three hundred years ago. I pushed all the half-empty plastic cups away and put my head on the sticky table. Closing my eyes, I wished I was at the old Autumn Ball instead, even if I had to watch Angela and Chad together.
    She would never have gone out with him had I still been awake . The truth dawned on me, and I felt like the stupidest baby to ever walk the halls at Ridgewood. Angela had had a thing for Chad the whole time. She stayed away because of me. The realization hit me like a hammer in my