Cursed

--> Ch. 9 <--

Chapter 9

Hands on the wheel, I smiled despite myself. I couldn't help it. I was replaying the events of yesterday's evening in my head for the millionth time. I lingered on the memories of his touch, his kisses, his smile, his captivating eyes. What was wrong with me? There had to be something wrong. Something must of happened overnight where I went from caring less about getting attention from boys, to being intensely in love with Sam. How did this happen? Not even five days ago, we were complete strangers. And now? We were as serious as any couple would be.

Something I learned on a daily basis was that good times always had to end sometime. And mine just ended as I pulled into the Crowns High School parking lot. My hair was in a messy bun because Sam kept me late last night to watch the sun set and go to some drive-in movie theater. I came home around 11 PM and immediately went to bed. Waking up this morning was terrible, considering I woke up really late and didn't have time to take a shower. So, I basically just threw my hair up.

Mondays sucked. I kept getting the vibe that I forgot something at home, which happened every Monday, but was still aggravating. I looked down at my dashboard to read that it was nine o'clock, meaning I had approximately five minutes to get to first period. I groaned as I shoved my door open with a jolt, already anticipating myself for insults and glares from every angle.

The slight breeze ruffled my white flowy shirt, making it look like ripples in a stream. I rubbed my hands on my blue jeans and then adjusted the strap of my messenger bag on my shoulder. With a heavy sigh, I pushed myself forward to the entrance, staring down at the road beneath me.

It turned out that the time in my car was ten minutes slow, according to the manager at the front desk who insisted that I was five minutes late. She handed me a tardy slip and I walked out. The hallways were deserted except for the few freshmen running errands for their teachers. My class was all the way at the end of the hall, so I figured since I already had a tardy slip, it wouldn't matter if I was a few more minutes late. I went inside the nearest girl's bathroom on the right and examined myself in the mirror. My outfit looked decent for a girl who had no time to be picky. My hair on the other hand, looked obtrusive. I quickly dug around in my black bag until I located my handy brush that I carried around everywhere. I detangled my hair, which proved to hold many knots within, and then threw it up in a loose bun again. This time, the bun looked less like a rat's nest. I threw a grim smile at my reflection and continued down the hallway.

A boy about my age was walking towards me from the opposite direction with a giant smirk on his face. I stared down at the tile, flashing back to the days when I was a freshmen and didn't know how to handle mean quick remarks. I used to look goth, considering how much black I wore. I even brought my hoodie and an Ipod to sneak in a few hard rock songs in between classes. Then I realized how dumb I was acting and got over myself with the help of Andy chastising my every move.

"Freak." The boy snickered, walking past me. I gritted my teeth and kept my head low, pretending like I heard nothing and no one.

When I finally reached my classroom and was about to open the door, my eye caught an odd movement to my left down the hall. My head whipped around to where I swore I saw a shadow dance, but found nothing. I slowly turned my head back towards the door, waiting to see if it'd reappear for me. It did, and this time I whirled my head around faster, catching a glimpse of the black figure slipping through the wall. It definitely looked human.

Originally, I would ignore it, figuring it was probably just another ghost. But this entity was different. It gave me an unnerving vibe, making my heartbeat resemble a rabbit's. It actually made my hair stand on end. That never happened with a normal ghost. Not anymore, at least.