Echo's dead, no doubt about it. She hung a rope and let herself drop. So why is she still here? She's trapped on earth, and the only person who can see her is Jordan, a boy who died earlier on in the year. She's forced to watch her best friend strug...
The next day I see Brandon at school. He waves, and I look down quickly, a blush coloring my cheeks. Apparently not fast enough, because he sees my red face, and laughs. His caramel colored hair flops over his chocolate eyes, and my blush deepens. Why does he have to be so gorgeous??
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"Umm. . .hi," I stammer.
"Get any interesting calls recently?" He smirks.
"Not really," I challenge, "But this one guy called me at like, 3 am."
"No," He gasps with mock surprise, "How rude."
"I know right. Who does that?" I fall in beside him as he walks me to lunch. He begins singing under his breath, so quietly I have to strain to hear it. I finally identify it as Carnival, by Ghost Town, and my eyes light up.
"You listen to Ghost Town too?" I shriek.
"Yep," he smiles, "You're So Creepy is my favorite."
"I'm Weird is mine," A thought crosses my mind.
"Mean Kids was Echo's favorite," I whisper, tears forming in my eyes.
"I know," his voice is heavy, subdued. He misses her too.
"Breaking broken hearts," he states, "I guess that makes me a mean kid."
My throat closes up. I wish I could comfort him, tell him that I don't blame him, but I would be lying. Ultimately, Echo hung herself, but we helped. Or at least, we didn't stop her.
I feel guilty every time I look at him, I can't be with him.
I can't be without him.
I wish it didn't have to be this way, I wish. . .This is so stupid. If I need, then I need him. Why do I feel so remorseful about loving someone? I've heard so many things about him, he never cares about his girlfriends, he's a f*ckboy, he uses girls then leaves them.
Echo knew that, but she ignored them. Look where it got her.
Tears coating my lashes, I turn and walk away. I can't face Brandon.
"Harmony, wait!" He calls after me. I ignore him, making my steps brisk and hasty. He runs towards me, out of breath when he catches up.
"Harmony, I'm sorry ok?" He pants.
"Sorry for what exactly? That I can't even look at you without thinking of her, that I can't do this? Or are you just sorry because you're not used to girls not liking you?" I try to sound mad, but my voice comes out hollow, like any trace of emotion has scattered, "Because either way, I can't do this. I'm sorry, I never should have led you on, but I can't. I was looking for some way to forget, but you just make the memories worse. Go find another victim," I emphasize victim, feeling something close to satisfaction as his eyes go wide and his jaw drops.
"Harmony, that's not it. I'm sorry for who I used to be. I used to be that guy who dated anyone as long as they were cute. I used to date anyone, just to distract me from my parents. And then I threw them away because I got bored.
"Echo was different," he continues "I was dared to ask her out at first, and being drunk, I agreed. I thought it would be funny to have her say yes so that I could dump her as soon as she agreed. The I would go and have a laugh with the rest of the dumb jocks.But I was surprised, she didn't say yes at first, she said she hated my type because we were soulless preppy clones. She said I was just like the rest."
He pauses at this point, reliving bittersweet memories, "I realized she was right, and I made it my job to find out why. Why she was so beautiful and refreshing, while all of the girls in my friend group were boring and vapid. They never said or did anything important or real in their lives. To me, it seemed as if they were made of plastic. And she was made of stars."
"Then why did you ever let her go?" I mused, "If you really loved her, why did you leave?"
"She was too good for me. There was this guy, Jordan, he liked her. He said he was going to ask her out as soon as he was good enough, He never said what he meant by that, but I assume he meant skinny. That boy never ate. I broke up with her because Jordan was so much better than me, and she deserved someone like him. But then he died," Brandon holds in a breath for a moment, then lets it out.
"I could never go near her again, knowing the perfect guy for her was dead, and the one she missed was standing right in front of her. I tried to make her get over me and move on, dating more blonde, boring fakes. And now she's dead. I wonder if she ever found Jordan. . ."
When he finishes, I'm so overcome I can't talk. I just hug him. He looks taken aback, hesitating before he hugs me back. He presses his lips to my hair, and everything feels complete.
