As Summer spotted Marissa heading towards her, she ducked out of the way, so Marissa wouldn't be able to see her. Alex looked at her confused. Summer just gave her a warning look in response, gesturing to her to stay out of the way. As Alex opened her mouth to ask what the hell Summer was doing, Summer shook her head violently, watching as Marissa looked around, a confused expression on her face, before walking in the opposite direction.

Summer pulled Alex out from behind the lockers, saying,

"Come on, we're going to be late for class."

"Summer?"
"Yeah?"

"Why are you avoiding Marissa?"

"I'm not, "said Summer. "You are, because I don't want her to see you yet."

" Why not?"

Summer's expression shifted as she struggled to think of a reason, when she wasn't even sure herself.

"I just, you know, she'd be shocked. We'll tell her at lunch, k?"

Alex just went along with whatever Summer was talking about, following her up the stairs and around the corner to their next class. She sat down beside her again, still curious about Summer's avoidance of Marissa. It just didn't make sense to her. Maybe it was just a Summer thing, that she was never going to get. She decided that's what it was.

Marissa's POV:

"I wonder what's wrong with Summer. She can't seriously think I didn't notice her avoiding me back there. I'm going to have to talk to her later," Marissa thought, as she sat in class, bored out of her mind. Ryan was sat next to her, but he appeared to be sleeping with his eyes open, so she couldn't even talk to him to distract herself from her boredom. She nudged Ryan, trying to get him out of his stupor. He didn't move. She poked him again, harder this time, but it was like he didn't feel it. Getting frustrated, she asked the teacher if she could go to the bathroom. When he said yes, she got up and walked out of the classroom quickly.

She leaned against the wall outside for a second, wishing she hadn't come today. She felt stifled, and on top of that, Summer was acting strangely today, and she couldn't even keep Ryan interested enough in her to stay awake. She pushed herself back into an upright position, planning on skipping the rest of her classes. She just wasn't in the mood for them today.

As she walked along towards the stairs, she saw Summer coming up them, along with someone else. Great, she could talk to Summer and ask her what that thing was about earlier. As Summer saw her, however, she abruptly turned around and walked in the opposite direction. Marissa looked frustrated, and ran down the stairs after her, finding her stood at the bottom as if she'd been there the whole time.

"Hey Coop, "she said, an innocent expression on her face. Too innocent, in fact.

" Why are you avoiding me, Sum?" asked Marissa, sounding a little upset. Summer immediately felt really bad.

" Promise not to freak out if I tell you?"

"Yeah, I promise."

" I've been seeing dead people," said Summer in a matter of fact tone.

" Stop stalling, Sum, and tell me what's really going on."

"Fine," she said, sighing. " I didn't want you to see Alex."

" Sum, I haven't being seeing Alex for a while now," said Marissa, looking utterly bewildered now. " Besides, I thought you were okay with it."

" Not that kind of seeing, Coop! Seeing, seeing, you know, literally, with eyes?"

" Well, what the hell are you talking about, Sum?"

" Alex goes to school here now."

" So how come I haven't seen her?"

Summer threw her hands in the air. " That is what this entire conversation has been about," she said.

" You don't want me to see her?" she asked, finally understanding what Summer was going on about, well sort of at least.

" I just thought it might be weird for you, that's all."
" So you were just going to hide her for the entire school year? And anyway, what makes you think it would be weird for me?"

Summer looked at her like it was obvious. " She is your ex, Coop."

Marissa shrugged. " I'm with Ryan now," she said. " Alex was a friend before she was my girlfriend, I'm sure we can be friends again."

Summer looked panicked for a second. " Damn," she said. " I'm supposed to be fetching something quickly. Mr. Johnson is gonna kill me. Bye," she said hurriedly, as she left to go and fetch whatever it was she was supposed to be fetching.

Despite what Marissa had just told Summer, she was feeling a little weird at the prospect of seeing Alex again. There had been no contact with her since she left, and while Marissa missed that, she was, if she were completely honest with herself, afraid of her old feelings getting in the way of a potential friendship. She quickly shook those thoughts off, though, she was happy with Ryan, and there had been a reason for her and Alex breaking up. They hadn't been working together as a couple. Maybe it would be better this time around, when they weren't leading up to something more. She wondered how long it would be before she actually had a chance to speak to Alex.

She still didn't want to stay here today, she didn't want to have to deal with people. She wondered what Ryan would think of her being friends with Alex. She wouldn't like him to be friends with his ex, after all. This was different though, it wasn't like she was thinking of Alex that way anymore. She decided not to mention it to him, for now, though. It might make him angry, or upset or something.

She went to her car quickly, before the bell rang and her chances of escaping from this place lessened. She felt a little bad for not informing her friends that she was leaving, but she felt like she needed some space to think. Which had absolutely nothing to do with Alex, she told herself firmly.