Dead!

Chapter 22

Chapter 22

I started reading a few of the books that Jack gave me, and most of them weren't as bad as I thought that they would be. That's not saying much, since my expectations were extremely low, but there were a few books that I did like. Paper Towns was interesting, and I think I would have liked Fangirl better if it didn't remind me of Maya so much. I swore that Cath was basically a white version of Maya Jackson, and Maya, of course, was the most irritating person on the planet. In any case, maybe Jack's trip to the bookstore wasn't a complete waste of time.

I also started on my job application. The newspaper job seemed interesting. At the very least, it seemed better than the job I had in life. I still wasn't particularly good at photography, but it looked like they trained you on the job. I hoped that I would get the position, even though it seemed unlikely.

In fact, I was working on the application when Maya came home from work. "Hey Ivy," she said. "What are you working on?"

"I'm applying for a job at the Cedar Creek Celestial Post," I said.

"Huh," Maya said. "I never thought that you would be a journalist."

"I'm going to be a photographer," I corrected her.

"Oh, that makes more sense," Maya said.

"Yeah, I'm not that good of a writer," I said.

"Ugh, I think my eyeliner is smeared," Maya said as she went into the bathroom, presumably to fix her makeup. She came back and said, "I could always help you with writing. I have thousands of reads on The Produce Fic, so that must mean that I'm a good writer, right?"

"No, that just means that people enjoy reading creepy, gross fanfiction about band members," I said. "I don't understand it, but whatever."

"Ooh, I think I got a new comment!" Maya exclaimed as she took her phone out of her pocket. "Why the slashfic did they put that zucchini there?! I'm going to need brain bleach after this!" she read. "Well, I have an explanation for that."

"I'm really starting to wish that I didn't hear that..." I mumbled as Maya began to type.

"It's not called The Produce Fic for nothing," Maya said.

"That's still really disgusting," I said. "Can we talk about something else?"

"Brendon Urie maybe?" Maya suggested. "He does have an excellent torso. Have you seen the music video for Girls/Girls/Boys?"

"No," I said. "Who's Brendon Urie again?"

Maya rolled her eyes. "I just remembered why I don't talk to you," she said. Maya then walked out of the room, and I went back to remembering what my grade point average was during junior year or how many years I was on the cheer team. It was a pain, but this would be worth it if I got the job. Then again, I would never get this thing done if Maya kept interrupting me.

As a whole, I thought that Heaven wasn't too bad. It wasn't as perfect as I thought it would be though. I had to deal with Maya, and sometimes, everything felt too mundane. Life in Heaven was just too similar to life on Earth.

Then again, it was better in some ways. Everyone was far nicer. You could go out, and never be afraid. The residents of Heaven wouldn't hurt a fly. I could stop and talk to a complete stranger, and everything would be fine. In fact, I had met quite a few people in Heaven that seemed delightful. The weather was nice too, and the food was very good as well. It was a place that I could get used to, but people like Maya were making that hard.

It was funny. I never thought that I would hate Maya this much. She and I just avoided each other in life. I didn't bother her, and she didn't bother me. Maybe it was just because we had been in close proximity when we were in the waiting room together, and now we lived under the same roof in Heaven. Or maybe I was just seeing her true nature for the first time. I wasn't quite sure.

I continued to answer questions on the application, and I finally finished. I clicked the "Submit" button, and I flopped back onto the couch. Now I just had to wait for the Celestial Post to reply back. Hopefully, it wouldn't take too long.

For now, I wanted nothing more than a little bit of peace and quiet so I could start on another one of the many books that Jack had picked out for me. It seemed like I might get that when Maya announced that she was going to the movies with Jack, Henri, and Raj, and that she wouldn't be back until ten.

I ended up getting through about half of The 5th Wave before Maya came back into the house at around two o'clock in the morning. "We spent forever arguing over which movie to see," she explained. "Jack wanted to see Quantum Labyrinth, since he heard that the science was super accurate and he wanted to see for himself. Raj wanted to see Dominion 2, but he didn't care as much as the rest of us. Henri wanted to see some obscure art film that supposedly had a good soundtrack, and I just wanted everyone to make a decision and stick with it. We ended up seeing all three of them!"

"I wish I could have gone with you guys," I mumbled.

"I'll invite you next time," Maya said. "Maybe you can help me convince Henri to give Fall Out Boy a try. One of their songs has strings in it! That's close enough to his classical music, right?" Maya went upstairs, and I fell asleep with the hope that things might just get a little bit better. 

A/N: Over 500 reads and 100 votes!!! Thank you so much everyone! :D