You get her alone, but you quickly screw thing up.

You opened the door that leads out of the stadium, and on the other side was the school's cafeteria.

This caught you off guard a bit. In real life, the doors of the cafeteria weren't connected to the stadium like this. You didn't stop to question it though, figuring that dreams were just dreams and go fuck yourself for trying to understand how they work or whatever.

Tiffany followed in after you, and casually leaned against the doors as she sized you up.

"Alright, I admit you impressed me out there with those moves. I don't know a lot of guys that can dance that well, especially in a full suit costume. But I just want to make it clear that I'm not following you because I'm interested in you or anything. I was serious when I said I was taken. You might know my boyfriend as Zeke Cambell? The guy who's been running around your school's team in circles this whole entire game?"

Strange that she mentions that, since you actually didn't see Zeke out there at all...

"Like I said, I just wanted to hang out as friends." You chuckled. "No ulterior motive in place. Although, I do think it's a shame that you're already with someone else. You must have broken a lot of hearts when all the other boys in your school found out. Hey, maybe if things don't work out with your current boyfriend, you might consider letting me replace him instead? I'm not just good out in the field, you know." You winked suggestively. Then you remembered you were still wearing the costume, and felt a little stupid for winking.

It felt weird to be acting like this. You were almost as forward as the time you were in Bella's first few dreams. You wonder what that says about Tiffany if her dreams were making you act like this? Does she like the idea of having other guys flirting with her, or does she just like it when people are vying for her attention?

Or maybe she's just tired of Zeke?

Now that you think about it, despite what she said earlier, you actually haven't seen Zeke's face at all during this dream. It was like he didn't even exist except in name only.

Unexpectedly, she blushed a bit and looked away with an embarrassed giggle, "Funny you say that... Hmm..." She looked up at you with a coy smile, "I might change my mind if you showed me that face of yours. I'm not into dating puppets, but that's more just a personal preference."

"Oh, so you're seriously considering it then?" You teased.

She laughed. "Just take off the mask already!"

You wondered how she would react once she found out it was you under here. How would it affect the rest of the dream?

Wait... Actually, you have a creative plan on how to get Tiffany talking...

Since dreams tend to be finicky at times, memories can get distorted a bit while a person is asleep. Most people don't tend to realize they're in a dream, so their brains try to rationalize what was going on in a dream in a way for them to make sense. That includes making up fake memories to fit the narrative.

It was sort of like when you entered the Labyrinth the first few times and accidentally went into Shelly's dream. You had no idea you were dreaming and only followed along Shelly's Dreamworld as her horny little incestuous brother. Even though you felt like something was wrong, you still went with it because you thought everything was normal and meant to be like that way.

As long as you didn't tell Tiffany that she was in a dream or remind her of anything of that was happening in real life, like the fact that you two were faking a relationship to make Zeke jealous, you might be able to confuse her enough to pass this moment off as if you were seeing each other again for the first time.

Okay... act natural. Pretend this is the first time you're seeing a friend since childhood...

Let's hope she falls for it and not ask you why you were a mascot for another high-school's soccer team.

You concentrated real hard on the dream as you slowly took over control, making it so that the atmosphere felt new, yet nostalgic. Then you took your giant Cookie Monster mask off, and smiled at Tiffany, "Hey Tiff. Long time no see. Been a while since middle school, huh?"

Tiffany widened her eyes in shock as she saw your face. "You..." She breathlessly whispered.

She seemed to recognize you, but reacted in a way that feels like she hasn't seen you in forever. It was like you were meeting again for the first time.

Nice! John Doe, MASTER DREAM MANIPULATOR! You should get a PHD in this or something.

"Man, you grew up to be one sexy woman. If only I've known you'd turn out like this, I would have asked you out first before Zeke did." You whistled impressively, eying up her body. You still allowed yourself to continue acting like the flirty guy that Tiffany imagined you to be, hoping to make her dream feel more natural for her.

But something seemed off about her...

She's still staring at you like she was seeing a ghost. She doesn't seem to know how to react to seeing you again. In fact...

There was a nervous look in her eyes. The same look she had back in her last dream.

"Tiff? Something wrong?" You asked worriedly.

Oh god damn, you REALLY hoped you didn't accidentally manage to summon her Inner Demon again.

She nervously stutters a bit, before forcing a smile, "Oh... Hello there, you. Did you say something about middle school?"

What?

"Yeah... Middle school. We used to hang out a lot back then as friends." You told her, hoping she might spill some information about your past.

Strangely enough, she looked away while faking obliviousness, "Were we? I don't think we were... Maybe you got the wrong girl? I've never met you before in my life..."

What the hell is she talking about? She obviously knows who you are! Why is she suddenly lying like this?

"Tiffany, you remember me, right? It's me, John Doe! From back in middle school! You know me!" You tried to tell her.

You wished you could bring up some sort of moment you both shared back in the past to remind her, but the whole reason why you were doing this was to find out more about your past relationship with Tiffany yourself.

"John? Nope, never heard of that name in Middle School." She adamantly shook her head, "This is the first time we're meeting each other. Like I said, you got the wrong Tiffany Brian."

Why was she acting like this? She was never trying to pretend that you've never known each other in the last dream, so why was she denying it now?

"Tiffany, come on! Stop fooling around!" You frowned.

"Sorry, but I don't know who you're talking about." She insisted, "I showed up out of nowhere in, like, mid-semester or something. I've never seen or talked to someone named John Doe before."

Showed up out of- Wait a minute...

That's exactly what you said to her back at the rooftops. You told her how you've never spoken with her before and only knew she showed up out of nowhere.

Obviously, you only found out NOW that you were wrong, but why was Tiffany pretending like that was the truth?

Wait... She also said something about erasing the past to start over fresh...

Is she trying to convince you that the Tiffany you knew back in middle school is a different Tiffany? So that you don't associate her with her middle school years?

But why? Why the hell does she want to do that?

"Tiffany, what's wrong? Why are you pretending-"

"I'm not pretending, John!" She suddenly lashed out, annoyed at your constant badgering, "Look, just forget about everything that happened in middle school, okay?! None of that happened! Not anymore! The Tiffany you knew doesn't exist! I'm a different Tiffany Brian! A better Tiffany Brian!"

A... better Tiffany Brian...?

Oh, crapbaskets... Of all the damn luck... Her Inner Demon is somehow linked to something that happened to her in middle school, isn't it?

She crouched down with her hands in her face, "God, how do you even know it's me?! I thought you said you don't remember anything! This was supposed to be my chance to start over fresh and forget everything about the past!"

"Tiffany, calm down!" You got down next to her, and tried to comfort her, "Hey, hey, I'm not trying to bully you or anything! If you want me to stop talking about middle school, then I'll-"

"That's not good enough!" She cried out, looking up at you in distraught, "I didn't want you to remember anything! I was so relieved when I found out that you didn't even recognize me, but now you somehow remember everything at the worst possible time?! Stop thinking that I'm the same Tiffany from middle school, because I'm not! Please, just forget everything you know about me and go back to remembering me as the way I am now!"

"Tiff..."

You don't get it... What is causing her to be like this? What happened in middle school that caused her to hate herself so much to the point where she didn't even want to be recognized for it? What was she even like back then? Did she really change so much that you can't even remember being friends with her?

Who was the Tiffany Brian that used to be your friend in middle school, and how different was she from the Tiffany Brian now in highschool? How come you can't even remember her?

So many questions and not enough answers... This was all hurting your brain just trying to figure it out...

Tiffany slowly stood up and backed away from you, "Look, I gotta go... I need to sing the national anthem for tonight's game. Don't bother me anymore, okay?"

Then she ran away without another word, not wanting to listen to whatever you had to say next. She went through the stadium doors and slammed it shut, leaving you by yourself, dazed and confused.

You panicked, scared that her Inner Demon might show up again when she's in a **** and stressed state, so you went after her. "Wait! Tiffany!"

But when you barged through the doors, you found yourself tripping over the WAIT WHAT THE SHIT WHY IS THERE A BIG GIANT BLACK SPACE OF NOTHINGNESS?!

You couldn't stop yourself from falling over, and you were already free-falling down the everlasting chasm of darkness.

"WHAAAT?! HOW DOES THIS MAKE ANY SEEEEEEEEENSE?!?!"

You fell down for quite some time, disoriented and screaming all the way. Miraculously, this wasn't some portal gateway to a quick **** like you were imagining it to be. It wasn't long before you found yourself sitting in a seat within the audience back in the stadium.

You looked up to the sky and then back down again, patting yourself everywhere to make sure you were okay. You were in your normal clothes again instead of your mascot costume.

"What the hell?" You muttered out, completely lost on what was going on.

Dreams are soooo fucking weird.

At the very least, you weren't dead. You were able to calm down before you took in your surrounding.

Nothing in the stadium has changed so far. The players were already near the end of the game. The Home team seemed to be just a few moments away from winning with the higher score as the Away team did their best to take control of the ball and get at least one more score for the sake of it.

Tiffany's cheerleader squad were doing their thing as always, dancing, cheering, waving their pom-poms and looked sexy while doing it.

But you didn't see Tiffany with them. You had no idea if that was a bad sign or not.

Chances are with your shitty luck so far, it's probably pretty bad...

Instinctively, you checked the crowd to make sure her Inner Demon isn't out yet. You couldn't see any signs of it, though. The crowd was still normal for the most part. Thank goodness for that, I guess...

But with how Tiffany was acting, it might not stay this peaceful for long. You gotta find her and calm her down somehow before this all turns into another nightmare.

You got up from your seat and hurriedly made your way down to the field in order to look for Tiffany to make sure she was okay.

You nearly jumped in a fright when you heard an airhorn played loudly, but relaxed when everyone started standing up and cheering.

Home Team just won the soccer match, with a grand total of something something goals. The numbers on the digital sign were too blurry for you to make out, par for the course of any dream at this point.

You ignored the celebration victory and continued to make your way down to the field. Already, you found Tiffany slowly walking towards the center of the field with a microphone in her hand.

You sighed in relief. She doesn't seem to be panicking or anything... Looks like everything was still safe so far.

All the soccer players in the field went back to their bleachers, allowing Tiffany to have her moment to shine. Her cheerleader squad sits patiently behind her.

Someone on the speakers announced, "And now, for Tiffany Brian, and her performance of the US National Anthem."

Everyone in the crowd settled down and quietly sat back in their seats.

Tiffany cleared her throat and pulled her microphone up to her lips as she was about to sing.

You wondered whether it would be a good idea or not to interrupt her right now. Derailing her dream when it was still normal wouldn't be a good idea, since you seriously wanted to avoid triggering her Inner Demons at all cost. But you're not sure what will happen after this was over...

Plus, you wasted enough time playing around as it was, and you haven't managed to learn anything so far about what caused Tiffany's Inner Demon to spawn, or anything that relates to your past, other than the fact that Tiffany didn't want you to find out. Who knows how long her dream was going to last?

Hm... Still, there was always tomorrow... As much as you'd like to learn more now, you don't want to risk anything. Maybe your second chance to start over and find out more will come in the next dream...

Just to be safe though, you'll stick around to see how this dream plays out...

Tiffany sang the national anthem as best as she could. As you listened, you couldn't help but feel... uncomfortable about it. It wasn't that she was bad at singing it, she was actually a really good singer...

It just felt off for you. There wasn't a quiver or a stutter in her voice during the whole thing, but you could still tell she was nervous and scared of something. Scared to disappoint and embarrass herself in front of a crowd, maybe?

You actually noticed that a few of her cheerleaders started giggling from behind her, almost causing Tiffany to mess up. It wasn't cute giggling either, they seemed to be making fun of something about Tiffany as they all pointed at her.

That's when you noticed it.

You looked around the stadium. Everyone in the crowd was completely dead silent as they stared at Tiffany. At first, you thought they were just silent to listen to the anthem, but no. But no, it was completely different.

They were all staring directly at Tiffany. Emotionless, dead, vacant. Just like last time.

Tiffany visibly got more nervous and started making her first mistake on the lyrics.

That's when someone started booing her, causing her to make more mistakes. It was like a chain reaction, one after another, they all started joining in on hating Tiffany as she could barely compose herself to keep singing.

The nightmare was about to start again.

God damn it... You were afraid that this would happen.

This was your fault, probably. If you hadn't shown up and reminded Tiffany about your middle school years, she wouldn't be going through this again.

You wanted to leave the dream before the nightmare starts getting worse, to avoid having to go through that god awful noises again. But you would feel miserable if you left Tiffany to fend for herself in her nightmare, especially since you indirectly caused it.

Should you leave? Or should you at least try to help Tiffany by coming up with something to turn her nightmare around so that her Inner Demon goes away for at least tonight?

Ugh...

Whatever you were going to choose, you felt like you were probably going to regret it later.