The Ghost of Junior Year

Chapter 1: Joe

CHAPTER 1: Joe

"Happy birthday!" said Dereck as he grabbed my shoulders and tucked me in for a tight hug. "Ah, you remebered," I said smiling slyly, and smoothing out my long brown hair. "I always do,"said Dereck as he smiled shyly while trying to balance a red velvet gift box, two extra whip-creamed cinammon cappachinos, and a  physics textbook. "So how do we celebrate?" I said sitting beside the opposite seat from Dereck at the ebony white marbled lunch table. "Does Mcdonalds sound good?" said Dereck as he passed me my cappachino carefully. "Sounds typical but I can't today. I need to study for that English test." I gulped a large amount of the cappachino, the cinammon sinking in to my taste buds, the flavor of satisfaction. Dereck looked across the table in clear disapointment, but managed to fix a crooked smile when I looked up from my drink to face him. "um..so...maybe some other time?" said Dereck nervously as he gathered his lunch sack and his thick textbook.  "Sure," I said taking another sip of the delicous cappachino. "I guess I'll see you later than," said Dereck in a quiet voice. "Text me later," I said while seting my cup down, and pulling my long brown hair into a ponytail. Dereck slugged off the lunch table and crossed into the science wing. He didn't even have a chance to give me my present.

I got up from the lunch table, threw my cup in the gray metal trash bin behind me, and grabbed my light brown moccosin hobo bag. I had to go to calculus next. As I strolled across Arch hall, I spotted the growing hot pink shrine for Jessica Luville. Hot pink roses, stuffed animals, candles, nail polish, paintings, picture frames, and iphone cases had overflowed the shrine in the middle of Arch hall. Florence Lanza, A junior that was president of Middleton high's student council and who was also one of the stuck up brats nobody admired around the school, stood near the bright shrine, adjusting one of the roses that was about to fall out of it's vase. A big-boned sophmore girl named, Lora Strevel, stood staring straight at the shrine, tears swelling down her huge red cheeks. A seinor couple leaned against the table of the shrine, having a steamy make-out session, while almost knocking down a picture of Jessica Luville wearing a bright orange jump suit, a sloppy bun, and cotten candy lipgloss.

"Have you had no shame!" screamed Florence as she roughly  pushed the seinor couple away from each other, both their lips making a loud 'smack' sound . "An innocent student from Middleton High just died about a week ago, and all you two can do is mush it up near her shrine!"

The couple stared blankly at Florence, but then shrugged their shoulders as of they didnt seem to care. I rolled my light blue eyes all the way up to the ceiling. I know I sound like a cruel person...but who gives a big freaking deal about Jessica Luville. Jessica Luville tormented alot of people ever since she moved from Florida to Conneticut during junior high including me. Jessica had been one of the most popular girls in school ever since junior high and it seemed like she had it all. The clothes, the crowd, she even had been going out with Chad Buckly, a boy I had painful crush on ever since the seventh grade.Jessica had given me nothing but blood, sweat, and tears throughout the years of junior high to highschool.

I sighed quietly, as Florence shuffled down arch hall, still lecturing the now irritated seinor couple. I had still remembered when the last time I saw Jessica, though. I had been washing my hands in the florescent marbled sink in the girls bathroom, a worried dirty blonde hissing on the phone beside me...

"What the hell do you want?" said Jessica in a shrill but icy voice. She rubbed her left hand against the side of her dark blue jeaned ruffled skirt. "How did you get my number?" Jessica hissed towards her phone. "No...no!" screamed Jessica as she pressed the 'end' button on her iphone. A concerned look washed over my face. I knew I didn't like this girl but it was like she was in the middle of a dangerous situation...almost like she knew her hours were numbered.

I opened my mouth slowly.

"Jessica...are you alright?" I said quietly while the Jessica was held her thin hand to her chest, hyperventalating.

"Mind your own buissness!"  Jessica snapped instantly, her emerald greenish-hazel eyes forming into deep slits, almost like she was the venomous snake that convinced Eve to eat the apple from the tree of life. It had been like I was staring at the devil himself.I backed away to the end of the girls' bathroom, near the door. "I-I was just trying to help," I stuttered, rubbing my sweaty palms together. Jessica whipped her head around and glared angrily at me. "Get.Out," growled Jessica as she gazed out the window, her eyes now turning puffy and anxious.

"But-" I continued but Jessica had interupted me.

"Joe, go...now!" she yelled anxiously as if she was about to be attacked. I walked out of the girls bathroom as quickly as I could.

"Ugh, can you move!" snapped a junior from my physics class named Dara, as I was soon snapped back into the present.

"Sorry," I mopped, stepping aside so Dara could go through. As I walked ahead to my next class, I swore I spotted a suspicous pair of emerald greenish-hazeled eyes, stare me down across the crowd of the juniors and sophmores down the hallway. I squinted my eyes carefully, the intense pair of eyes now looking anxious and frightened. I rubbed my eyes again and again. Could this be? "Jessica?" I whispered to myself but when I looked again, it happened to be the biology teacher, Mrs. Kanley, her eyes turning into a plain and bored shade of swamp green, which seemed to be staring down at me. Mrs Kanley looked irritatedly at the loud crowd of Sophmores and Juniors goofing off in the hallways but then looked back at me. "Get to class," she mouthed to me, seeming annoyed and walking across the hallway.

I shook my head, releived. I was totally hallucinating. As I walked  to my English class, I suddenly heard a smooth but raspy baby voice hissing out my name so I whipped my head around. The hallways were starting to clear up with only a few kids lingering the hall, but it was hard to tell who had been calling my name. I sighed. I was hallucinating. "Joe!" whisper-shouted the voice again. I jumped startled and ran into the english classroom as fast as I could.