The Dream Scene (*title in progress*)

Part I

Dreams are beautiful things.  They let us live out fantasies we otherwise would never get to experience, they help us to embrace all of the experiences we are living through with greater insight.  They allow us to find out things about ourselves that we might not have known, then they let us be someone completely different than ourselves.  Your mind is just a huge, wonderful pool embodying your deepest thoughts, beliefs, desires, ambitions, and advice to problems you're sure you never could have solved yourself.  It seems dreams; (even the occasional nightmares) do nothing but good, and that if anything we should be gracious to dreams, taking in everything they give out.  Yet, what if there was a time and place where dreams were considered nothing but another burden laid upon the human race, things you deal with and regulate similar to how you would tax forms, or your 9-5 workday.  Or even worse, what if dreams really did come true?

I

Mallory woke up and immediately started to bite her lip in nervousness as she glanced over at her calendar  hanging on the wall.  When she saw what day it was it only worked her up more, and she closed her eyes concentrating hard.  Did I dream last night?  What was my dream last night?  Nothing came to her, and she let out a sigh of relief, another morning was now passed.  After this odd bit, she went on with her morning as any young girl would on a school day.  Moaning with every new step she had to take to get ready, and thoroughly convinced that she had not really slept for eight hours like the clock seemed to imply, something had happened to make her night’s sleep go by faster, while everyone else got their full rest in.  But yet again, despite this great injustice she would pull herself through the morning and go on with the dreary everyday life.
Mallory rode the bus  to school that morning and as the bus drove and stopped, drove and stopped, she thought of who on the bus had remembered their dream, if anyone.  If someone had, she felt awfully sorry for him or her, and hoped that there wouldn’t be a scene for them once they arrived at school.  Mallory imagined the sickening feeling that he or she would feel right now, (she knew this feeling quite well) and how anxious they would feel with every new face they came around the corner to meet (another feeling she was well acquainted with).  But now the bus was nearing the school, so she just came to the conclusion she often did.  That the mind was a very annoying, unmanageable thing, like a 6 year old boy would be, that is nothing but a nuisance to be so refusing to stay within the boundaries you set for it.   
She walked off of the bus and into the masses of people that all came from the other six full busses, with everyone headed for the same small double doors leading to their communal home, at least for seven hours a day.  When she walked inside she turned to head for her first period and passed by none other than Leonardo Valverde with a small throng of other guys in his “group” accompanying him.  Mallory sighed, just one more supporting case for the conclusion she had come to on the bus.  No matter how many times she ordered herself or tried desperately to keep her mind off of Leonardo she just couldn’t do it.  He inevitably would stray into her thoughts and remain an uninvited guest for dinner, many times then asking to set up a loft on the couch for the night and of course she always welcomed him as if it was his home to begin with.  The encounter lasted only about 5 seconds and she didn’t like that she’d even noticed whom she had passed. 
Not more than a couple yards away, she passed by the hallway for the youngest students in the building.  Thinking back to that morning when she looked at the calendar, she realized that those students would be going through the trauma in just a year and that today would be when they were taught that it “wasn’t that bad” and that you “learn to get used to it”.  Mallory looked forward to sitting in on their lecture after school today that would explain the Dream Scene, just as she had listened to it when she was their age. 
Mallory went through each period, almost as nervous for the hypothetical soul she had thought about on the bus, as she would be if it were herself in the person’s shoes.  The first four classes went fine, and Mallory had started to relax and believe that maybe today would be alright after all, but then came fifth period. 
I suppose before we go on, it would be commendable to explain the, social environment, if you will, of this school.  Each class was split into a 60:40 ratio of, frankly, the jerks and the heretics as each party referred to the other as with the “jerks” having numbers in their favor.  These names went back years, and no one exactly knew where the division had begun.  But all the same, these were the names they had grown up hearing and now used as well, though Mallory often wondered why the more popular group was simply called "jerks".  She liked to think that it wasn't just a lack of creativity that had brought it around, but rather a lack of interest on her group's part.  Maybe someone from their group years ago had observed the other side bullying a kid new to the system, and passed it off without much thought as 'jerk', and it had stuck.  But, generally, as you might expect, when one of each group crossed the other’s warpath it would be very likely to end in a social “battle”, or often times, a social attack from the “jerk” towards the "heretic". 
Abbigail Robinson, dressed in her sporty-stylish, expensively made to look casual-retro clothing, walked up to Rachael Phillips, decked out in blue jeans, a sweatshirt and pony tail.  Mallory was nervous for her, Oh, it must’ve been Rachael that got cursed last night and what worse luck could you have than to have Abbigail Robinson be the person to rub it in?  It turned out Abbigail had only wanted to borrow a pen, remember that this segregation between the two groups wasn’t written in blood, or written in any form for that matter.  There are still exceptions, people are still stuck on that yellow dash on the road of socializing, and people are still civil. 

II

The rest of her day had gone just as the normal day did, and after the last class had been let out Mallory worked against the flooding flow of students to get to the gym downstairs. She was going to the younger students’ “registration” into the strains of life they would endure from the next year forward.  The assembly had already started by the time she got there, so she just stood at the back of the room, scanning the audience for her little brother as Mr. Padino, a school counselor, introduced himself and what they were there for.
“Hello everyone.  For those of you that don’t know, I am Mr. Padino, a counselor specializing in help for what we will be discussing today.  Before we get started, I just want to check with everyone to make sure you have a ride home from here.  This will probably take over an hour tonight and you'll want a ride home in a timely fashion.”
At this statement she impulsively checked her bag to see if she had everything, knowing she would be responsible to get her brother home after this meeting. 
It appeared that Mallory wasn’t the only over-aged sit-in on this meeting, because who else but Leonardo, John Parke, and Lawson Harrower would walk in now, right under Mallory’s nose.  As what was uniform for their “group”, they came in laughing, bumping into each other, and it would seem that no matter what time or how many times you came across them, they were always right in the middle of the most hilarious conversation.  Their presence was immediately noticed by Mallory, and she somewhat froze, staring in front of her, as they walked in just feet behind her.  They came in and leaned against a wall on the opposite side of the double doors as Mallory, not ceasing in their antics for even a slight pause, despite the otherwise silent room apart from Mr. Padino’s lecturing voice. 
“…discussing tonight is something we like to call “The Dream Scene”, which is a duty everyone of age has to rotate going through, including you people starting next year.  Now, from since you can remember you all have dreamt during the night, then woken up and remembered your dream most often, and then didn’t even give it a second thought, unless it especially struck your interest, right?”
There was a slight murmur of agreement throughout the crowd, and Mallory chanced a sideways glance at the three newest participants in the meeting that day.  By now they had settled down for the most part, and John and Lawson had taken their places leaning against the wall, with each their own ‘anywhere but here’ face.  Leonardo being the only one that had noticed the chair only feet away from them, had taken the seat for himself, and sat leaning forward, legs apart, and seeming to be concentrating hard on something, though you knew it wasn’t what was being discussed at the time. 
“Well, soon that is going to change.  Dreams are deceiving, they’ve tricked all of you, just as they did the generations before you, and before them, and far back into history, and if they had their way, you wouldn’t know the better of them until they stabbed you in the back unknowingly.  Luckily, we have created this program to help prepare you for this.  We have been able to make this into an experience, an exciting ride for you all to enjoy.”
At this last statement the boys all smirked knowingly, even Leonardo, who seemed to have been brought out of his trance at least enough to hear this incredible statement.  Mallory had to work at fighting back a slight smile, she knew just as well as them the humor in this false world being created for the younger generations, right in front of their eyes.  As Mallory did that, John stole a look over at her, apparently noticing her for the first time right then, or otherwise very startled at the possibility he and Mallory could’ve just found the same thing humorous.  After a second, he hit Lawson on the arm causing him to look over at her and smirk again, looking down at Leonardo, but not going any further than that.   
“Dreams no longer are just experiences that go on in your mind and imagination, your dreams are about to become a lot less personal.  How many of you have ever had a dream where one of your friends, or a member of your family has been present?”
Another murmur arose in the crowd, and a few hesitant people trying to be polite half raised their hands.
“After this transition occurs, not only will those people be present for your dreams in your mind, but those people will be present in your dreams in their minds too.  For example, you dream that you are at your best friend’s birthday party that is happening tomorrow, and she is opening the present you’ve been excited all day about her receiving.  The next day your best friend will know what you had got them for their birthday, and they will have been just as present in your dream as you were.  In fact, you two might as well have been sharing the same dream, but the only difference is that only you call the shots.  The other or others present are nothing but helpless bystanders, puppets in this dream, left only to watch what goes on around them, what you do, and what you will them to do.”
A crowd of people that hadn’t heard much about the Dream Scene in the audience gasped, while others started nodding frantically, getting a rush of reassurance that they were cool enough to hear about this, and then trying to get others to notice they already knew about it.  For once the boys didn’t wear a mocking face, but actually looked quite sullen and serious. Lawson and John glanced nervously at each other, while Leonardo shook his head back and forth, his attention fully on the presentation for seemingly the first time now. 
“But you see, this would quickly cause some conflicts if everyone had this way of life all the time.  Say two people dreamt of you at the same time, what would happen, where would you go?  Why should people have to go through the burden of appearing in other’s dreams that often, especially for someone widely known about?  If there is a way to stop this insanity, obviously we are going to try and find it!  And the good news for you guys, is that we have found it!”
The attitude had been lost almost completely from the boys, (or at least as close to 'almost completely' as they would ever get), and they displayed each their own reactions now.  John looked disgusted at the younger kids’ faces as they suddenly looked so relieved when Mr. Padino announced to them their solution, and it had had an even worse impact on Leonardo.  By this time Leonardo couldn’t sit still and had begun pacing around the 3 foot area between them and the doors, wringing his hands a bit, and continuously tempting himself to leave the gym.  He would walk over to the doors, get as far as actually taking a foot through the barrier, only to pull his self back through and go to the door again, as if there were some invisible fence in his way.  Lawson remained just leaning against the wall, looking more nervous than before. 
“You see, we have developed a system that uses Dream Catchers, which will keep this wretched thing from happening to you.  With these catchers, you won’t remember your dream, and anyone that was present during your dream won’t remember either.  The only problem with this is that not everyone can have this shield on at the same time.  First and foremost, we have no idea at all what might happen if we tried to completely block out all dreams.  And further from that there have been some, ruckus-makers, that have been fighting endlessly over this and have gotten to the point where we cannot completely use the guard legally.”
Leonardo stopped at this statement. He had opened his mouth and it seemed like he was ready to shout out something, only at the last minute to be pulled over by John.  That delayed him long enough for John to talk Leonardo out of whatever he was going to say and to get himself sat back down.  As he sat it looked as if he were a time bomb, ready to explode with his opinions, but for whatever reason he restrained himself and as he sat he fidgeted and ran his fingers through his hair slightly.  Mallory wondered why they were causing such a scene, and despite the already low expectations Mallory had for what they might do, she thought that causing a scene just for the sake of causing a scene (really, of all people they couldn’t actually be interested in this) a bit outrageous.  She of course had been watching them out of the corner of her eye the whole time and frankly was intrigued (though she would resent that being the word choice) by their behavior. 
“So everyone goes through cycles of when they do not wear their shields, usually the rotations only last about a week, and during that time is the period we call the Dream Scene.  So the only time you have to go through the work is for a week at a time.  Now, you will not be the only one in a Dream Scene when you are, there will be an amount of other strategically placed individuals on the same time frame as you.  When you register for dreams, which we will get to later, you will have to fill in all the people that you think might at some point be dreamt about by you.  We will then take that list along with other sources, and make sure that someone doesn’t have the same dream frame as someone else on their list.  Now think about it, why would you not want to have a dream on the same night as someone that you could dream about?  If one of you or both of you dreamt of the other, then you both would need to play the role of host in your dream and guest in the others' at the same time.  And I don’t think anyone wants to take the risk of finding out what might happen as a result of that, so trust us, we know what we are doing.”
Mallory had been pretty indifferent, but now felt very sympathetic to the poor people seated in front of her, and remembered back when she was nieve just like them, believing everything they said and seeking comfort from the counselors' words.  The whole process was just such a shame. 
“I’m betting that a lot of you have heard about the dream scene from older kids, haven’t you?  And I also bet that they haven’t made it sound too fun.  But let me tell you, they are just trying to frighten you!  It really is not that bad, and you will learn to get used to it, it will just become routine eventually, a part of everyday life.  So don’t fret because we will be here for you guys as long as you need us to be, and always feel free to come in and talk to any of the other counselors in the Dream Scene department as well, anytime you need.  The names you can look for other than myself are Ms. Labatt, Mrs. Nadolny, Mr. Gaboder, and Ms. Kensinger.  So don’t worry.”
Mallory could tell every word Mr. Padino said just seemed to be pushing Leonardo, taunting him to let go of his temper, and that his tension was only growing.  Lawson could very obviously feel his tension and felt very helpless at what he could do, and even John seemed to notice, but he had known Leonardo for a very long time and had gotten used to his excitement, often having to be the one keeping a cool head.  Mallory had become tense herself because of him, and tried to telepathically sooth and calm him, (she hated to see anyone distress).  That last passage was what pushed him over the edge though, and he had to walk out of the room.  John took a step to follow him, but thought better of it and nudged Lawson to go back too, who had been all too quick to get an excuse to leave.
“Next we are going to go through the registration process, so we will be handing out sample forms for you and your parents to look at.”
And at this Mr. Padino, Ms. Labatt, Ms. Kensinger, Mr. Gabino, and Mrs. Nadolny all accepted this as their cue and immediately began giving piles of forms for students to pass down the rows at different spots, this apparently being the only role the other 4 played in this ceremony.
“In the mail about a month from now you will get a form looking very similar to this that you will need to fill out and fill out very correctly, so consider this a practice.  Go ahead and take these home and fill them out, then turn them into the counselors’ office, there will be a clearly marked spot for them, by the 27th.  And we will end this explanation here, but we encourage questions, and have allotted a good deal of time for them, so fire away.”
The body of students in general all took this invitation graciously as many hands shot up throughout the room.  John wasn’t interested in questions and Lawson showed no more interest than he had before, so the two of them left the assembly.  Mallory had planned on staying until the meeting was completely over and to just meet up with Jeff as he left the room, but she could always find him outside, and she couldn’t help herself.  Even as she walked down the hallway to leave the building and follow the three boys, she reminded herself curiosity killed the cat but by that time had decided she wasn’t the cat and didn’t really care.  She left the building and stopped when she got outside.  She glanced to her left and right, not knowing which direction they had gone, but it turned out she needn’t have looked at all.  There was distinct yelling to her right, which brought her to her senses enough to realize how suspicious it would look that she happened to leave at the same time during the meeting as they did.  She quickly slunk back to the doors where she tried to hide behind the wall.  But even this movement probably wasn’t necessary; it was very dubious that the boys would’ve noticed her anyway.  She did have a knack at blending in and remaining unnoticed for long periods of time.  But a mouse quadrupling in size and riding by doing tricks through hoops of fires, on a motorcycle, would’ve only caused a slight glance before they got back into whatever engaging conversation they were having.  Mallory knew she would regret it later, and seriously questioned her judgement since it was snowing and very cold, but again she couldn’t stop herself from it, and she remained where she was to eavesdrop on the boys.  I mean, it wasn’t like they were trying to keep it secret, with all of their screaming, they must’ve known they would create a scene… 
“What was that?” cried John, sounding really ticked.
“I had to leave, I, I, just couldn’t stand it anymore!  Would you rather have had me shout out during the meeting, because at the time that seemed to be my only alternative!” was the cryptic excuse Leonardo used. 
“Obviously there were other alternatives, because I don’t know if I was just really not paying attention or something, but I don’t seem to recall Lawson or myself crying out or leaving the room in a scene!”
At the mention of his name, Lawson stepped back even further than the distance he was already at from the two.  He started to rub at his arms to keep warm, since the three were out in the middle of the snow, with more snow falling on them, none with coats, and Lawson left with only a T-shirt.  But John and Leonardo didn’t seem to notice the cold or the snow at all. 
“Your big mouth!  You have absolutely no control over what gets spit out through it or what timing you have, to the point where you have to physically restrain yourself from saying something stupid!  We all have worked too hard on this for you to throw it away just because of your bad habits, Lawson and I can’t afford to be at risk of losing everything we’ve worked for whenever you’re around!”
“We don’t get fire without cutting down a lot of trees and forests, Lincoln!  I would really like to see where this would be right now without me directing and being the brain of the operation!  Sometimes the cost is high when an infinitely great prize is at stake, you just have to trust and wait it out!”
“How arrogant are you, standing here and telling us that your faults and mistakes are all things we should deal with gracefully, because we depend on you so much that you don’t need to change.  Leonardo Valverde, the next greatest diva of the century, ladies and gentlemen!”
Although he didn’t say anything, Lawson was getting more and more disturbed at John’s continuous mention of him and wished badly that he could be forgotten from the whole equation during this argument.   
Mallory never got to hear Leonardo’s retort to this (though she knew he had one), because she had gotten so caught up in the heated argument she had completely lost track of time. She abruptly went into the school and made a left into the gym only to find an empty room with Jeff looking very upset and being scolded by Mr. Padino. 
“Didn’t we ask you if everyone had a ride, and that if you didn’t you should make arrangements at that time?” Mr. Padino asked with completely transparent mock patience.
“But!” was the only word Jeff muttered before Mallory ran up to explain the situation.
“I am really sorry, Mr. Padino, I was supposed to take him home with me tonight and I completely didn’t remember until, well, just a couple of minutes ago!  I hurried down, it really isn’t his fault, sorry again, I’ll just take him now.  Let’s go Jeff,” Mallory spat out.  She really wasn’t in the mood for small talk with Mr. Padino, she was very caught up in thought as to what Leonardo, John and Lawson had “worked so hard to get to” and what was so upsetting to them. 

The next day Mallory went to school with the topic of last night’s scene still heavy on her mind.  She wondered how the boys would be today, if there would be a noticeable difference when she got to her second period class (where John and Leonardo were both in her class), but there was no change to speak of.  Mind you, the two didn’t come up to each other and get started in a rousing conversation over something or other, or hang out together all day, in fact as far as Mallory knew the two hadn’t said a word to each other.  But no one would’ve noticed, for the group they were in was large enough that John could walk around with an eighth of the group, while Leonardo was with another.  There wasn’t ever a time when their attention wasn’t or at least couldn’t have been occupied by some posse of their larger group.  As she went from class to class, she wondered if the two of them being together was as awkward for them as it was for her, and began to really doubt that it was. 
As Mallory was walking through the hallway to leave and catch a ride on the bus, Leonardo bumped into her, and said a soft ‘sorry’ as he walked past, but all Mallory could muster up before he left her view was a feeble smile towards him.

III

“Good morning everyone, another great day is about to start, and a great day does start out with punctuality, so please keep in mind that you have exactly 6 minutes between classes.  So remember that when you are hanging out in the hall with Jane or sulking slowly to your class.  I would like to remind all boys interested in going out for basketball or football this season, please meet in the large gym after school Tuesday.” 
That is how the morning announcements started that day, as Mr. Padula, the principal, came across the intercom.  Mallory gazed off, rapidly losing interest in whatever Mr. Padula had to say, and beginning to daydream.  Mallory wondered if Leonardo played football…
“… cheerleading squad this year, next weekend will be the first meeting to see if you would like to try out.  A reminder to everyone, putting anything in another person’s locker is considered breaking into their locker which is very punishable by the rules.”
Although Mallory didn’t see it, behind her Leonardo glanced at John, with a slight smirk, while John grinned broadly without a trace of secretion and looked back at Leonardo.  Apparently all tribulations from the previous night were forgotten, or otherwise hidden. 
“… and lastly, will Leonardo Valverde, John Parke, (with a slight snigger from Lawson in a different room at the use of his less popular real name of John) and Lawson Harrower come to the main office, now.”
All smirks or grins quickly wiped off of Leonardo and John’s faces, the two hesitated for a couple of moments looking at each other, then got up and left to see what the beckon was for.  While Mallory was helpless but to just wonder what the order could mean, or whether it had to do with the nights before, left only to depend on what might happen to pass through the grapevine to ever have any hope of answering any of her questions.

Mallory had a dreamless, and therefore peaceful, weekend.  Though the weekend hadn't been particularly exciting, she still regretted having to start back on the heavy week again.  The next day though, would turn out to not be so heavy, well, possibly heavier, but at least not so monotonous.
“Umm.. Uh, Mallory, could I, um, could I talk with you for a second?” was how Leonardo started the whole thing one day.  At first after Leonardo was done speaking, Mallory just kept walking, but after some seconds of delay, her mind processed what had just happened, and realized that Leonardo was talking to her.  She was caught very off guard, thoroughly expecting to walk to the bus and probably get to her house without anyone saying anything to her, and in addition to that even if she had expected someone to talk to her, she wouldn't have imagined it being Leonardo Valverde.  As Mallory comprehended, Leonardo hesitantly followed her, not sure if she had heard him, and if he should repeat himself. 
“Uh, yeah, um, sure, what about?” was the response Mallory sputtered out.
“Um, well, come with me, could you?” and before she responded Leonardo started off to lead her to where he wanted her to go.  Mallory wasn’t sure at first whether or not to follow, but knew she wouldn’t be able to stand it if she passed up an opportunity like this, so sped up to follow him. 
Leonardo led her a distance from the school, where there was a city bus stop and jerked awkwardly when they reached the bench, trying to motion for Mallory to sit down first, but failing, though Mallory went ahead and sat down anyway, to Leonardo’s relief.  He sat down on the bench there afterwards, and fiddled his thumbs a bit, waiting for the bus. 
When she saw Leonardo was leading her to take the public bus to who knows where, she became intensely more nervous than she was before (which was a great deal of nerves) and she began doubting and regretting she had agreed to coming.  It wasn’t too late to turn back, to make up a last minute lame excuse, or even just leave without a word, but again her curiosity (and might I add, her hopefulness) glued her to the bus bench. 
There was a quite long and extremely awkward silence, Mallory completely clueless, and Leonardo apparently left without an explanation until the bus came.  Leonardo knew that the wait for the bus couldn’t really be this long always, and as Mallory experienced this during the mornings, Leonardo experienced the sense of injustice to himself as the two sat and waited for the bus.
“Whe…” Mallory began when her senses finally overcame enough of the battle to get this slight victory.
“Just, uh…” Leonardo interrupted, sounding very tense and panicked.  “I, I know this must seem, um, really weird to you, um, just trust me, please, I mean, I know you don’t know me very well, um, just, please, just…” Leonardo stuttered out. 
And Mallory found this so endearing, (though even if she hadn’t I doubt she could’ve built up the courage again to speak) that she didn’t say anything more. 
After what seemed to be ages, the bus finally came slugging down the road, in it’s great size looking so slow and like it was pushing itself for every movement.  In fact, if I didn’t know any better, I would think that the regular stopping of the bus was purely so that the poor, dragging thing could catch it’s breath and get ready for the next leg.  The bus door opened and before Mallory made Leonardo go through another excruciating attempt to perform properly and mannerly, stepped onto the bus.
Now, mind you, Leonardo was no perfect gentlemen, and probably was just so tense because of the nature of this encounter, in addition to hesitant talking to this girl who seemed so different, that he was quite rattled and suddenly quite shy.  Though, who am I to say that Leonardo would’ve acted in the same manner had Mallory been any other awkward, shy girl that happened to be in her position?  And also mind that Mallory was no girl that acted so confident and aware of her surroundings around a boy, the one who takes the lead in a slow dance, but what happens when you put two people in an awkward situation?  Everyone has to give, going back and forth putting himself or herself in the vulnerable position, and Mallory knew when she should take the lead and make the move.
Mallory hadn’t had much of any experience on the bus, (in fact she had only ridden it once) and felt extremely uncomfortable around all of the other riders of this bus, added to her previous predicament.  She finally took a seat somewhere in the middle, and Leonardo only paused momentarily to sit next to her (the bus was quite crowded and no party was to be treated to individual seats) and when he did he minded the space between the two very determinedly.  They didn’t say a word the whole 20-minute ride, and only did Leonardo make a gesturing “uh,” at the end of the ride.  The cryptic sound was then explained to Mallory when Leonardo stood up, so she followed Leonardo’s lead and got up too.  They got out of the bus and Mallory looked around, taking in her surroundings, and quickly realizing they were at a park.  It was quite cold and Mallory wondered why they were going to an outdoor park in this weather (though no matter the weather Mallory would’ve wondered this).  Leonardo motioned for Mallory to follow him, and she had this far so there was no point in doing anything else.  He led her through the park to an old building, quite a distance away from the play of small children, people exercising, or families enjoying the scenery.

The building was quite rundown looking, made of brick, and about the size of a room of a house, maybe larger. There was no entrance to be seen, and Mallory was very impressed by the strength of the structure, withstanding this weather quite easily it seemed.  The entrance became apparent when Leonardo led her around the back of the building and through an area of brush, where stood a metal door extremely large and thick.  This building must have been made for something secretive, for again Mallory found an obstacle in entering when there was no doorknob visible.  But again Leonardo had the answer and pulled on what seemed to be a dent on the left side of the door, thus opening the old building enough for their walking through. When they got inside Mallory was quite impressed, for the inside must have been the absolute opposition to the outer walls.  The place was fully carpeted and lit, with bean bags, tables, and everything you would expect to find in any lounge all put in this room.  As if Leonardo taking her off on this trip, and then Mallory seeing this building wasn’t enough surprise for that particular moment, who else would encompass the building than John lazing back in a bean bag chair, and Lawson siting up in a circular chair, both looking rather unsteady.  When Leonardo came in shortly followed by Mallory, they gave a start, (even John) despite the fact they looked as if they had been staring at the passageway very distinctly for at least the last hour.  Lawson straightened up a bit in his chair, as if a teacher had just walked in, and they both looked expectantly at Leonardo, waiting for him to lead in whatever renegade the boys had set up. 
“What’s going on?” Mallory asked, as the sickening feeling she had been feeling this whole trip suddenly swelled up to an almost uncontrollable amount. 
“Uh, well, would you like to sit down?” Leonardo asked, motioning with one hand and scratching the back of his head with the other. 
Mallory would’ve liked to say flat out ‘no’, for she thought she had been tested quite enough this afternoon and regretted as she had, mostly since she said ‘okay’ to Leonardo, again coming.  Instead she hesitated, then sat down at the very edge of a seat distinctly away from where Lawson and John sat, and waited.
“All right, well, um,” Leonardo began, and then stopped for a pause, all the while John looking like he was getting more and more impatient.
“You were at the… dream, meeting last week, weren’t you?” John finally said, this being the first clue given to Mallory over the reason for this unexpected meeting, (though she had guessed that it had something to do with what she witnessed on Wednesday.  For there was an extremely small amount of reasons on the list of why she would be taken off on a meeting with Leonardo, much less Leonardo, John and Lawson.) 
“Um, yeah, I stayed for the meeting so that afterward I could take my little brother, Jeff, home.  Why?”
“Right,” John started, before Leonardo interrupted him.
“Okay, um, good, well, you didn’t happen to hear something, did you?” Leonardo asked.
Mallory immediately and involuntarily turned red, and hoped it wasn’t noticed by the others in the room.  She knew this was way too big of a coincidence that they would ask her that, they had seen her eavesdropping.  Mallory prepared to start defending herself, when she was thankfully saved by a follow-up from Leonardo.
“Or, really, you didn’t say something to Mr. Padino, or one of the teachers about us, did you?”
“Umm,” Mallory was caught off guard by this question, and frankly was still very relieved by the improbable save she had just received.
“I told you this was a bad idea, as if she is going to tell us even if she did,” John said, evidently feeling that he really didn’t care about how he came across, rude or not, to Mallory.  Though did John ever?
“Lincoln,” Leonardo interrupted, somewhat urgently, obviously more concerned with how they looked than John was.
“No, I didn’t talk to anyone about you,” and then with an added glance towards John, “really, I didn’t.  I’m not lying to you,” Mallory responded, desperately, (though for an unknown reason to Mallory,) wanting them to know she did have the answer to whatever issue they were having. 
“No, we didn’t think you would lie, or…” Leonardo said.  Though stopped when he saw how futile continuing would be.  And of course, John’s expression hadn’t changed in the slightest.  Mallory however, smiled, in an uncomfortable way, knowing that there wasn’t an inch of truth in what Leonardo was saying, no matter how much less awkward this would be if there had been. 
“So, nothing right?” Leonardo summed up, looking hopeful.
“Nothing, not a word.” Mallory responded. 
“Good, um, that’s good.” Leonardo said, looking very relieved, and then slumped back on the couch. 
Mallory however didn’t have any weight lifted off of her back from this, left just as clueless as ever, and extremely uncomfortable.
“What is this about?” Mallory asked, fully confident this time that she deserved an explaining answer. 
Leonardo looked up at her with a surprised, questioning stare, as if this question was very random and odd to be asked at the time.  “Oh, well, um…” and he looked over at Lawson and John, as they looked back, all of them with blank looks on their face, none prepared to answer the question.
Mallory was getting quite fed up, and her patience (accompanied a little by her manners and reservation) was slipping rapidly.  “You surprise me with some meeting to talk to me, put me on a bus to… I have no idea where, take me to some… secret hideout (she said while looking around the room), interrogate and little short of outright accuse me of leaking some secret information, and now act as if I don’t at least deserve some kind of explanation?”  Mallory asked, and seconds afterward realized she was standing and yelling, and what’s more had just yelled that and immediately blushed and fell into the chair again, wishing more than she had ever before for a time machine right then.
Keep in mind, Mallory had been through quite a lot this afternoon, and was really quite flustered.  In addition to the generous manners the boys had showed her, could you really blame her for this outburst? 
The only responses she got for a moment were John looking mildly amused, Leonardo looking surprised and a little worried, and Lawson looking nervous and very middle of the road.
After a minute, Leonardo said, “She’s right, we have to tell her something, um, I’m sorry, Mallory,”
Mallory wished she had kept her mouth shut, but out of habit said back “No, it’s fine,” very regretfully.  Which only added another level of amusement onto John’s face, but he became serious when it came to what information they did and did not disclose to Mallory. 
“…Could you, like, step outside for a minute or something?” John suggested hopefully.
“Oh, come on.  She's been through enough, just tell her,” objected Lawson, and Mallory got a small sense of happiness, having not ever really known Lawson at all. 
“…Fine.  You obviously know about the dream catchers, right?” John asked, sounding only slightly put off.
It, again, took Mallory a moment to register that John was speaking to her, and then said, “Oh, yeah.”
“Well, to put things simply, we are against them, and work in opposition to them.  We work on figuring out how we can get rid of them.  But, as you already know, that idea isn’t really too hot to the school board, or, even, the majority of the country, which makes it a little less constructive for us to shout off of rooftops what we are doing.  The other day when Mr. Padula called us down to the office he was really suspicious of us, talking to us about a topic a little too close to what we are doing, for comfort.  When it came to how he found out, we weren’t sure, but we saw that, well, you were at the meeting, which was a little strange, and we thought you might’ve found out something.”
“Oh… Um, I really was only there for Jeff, I don’t really have a stand on the whole dream thing.  I just am really glad that people don’t enter my dreams as often as they otherwise would… and that probably really isn’t how you feel, is it… but I really don’t have such a… strong opinion on it, just a general…”
John gave out a slight laugh, and then said “We believe you, I believe you…”

IV

Mallory let out an apologetic sigh, and adjusted how she was sitting on the chair, not really sure what was going to happen next.  Apparently no one else did either, because the four of them sat in silence for some time, before Mallory finally gave and said, “I probably, should be going…” thinking of Jeff waiting at home alone, suddenly feeling very guilty and longing to comfort Jeff. 
“Right, yeah… Umm, do you know how to get back, or I mean do you want,” Leonardo began, but again Mallory saved him and said,
“No, I’ll be fine, um, thanks.” But then thought about it for a moment, and realized that not only did she have no money, but she had no idea at all what bus to take, where to go or what stop to get off at.  “Well, actually, um, where is the bus stop, and, well, how much is a bus trip…Then, what bus stop would I get off at, I mean which would be closest to the school?” She then realized that on the way there Leonardo had paid her fare after she had walked right past the change deposit.
Again, John gave his trademark laugh, the one that though often is laughing at something you’ve done, is doing so in a way you know he wouldn’t try to hurt you, and makes you feel like your mistake isn’t as embarrassing as you may have otherwise thought. 
“You don’t ride the bus much, do you?” John asked her.
Mallory gave another small laugh, “No, I really don’t…”
“Here, I need to go back to my house anyway, where do you live?” John inquired.
“Umm, Goodsen Avenue, not too far from the school,” Mallory responded, thinking about how weird it was that she would be telling John her address.
“Perfect, I live near there too, I’ll catch the bus with you,”
“Alright,” she said as she got up to leave.  “Will the bus come where it dropped, um, me and Leonardo off at?” and again she thought of how foreign it was to say that ‘her and Leonardo’ had done something. 
“Yep, I’ll catch up with you,”
So Mallory walked out to go to the bus.  Immediately John hopped up and went to the desk the group had against the wall.  He typed something into the computer and quickly skimmed through his results until he had found what he was looking for, then went to grab his jacket.  As he went to the door to walk out, Lawson smirked at him and Leonardo glanced up from what he was writing on, but John gave them only a glance as he walked out of the door.  It didn’t take long for John to catch up with Mallory, despite how fast she was walking to get to the shelter of the bus stop from the frigid wind, and soon they were waiting at the bus stop together. 
“The bus should be here in a couple minutes,” John said to the unasked question, as he looked at his watch. 
Mallory nodded and smiled, but didn’t say anything.  And so they both sat in what would be an awkward silence, but Mallory felt surprisingly at ease.  She didn’t really know why, but she guessed that some types of people are just really easy to be around, despite the situation, and that John must be like that. 
The bus finally came and John didn’t waste any time dancing with the image of trying to be a gentleman, he went right ahead onto the bus, Mallory following.  This time Mallory had gotten very outwardly prepared for the bus fare that would forever more be connected to embarrassment, with her money in hand, only to find when she got up to the deposit that her fare had already been covered.  She paused a second, in her mind turning over what had just happened.  She questioningly put her money away and walked down the aisle, until she reached somewhere near the seat John had already slouched back in, suddenly worried over where she should sit.  But this was never a problem, for John slid over to the left in the seat to make room enough for another person to sit, and Mallory sat down next to him.  She really didn’t know what to do on the bus trip, this time anticipating the antagonizing 20 minutes she would soon go through, so rather than look over at John awkwardly, settled her attention on the man sitting at the seat across from them.  He was older, looked to be quite poor, wore a ragged coat and apparently had fallen asleep in the seat.  She looked only for a second over at John, to see if he felt uncomfortable around the stranger, but he was just looking out the window, as at ease as ever.  She thought of how few street smarts she possessed, and she felt a little guilty, but mostly good, about the nice sensation that came from thinking of how John knew so much more about this, almost a sense of being protected.  Or that he might find it cute that she was so shielded and innocent from real world instinct.
  She had gone off on such a tangent taking in the whole downtown city scene, she almost didn’t realize when it was the stop she recognized to be close to her home.  She looked over at John questioningly, half expecting him to be still paying no mind to anything but whatever was going on in his head, but he was looking at her this time, and half-way nodded as he said, “This is it,” 
Mallory smiled, nodded and got her things together to leave the bus.  She got up, and John stood up behind her.  She walked down the aisle and got to the doors, at which point she turned-around, not sure how to end their ride together.  John was standing close behind her, and when he saw her turn around, said, “Goodbye, Mallory Wakefield,” putting emphasis on each word.  And the way he said it, it seemed to be trying to make some point, which was clearly received, noting and seeming to make a satire out of how odd them being together had been. He rightly considered it less awkward to deliberately make a point of making it a show, rather than try and act as if it were normal.  She thought it foolish to become victim to exactly what John’s comment attacked by saying a casual ‘bye’, yet couldn’t bring herself to leave the bus without saying anything.  Although the idea seemed foreign to her, it wasn’t so strange when she was actually in the situation to say it, so responded with, “Goodbye Lincoln,” and turned and exited the bus.  As Mallory walked away, she found a smile creep onto her face, but she kept her face hidden, and tried to focus on getting home as quickly as possible to the important issue on hand, Jeff.  And though Mallory didn’t see it, rather than get off at that stop, John turned right around on the bus and somewhat skipped back into his seat, lazing back and getting out a book from his backpack to start reading.  But though the words were written in plain English right in front of him, he couldn’t make a single comprehension out of the scramble of letters for a moment, as he chewed on the last words Mallory had said to him.