Hell High

Chapter One

Have you ever wondered what happens after death? The Christians believe in Heaven and Hell, the Jewish believe in judgement for your actions and the Buddhists believe in Reincarnation, but which of these beliefs are right? In a way, they all are. You might ask how I know of this, and for my answer, well, I guess you could say I have a little bit of experience in the subject. You see, I died at the miserable age of seventeen, which is just a filler year. When you're sixteen, you can learn to drive and at eighteen you're basically a free adult. When you're seventeen, nothing important ever occurs. Most people forget what happened in that insignificant stage of life.

    But I didn't. How could you forget your death?

    My name is Ava Greene and this is the story of my life after death.

    "Did you hear?" My best friend Kaitlyn Ross leaned in close to me and my other friend, Kayla Draper. Kaitlyn had bright red, shoulder length hair and blue eyes. Her voice was normally loud, and everyone in a mile radius would be able to hear her if she got angry (which rarely happened). However, although she had a loud voice, she was a petite girl, who cared very much for telling other people's secrets. Her voice became hushed and we both knew that whatever gossip she was about to spew were going to be good. "Chase broke up with her!"

    My eyebrows rose in suspicion. Chase Warren and Brooklyn Sumner were the biggest couple in the whole school. Although they were well known, Chase was a bit of a jerk and Brooklyn..., well, let's just say if you got on her bad side, you wouldn't ever see the day again. "Are you sure?" I asked quickly. "They've been together for, like, eight years! If they broke up, I'm pretty sure I would've heard of it."

    Kayla, however, was squealing. She had short blonde hair that she had to get cut after her little brother found the scissors when she was babysitting him. Her eyes were a misty grey, and out of all of us, she was the tallest. Compared to Kaitlyn, she was a mountain. "You mean Chase might actually be single for the first time since I laid eyes on him?" Her squeals became so high pitched, I was surprised when a horde of dogs didn't come to ravage the cafeteria. I eyed her, a small smile on my face and shoveled some mashed potatoes into my mouth. She'd had a crush on Chase since the day she met him. Unfortunately, he had been dating Brooklyn for at least twice that long.

    "That doesn't mean he's emotionally ready for dating yet." Kaitlyn quipped, watching the excitement in Kayla's eyes dim until there was no light left. She slumped onto the table, her elbows landing in my potatoes.

    "Hey!" I whined, moving her arms. "I was eating that!"

    They paid me no attention as Kayla let out all of the fake sobs her body could muster. Kaitlyn scoffed, looking out the far window. I'd noticed the two of them fighting a lot lately, yet neither of them had told me what their quarrel was. It made me feel like I wasn't included in the ten year long friendship, but I knew that if I questioned them, it would just make their fight worse. I couldn't bear to lose a friend, as I'd already lost so many.

    Suddenly, Kayla perked up, like a dog who just saw a squirrel. "Ooh, Ava! New guy's definitely checking you out!" She pretended to swoon, "and he's hot!"

    I followed her finger that was very obviously pointing at the so-called, scrawny new guy. He had shaggy black hair that almost covered his similarly colored eyes that were indeed staring at our table. He had a type of height that was slightly intimidating, but I wouldn't be looking up at him. His clothes were like nothing I'd ever seen someone wear. His skinny jeans were a shade of black that seemed to drain the light around it. He wore a dark trench coat that was mostly buttoned, but not enough to see the black t-shirt underneath. His skin was a pale color, the type that indicated that he never got sun, which was odd as it rarely rained in my hometown. Something about him made me drawn towards him. When he saw my staring back, he smiled some pearly white teeth, showing off his many dimples.