“James? Hello, James?”

I snapped out of my daydream and looked over at Mr. Davers. He was looking at me with a frown. 

Damn, I had done it again. I had completely zoned out in class. I heard some giggles from the girls in my class at my dazed expression. I grinned at them as that was expected of the class slacker. 

“James, can you answer my question?” Mr. Davers said. 

“Yeah, for sure, Mr. Davers,” I said with a grin. “The circumference of the square…”

The entire class began to laugh and I saw Mr. Davers give me a disappointed look. This was my History class and I was acting like a complete fool for laughs. 

“I guess we are all here for your amusement, James,” Mr. Davers said as he shook his head. “Carol, please explain the significance behind World War 1?”

Carol answered the question as some people still snickered at my response. I looked over at my friend Joseph who was doodling in his notebook. He turned and looked at me with a grin.

“‘The circumference of the square,’” Joseph said with a loud laugh. Several of the other students around us also laughed.

Mr. Davers looked at us with a serious expression on his face. I could tell that he was getting upset now. “Joseph, is there something you would like to share with the rest of the class?”

“Nah, Mr. Davers. Everything is copacetic,” Joseph said with a silly grin on his face. He had smoked some weed during lunch and was high as fuck. I had also taken a few tokes and was feeling it. 

The class laughed again. Mr. Davers was going to respond when the final bell rang. Everyone got up and rushed out of the classroom as it was the last class of the day. I grabbed my bookbag and was heading out with Joseph when Mr. Davers called my name.

“James, please stay back for a moment. I want to talk to you,” Mr. Davers said.

Joseph hurried out of the class before Mr. Davers told him to remain as well. I stood to the side as my classmates walked out. Once the class was empty except for Mr, Davers and me, he faced me with that same serious look.

“James, why do you goof off in class?” Mr. Davers asked me.

I shuffled my feet as I did not know what to say. Mr. Davers seemed to be waiting for a response. I always had some sort of one-liner to drop in class but nothing seemed to come out of my mouth now.

“I just don’t get it. You’re very smart. You pass all of the exams and quizzes and do very well on the essays but you goof off all the time! Why is that? Do you think it makes you look cool?” Mr. Davers said.

“No, not really,” I said as I continued to shuffle my feet. “I’m just…you know…” I had no idea what to say. 

“You can’t continue on this path, James. You will be graduating high school in a few months and the real world is not going to be kind to goofballs. It is time to take yourself and life seriously.”

“Yeah, for sure, Mr. Davers. I’ll do better,” I said. I was anxious to leave. There was a video game that was calling my name at home. I didn’t want to waste another second being lectured by Mr. Davers.

Mr. Davers let out a sigh. “I sure hope you do. You may leave.”

I nodded at Mr. Davers and quickly left the room. I walked to my locker where Joseph waited for me. He was leaning against a locker and playing Candy Crush on his phone. 

“Did Mr. Davers chew you out?” Joseph asked me in that sleepy voice of his. Joseph and I were quite similar in many ways. He was 6’0 and thin like me. However, he had long blond hair that he kept in a ponytail. He always had a baseball cap that sat backward on his head and wore oversized shirts and denim jeans all the time. Joseph always looked like he was half-asleep as his eyes were always droopy. 

We both liked the same anime, manga, music, and video games. We would spend hours hanging out at each other's homes just chilling with our hobbies. Another hobby was smoking weed which we did often as well. Joseph preferred a bong to a joint but smoked one during lunch at school every day.

“No. He just lectured me about my future and how the real world is serious,” I said with a grin. I put my books into my locker and closed it.

Joseph laughed. “Man, he needs to relax. Come on, let’s get out of here.”

We walked out of the school and headed toward the bus stop. Neither one of us had a car as we both did not have a job. The money that we had was from relying on our parents for weekly allowances. We were bums in every sense of the word.

It was a nice sunny day and I considered going to the park to skate but I really wanted to play my video game. It was an open-world fantasy RPG that had been consuming my nights ever since I bought it two weeks ago. Joseph and I both played the game at night and would work together to do the various side missions that would get us extra EXP and rare items. 

The bus came and we got on. We chatted about the game for a bit as we rode the bus. There was a new mission that we were excited about undertaking as it could get us a special weapon that we needed to fight a dragon. 

The bus dropped Joseph off near his home before I disembarked. I walked toward the house where I lived with my parents and younger sister Miley. As soon as I opened the door, I could hear my sister and my mom arguing. They were constantly at each other's throats. 

“You said I could go to the party!” Miley shouted at my mom.

“Lower your voice, young lady. Do not speak to me like that!” My mom said. 

They were both standing in the living room and were facing off. I could tell that this argument had probably been going on for some time.

“I’m going! I don’t care what you say!” Miley shouted. “You can’t stop me!” Miley angrily walked out of the living room and brushed right by me.

“Hello to you too,” I said with a grin.

“You are not going!” My mom shouted after her.

Miley ran up the stairs and slammed her bedroom door. My mom let out a frustrated sigh and looked at me. She finally registered that I was home.

“Hey, James,” she said.

“Hey, mom. Everything ok?”

My mom shook her head. “It never is with your sister. She just refuses to listen.”

“Do you want me to speak to her?” I asked her half-heartedly. Miley and I didn’t really get along. I knew that if she wasn’t listening to my mom, she sure as hell would not listen to me.

“No, I’ll have your father talk to her when he comes home tonight,” my mom said. 

“Alright.”

I headed upstairs to my room. I could hear Miley angrily talking on the phone to one of her friends. She was complaining about our mother. I opened my bedroom door and entered. Every inch of the walls of my room was covered in anime and music posters. My gaming setup was near the window. 

I put down my bookbag and booted up my PS5. I sat in my gaming chair and put on my headphones as the game booted up. I heard a voice outside of my window and I peered between the blinds. Kristen Foster was stepping out of her boyfriend’s car. She laughed loudly at something he said. Kristen was one of the hottest girls at my school. She was blond and petite and had one of the best racks that I had ever seen. I had fantasized about touching her tits many times at night while I jerked off. 

We had never exchanged a single word in school but had said hello to one another whenever we passed each other on our block. We didn’t have any classes together as she was in the advanced classes at school. 

I watched her for a moment as I usually did whenever I saw her outside. It was creepy, I know, but I couldn't keep my eyes off of her. I had had a crush on her since freshman year when she moved into the house next door with her parents and younger sister. 

“Hey, bro! Are you there?” I heard Joseph’s voice in my headphones. 

“Yeah,” I said as I turned from the window and looked at the game. 

“Ready to get this weapon?” Joseph asked me in an excited voice.

“Yeah, man! Let’s do this!” 

We spent the next hours playing the video game and only took a break to eat. We were able to acquire the Lightning Sword but it was very difficult to kill the dragon. It was damn near impossible. We had already died countless times trying to defeat it. 

After what must have been our 30th time dying, I decided that I needed to turn in for the night. It was close to 11:30 pm and I had been yawning for the past hour. 

“Let’s try again tomorrow. We’ll figure out some strategy to put that fucker down,” I said.

“Alright. Catch ya later,” Joseph said.

“Peace, bro,” I said. 

I took off my headphones and turned off the game. I stood up and stretched my limbs. I had been sitting in one spot for hours and my body could feel it. 

I walked over to my bed and got in. As soon as my head touched the pillow, I fell asleep.

***

Jesus, will these birds shut up! I thought from the deep realms of sleep. There were a lot of chirping sounds from what felt like a lot of birds. I was having a difficult time trying to sleep. I rolled over in my bed and felt something weird. It was like I was on grass or something. The birds were still chirping loud as fuck so I reached for my pillow to block out the sound in my ears but my hand only brushed against what felt like grass.

What the hell was going on? I thought as I slowly opened my eyes. 

“What the fuck?!” I said loudly as I looked at my surroundings. I was outside in a forest somewhere. It was unlike any forest that I had ever seen before as there were so many trees of large sizes. The trees towered up into the sky and had different color leaves on them. I saw blue, red, and even white leaves on these trees. 

I noticed that the sun was beginning to rise in the sky so it had to be the early morning hours. I looked at the tall grass around me and began to slowly rise to my feet. I was still wearing the clothes that I fell asleep in but was barefoot. 

The birds were still chirping loudly in the trees above. I looked around me as I did not see any clear path. There was nothing but tall grass and trees.

“What the hell is going on?” I said out loud. I rubbed my eyes and even pinched myself but this was no dream. This was real.

Had I sleepwalked? I thought. But to where? There was no forest like this in my hometown! 

I saw something flutter by my face quickly and I swatted my hand at it. The thing flew back at my face and I let out a startled cry before I fell on my ass.

The thing flew back and landed on my right knee. I stared in shock at what I can only describe as a fairy!