chapter three | sleepwalking 

Zaiah Dolivo 

"Honey, come and eat dinner." my mother's thin voice makes me sigh and put my phone to charge. I go down the stairs and get to the kitchen. The table was already arranged and the only ones missing were me and dad. 

I take the place next to my mother and my brother, Carl. The only one sitting at the head of the table is my father because he says that men are allowed there. He's very misogynistic. And I don't understand. A woman gave birth to you, little stupid shit. You wouldn't be here if it wasn't for my grandma.

We wait a few minutes when my father appears in the kitchen and we start eating once he sits down in his chair. "What was the work like, honey?" my mother opens up a conversation. 

"None of your business," he replies in an arrogant tone. "You wouldn't even understand it anyway."

"She just asked a question." I start squeezing the fork in my hands and waiting for him to say something but my mother interrupts us. "Zaiah, Michelle called me and told me about a DNA test. What happened?" 

Michelle really doesn't know when to keep her mouth shut, does she? "It's for a project." I lie.

"What kind of project?" 

"It's hard to explain." Carl touches my foot from under the table and I turn my gaze to him. He makes a confused face because we are in the same class and knows nothing about any project. I glance at him that I'll explain it to him later. At least he knows how to keep his mouth shut.

Dinner continues with some annoying lines of my father's and some attempts by my mother to make my dad and us laugh. I and Carl were the only one that laughed.

Nevaeh's mother comes and gathers the table and my mother, being a good person, helps her. I see them talking about something and I beckon Carl to leave. We leave my dad alone at the table. 

We both get to my room and I throw myself on the bed and Carl sits down in the black chair next to the desk. "So what's the deal with the DNA test?" 

It doesn't make sense to lie to him. He'll find out from Tamara anyway. Nevaeh can't keep her fucking mouth shut. "I want to make Nevaeh my fake girlfriend to annoy dad and she asks me to do a DNA test because she thinks we're somehow related." 

How that came to her mind? No fucking idea.

"Wait, why exactly her?" Carl asks confusedly. I sigh because it seems that I am the only one who thinks logically of everyone. 

"Because her mother works as a housekeeper for us? And what does my dad repeat to us all the time?"

"Don't date poor women," he says as he points the index finger at me and smiles. "Wait, she agrees?"

"Money can change everything." 

"I feel like she didn't accept it because of the money." 

Have they met twice and already know everything about her? "She wanted to accept without money but she didn't know about the phase with the fake girlfriend. I need her until the charity party. And going to parties, with free food, with her best friend and the chance to make new friends is her heaven."

"Sounds like Nevaeh."

"Why does she think you're relatives?" 

"She reads too many books." When sometimes looking at her, she almost always had a book in her hand.

We keep talking for about half an hour and after Carl tells me he's tired and goes to his room. 

After he leaves I find an occupation with my phone and around 1 a.m. I put myself to sleep. But it doesn't take long and someone is trying to get into my room. "Go and sleep, Carl!" I yell at him. But the sound does not stop and the door opens. I get up on my elbows and light the lamp on my bedside table. That's certainly not Carl. I pick up the closest thing to me. It was a fake dildo.

Carl thought would be funny to give it to me on my birthday and I just kept it there. If I was to throw it in the trash and something made the can of trash fall, someone would think I'm some kind of pervert.

I get up out of bed and approach the person in my room. But I recognize blonde hair and my expression becomes a confusing one. What is Nevaeh looking for in my house? In my room. 

I let go of my dildo.

"What the hell Neve?" I look at her. She has her eyes closed and begins to touch my face and repeat the word "real" every time. 

No fucking way.

Neve is sleepwalking. 

As far as I know, it's not good to wake up a sleepwalker so I close my room door and let Neve do her thing. 

My sleep went away so I start to scroll on my phone. No one is active at this time so I have no one to talk to or call someone.

I open my TV to illuminate the room full of darkness. As if she heard something Nevaeh goes next to the TV and starts to walk her hands on it. 

"No, Neve. Not the TV." I try to explain to her that she's going to leave marks on it but she doesn't stop. Now all of her fingertips were on my TV. It feels like she had marked her territory of some shit.

Oh, that's going to be a long night. 

The TV has too many handprints and I can't watch it. So I let it go and focus my attention on Neve. Now she is lying on the floor. "I love you, prince of darkness. I love you ice cream man."

She suddenly rises from the floor and begins to jump and sing something I don't understand. She should keep her voice down. Dad would hear her. And kill me.

I lick my lips in an attempt not to laugh, but everything falls apart when Nevaeh hits her head against the door. I get up out of bed and when I get to her I put my palms on her shoulders and guide her to the chair where Carl sat. 

I get up but Nevaeh does the same thing as me and goes to the plant in the corner of the room. She starts to touch it and talk. "I am your mother, bitch. I'm sorry I died before I gave birth to you. I'm not going to do it again. I swer on my pancakes."

Sleepwalking Nevaeh is much strange than the awake one. 

━━

"What are you doing in my room?" this is the first thing that Nevaeh asks me when she wakes up. 

"Look around, Neve." 

She narrows her eyebrows but does what I tell her. "What am I doing in your room?" 

"I don't know. You have to tell me. I woke up with you in my room. Do you like to watch me sleep?" I decided to play with her a little bit because she soiled my TV and woke me up from my sleep. 

Neve begins to move her head left and right. "No, no. I don't even know how I got there. Maybe you're a creepy guy and you bring me here." she says and raises her eyebrows. 

This girl always has something to say.

"Why would I want to do that?"

"Why would I want to do this?" 

"I didn't bring you here." 

I get up from my bed and head to the toilet to take a shower and get ready to go to school. Nevaeh follows me into the bathroom. "What did I do when I walked into your room?" 

"I don't know, Neve. I was sleeping. Like any normal man. Now if you don't mind I'd like to take a shower. Do you want to watch?" 

She makes a disgusting face and leaves the bathroom. 

━━

When I get to the living room I see Nevaeh waiting on the couch. "Why are you still in the house?" I ask her as I walk to the kitchen. 

"I need you to take me home. I'm staying away from here and I'm not going to get there on time." 

I wanted to refuse it but I remembered that we had to be seen together. "Ok." 

I give up breakfast and get my leather jacket on me. "Let's go." She goes out first and I follow her. I go to the garage and open the door. I get the motorcycle and I put my helmet on my head. I handed a helmet to Nevaeh and she put it on her head.

"I hope you know how to ride this thing." She murmured but I was able to hear it. 

"Oh trust me, love. I know how to ride this thing." I start the motor and go to her house.

━━

After we arrived at Nevaeh's house I stayed outside and waited for her for about 20 minutes. I almost lost all of my patience. She finally came out and she apologized because I waited so much time. And bring me a strawberry as a token of her apology.

Now we are at school and everybody looks at us. I mean at my hands around her shoulders. "I don't like how people look at us." She whispered to me. 

"You have to get used to it. At least for a month."

I and Nevaeh walked until I reached my locker. "We will meet at the tree behind the school in period 3 to discuss our plan, OK?"

Never nods and I kiss her forehead before she goes to Tamara. 

━━

When I arrived at the tree Neve is already there. She sits on the bench. I sit down next to her and when she feels my presence she raises her head and smiles at me. "Oh, hello." 

"OK so let's go straight to the rules."

"Wait."

She is looking for something in her bag and when she is finished she puts a notebook and a pencil on the bench. "What for?" I ask her curiously.

"So I don't forget something. I have a really bad memory." 

I let this thing go and I start to say my rules."The first rule is to not give up on this plan. You are not allowed to abandon this plan."

She starts writing in her notebook what I tell her. "You can continue." Neve lets me know that I can move on. "The second rule is not the tell anyone. Besides Tamara because I know you already did it." She smiles at me innocently but I ignore her. "The third rule is to act like a couple. We are gonna hold hands, kiss, sit beside each other in classes, you are gonna come with me to parties, and so on."

She writes again. "And the last rule is not to fall in love. Now, what are your rules?"

Neve is thinking for a few minutes before she talks. "Well... To drive me to school and home every day, to hug me from behind, dance bachata with me at least once, dance in the rain together, and… I don't know. I think that's it."

"Do you realize that is included in rule number three?" Neve is looking at her notebook. "Oh, yeah it's it. "

I roll my eyes and get up from the bench. "Wait."

"What?" 

"I have a rule. Let's remain friends after this."

This is taking me by surprise. 

"You don't want to be friends with someone like me." If that wasn't dramatic, I don't know what is.

━━

Ok, so this is the first time I write without Google Translate so I don't think all the words are correct.

I hate so much this chapter but I hope you will like it.

Have a good day/night! <3