Ch. 6

At school, I remained quiet during first period. Truth be told, I was really just trying my hardest to not fall asleep right then and there. Mr. Lancer was boring enough to lull me to sleep, that was for sure. However, I knew better than to let myself drift off. There was no telling what would happen if I had that nightmare again, and I didn't want to find out.

There was a certain excitement that was buzzing through the students by the time lunch rolled around. The girls were louder, more giggly, and the jocks seemed to be strutting down the halls more than yesterday. "Did I miss something?" I asked Sam quietly as we sat down at the cafeteria table. A particularly loud group of girls were whispering excitedly among themselves as they crowded around their table, some of them occasionally waving at certain boys with sly grins.

Uh-oh.

Sam rolled her eyes a bit, following my gaze towards the gossipers. "Didn't you hear Mr. Lancer this morning? He announced some stuff about the Halloween Dance that's coming up. It's not like any self respecting person would go to some cliché event like that anyways. I blame the media for making it all about the stuff you wear and who you end up going with," she said, scoffing slightly. Well, I suppose I had missed more than I had thought this morning. "They're kind of overhyped, I suppose," I said with a shrug. Danny and Tucker sat down across from us then, letting their cafeteria trays fall onto the table. "I'm going to ask Star to the dance!" Tucker announced proudly. "When she rejects you, will this be number five hundred and twelve or five hundred and thirteen? I kind of lost count," Danny asked as he dug into the funky looking 'meat' that the cafeteria was serving. The other boy just brushed off the comment, unabashed. "She will say yes this time, just watch!" he promised. Bravely, he stood up and sauntered on over to a blond girl, and was promptly smacked in the face before he could get his full request out. The three of us sniggered at that. At least he persistent.

I propped my elbow up and rested my cheek in the palm of my hand, letting loose the millionth yawn of the day. "Rough night?" asked Sam, raising an eyebrow at me. "You could say that," I muttered, taking a halfhearted bite of my sandwich. She looked like she was about to say something before Tucker slumped back into his seat, looking rather dejected. "Oh cheer up, Tuck. Maybe one day someone will finally say yes," Danny said, patting him on the back. The poor sap had his head buried in his arms, muffling whatever he had tried to say.

With a thunk, my own head hit the table. I sat up, startled, and rubbed my forehead with a grimace. I hadn't meant to do that. With a glance down, I realized that my arm had turned intangible on its own. It reappeared quickly, though it wasn't quick enough to suppress my shudder. My friends were staring at me oddly, so I shrugged and gave them a forced smile. "Hand slipped," I lied and went back to eating.

The rest of the day passed in a tired haze. There were some bits and pieces about the dance, but other than that I retained absolutely nothing. My teachers must be so impressed. On my way home, I ended up taking a wrong turn somewhere and ended up lost. Well isn't this just freaking fantastic? I thought. Stopping where I was, I looked around and tried to figure out where I was. Nothing looked familiar, so I ended up just sitting on the curb. Not my best idea, but even retracing my steps would do nothing if I couldn't concentrate long enough to read a street sign. Sighing heavily, I leaned onto my curled up legs and rested my head against my knees for a bit. All I needed to do was scrape together my strength, get up, and retrace my steps to get home. Assuming I could remember what streets I had just been down, of course.

Five minutes of encouraging myself later, I stood up and started walking the opposite direction as I had come. That was, of course, when the ghost attacked. He popped out of the building in front of me and glared at me for a moment. I didn't recognize him, but it seemed awfully strange how many ghost teenagers were flying around in this town. "What're you looking at, Casper?" I snapped, pushing right past him. His eyes widened, startled, and he trailed after me. "Uh, aren't you scared?" he asked with a frown. I looked over at him with narrowed eyes. He was about my height and age, with glowing green eyes, extremely bright red hair, and he wore some kind of old fashioned tuxedo with a cape. "Scared? No. Tired and pissed? Very," I said. He scoffed and folded his arms over his chest. "Well, aren't you just a big ball of sunshine! Are you always this rude to strangers? No wonder you're alone, Miss Rude." I rolled my eyes at him and turned the corner, finding myself still in unrecognizable territory. Wonderful.

New ghost-boy continued to follow me, though his puzzled frown had grown into a smirk. "You're lost, aren't you? How sad. If you weren't so mean, I'd help ya out," he said, then sighed dramatically. "Yeah right, like I'd ever trust a ghost," I said, continuing to walk in the hopes that I'd know where I was eventually. He started to float along next to me, looking highly amused. "Not all ghosts are bad, darling, only the majority," he pointed out. I stopped, glaring at him. "Look, what do you want from me, Ghost?" I asked, arms folded. Instead of answering me, he turned onto his back and stared up at the sky, smiling smugly. "Real useful, aren't you?" I muttered, then resumed walking. Still, he followed, though at a more leisurely pace.

All was quiet for a few minutes while I grew slightly more panicked about being lost. I tried not to let it show, not wanting to have to turn to the ghost for help. "You're going the wrong way," he sang cheerfully. Maybe if I ignored him, he'd leave me be. I kept silent, though my hands did curl into fists. Could a living person punch a ghost? Hopefully. "Oh dear, wrong move there," he tutted while I crossed the street. "You know, all you have to say is 'please'. Actually, no, scratch that. Your rudeness demands more. How about 'I am so sorry for insulting you, dear friend Puck, and I promise to never ever ever ever ever ever do it again'? Yes, yes that sounds delightful, don't you think?" All of the patience in the world was not going to help me with this idiot. "Will you just leave me alone?" I yelled at him. "I don't want your help, so why don't you piss off already?"

He blinked, slightly surprised, then in a sudden motion he grabbed my arm and flew both of us up to the top of the building closest to us. "Alright, alright, I'll admit I have had my fun. Now it's time for the real game to begin!" he admitted. My confused look only make him smile widely, and then he casually pushed me off the roof.