Dating the Dead • lrh

2. the box

The only mystery is how.

"How what?" A voice spoke behind me, making my soul jump out of my body for a second.

I spun to face Shelby Lawler. The first thing I noticed was her eyes as blue as her plain Sunday dress. The next thing was her wavy brown locks tied in a high pony tail. Her Converse kicks-one pink, one yellow- ruined her preppy ensemble.

Shelby was known for her weirdness and she wasn't embarrassed of it. We had a couple of classes together this year and with all that time, I can confirm her oddity. Who brings a stray kitten to class just because she saw it on her way to school?

Nobody but Shelby.

"Huh?" I stared at her quizzically.

She laughed, rolling her eyes at me. "You were saying something like 'the only mystery is how'."

I raised an eyebrow. "Were you spying on me?"

"Uh, no! I just happened to stop carrying this heavy ass box right when you started talking to yourself." She readjusted her hold of the box. "So, do you have anything to throw away that I can possibly recycle?"

With my books already cleared out the day before, my locker looks like a high end trash bin. In the midst of candy wrappers and crumpled notes, I found a couple of guitar picks, which I tossed in my bag with my notebooks, and the yellow smiley ball keychain someone handed to me on the first day of class.

Her face fell when I was dangling the chain over the box. Then I saw several similar keychains littered inside.

"Just drop it there like everybody else. I can hand them out next year."

I looked at her glossed over eyes, smiling as I pocketed the keychain.

"On second thought, I'm keeping this one."

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