AN: Aaaah thank you so much MariaMansfield for the beautiful cover you made! It's so CUTE I can't stand that cute little green tortoise on the yellow font ♪(ﾉ'∀｀*)ﾉ also a shout out to her for her encouraging comments and also her awesome teen fiction (which I totally love) Back At Ya, Bro! Totally recommend it for those who love humor/romance.

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I yawned again.

Ashley, who had just entered the classroom, stopped at my desk.

"First period hasn't even started yet, and you're already sleepy?" she said, looking down at me and raising an eyebrow.

"Good morning to you too, Ash," I said, closing my eyes. "Hey, we still have fifteen minutes before class starts, right? I think I'm going to take a short nap. Do you think you could wake me before Mr. MacMillan comes in?"

"A nap in the morning?" She stared at me. "Nolan really is rubbing off on you."

I glanced over to my left, where Nolan was blissfully snoozing away, unaware of Ashley's accusations. How did he get the energy to wake up so early in the mornings to get ready for class? After we had stayed up into the wee hours of the morning yesterday, Nolan decided it was time to call it a night. I was too exhausted to climb up the rope into my room—not that normally I would have the energy to make it all the way up four stories' worth of rope—and he ended up carrying me on his back and climbing up the rope.

I fought off a blush that threatened to surface at the memory. There was no way that was happening again. I had to start practicing climbing the rope myself. Relying on him for everything wasn't a good idea, because the embarrassment of wrapping myself around him just about killed me.

The whole adventure was so fun, though. I had to practically force myself to lie in bed without moving so that I could eventually fall asleep. My brain was going into overdrive at all the things I had seen and done that night, which were far more exciting than anything else I had ever done.

I only had three hours left to sleep, and I squandered one of those hours on being excited and looking forward to the next week. My mind insisted on staying awake like a child defying their bedtime because there were so many other things to do.

"I guess you could say that," I said, before laying my head down on my arms. "Wake me up, okay?"

Sighing, Ashley patted me on the head. "Alright."

I felt her presence move away. Almost instantly, my mind drifted off into unconsciousness.

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As a true friend would, she woke me a couple of minutes before class was supposed to start. Mr. McMillan came in just a few seconds after, and then there was no time to sleep anymore. I envied the way Nolan could just freely sleep like the desk was his bed and nobody except for Mr. Jameson bothered to wake him.

The unfairness made me want to wake him by shaking his arm off. I refrained from acting on impulse, although the itch in my fingers only intensified the more I entertained the thought.

I also just wanted to see the look on his face if I did that.

During the classes before lunch, I alternated between dozing off and taking notes. None of the teachers called me out, likely because they were able to see that I was trying to stay awake. Still, they all gave me concerned glances.

The only good thing was that I didn't have English today. I couldn't bear the thought of disappointing Mr. Jameson once more and having him look at me with that disapproving gaze.

Derek herded me out of chemistry once it was over.

"Seriously," he said, with one arm slung around my shoulder to keep me moving as he walked, "what's up with you today? I think the last time I saw you nodding off in every lesson was ... never."

"I'm just tired," I grumbled, trying not to trip over my own feet.

"Tired doing what? We don't even have that much homework this week. Were you reading that thriller book you're doing for your book club?"

The last thing I wanted to do was to think of an answer for him.

Was this how Nolan felt every day? My brain felt so sluggish and heavy, and it seemed like my body was taking cues from it. No wonder he looked like he wanted to bite my head off every time I woke him up. Suddenly, I felt a lot more empathy for him.

No, what are you thinking? He shouldn't be staying up this late every night, anyway, the sensible part of my brain lectured me. It's not your problem he does that.

Of course, it was right. I was just too exhausted to think properly.

I made a turn to the left and then paused. Didn't that way lead to the music room?

"What are you doing? The dining hall's that way," Derek said, pulling me along in the right direction. "You're worse than a zombie right now. Come on."

When Derek prompted me to choose what I wanted as we were in the lunch line, I just blurted out the first item that came to mind. My brain was otherwise preoccupied with daydreaming about sleeping. When I came to my senses, there was a meatloaf on my tray. Great. I loved meatloaf.

I didn't have much appetite, anyway—all I wanted to do was to sleep. Eating was one of the last things on my mind.

When we got to our usual table, he announced to Ashley and Melissa, who were already seated with their food, "Guys. Chelsea almost couldn't find her way to the dining hall. Someone ask her why she's so tired this morning."

"Don't tell them that," I whispered harshly, but it was too late.

Ashley was shaking her head at me. "I knew it was weird when you took a power nap before class. I saw you dozing off the whole time in both history and math."

"Yeah, I saw her in math, too," Melissa said, spearing her fork through her salad. "Has Nolan taken you under his wing or something?"

"The sleeping student," Derek said, dropping himself down onto the chair beside Melissa's, "mentored by the professor who has a PhD in sleeping."

"Stop talking," I moaned.

Ashley pressed her lips into a thin line and stared at me as I sat down next to her.

"Alright," she said. "Fess up. Were you having trouble sleeping yesterday? You never get this tired."

"Um, I guess you could say that," I said.

It was technically the truth.

There was no way I could tell them I was secretly sneaking into the forest with Nolan yesterday. Ashley would kill me for not telling her beforehand. Actually, she would kill me just for going, never mind not telling her.

Guilt only piled on to my sleep-deprived state, and I placed my head down on my arms.

"What were you even doing last night?" Derek said, as if asking again would get me to answer it.

"Sorry, guys, I'm going to nap," I said, closing my eyes. "Wake me up when lunch is over, okay?"

"Nap? During lunch period? Now I know there really is something wrong."

"Why did you get food if you were just going to sleep some more?" Ashley said.

"It can't be stress. We aren't even in the middle of the semester yet," I heard Melissa say before my awareness of my surroundings went swimming off into darkness.

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The next day, after having an early night's sleep, my brain and body were mostly back to normal. Seeing Nolan asleep at his desk as usual no longer triggered envy in me, because I had enough energy to tackle the day.

"Morning!" I said to Nolan as he woke up at the end of our history class.

The grumpy expression he made as he ran his fingers through his hair was almost cute.

Wait, what is wrong with me?

I stood up, having already surreptitiously packed away my stuff before the bell rang. "We have the next class together too, right? Want to go together?"

"Yeah," he said, getting up. "Let's go."

I shouldn't have been that surprised, because we were friends now, but the surprise still hit me pretty hard when he stood there, waiting for me to walk with him. I thought it was worth a try to ask him, but I still wasn't expecting him to say yes.

Walking down the hallway with Nolan was weird. A few girls stared, and a few others smiled or waved at him. He completely ignored the girls who tried to get his attention, who then in turn sent me evil glares.

Beside me, he covered his mouth as he yawned.

"Did you stay up late again last night?" I asked.

"I always stay up late." He yawned again. "Did you manage to stay awake in class yesterday?"

"I'm just thankful that we didn't have English yesterday," I said, groaning. "I kept dozing off. No wonder you're always sleeping. I almost went to the music rooms instead of the dining hall during lunch yesterday. I can't believe you can still function."

Snickering, Nolan looked down at me. "Now you understand how hard it is for me not to sleep in lessons."

"Have you ever considered sleeping early most nights instead?" I asked.

I was met with a flat stare.

"What? It's a serious question," I said.

"If I could, don't you think I would?"

"So you have terrible insomnia?" I said. "I can't believe you gave me your sleeping supplements when you should be using them yourself."

"It's not like that. They don't really work for me anymore," he said.

We reached Mr. Johnson's classroom, and Nolan gestured for me to enter first.

"Why not? Is it really that bad?" I frowned.

"Just a bit," he said, as we went to our seats.

"That sounds serious. Have you gone to see a doctor for that yet?"

He sat down and laid his head down on the desk. "Can we not talk about this anymore?"

"Okay, fine," I said. "But you really should see a doctor. Insomnia can get serious."

Heaving a giant sigh, Nolan closed his eyes. "I'd literally rather talk about anything else."

"Like?"

"Anything."

"Why do you hate gym so much?" I said, deciding on a topic I had been wondering about for a long time. "You're pretty athletic."

"I don't hate gym," he said.

It was kind of strange that he wasn't asleep yet. He was usually already snoozing away before class even started.

"Or are you just bad at all the other physical activities?" I said, ignoring his answer because he clearly hated gym. "Not that I'm shaming you because I'm terrible at it too, but it would make a lot more sense."

"I said I don't hate gym." He opened his eyes just to glare at me. "I see that you're bad at listening."

I laughed. There was no way I wasn't going crazy. For a second there, I thought that glare looked kind of endearing on him.

"Sure," I said. "Prove it. Come to class today."

I really wanted to see how he performed in gym. Was he only good at running and climbing things, but actually terrible in games like basketball that required teamwork? What was it he hated so much about gym?

His glare grew stronger in intensity. "I don't need to prove anything."

"I'm serious," I insisted, leaning towards him a little. "Come on, we're going to be in the indoor pool today. Are you horrible at swimming?"

He closed his eyes again. "No."

"No to gym, or no to swimming? Because I totally get it if you're horrible at swimming. That's nothing to be ashamed of, but you know what they say, Practice makes perfect—"

"—are you going to prattle on forever until I say yes?"

"Would that get you to come to gym?" I said hopefully.

Just for once I wanted to attend gym without Mr. Robinson making a big deal out a student skipping class. I didn't think that was too much to ask for.

Nolan groaned. "Fine!"

"Fine, as in, you'll go?" I goggled at him.

"Wasn't that the answer you wanted?" he snapped, turning his head away from me. "Now good night. I'll need to sleep if I'm going to gym later."

"You said it yourself! No backing out later," I said, not bothering to mask the excitement that had crept into my voice.

He grunted.

"Sweet dreams," I said as Mr. Johnson came in.

He actually agreed to go to gym class for once. If I hadn't heard it from him personally, I wouldn't have believed it. The idea of seeing him in action excited me so much that it took all of my willpower to pay attention once class started.