I had defiantly never heard of it, and I defiantly didn't believe him when he told me he had it.
Insomniatic Schizophrenia. Or, as he explained to me, hearing voices in your sleep. Not much different from classic schizophrenia, I suppose, but his condition dealt damage directly to his body. He tried to explain it to me, but all I got was something about his brain (the voices) wouldn't let his body recuperate, and it was turning him into an insomniac...hence the name.

Beep! Beep! Beep!
I groaned. My heavy lids slid open to glare at my alarm clock that was not going off.
Beep! Beep! Beep!
I sighed and rolled over to the other side of my bed, when I saw my clock read 3:30 a.m.
Beep! Beep! Beep!
I annoyingly threw my arm out from under the warm covers and into the room temperature air to snatch up my phone.
Beep! Beep! Be-
I flipped open my cell phone and grunted. I let my eyes adjust for a moment before I let me fingers fly.

'Hey u awake?' From: Luke, blinded me.
'I am now...' I texted back.
'O sry.'
'Whats up?' I asked.
'Cudnt sleep.'
'Haha funny.' Note my sarcasm.
'So what r u doing?'
'I was sleeping...'
'O rite.'
'Sigh...whats the topic gonna b 2nite?'
'I don’t want 2 keep u up.'
'2 late. It dosnt matter anyway.'
'Ok...' And the conversation continued from there. Until about 4:05 when I accidentally fell back asleep.

"You look horrible." Luke laughed at me the next morning...well the same morning, when I stumbled into the band room at our high school, looking like a zombie.
"I think I smashed my alarm clock." I grunted as I headed over to the band lockers. I lazily stashed my flute and music and turned back to see that he had expectedly followed me. Luke had always been a couple inches taller then me...well, for the whole 2 months that I had known him. He had very short brown hair and a ridiculously cute smile that sometimes made my knees buckle.

"You fell asleep on me." He nudged my playfully but I didn't have time to respond because the late bell rang class erupted into the buzz of warm ups and tuning from instruments of every different kind. And from past experience...It's impossible to talk through that.

5th hour science was that only other class I have with Luke. Although we didn't sit even remotely close to each other...*giggle* we still found ways to communicate.

Vibrate!
I quickly opened my phone under the table.
'Hey, what's number 5?'
'Lol! Gess!' I texted back while keeping my eyes on the teacher. A little trick I had picked up from my brother who was a senior.
'A?'
'Nope! B.' I looked down at my homework and giggled. I gave him the wrong answer, but as we moved on in the lesson I made no move to correct myself. Ah! The joys of being a friend!

The end of school was always fun for us. We band nerds take the easy way in and out of the school through the band room. My little group meet up in the back corner by the tuba room and make mischief.

"AH!"...The mischief usually involves screaming.
"Abbey! Jon is tickling me!" Bridgette, or Ed as we call her, squealed happily as her would-be-boyfriend Jon, poked her in the side. We named her Ed after her favorite anime character...or at least I think that's why we call her that.

Rachel skipped over, late as usual with a big Baritone case being dragged behind her.
"Abbey!" She screamed right in my ear. "Luke wanted me to tell you that he doesn't need a ride home today. He went home already."
I told her I understood, but I really didn't. Since when did Luke go home sick?
"Hey Abbey," Carter wandered up and tapped me on the shoulder. I turned to the redhead and blinked. He was blushing.

"I-I was just...you know...wondering i-if you would want...to go...you know...see a movie tomorrow?" The whole group stopped and looked at Carter all funny like. It wasn't a secret anymore that I had an admirer.
"How about we all go?" I dodged his invitation.
"Yeah!" Heather erupted out of nowhere. People pop out like crazy in the band room. I'm still trying to find where they hide...
"Oh! Can we go see a scary movie?" Amber asked.
"NO!" I quickly screamed. Everyone looked and laughed at me. It had never been a secret that I couldn't/wouldn't do scary movies.

For every group outing we appointed Ed as the ticket master. She doesn't like the job, but she was the only one who was good at it...so we forced her. Aren't we wonderful?

"So...that's 6 people." She said over the phone to me later on.
"List them off just in case." I said back.
"Okay: You, me, Jon, Rachel, Carter of course, Amber, Heather, and her newly found boyfriend." I sighed at my friend.
"Ed...That's 8 people."
"Oh..." I heard her chuckle. "This is why I'm failing Algebra."
"And you forgot Luke. He makes 9." I added.
"Oh...I didn't think to add him cause he wasn't at school today. Where was he anyway?"
"He went home sick." I answered.
"Oh..."

'Oh...' was right. The only reason I could come up with that he left early was that his IS (Insomniatic Schizophrenia) had flared up or something. And it turns out I was right.
Beep! Beep! Be-
'Hey...' From: Luke.
'Hey! OMG what happened!' I quickly replied.
'I just wasn't feeling good.'
'Not good how?' I wanted to know.
'My head hurt.'
'O...wud u b up 4 a movie 2morrow?'
'Idk...maybe maybe not.'

If you didn't get it by now, it was blatantly obvious that I had a huge resounding crush on Luke. And I mean huge! Ever since the first note he threw at me during Science class, I had been building up my affection. Now, here's the weird stalkerish part. Whenever I find out facts about a particular subject that interests me *cough* Luke *cough*, my brain memorizes the fact. My mom calls in 'retaining knowledge' really really well...and I had retained a lot about Luke.
1.)
He likes vanilla more then chocolate
2.)
He has IS (of course)
3.)
I'm about 3 months older then him (September-January)
4.)
He likes Family Guy (for some reason I don't get)
5.)
He lives in my neighborhood
6.)
He plays Football for out high school
7.)
He plays the trumpet in the band
...I can't think of anything else...So much for retaining.

My dad is a pastor. Simple as that. So he wouldn't have approved of my sneaking out of the house at 11:57 pm that night. I left out the front door like any true run away, but it wasn’t like I wasn't coming back. I'd be back around...Oh, around 5 am I'd say.
I rushed down the street and turned the corner. As I jogged I pulled out my phone and texted.
'I have a surprise 4 u!'
It took him a couple of seconds to reply.
'Why r u still up?' I rolled my eyes at the phone.
'Bc look out ur window!' And sure enough, I stopped in his front yard. A second level window silently slid open and Luke's head popped out.

"Hi!" I whispered loudly.
"Hold on! I'll be right down!" He called back.
Seconds later...
"What are you doing here this late?" He asked when he stepped out onto the front porch. From the moonlight I could clearly see the huge bags under his eyes.
"It's not like I'm depriving you of sleep. And besides, I have a surprise for you."
"You're not the surprise?" He asked.
"No!" I laughed. "Psh! I'm not that cool. Now, come on!" And before he could protest I grabbed his hand and towed him back down the street.

"Where are you blindly leading me?" Luke asked as we exited our neighborhood.
"Into a cornfield." I answered honestly.
We live in Iowa. Iowa is as close to a corn state as Nebraska. So, about every direction you look, there's bound to be one close by. A cornfield I mean. Our neighborhood was a new development, and was plateaued by them, and I was leading straight into one.

"Come on. We'll get in trouble." Luke protested as I stepped onto the cornfield. Growing season was over and all the stalks had been cut down to make the field look like a barren wasteland.
"Don't you remember what happened last time?" He asked.
"Yes." I said quickly. "But I also remember how much fun you had." That shut him up for a moment.
"Besides," I added as I veered off towards the farmhouse where the people who owned the land lived. "We're not doing that again." I looked back and saw he was a little freaked out.

"We're gonna get caught trespassing." He hissed at me. Finally, I turned around and smiled at him sheepishly.
"You can't trespass on you own land." I said. He gave me the 'you-crazy' look.
"My dad's church bought this land last week because we're gonna build on it. They," I jabbed my thumb in the direction off the farm house, "don't own the land anymore." He registered this...but retaliated.
"But they still live there!"
"Stop whining and come on! We're not gonna get in trouble!"

When he finally shut up and made it to the house, I led him around back to the barn. Although he fought me every step of the way, I knew he would enjoy my surprise. I could almost tell he was enjoying himself already. Not that him being ornery was enjoyable for me...but being with him at all was a plus in my book.

Ah, the barn. He was going to flip when I showed him what was in the barn! I stopped and turned to put my back on the doors and smiled at him.
"Close your eyes." I giggled. He sighed and did so. I quickly turned and opened the doors to lead him in. When I took his hand I about laughed out loud. His palms were just as sweaty as mine were! But it probably wasn't for the same reason.

I maneuvered him though the old farm equipment and to my surprises. Notice the plural. Remember I said he liked to race?

"Open you eyes." I said and as he did, I flipped off the canvas covered that hid two very new, very nice, Dazon Raider Max 250cc Go-Carts. (The only reason I knew the type was because, I made an extra call this afternoon. Lol)

"I should get sick more often..." Luke breathed. I looked back at him and saw his eyes were huge! I laughed and threw a motorcycle helmet at him.
"Please don't."

Zoom! Zoom! Zoom! (Like the Mazda commercial!)
We weaved.
We swerved.
We raced.
We crashed...okay, not really, but we came close a couple of times!
After Luke saw the beauties, he didn't even bother to complain about anything. He just drove, and I just swooned at how happy I was making him!

Finally! At like...2:30 am we ran out of gas and had to turn back to the barn. We put the carts back where we got 'em, and covered 'em up like he we found 'em. And as we closed the barn doors, we were laughing and joking...up until a flash light beam hit the door above me, then sank down to shine at us.
"So much for no trouble..." Luke muttered over to me, but I wasn't as worried as he was.

"Hi Uncle Rick." I waved nervously. The man behind the flashlight (who wasn't actually my uncle by the way) didn't even attempt to smile back.
"Did we make to much noise?" I asked.
"Naw," He answered, but kept his eyes on me. "I was just coming to see if you put 'em up right."
"Oh, okay. Well...goodnight! See you at church on Sunday!" I said quickly. I grabbed Luke's hand (Which I enjoyed doing) and picked up the pace back towards the neighborhood. Behind me I heard Rick mumble something about teenagers, and I knew...He wasn't coming to church on Sunday.

It was easy going once Luke and I hit the sidewalk. Of course it was only like...3 am so it was relatively dark out, and also...kinda quiet.
Crickets were chirping...some other bugs were making sounds to...I just didn't know what they were.
"So...you planned that?" Luke asked.
"Planned what?"
"That back there." He jabbed his thumb over his shoulder. I giggled.
"The go-cart awesomeness, yes. Getting caught...no, not really." He laughed, and it got quiet again.
"Do you wanna come to my house?"
I swear m y heart stopped when he asked that question. Did I wanna? Did I wanna! Of course I wanna...I mean want to!

His front door wasn't locked when he first led me inside. I'd known him for 2 months and I had never been in hid house. Funny thing was, the first thing I noticed was that it smelled just like him.
He pulled me into the living room and sat me down on the couch.
"Movie time?" I asked playfully.
"Movie time." He agreed.

But it was more...surprise time (again), because he wouldn't show me what he put in the DVD player. I tried to get around to sneak a peak but he just blocked my view.
"Want some popcorn?" He asked, but still blocked my view of the player.
"Popcorn sounds great." I purred, thinking I could get to the DVD player if he was occupied, but when he went for popcorn, he dragged me along behind.

"I know you better then you think." He said in the kitchen as he unwrapped some instant microwavable popcorn.
"That is to be debated." I mumbled and hopped up on his counter.
"No it's not. Give me any question and I bet you I can answer it."
"You wanna play the random and odd question game?" I joked.
"Yeah, now ask."

"Fine." I thought about it for a moment and decided to start easy.
"Favorite color?" I asked.
"Blue." He answered as he fished around in his refrigerator. Dang...he was right, but that was just an easy one.
"Favorite band?"
"Either Skillet or Hawk Nelson." I pouted at his awareness.
"Favorite subject?"
"English." Correct.
"Favorite flavor?"
"Anything chocolate." Correct.
"Favorite book?"
"Twilight...I think that's what it was called. It was some phase of the day at least." He said as he poured and handed me a drink.
"What's my favorite drink?" I smirked.
"Dr.Pepper." He said. I held up my glass triumphantly.
"This isn't-"
"It's Dr.Pepper." He said before I could finish. For the sake of my stubborn nature I took a tiny sip and pouted. It was, in fact, my favorite 23-flavored drink.
"Keep 'em coming." He smirked and led me back into the living room.

I plopped back down on his couch and crossed my arms defiantly.
"Come on. What's next?" He sat down beside me.
"What do I wanna do when I get older?"
"Be a writer, and a pretty awesome one at that." He slid a glance my way. I think I was blushing. Luke coughed uncomfortable and fiddled with his pop can.
"Wanna start the movie?" I asked quickly to avoid the heavy silence.
"Yeah." He said and grabbed the remote and pressed play.

"Isn't that the guy from the Disney Channel?" I pointed at the guy on the screen.
"Yeah. Shai Labeouf...er whatever."
The movie started off simple enough. Guy's dad dies in a car accident, guy goes emo and fails Spanish class. What I didn't know was that later on in the film...the horror scene comes into effect.

You know...it was like 3:30 am and his couch was really REALLY comfortable. There's really a bunch of reasons I could have used to cover up my story, but there's only one reason why I fell asleep. It was because it gave me an excuse to rest my head on Luke's shoulder. He got all tense at first, but when he saw that I wasn't really awake enough to realize, he relaxed...a little.

Scream!
I swear I jumped a foot in the air. I was wide-awake as I whirled around in utter confusion. Suddenly the TV screen and the words 'Disturbia' that flashed across it blinded me.
Disturbia!?

I about crawled out of my skin when I felt something more around my waist and I was this close from screaming when I saw it was a hand...until I finally realized what the hand was attached to, or rather who.
Everything else dies away...anything around me was blurry. All my eyes would focus on was his sleeping face and how incredibly peaceful he looked.
That was until my ever blurry vision spied the clock, and the numbers 5:15 am.

I scrambled to my feet as quickly/quietly as I could, grabbed my jacket and slipped on my shoes. But I couldn't stop myself from taking on last glance at Luke's sleeping form. He was sleeping! He was actually off on some hill somewhere counting sheep! That's...that's when I did something stupid.

I bent down unconsciously and planted a small, unnoticeable kiss on his cheek. On his cheek people! If I was gonna kiss him for really...I'd really like it if he was kissing me back, ya know? Then...I retreated out the front door.

The sky was lightening and the night had already ended as I snuck back into my house through the front door. 5:20 am, gave me just enough time to pretend I had been there the whole time. I tip-toed up the stairs and to my room. I kicked off my shoes and flopped down on and bed and BOOM! I was out, like a light. Just like that.

6:15 am was when my alarm went off. 6:15 and 5 seconds is when I chucked the clock across the room and went back to sleep.
7:00 is when my dad came in and attempted to wake me up...That didn't go so well.
Then just about 7:35, my mother came in and put ice cubes down my shirt. I was up right quick and she shoved my out the door for school at 7:50.

I fell asleep multiple times, once in the middle of a test. A science test, the same test that Luke wasn't there to take. Wonderful! Just wonderful! All up in my exhausted dreams I imagined that he wasn't sleeping, he was dead! I kissed a dead guy! But in the happy part, he was alive and well and willing to return the favor. I giggled at that part.
Seriously...
In the middle of health class, in dead silence, out pops this girlish giggle...needless to say I got some crazed looks.

"You looked like crap." Ed told me after school. We all rallied up by the tuba room like the day before, but there was a little less screaming today.
"Where was Luke?" Ed asked.
"Yeah. Didn't you do the cornfield thing again?" Amber wanted to know.
"We didn't do the cornfield thing again. We did something else...that just so happened to be in a cornfield." I tried to explain.
"Wait..." Jon had a hopeless expression on his face. He wasn't in band...he just came here for Ed, so naturally he asked, "What happened in the cornfield?"

Everybody went silent for a moment.
"It was as Halloween." I started. "We went to a party..."

I remembered it very clearly. It was cold, cloudy, and way crazy...which is pretty much how band parties are. We hall had been invited to some Trombone's house who lived out on a farm. There was a hayrack ride and everything, and we all went on it...It wasn't until later that we found out some seniors had stayed behind.
So we had a wonderful time freezing and zipping along at 2 miles an hour, but when we got back it when the drama started. So...the seniors, more specifically our drum majors, had stayed behind to scare us since it was Halloween and all. But when we arrived they were nowhere to be found and a portion of the family cornfield was ablaze.

"Whoa..." Jon's eyes sparkled. "What happened next?"
"Well..." I shrugged, "We started a waterline."
"It turned into a game." Ed added.
"Yep. We all got wet, but we put out the fire." I ended. Jon looked a little disappointed.
"That's it?"
"Well...No." I chuckled. "Bridgette-"
"Don't!" She cried, but Amber already had her mouth open.
"She said we should all go skinny dipping in the pond! And the whole band did it!"
We all burst out laughing when Bridgette started blushing like a mad man and Jon's face held no expression at all. I could tell...he was imagining it.

"Tell em' what happened to the DM's. (Drum Majors)." Rachel skipped up. I'm telling you I don't understand where the come from! Its just BOOM and they're there!
"We had just beat 2 huge schools in Nebraska in out last band competition and they were a little-"
"Unhappy about losing to some idiots out wondering around (IOWA)." Suddenly some randomly familiar voice cut me off and continued the story for me.
"Hey Luke." Rachel waved as my crush sat down beside me. My face, I swear, was beat red and it was mysteriously very hot in the band room.
"The Drum Majors from the Nebraska bands came and beat the crap out of our DM's and lit the stalks on fire. Even though they weren't hurt that bad they were pretty freaked. And JJ's family had a wonderful time with the law suit."

"So...are you okay?" I asked later. We walked around on the grass outside of the band room after the group had dispersed. Some tuba's and saxophones were out playing football and Luke and I kept a keen eye out for any stray passes.
"Yeah." He answered. His hands were shoved deep down into his pockets in an attempt to keep them warm, but there was a shy little spring to his step. "My parents found me asleep on the couch this morning so they let me stay there." A flashback of his peaceful face skipped across my mind.
"Well...Did you dream this time?" I asked just for the sake of asking.
"Yeah." He answered.
"What about?"
"You." I stopped walking, and I'm pretty sure I stopped breathing. He sighed and stopped to stand in front of me.
"C-Can you repeat that?" I asked shakily.
"I dreamt about you...and nothing else."
I took in a small gasp as he placed one of his warm hands on my cheek. "And if you would have stuck around..." He grinned sheepishly, "I would have kissed you back."

...And I'll let you guess where it went from there.