Angels in Disguise

VI- Isla

High school is worse than I remember.

It's stinkier than I remember. The boys still don't know how to use deodorant apparently.

Gossip spreads so much faster than I remember.

There's already like ten rumors going on about Margaret and I, and most of them were started by Scarlet, Zara, and Ashley.

We keep hanging out with Kira. It's nice to have friend, even if she's known as "the weird ghost girl".

It seems like she doesn't suspect a thing about us. No one does. No one's made a connection between Margaret and Isla dying and Tiffany and Millie showing up not two weeks later.

All in all, it's been a fairly good week so far.

•••

On Friday we confer with Kira, finalizing the details of our mall trip this weekend.

Kira runs up after sixth period.

"You guys still on for this weekend?" she asks excitedly. It's like she's never been able to hang out before. Maybe she hasn't. She was always a loner whenever I noticed her when we were alive.

"Yep!" Margaret says with a bright smile.

I nod too.

"Do you guys want to come over to my house after?" she asks.

I glance at Margaret. The only thing we have planned is trying to activate our bracelets, and that isn't exactly on a set schedule.

"Sure!" I say with a smile.

And just like that, our Saturday activities get extended.

•••

We wake up on Saturday ridiculously early, courtesy of autopilot.

I look at my new phone from the High Angel.

On it is a text from Kira, who's we'd gotten on Thursday so we could talk and plan for shopping.

The conversation goes as follows:

Kira: We still good for today?

Me: Yep. The mall at the plaza?

Kira: Yea

(A pause)

Kira: You guys wanna come to my house after? I have popcorn and movies

Me: Sure

I climb out of bed and quickly get dressed as Margaret comes out of the bathroom with a towel around her head.

"Slight change of plans, we're going to Kira's place after so we can watch movies and eat popcorn," I tell her as she brushes her hair.

"Ok," she says. "Any luck with your bracelet? Ugh this knot!" she scowls as she tugs the brush against a stubborn section of hair.

I giggle. "Nope."

"Darn," she says. "Why are they so hard to activate?"

"Dunno," I say, grabbing my shoes and pulling them on. "You ready?"

"Yup!" She replies, laying the hairbrush on the table, then walking over and grabbing a waffle from the toaster.

"So no," I say with a laugh.

•••

We have a delightful time at the mall with Kira.

I come home with a new belt, boots, earrings, and a cool necklace.

Margaret gets a new outfit and a handbag.

Kira turns out to live in the rich part of town, which I never would've guessed considering she never talks about it.

Her house is huge, and her room is as large as our entire small apartment.

Her room is surprising compared to the rest of the airy, minimalistic house, but not compared to Kira's personality.

There's stuff everywhere, and it's all dark toned. I catch sight of many ghost books and books about the Realm of Infinite Heart and the Realm of Torn Souls.

I share a glance with Margaret. Is she onto us?

She doesn't seem to be, as she just turns on the tv and heads towards the popcorn machine.

"You have a popcorn machine in your BEDROOM!?" I blurt out.

Margaret giggles, but Kira just smiles.

"Yep, perks of being a rich kid," she says.

We settle down and turn on Mean Girls.

•••

As we're going to leave, Kira looks at us suspiciously and then at her books, but doesn't say anything.

We walk out of the mansion, and I turn to Margaret.

"Do you think she's on to us?" I ask.

"I don't think so," she says, but she doesn't sound very sure.

"We've been subtle..." I say doubtfully. "Right?"