Chapter 2

     It was a perfect day out. The sun was starting to shine and there was a nice breeze. I love standing outside and looking at the sky, the clouds, and the sun. That was all very interesting to me. I know I want to be a meteorologist or something in that area when I grow up, not something boring like my mom or dad. My mom and dad work as accountants, super boring. My train of thought was interrupted by a dog's bark. “Brandon!” I yelled. Lucy ran out the door, Brandon following behind her. He was my best friend, I had known him almost all my life. Lucy was his massive, two hundred fifty pound Great Dane. Although she looks intimidating, she is the biggest sweetheart I know. Lucy ran all the way across the street to come and sit by me dragging Brandon behind her. He was walking Lucy on the leash but it seemed more like she was walking him.
     “What's the weather looking like for today, Caroline?”, said Brandon with a huge grin on her face because he knew that was exactly what I was thinking about.
     “It will be all sun this morning, but watch out for those rain clouds this afternoon.” I replied confidently.
     “Do you really think it’s going to rain? I hope not. We have a huge soccer game tonight, for the playoffs!” He questioned firmly.
That was about the one thing that me and Brandon didn't share interest in, sports. His life was wrapped around sports and sports came before everything. Me on the other hand, I don't know if I could kick a ball if my life depended on it. “Sorry, but I'm about ninety nine percent sure that it will rain.” Annoyed, he started to moan and stomp his feet.
     “I was really looking forward to this game, hey you never know maybe you're prediction won't come true this time.” He paused, “Oh who am I kidding, you're always right. It's scary how accurate your predictions can be.” He looked at me and snarled.
     I laughed, “Sorry I can't help it!”
We heard the screeching of the bus wheel stop just around the corner of the street. Probably picking up the Smith’s, then picking up the Jacobson’s, then to mine and Brandon’s house.
     “I’m gonna go drop off Lucy ok, I’ll be right back out. Save me a spot! He yelled as he ran to his backyard.
     The bus came around the corner coming for us.
    “Miss?” the grouchy bus lady yelled, “You comin?”
I hopped onto the bus, Brandon trailing behind me.
    It was the most boring, and longest day at school. I couldn't seem to get anything done, my mind had a million different thoughts other than the Cold War, and the law of gravity. I don't know what's gotten into me, something was off. I had a pounding headache that was incurable.
    As I was trying to listen to Mr. Hunt, and watch him write tons of crazy equations on the chalkboard my vision started to become blurry. The headache that was already painful enough, got worse. I was getting really worried. Not only was I pretty much blind, but my hearing was fading out too.
     As my vision started to clear up I took a deep breath but when I could start to see certain images I realized that I wasn't in Mr. Hunt’s classroom anymore. I was in my house, my room to be more specific. I walked downstairs to see myself, and the rest of my family sitting at the kitchen table. But there was also a fifth seat at the table. A man was sitting there but I couldn't see his face, for his back was turned to me. The man scooted his chair back and swung his legs around the chair, it was my father. He got up and went into the kitchen and grabbed something, and brought it to my mother. She thanked him with a kiss. My stomach dropped, and I started to run up the stairs towards my bedroom. I opened the door and there I was, back in Mr. Hun’t classroom looking at a board full of chalky equations. I no longer had a headache, and everything seemed normal.
    As I walked through the hallway I spotted Brandon at the end of the hall grabbing some things from his locker. I quickly grabbed him and pulled him around the corner.
“What’s going on?” He asked in a panic.
     I told him the whole story, having him reassure me that he didn't think I was crazy every couple sentences. “What is this supposed to mean?” I inquired.
     “Maybe you can see the future, Caroline. Maybe your parents are back together?”
     I looked at him as if he was crazy and we both laughed, knowing that would never happen. “Maybe I'm just tired and overthinking things.” I said relieved. Brandon agreed.
     I got home later that day and ran up to my room. I was in desperate need of a nap, my brain was fried from all that thinking that I had done, it wore me out. I laid in my warm, cozy bed under the fluffy white sheets.
     I woke up to the smell of something delicious. I couldn't decifer what the food what, but I knew it would be delectable. I got up from bed, refreshed, and started making my way downstairs. I turned the corner to walk into the kitchen. There my family sat at the kitchen table. But there was also a fifth seat at the table. A man was sitting there but I couldn't see his face, for his back was turned to me. The man scooted his chair back and swung his legs around the chair, it was my father. He got up and went into the kitchen and grabbed something, and brought it to my mother. She thanked him with a kiss. My heart dropped to the bottom of my stomach, this time was worse then my vision earlier in the day. My whole body was covered in goosebumps and my face turned pale.
     My mother questioned me, “sweetie, are you feeling alright?”
It took me a few moments to answer, but I responded “Oh I'm fine, just a little tired.” acting as if nothing was wrong. But something was wrong. How did this happen? I'm used to having déjá vu, but this was different. It felt incredibly real as if I predicted this would happen.
      My mother again interrupted my daze, “Great! Me and your father have some news! Come sit down, honey.” she chirped.
    I walked to the table and sat in my chair, which had been moved since a new chair was added to the table.
     My mother sighed looked at me and my dad, and grabbed his hand. “You're father and I have been talking a lot over the past few weeks. Things feel just like they used to and we are very happy.”
    My dad chimed in, “I know I haven't been around much the past couple of months, but I'd like to change that.”
     My heart was already in my stomach, and now dropped into my feet. I could not believe this. I wouldn't have seen this coming in a million years. My mom is an open book, she usually tells me everything, and the fact that I had no idea that she was even communicating surprises me. I wonder if her and my new-old dad are hiding any other secrets. My brothers seemed to think nothing of it, they just continued to slurp on the pad thai noodles my mom made for dinner. I questioned them both, “so you are getting back together?” They both shook their heads up and down slowly in sync. I did this sort of smile back, it was totally fake and I'm sure that they realized this. The rest of dinner was awkward, and you could feel there was tension in the air.
     After my mother dismissed us from the dinner table I ran upstairs. I grabbed my phone off the charger and texted Brandon. “Need to talk ASAP”, I sent.
     He responded in 5 seconds, “on my way over.”
I waited until I got his confirmation text that he was here. I opened up the door to the porch off of my bedroom and peered over the balcony railing. There Brandon stood. I ran back into my room and opened up my closet door, I walked all the way into the back of the closet and pushed my clothes to the side. Behind the clothes was the small cabinet I use to hide things from my mom because she finds everything in my drawers. I grabbed the rope ladder, the ones firefighters advertise that you keep in your room in case of a fire. I grabbed it and swung it off of the porch. Brandon climbed up trying to be as quiet as he could. When he got up to the top I quickly rolled up the ladder so it wouldn't be hanging in the living room window. We both plopped into the comfy bean bag chairs that sit out on the porch throughout all four seasons. He looked at me, and gave me a stern face just waiting for me to fess up. The story then started to spill out of me, and water rushed into my eyelids.
     Brandon looked at me and said, “So you're vision came true? Are you some sort of psychic now?”
     “Who knows, maybe it will happen again.” I pried.

Chapter 3

     A few days had passed, and no strange visions had come about. I was starting to second guess myself. But why would this have happened in the first place if it wasn't a sign? I got on the bus, walked all the way to the back seat and plopped next to Brandon.
     He looked at me and question, “So any visions yet today? What's the weather looking like? Are we going to win our soccer game? What did I get on my math test?”
“Brandon!”, I hollered. “Stop asking me questions, I can honestly say that this ‘vision’ I had, will never happen again.” His huge smile slowly faded into the blankest facial expression I’d ever seen. “Sorry, I’m sure you're up set that you're best friend can’t see the future. Go ahead, go sit with your soccer friends.” I asserted. He looked at me with his mouth open about three inches if I measured it with a ruler.
    “You think that just because you haven't had a vision in four says that I don't want to be your best friend anymore? You sound crazy, if I don't recall we were best friends before this whole thing came about. Also, if I were you I wouldn’t dismiss the whole vision thing yet. Maybe it waiting to strike again at the right moment.” he said with confidence. He turned his head and looked out the window and I looked at him and grinned.
     This day was as boring as the one before and as boring as the next. The only thing I had to look forward to was Mr. Hunt’s class. He was the coolest teacher in our entire high school and I might be the luckiest girl to have gotten picked to be in one of his chemistry classes. Although there are a ton of annoying jocks in that class I was still learning a ton. I don't know if I would make it through the course if I had to settle with Mr. Steinbeck, or Mrs. Zeldie.
     I couldn’t wait for today's class, he was planning to take us to the chemistry lab and do the “fire lab”. I was sitting in the back of the most boring English class I'd ever experienced talking about Huckleberry Finn. The book wasn't bad, but I don't enjoy reading anything if the book is chosen for me. I was watching her scribble notes onto the board and listening to a bored student leading the story from the book when my eyes started to get super watery. I closed my eyes and rubbed them with my fists and when I opened them back up I could barely see anything. My vision was insanely blurry and the little voice of the tired student started to fade. I knew what was happening, considering all the signs were here. My eyes were crying, like usual, and I found myself back in my mind. There I was standing in Mr. Hunt’s chemistry lab. I looked around and saw all the kids in my class fooling around as usual. Mr. Hunt was trying to control the class and prevent them from doing something stupid that could hurt them. I heard a ruckus coming from behind me and turned around to see two football jocks messing around. I was watching the boys closely, when I noticed something was happening. A fire was started. A large very that flew immediately to the ceiling. It was because they didn't turn off the gas from the table. Everyone evacuated the room. I followed them and walked out the door which led me into a different room. There sat Mr. Hunt and our principle. There was a lot of yelling, but I couldn't quite understand what they were saying. I walked closer so I could try to hear better. I heard the principle yell at him, “A student is suffering from terrible burns because you did not properly prepare the class and did not take into consideration the danger of this lab.”
     “The lab shouldn't have produced this much fire, I think the student must have been fooling around with the materials.”, Mr. Hunt said confused.
     The principle shouted back, “I’m sorry but that's not enough. You're fired.”
I immediately returned to my boring English classroom. The student was still reading from the same paragraph as before. I felt as if I was gone for about a half an hour but how long was it really? Only a minute or two? I got to thinking. I couldn’t lose my favorite teacher.
     For the final fifteen minutes of my English class the only thing I could think about was how could I possibly stop this from happening. Maybe if I made up some scenario I could find a way for him to check all the gas nozzles. My train of thought was interrupted by the blasting school bell. Everyone stood up right away because they couldn’t stand to be in this boring environment for another second. I sat there for an extra minute staring at my textbook.
     “Caroline?”, said Mrs. Colt, with a soft voice as she gently tapped on my shoulder. I stood up so fast I think it startled her, she was very old.
     “I’m alright, thank you. “ I responded with an unsure smile. I walked down the hallway, taking slow steps because I was dreading this class for the first time in my entire life. I walked into the room and everything looked the exact same as my vision. I sat down in my chair, tapping my foot, and waited.

Chapter 4

     I looked around the room, and everything was playing out exactly as it did during my vision. I needed to do something that could change what happens. I got up and followed Mr. Hunt to the back room of the lab.
     He turned around and looked at me, “Caroline, do you need something?”
“Actually, yes.”, I said with a crack in my voice. I wasn't quite sure what my story was going to be yet, I was going to have to make it up on the spot. I studdered and said to him, “I just have a bad feeling about this lab, I feel like the class doesn't have enough control. I'm worried that someone is going to— I don't know— start the room on fire.” He gave me a look as if I was crazy, which wasn't new to me, I've seen this look from many people.
     He looked at me with a forgiving and reassuring smile.
     “Caroline you don't have to worry, I have done this lab with students over the past five years and havn’t had any complications.”
     I looked at him with dismay, and awkwardly responded, “ok”, while wearing a fake smile on my face.
    This whole event flashed before my eyes. It played out in person just how it played out in my head. The lab went terribly wrong and Mr. Hunt did indeed get fired, not that I was happy about that. Maybe if he would have listened to me. Maybe if I told him the truth things would have gone differently. I felt guilty as if this was my fault.
     I then decided to ignore all of the thoughts on how this could be my fault, I mean hey I warned him. I hope I never get any more of these stupid visions. They're starting to ruin my life. As I sent there in my school chair, my eyes started to water and the room became very blurry. “Oh great.” I said aloud, knowing this would be another vision.