The Yin to my Yang - JiskastyaxMysticalminx

[Mysticalminx]

“Hah. You're realising exactly who you are asking, right?” Casey spoke with a slight awkward laugh as Michael asked her what had happened the night before. Frankly, she didn't have a clue. Everything that had happened after the party was a bit of a blur, a vague memory that seemed to end rather abruptly to merge with her freaky dream. She wondered exactly what had been in that joint that she had smoked at some point during the evening. That was it. That was the last time she accepted a hit from some guy she didn't really know.

As if. We both know you're not going to keep yourself to that... her mind reminded her. She knew how hopeless she really was. When she had a buzz on, any good resolutions she had made tended to go straight out of the window.

A sigh escaped her lips. Michael seemed awfully serious about the situation. But, as much as she had spoken in a joking tone, it was all too true. She really couldn't remember.

“Shit man, I don't know.” She sighed. “I kinda spaced out, I think. You know how I get.” She offered, apologetically. As much as she wanted to shine some light on the events of the night before, she couldn't. She had probably fallen asleep on the way back and had probably near enough sleep-walked into bed. It wouldn't have been the first time. There had been plenty of times she had woken up in bed with no clue on how she had gotten there. Then, there had also been those few times she had awoken in someone else's bed without memory of exactly how that had come to pass. She had sworn many times before that she wouldn't let that happen again, and she had been good recently, but it seemed last night she had once again forgotten her limit.

“I think you just dropped me off and went home. I mean, I woke up in bed, so that must've been what happened.” She shrugged.

[Jiskastya]

Mike shook his head, more trying to shake the thought of last night out of his mind, rather than denying what Cas said. He tried to tell himself that it had just been a bad dream, that, somehow, he had forgotten an evening, drove home subconsciously, and just fallen asleep.

The man in the road had been nothing but a bad dream. Then why couldn't he get the image of his face out of his mind? It seemed stuck there, like after having looked at a flame for too long, but this one wouldn't fade with time.

No, it would fade. He just needed to stop thinking about it. Go into some sort of act, until he forgot all about it.

Suddenly, Michael realized that they were blocking the hallway. Students were parting around them, some of them throwing a short dirty look before continuing on their way.

"That's alright, Cas." He said with a sigh "Come on, we should get to class."

[Mysticalminx]

“I guess.” Casey shrugged. Michael sure was acting strange. She wondered what it was that was bothering him. It wasn't like him to act like that. Usually, it was she who was a bit woozy on the details of the night. Not Michael. He was the sane one.

Hiking her bag back upon her shoulder, she started to make way for class. Still, her eyes would move back to Michael several times, observing her friend. What was up with him? It just wasn't like him at all.

“Are you sure you are al right?” She asked, a slight tinge of worry sounding through. “Maybe you've just been working to hard, and you blacked out, or something.” She offered, though that explanation sounded pitiful even to her own ears. But, it was a fact that Michael did put quite a bit of work into school. And into helping her.

“I really should stop calling you in the middle of the night.” She then spoke with a slight sigh. It simply wasn't fair on him, she knew that. But, he was always there for her when she needed help. And no matter what, she knew she'd end up stranding herself again at some point in the future. It simply could not be avoided. It simply was the way she was. But perhaps, she had to face the consequences and accept that if she'd stranded herself somewhere in the middle of the night, it was her own fault and no-one but her should suffer for it. Though she knew Michael wouldn't like it either if she'd walk several miles home in the middle of the night.

As they approached the door, a slight breath escaped her lips upon the scene before her, the classroom quiet as people streamed in, papers handed out. "Shit." She breathed, turning to Michael."Please tell me we don't have a test today."

[Jiskastya]

He shrugged a little. He knew he was acting weird, but he really wasn't in the mood to pretend right now. He felt a little weird, like his brain had been twisted upside down, and everything was backwards. He would likely be feeling better by this evening. And if not, tomorrow morning would b e better.

He didn't bother to respond to Cas's statement that she shouldn't call him in the middle of the night. She knew full well that he would never stand having her travel home alone, most likely drunk or high, in the middle of the night. The world was not a particularly pleasant place, outside the sheltered world of school and home. She would strand herself again, and call him, and he would come get her, no matter where he was, or what he was doing. And he didn't hate her for it. He had long ago accepted that it was her nature to get stranded, and it was his nature to protect those he considered his friend.

He blinked at the paper. "I wasn't expecting one. I was worrying about having to double take notes for you." he said, taking the proffered paper, and flipping it over. Test, indeed. "Pop quiz, apparently." He smiled a little.

"Best of luck to you," He took his seat, pulled out a pencil, and looked up at the teacher, waiting for permission to begin.

[Mysticalminx]

“Luck? I need a fucking miracle.” Casey grumbled under her breath, soon moving to take a seat in class. Well, wasn't that grant. A pop quiz. Just the thing she needed. As if a throbbing hangover wasn't enough, she actually had to try and get that sloshed brain of hers to do some actual thinking. She needed to keep a decent grade for this class.

With a sigh, she dropped her bag down on the floor beside her, taking out her pencil case. Well, here was hoping for the best.

And so, silence soon fell over the class as they were ordered to take the test. Casey stared at the paper for what felt like hours, pencil tapping against the white, occasionally ticking a box or scribbling something down. Yet, when the teacher signalled time was over, it felt like she hadn't had nearly enough time at all. She handed her paper in all too reluctantly.

Luckily, the next hour was lunch, so when the bell rang to declare the end of the lesson, she shot out of her chair, eager to get out of the room and to the cafeteria, to grab some lunch. She was starving. Breakfast already seemed ages away.

“Well, that was fun.” She muttered as she came to a halt beside Michael, waiting for him to join her. “So, I guess you aced the test, like usual?” She joked.

[Jiskastya]

he shrugged a little, still musing over one of the questions. He had been going back and forth between two choices, and at the last second erased one and put in the other. Now he was wondering whether he had made the right choice. He shook his head a little, forcing himself to let it go.

"I believe you said something about coffee?" He questioned Casey, winding his way through the masses of students to make his way to the cafeteria. He was not fond of the taste, but with an overload of sugar and cream it became quite palatable.

[Mysticalminx]

“Yes! Coffee! Let's go to that little coffeeshop across the wrote. Beats the crap they serve at the cafeteria by a landslide!” Casey cheered with a slight grin, seeming to perk up a little with the mention of coffee. “And they do great pastries, too. God, I could kill for one of those right now. I'm craving something sugary right now.”

She hiked her backpack a bit higher upon her shoulder. “You could have one of their mochas, or something. Doesn't taste so much of coffee. It's quite nice, really. I might have one.” She then pondered. “It might just get that awful taste out of my mouth. I don't know why, but I woke up with a mouth tasting like ass.” She grumbled.”Must've forgotten to brush my teeth before bed.”

The night before truly was a blur to her, apart from that strangely vivid nightmare. That man, walking into the road, glaring at them so darkly for that splitsecond before they swerved and flipped. Really, what had she been smoking that night to dream about something like that? Usually, she slept like a log with little to no memory of what she had dreamt of.

[Jiskastya]

Michael nodded, turning down another, slightly emptier corridor. He wanted to stop by his locker and deposit his stuff before they left.

"Do we want to drive, or walk?" It wasn't far to the food stores, just across the road, but the nearest traffic light was several blocks south, and crossing the road with only a crosswalk could be somewhat unnerving. Most of the time, it wasn't too bad, but fourth hour was one of the most common lunch hours, and the students who wanted to go further than the stores across the road would be leaving.

But not having the hassle to get out of the parking lot was often worth crossing the road. His preference would be to walk, Casey would probably know that, but he always gave the offer anyways.

[Mysticalminx]

“Walk. Getting the car for such a small drive is just silly.” Casey spoke, tongue peeping out from between her pink lips as she stuck it out at him. Really, Casey quite often preferred other means over driving around. Though she certainly wouldn't complain about being given a lift in bad weather, and though she did love cruising around the countryside on a nice day, she much preferred to walk, or ride a bike, or skateboard.

“I had such an awful nightmare last night. Dreamt you drove us off the rode. Car flipped and everything. All because some idiot decided to walk in the middle of the road in the middle of the night. Felt so real.” She grunted, stepping out onto the road after a few moments of deliberation

Almost instantly, a cacophony of sounds greeted her, the sound of screeching tyres, claxons honking. A car came to a halt not too far from her.“Watch it!” A driver shouted at her, a fist angrily raised from the window.

“Oi. I'm walking here!” She shouted straight back at them, giving them an unimpressed stare, the girl seeming not at all affected by the seeming near-miss, safe perhaps from some annoyance.

“Anyway. Was such a vivid dream. So real, it was unreal.” She shrugged as she crossed the road, heading straight for the coffeeshop.

[Jiskastya]

Mike followed her out of the building, pausing when they reached at the street. His gaze was fixed on her, brow wrinkled, eyes slightly widened. The only reason that he didn't interrogate her right there and then for having the same dream as him was because of the car that came out of nowhere and only barely seemed to manage to come to a halt.

He shivered. He was fine with cars. In fact, he was quite fond of them. He loved driving, and was glad for the independence they brought him. But he was wary, perhaps unnecessarily so, when it came to walking in front of them. He forced himself to jog out beside Cas, taking a few deep breaths as they crossed the street.

On the other side of the street, Casey's next words reminded him of the dream. The dream, and that face that had been haunting him so violently for the morning. He flinched suddenly, swearing he saw the same man sitting on the coffee shop porch, but when he looked a little closer, the face was different.

"Cas," he said a little slowly. "I had the same dream."