Chapter 3
Friday morning arrived, and the students of MIT were busy listening to lectures, taking exams, or studying.
Danny was in his Music Theory class, taking his exam. He struggled since last night's Facts or Lies TV show played reruns in his mind. He knew the material, but The Rocking Tones were more important at the moment for some unexplained reason.
After Danny was finished with his exam, his curiosity got the best of him, so he headed off-campus.
Not too far from The Detention Center nightclub, was a large bookstore called Bruce's Books and Odd Things.
Danny entered Bruce's Books and Odd Things and immediately headed down the aisle for mystery books.
He walked up and down the aisle and scanned the titles of all the books. Nothing was of interest, so he went to the other aisle and scanned the titles of all the books.
He stopped at the end of that aisle, and his eyes lit up when his search produced his desired results. There were ten copies of the paperback book with the "The Day They Died Mystery" by Mickey Hanson mentioned on that TV show. The cover had a copy of one of their publicity photos and that famous police photo of the charred remains of the band's bus.
He turned the book over and saw a recent picture of middle-aged Mickey Hanson with thinning white hair and his trademarked nose that was a little crooked to the left. Then Danny saw that this book mentioned that Mickey also wrote other best-sellers like; The Lost Couple, Murder On The Bus, Living with a Murderer.
He walked away from that aisle with that book in hand.
Danny turned out of that aisle then walked down one of the main aisles heading to the cash registers.
He soon spotted Cindy Perry walking toward him.
"Hi Danny," she said the second she laid eyes on him.
Danny got nervous while she walked closer to him. "Ah, hi, Cindy." Then there were a few seconds of awkward silence for Danny.
"How are you feeling?"
"Feeling?" he asked a little clueless.
"Yeah, you passed out the other night at The Detention Center. I wondered if you were sick or something," she asked and looked concerned.
Danny felt embarrassed and hesitated to respond. "I don't know what happened. Things just went black. I'm not sick or anything."
"Well, I'm glad you didn't hurt when you dropped to the floor. You gave me a little scare," she replied.
"Thanks," Danny replied and felt that maybe he had a chance with her.
A few seconds of awkward silence for Danny. "Ah, Cindy, I was wondering, ah," he said then suddenly got extremely nervous, and his mouth got dry.
Cindy looked at Danny and waited for him to finish his sentence.
"Ah, I was wondering, ah," he added and got even more nervous, and his mouth got dryer.
"Yes?"
Danny got a little brave. "I was wondering if you're ready for the mid-term in American History coming up in a couple of weeks."
"Oh, I don't know. I'm getting a little behind. Looks like I'll have to stay up all night for the next week. Are you ready? I could use some help during the wee hours of the night," Cindy replied, dropping a hint for Danny.
"I believe I'm ready?
A few more seconds of awkward silence for Danny as he was still nervous.
Cindy anticipated an enthusiastic response he would spend alone time with her tonight.
"Well, good luck studying," he said, then rushed away.
Cindy looked disappointed while she walked off in another direction. "I guess he's not interested," she said then shrugged it off while she headed down that aisle of mystery books.
Danny turned around and looked for Cindy.
She was not in sight.
He smacked his forehead a few times. "I'm such a chicken," he said while he smacked his head a couple of more times.
An elderly woman saw Danny and wondered if he was loony.
Danny saw the woman, got embarrassed, and headed off to the cash registers.
In the background back by the mystery books, Danny did not notice while Bobby walked Cindy out of that aisle. They headed off to the rear of the store where there was a small coffee shop with couches and tables for reading.
Out in the parking lot of Bruce's Books and Odd Things, Danny sat inside his 2004 Toyota Corolla. He eyed the store and pondered if he should go back in there and ask Cindy out on a date. He started up his car engine checking out again.
He pulled out of his parking spot and pulled back onto the street.
While he drove off down the street, he did not see Bobby and Cindy while they walked out of Bruce's Books and Odd Things.
A little while later, Danny had his car parked back on campus and headed off to his American History class.
While the professor performed his lecture, Danny would discreetly take a peek of Cindy who sat three rows down from him. She was too engrossed in the lecture to even think about Danny.
Danny sighed and regretted, not asking her out at the bookstore.
So he did his best to concentrate on the professor's lecture.
The rest of Friday was boring since it was also filled with lectures.
So that night, Danny relaxed in his dorm room and decided to read the book he bought earlier. Bobby was out on a date with his new girl he found the other day. But he would not tell Danny who she was for some reason and Danny did not want to pry.
So he just relaxed in his bed and opened up the book and started reading the first chapter.
By ten that night, Danny was on the second chapter.
He fell asleep with the book on his chest.
He started to dream…
In Danny's dream, he was walking all alone down the shoulder of a highway in the wee hours of the morning. It was dark and quiet and void of any vehicles.
A deer ran across the highway and startled Danny.
He looked around for other critters. It was safe.
He continued to walk along the shoulder of the highway.
Some headlights came out of nowhere straight at him. It was a bus.
Danny kept on walking down the road.
The headlights of the bus got closer.
Danny was mesmerized by the headlights of the bus shining in his eyes. He kept on walking down the road toward the lights.
Then the bus exploded into a massive fireball.
Back to reality…
Danny woke in a panic from his dream. For a split second, he thought he had died. He looked around the room in a bit of a daze. Then it dawned on him that he was very much alive.
He glanced down at his book and realized he dreamt about at that bus explosion.
Danny then looked over at Bobby's bed and saw he was still out on his date.
He wanted some fresh air, so he decided to get up and take a walk around the campus.
A little while later, Danny strolled around campus where the night air was refreshing, and the full Moon was beautiful.
He strolled down the sidewalks that were lit by lamps and the moonlight.
He saw the occasional student that was on their way back to their dorms from an evening of partying. Some of them even staggered, indicating they had a wee bit too much beer.
Then Danny walked by Cindy's dorm building. He stopped by the entrance and stared at it. He wondered what she was doing at this exact moment.
He walked off down the sidewalk.
He got a little ways from Cindy's dorm when he saw two people sitting on a bench on another sidewalk. He could not make them out, but the guy had a spiky hairdo. But they were doing some heavy kissing and petting. Danny did not think anything of that since that hairdo was typical with numerous guys around campus.
He headed back to his dorm.
Fifteen minutes later, Danny was back in his dorm and back in bed. He was soon fast asleep.
Bobby entered the room and did a little victory dance to his bed, as his evening did not go exactly as planned, but he was happy with the promising results.