What if I am Josh?

Those words echoed in Sierra’s mind, loud enough to make her eyes water and wake her from what supposed to be a comforting dream.

It finally transformed into a terrible nightmare, Sierra sighed in disappointment. Well… nothing permanently stays the same. Things are always bound to change. And for the worst. But why does it have to be someone from my class?! It could have been… oh well… never mind…

She rolled onto her side, picked up the vibrating cellphone beside her pillow, and checked the time.

7:05.

7:05?!

She bolted up from her bed and nervously bellowed, “I’M LATE!!!”

^##############################^

No matter how quickly she took a shower, changed clothes, and ran from her apartment towards the university, Sierra was still fifteen minutes late. And to make the start of her day even worse, she crashed into Josh who unexpectedly walked out of their classroom.

She was running extremely fast that she failed to stop her momentum on time. She yelled at Josh to move out of her way but instead of listening, he only gazed lazily at her.

She banged on his chest with her left cheek. It was like slamming into a concrete wall that she felt a bit disoriented while stepping away from him.

Skipping breakfast, running more than a mile, and bumping into a person who ruined her dream made her weak and dizzy.

“You don’t have to worry about Mr. Villa. He seems to be in a good mood,” Josh yawned as he turned away from the closed door and stood beside the wall.

“If that is true, then why are you outside our classroom?” Sierra asked, suspiciously raising an eyebrow at him.

“Because…” Josh arrogantly moved his face closer to hers and annoyingly breathed, “I’m bored.”

Sierra glared at her irritating classmate and thought about slapping his face away from hers but decided against it.

That will only be a waste of her time and energy.

She quickly glanced away from Josh, turned towards the door, and opened it. But the moment she entered the classroom, Mr.Villa shot an angry look at her and yelled, “You’re late, Sierra!!! Stand outside the room!!! Beside Josh!!! NOW!!!”

Sierra walked out of the classroom and glared furiously at Josh.

“I thought he will give you an exemption,” he explained with a disgusting smile. He was obviously trying to mock her. “You are an ace student. Since our first year, you are always getting the highest grade. You’re punctual and responsible. This is your first time to be late. First time offenders should be forgiven, don’t you think?”

Summoning all the patience within her, Sierra looked away from Josh and avoided conversation with him. She only stood quietly beside her annoying classmate, opened her bag, grabbed her phone and plugged an earpiece to it.

“Hey, don’t you want to talk to me?”

Sierra put the earphone on and turned the volume up until music drowned the irritating voice of her classmate.

Her nightmare was starting to come true. Josh was ruining her day. She should turn it around with some good music.

“You really don’t want to talk to me?!” he started to yell but Sierra only played a louder song.

She confidently thought that Josh would eventually leave her alone.

She was absolutely mistaken.

One moment her feet were on the floor, the next second she had been lifted off the ground.

“Put me down!!!” Sierra yelled at Josh who was tightly gripping her shoulders and knees. He was securely and effortlessly cradling her in his arms.

“No,” he stubbornly stated and the look in his eyes was disturbingly similar to the Josh in her dream, except that his eyes were blue instead of golden brown.

“PUT ME DOWN!!!” Sierra yelled even louder and struggled as wildly as she could but his grip on her remained firm.

“Just enjoy the ride,” Josh seriously advised before dashing out of the school.

After covering a mile at a speed that was incredibly fast, Josh entered a forest, and finally stopped at a cliff where the view of the ocean was breathtaking.

^###############################^