Ultimate Friendship

Author's Note: This turned out really different from what I was originally going to write. I think I'm going to write some more chapters and see where it goes. Thank you so much for reading! I'd love to know what you think.

After the excitement of the cancelled test wore off, Zoey, Chase, Michael, Lola, Logan and Quinn went quiet. They were all sitting in the sunshine with lunch trays that went untouched. Looking down, and occasionally stealing glances at each other, they were all trying to process what just happened to them.

"I never wanted to believe in that type of shit." Logan admits. "It feels like there is electricity in my blood, man." He shivered, remembering the green mist following them last night. Looking around at his friends, they all seemed to shrink into their seats a little farther. It was almost as if they were trying to hide from the eyes they all felt on their backs.

"It's just adrenaline. We've all been pumped with adrenaline for well over twelve hours. As our brains process what happened and realize it's over, we'll be coming down. It will feel very strange, and our bodies will need to recuperate, which is why we all need to eat." Quinn led by example, taking a bite of her veggie wrap. Zoey looked at her, frowning. When Quinn nodded at her, she took a bite of the pasta on her plate. Zoey urged Chase to take a bite of his food, and pretty soon everyone was munching slowly. "We'll also need to drink lots of water." She could tell her friends were really shaken by what had happened. She was too. Last night made her question many of the ideas she had about life and death. As a scientist, though, she was open to the new information.

After a bite of her salad, Lola piped up. "I just can't wrap my brain around how fucking insane that was. A green mist literally attacked us. We got chased around by a dead green mist!" She threw her hands in the air and shoved her salad away. Chase was grateful that someone else was as freaked as he was. "I don't even know how to feel about it. Maybe I'll just never hike again." Trying to lighten the mood, Michael replied, "Not if you keep eating fries like that, buddy."

After a small round of chuckles from the group, they went silent again. Everyone was silently eating their food, except Lola. Eventually, Zoey stood up. "I'm going to go back to the dorm. Today was way too exciting for me." Grabbing her backpack, she waved bye to her friends and hobbled slowly to her room on her sprained ankle. "We better help her." Lola and Quinn stood up and caught up with Zoey.

After a few minutes, Chase scooted back his chair and slung his bag over his shoulder. "I'm going to go to the library. Try to get some stuff done. Later, guys." As he walked off, Michael and Logan looked at each other. "So—"

Logan interrupted Michael: "Man, I can't be alone right now. I'm the one who disturbed a fucking dead guy. I'm really sorry, but let's just go shoot hoops or something." Logan was pleading. Even though he was a jerk most of the time, Michael knew Logan was really disturbed over what happened. He relented, and they headed to the basketball court.

After two hours of fruitless studying, Chase slammed his book closed and groaned. Leaning his head back until it touched the chair he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Every time he tried to look at a page, all he could see was that green mist and feel the terror of him and all his friends being in danger. It was, hands down, the most unbelievable thing that has ever happened to him. He didn't even believe in ghosts, but he spent all of last night running from one.

Looking around, he realized there was no one left in the library. There weren't many people around two hours ago, but now he didn't see anyone. He got up and took a walk around the floor of the library. There was no one in the study cubbies and no one roaming the shelves looking for research. It was strange because mid-terms were coming up, and he knew that everyone at PCA was slammed with assignments. As he walked back to his chair, he did a double take. His book was open, highlighter lying in the middle waiting to be picked up. He could have sworn he closed his book before he got up. Feeling a slight breeze pick up the ends of his curly hair and push them around his neck, he scurried to get his supplies packed up. "I'm getting the fuck out of here," he said out loud, mostly just to hear a familiar noise in the heavy silence.

Sitting on the couch, Zoey looked up at Lola and Quinn for the one hundredth time since she opened up her laptop to send e-mails to her parents and grandparents. She knew the e-mails were short, but she couldn't concentrate right now. Setting her laptop down on the table, she stretched her arms above her head and leaned back. The sunlight streaming through their windows made the room pleasantly warm, but Zoey couldn't erase the chill that settled over her bones. "I'm going to go take a shower. If you dusted me off, you could make a sand castle."

"What about your ankle?" Quinn didn't want Zoey getting hurt worse.

"Tell you what, if I'm not back in fifteen minutes, come check on me." Zoey placated.

As Zoey grabbed her towel and shower caddy, Lola stage-whispered "As if she could ever take a shower in fifteen minutes." Lola and Quinn giggled. "I should probably get cleaned up too. We did a lot of running around last night." She went over to the closet and stripped out of her clothes. Wrapping herself in a towel, she threw her dirty clothes in a hamper and grabbed her stuff. "I'll make sure Zoey doesn't fall or anything. Don't look so stressed." Quinn looked up and smiled as Lola shut the door. Quinn turned to her journal and wrote frantically about what had happened in the past eighteen hours. She wanted to document everything in case she ever needed the information in the future, including the formula for the ghost balls. Her hand traveled across the page, but she froze. She turned her head slowly and saw a fog settle over the window, making the room darker. She told herself it was a trick of the light, but the unease in her stomach made it clear she wasn't safe being alone. "I'll go take a shower too, I think." She gulped, grabbed her shower caddy, and ran.

Chase found Logan and Michael half-heartedly playing two-on-two basketball. Walking up, he called out "Are you both trying to lose?" The two looked up at their friend and Logan let the ball drop from his hands.

"Thought you were studying," Michael called back. Like his friends, he felt almost slimy. Something unnatural happened to them last night. He smiled at his friend anyway, and went to meet him at the bench. Logan followed behind and put the ball back on the rack. "It was much too academic in there. I needed to feel some slack before I turned into a nerd."

"Too late," Logan joked. He was trying really hard to shake off his discomfort, but the buzz was still in his veins. All three sat on the bench. Logan leaned back, Michael slouched, and Chase put his elbows on his knees and placed his head in his hands. "Be serious, Chase. Are you as fucked up over this as I am?" Chase looked up at Logan and stared straight into his face, reading the fear there.

"Yeah, man. I feel like my brain has disconnected from my body. I'm waiting to wake up from this shitty nightmare. And I swear, there was something in that library with me." Chase hid his trembling hands between his knees.

"Maybe it's just what Quinn said, dude. Have you drank any water since lunch?" Michael asked. "Take my water bottle. Your brain is probably just still on the frizz from all the excitement." Michael handed Chase his bottle and his friend took a long drink.

"Let's just go back to the room. We can watch a movie or something." As they started to get up, all three friends felt the long fingers caress down their shoulder to their hands. Looking frantically at each other, they picked up their stuff and hurried back to where they thought they would feel safe.

Back in the room, Lola was drying out her hair, Quinn was pulling on some sweat pants and a t shirt, and Zoey was pulling her hair into a bun on the top of her head. Quinn kept glancing at the window, expecting it to grow darker. Noticing her jumpiness, Lola went over to Quinn. "Are you alright? You're definitely not here in this room with us." Quinn turned around slowly, not looking at her friend.

"I thought I saw something earlier, that's all. I guess the adrenaline is still working through my system." Quinn was still trying to explain the earlier event away.

"Quinn, I don't think this is adrenaline anymore. On my way to the bathroom, something shot straight past me, like a black mist. It ruffled my fucking hair. That's how fast it was," Zoey confessed. She rubbed her hands on her arms at the thought.

Lola snarled at them both. "This isn't even remotely funny. You don't play around with this shit. We buried the goddamn necklace again. There is nothing going on! You all are psyching yourselves out. Get over it." Lola hugged over and sat on the couch. At her burst of anger, the room seemed to roar in her ears. The sound came on so fast and so loud, she covered her ears and bent over. It lasted only a few seconds, and then it was silent again. Zoey and Quinn were staring at her, and she knew they didn't hear it.

"You still don't believe something is here? I'm not a freaking ghost hunter, but this is not normal!" Zoey was screaming now. She was hysterical.

"Let's go see the boys. At least if we're with them, they'll believe us if we tell them what's happening." Quinn said this to get her roommates to agree, but really she wanted to feel the boys' confidence, knowing it would make her feel stronger. Lola and Zoey nodded at her. Picking up their keys, they hurried over to the boys' dorm.

As Chase, Michael and Logan walked up the stairs and down the hallway to their room, they spotted three girls sitting on the floor next to their door. Lola was the first to notice them and stood up to greet them. "Hey guys. We were hoping it would be cool if we hung out here."

"Of course. Is there something wrong?" Michael was concerned for his friends, especially after what he experienced.

"Yes!" Zoey exclaimed, pushing herself off the floor and getting in Michael's face. "We're being fucking tormented by a ghost!" She gasped and fell back against the wall. Chase moved up to her and put his hands on her arms. "It's gonna be okay, Zo. It's been weird for us, too. Come inside." Zoey leaned into her friend and let him lead her inside. He set her down on the edge of his bed and got her some water. Logan sat down on the couch closest to the bunk bed, Quinn next to him, Lola next to her, and Michael on the bean bag chair in front of her legs.

Once they had swapped stories, the six friends felt better and worse at the same time. No one had any idea what this meant for them. As night fell, the boys turned on all the lights they could. Quinn was still staring at the window from time to time, so Logan pulled the curtains shut.

Cocooned in the room, for the first time that day the friends started to relax. They weren't alone in their experiences or their fear. It was a great comfort in the face of something so unknown. By eleven pm, the forty eight hours spent awake became too much. Chase sat back on the pillows on his bed, with Zoey still under his arm. She started to lean against him and snuggle her head into his chest. He pulled a blanket over the two of them, leaned his head on hers and tucked his arms around her. Michael was snoring in the bean bag chair, with his head on the couch next to Lola's knee. Lola's head was on Quinn's thigh, who was pushed up against Logan. Logan had a pillow under his head and his arm across the back of the couch. As he started to drift, his arm slid off the back of the couch and his hand settled on Quinn's hip.

This group of friends didn't know what was going to happen tomorrow when they woke up, but for right now, they could lean on each other. Until then, the light was keeping the darkness at bay.