I hold my back against the door, my vision blurring slightly. I close my eyes, shaking my head. "Not real... He's not real. When I open my eyes, he'll be gone."
When I open my eyes, only the floral patterned shower curtain is there to greet me. Breathing out a sigh of relief, I lean back against the counter. Rubbing my temples with my forefingers, I slowly open my eyes.
"Boo!" The flame haired boy jumps at me. I fall back, startled. My sudden movement causes me to lurch back, and grasping for what I can on my downfall, I end up slamming my elbow down on the counter and plopping down on the rug beneath me.
"Wow, you sure scare easy." The boy raises an eyebrow, looking down at me.
Gripping my elbow, I attempt to stand, but immediately slide on the rug under me and end up back on my ass.
"Look, I didn't wanna be the one to break it to you. I tried telling them I was NOT the man for the job, but obvvviooussslyyy they didn't listen. So here I am. Cameron, at your service." He salutes me, and saunters over to the tub, sitting on the edge.
"I'm going crazy." I laugh to myself, shaking my head. Finally gaining my balance back, I manage to stand. "Alright, "Cameron", I'll see ya later." I mumble, unlocking the door and stepping back into the hallway, leaving the imaginary boy behind me.
"Olive!" Jace crashes into me, gripping my shoulders as he does so. "I've been looking aaaaaaaaalllllllll over for you." He pulls me into a bear hug, wrapping his arms around me. "You smell like petunias." He exhales, letting go of me.
"You smell like beer." I say, looking up at him. Jace was only a few inches taller than me, but from where we stood, it felt as though we were practically the same height.
"I only had one." He frowns at me. "And then like 8 more." He giggles, throwing his head back.
"Hey, Jace. I think we should go."
Jace gasps and quickly shakes his head. "I think Violet is finally gonna talk to me," he gestures back towards the staircase, "she looked at me for like three more seconds than she usually does."
Violet. The girl Jace has had his eye on since the third day of sophomore year. She was a transfer student from France and he talked about her constantly.
"That's great Jace, but unless you actually woman up and talk to her, we're gonna be here for a thousand years, and I don't feel great. So maybe we should just go."
"No, please. You said we could come. Don't be lame." Jace bops me on the nose. "Come, come." He ushers me back downstairs, pulling my hand behind him. As we round the corner, Jace makes a beeline for the kitchen.
"Help! I can't find them. I need to find them." A girl, who could be no more than 15, pushes her way through the bundles of intoxicated teenagers, and then stops before she passes me, turning to look straight at me. "Have you seen them?"
"Seen who?" I whisper, trying to stop Jace from pulling me away from the girl, my eyes flitting to her strawberry blond ringlets.
"Olive, what're you doing?" He groans, trying to take my hand back.
"My sister. She was just he-" the girl doesn't have time to finish her sentence, because Jace is already yanking me away from her. He puts his hands on my shoulders, steering me away from the living room and back towards the kitchen.
"Wait Jace, I-" I start, but he cuts me off too.
"Nuh-uh. You don't get to make excuses. You need to stop talking to yourself and start putting more alcohol into your orifices. Here, have some jungle juice."
A cup is in my hand, and before I know it, liquid is sliding down my throat.
YOU ARE READING
The Great Beyond
Teen FictionOlive thought of herself as any other teenager. Pretty unextraordinary. That is, until she starts seeing dead people.
