When the sunlight hit my eyelids, I expected to open my eyes and see my room while I reflected on my weird dream that felt so real. But when I opened my eyes, instead, I found a sleeping brunette lying next to me, her chest rising and falling with every breath of air.

“Ashley,” I whispered groggily rubbing sleep from my eyes.

“No, I don’t like the clowns Kyla,” Ashley mumbled in her sleep.

“What?” I asked confused. “Are you awake or just talking in your sleep?”

“Tell them to go juggle somewhere else,” she whimpered. “They’re not welcome here.” It took everything I had to suppress the urge to burst out laughing.

“You’re so weird,” I shook my head before deciding to just lie back down. But this time, instead of just burying myself under layers of warm sheets and blankets, I timidly ran my fingers in circles around Ashley soft hand. Careful not to wake her, I tried to grasp all of this, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t even imagine what would happen when she woke up, and I went back to my Cinderella high school story, but then why didn’t I want to go back to it? Part of me just wanted to hold on to this little bit of reality that actually felt real, but the other part knew I couldn’t. I had obligations to meet; this reality wasn’t an option…

“Ashley,” Kyla’s voice yelled as she knocked on the door making me jump so high, I almost fell of the bed. “Ashley,” she yelled again sound impatient. “Ashley!” Fuck.

“Ashley wake up,” I whispered shaking her urgently.

“Spencer?” Ashley replied sounding like she had just come out of a coma.

“No, Denzel Washington,” at least for once I got to be the sarcastic one.

“Ashley!” Kyla pounded on the door again.

“Oh shit,” Ashley cursed seeing the problem of the situation at hand.

“What do I do?” I asked frantically.

“Hide,” she replied standing up and making her way to the door.

“Ummmm,” I scratched my head, stood up, and scanned the room for possible hiding spots.

“Bed,” Ashley mumbled to me.

“Yeah,” I hopped back into the bed and pulled the covers over me.

“Not under the covers. Under the bed,” Ashley stated making me feel stupid.