A Ghost of A Smile

Chapter 1: Flashback

A buzz in my bag caught my attention. With shaking fingers, I dug around until I found my phone. It was a late voicemail. I pressed LISTEN, and held the phone up to my ear.

Then I screamed.

One year earlier...

"Trinity, I know this guy..." My best friend began. I groaned.

"Ok, how about I cut this conversation short?" I said. She rolled her eyes.

"Just hear me out, he's a nice guy." Lori said.

"Lori we've been through this. I don't want to go on a blind date with one of the guys you went out with once and then dumped and he couldn't get over it so you're passing him on to me." She shook her head.

"He's nice..." she said meekly.

"I don't care if he's nice. You know how this goes: you try to get me to go on meaningless dates and when I reject you pout for an hour." I grabbed my math book and slammed my locker shut.

"This is different, this time I'll pout for two hours." I had to laugh.

"Lori, I love you, you're one of my best friends, but you know why I don't like to date." She grumbled something under her breath. Thankfully, we were almost to my classroom and I could ditch her for a while.

"Come on, you'll never know..." she sang. I stopped walking and stood outside my math class.

"High school relationships never last. I don't want some... fling." I leaned my head against the cool doorframe, "I want love, real love. The kind that makes you want to sing and dance and climb a mountain just so you can scream it out to the world." Just thinking about it made my heart thump.

"How will you ever find that if you don't put yourself out there?" Lori dated a new guy practically every week. There was no way she could understand what I was feeling.

"If it's meant to be, I'll know it the minute I lay eyes on him that he's the one." Lori let out a grunt.

"Whatever, have fun in your little fantasy world." She sighed, and walked away, only to be replaced by my best friend in the entire world, Jason Barlow. Lori was my best girlfriend, but Jason was my true best friend. If I could have only one friend, as much as I love Lori, I would pick Jason.

"Hey Trin," He greeted me as we walked inside the classroom. The second we walked in, Jason was bombarded, as always.

"Oh my god, Jason! Did you do something with your hair? It looks so hot today!" Ava gushed. I repressed my urge to vomit. If Ava thought she could get Jason to ask her out by wearing skin-tight mini skirts, two sizes too small tank tops, and earrings that doubled for hula hoops, she had another thing coming. Jason wasn't a pervy pig like most of the guys at our high school.

"Uh, thanks Ava." Jason said as he brushed past her. I almost turned around and stuck my tongue out at her, but I didn't.

Once we were sitting down, I looked at Jason. A lot of girls were constantly hitting on him, I'd never really thought about the fact that he might actually be cute to them. I'd known Jason since kindergarten so I always saw the same pudgy little kid with glasses and chocolate pudding on his face. I tried to look past that image now, and see the Jason in front of me, the seventeen year old Jason.

He had messy, light brown hair, ocean blue eyes, and a square jawline. He was lean, and you could see the line of his muscles on his arms. I guess he was kind of cute...

"You're staring at me." He said. I blinked.

"I'm trying to figure out why girls like you so much..." I pretended to let my eyes graze over every bit of his body, "I don't see it." He smirked.

"If I'm so unattractive, how come you asked me to marry you in first grade?"

"You had the biggest marker set!" He snorted and opened his mouth to make some sarcastic remark when Mr. Siggman walked in. The entire class fell silent the second his expensive leather shoes crossed the threshold. Nobody messed with Mr. Siggman unless they wanted to repeat their junior year.

I won't bore you with all the boring details of the rest of my day. Quite frankly, anytime I think about them I fall asleep. I'll just skip to later that night...

I was sitting on the swing in our backyard. The sun had set hours ago, and the stars were shining bright in the sky. A silver thread flashed across the sky: a shooting star. I closed my eyes, crossed my fingers, and made a wish.

"I wish for love." I whispered.