soggylampshade-11

[soggylampshade-11]

Dead Like Me. Chapter 3.

This chapter is weeks later than I planned on, but I'm a social worker and it never stops being hectic. That being said, I don't have an upload schedule at all and I apologize in advance for that.

Trigger Warnings: mentions of SA, victim blaming, language

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

I was in the library with a book when I saw Zach again a few days later. He didn’t look as good as he did the day I died, he looked stressed now. He and Chloe Bradshaw were standing close together a couple feet from me and talking in low voices. I got up and made my way over to them to hear what they were saying. 

“Are you sure she did? Like, did you see it in her hands that night?” Chloe asked, making me raise my eyebrow in confusion. 

“No, Chloe, I was a bit distracted by the head wound gushing blood on my brand new Jordans!” he told her in a tense whisper. “But I can’t find it anywhere. It was on the front of my letterman, but it’s not here now. It’s not in my truck or the locker room or in any of my pockets. That bitch had to grab it when I was trying to fight her off of me the other night.”

Fight me off? What did that mean? There was no version of events that had him fighting me off him. If anything, he was forcing himself onto me and I was fighting him off. I tried to think back to gripping his jacket or holding anything in my hands, but the memory wasn’t coming back to me. I was too high on adrenaline to feel much of anything that I could remember.

“I still can’t believe you let her trick you into going under the bleachers with her,” Chloe snapped, crossing her arms over her chest with a pout. “You know she was a whore! She obviously wanted to hookup with you and convince you to go to Homecoming with her! The two of you together would’ve won king and queen!”

I was rotting in a morgue right now and she was worried about winning homecoming queen. It was like I didn’t matter at all to her and it hurt. I genuinely thought she was my friend, but I guess I was wrong about her too. At this point, I don’t think I had a single real friend when I was alive. They all wanted something from me, so they tolerated my presence.

“Hey, bookworm, what’s up?” Wally asked, making me jump because I’d been so deep in thought. “Whoa, sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.”

I shook my head at that. “Do you see that guy over there? The blonde? He’s who killed me.”

“What? Really?” Wally asked in surprise, his eyebrows flying up his forehead. 

“Yeah, he slammed my head against the bleachers when I wouldn’t hook up with him,” I explained quickly, skipping over the awkward parts. “That’s his girlfriend who I thought was my friend until just now. I don’t think I had a single friend when I was alive. Isn’t that so pathetic?”

“I’m sorry, that has to really suck,” he replied, making me look at him in surprise. “What? I can have feelings and biceps!”

That made me snort with laughter, allowing myself to feel something that wasn’t dread or another negative emotion since I died. “Thank you, I really needed that.”

“No problem, you’ve got a great laugh,” he said with a shrug. “What were you focusing on so much when I scared you?”

“Other than realizing all my ex-friends are bitches?” I asked, making him nod his head. “Zach was saying that something was missing off his letterman and he thought I had it when I died.”

Wally got up from his seat and went over to inspect Zach’s jacket, pulling on the sides and the collar. “It looks like everything’s accounted for, I think. At least that I would notice, but it’s been a few decades since I wore one of these.”

I tried to think of that night and if I remembered anything coming off in my hands. I forced myself to focus on only that and not get lost in the full memory. My eyes were closed and I was gripping the arms of my chair, refusing to quit until I found something. 

I felt my spine hitting against the hard beam of wood behind me, but I forced myself to think of my hands. I realized I was gripping the front of his jacket when I tried to push him off me. I couldn’t see what was under my hands, but I could feel it digging into the skin of my palm. 

I sucked in a deep breath and pulled myself out, finding Wally kneeling in front of me. “Hey, god, you just went catatonic or something and didn’t reply when I said your name.”

“I was thinking back to try and figure out what he was talking about. I could feel something sharp in my hand, but I couldn’t place it,” I explained breathlessly, seeing Wally’s hand hovering over my knee before falling back to his lap instead of touching me. 

“Zach Hines, Theo Wheeler, Alex Walker, Tommy Madison -please report to the principal’s office.”

“Shit, they had to find my pin,” Zach remarked to Chloe, his face going pale. “Fuck, fuck, fuck! What am I supposed to do?”

“Just go talk to them, you didn’t do anything wrong. You just fought her off you, it was self defense!” Chloe said reassuringly, squeezing Zach’s bicep. 

“Don’t fucking touch me,” he hissed, yanking his arm out of her grip. 

He stormed out of the library and I nearly tripped over myself to chase after him. A second passed before I turned back around and grabbed Wally’s hand, dragging him behind me. He didn’t stumble at all, keeping up with me easily. Stupid athletic genes. 

“Are we eavesdropping?” he asked, going into the principal’s office with me to see all the football players sitting in front of his desk. “Oh, they look like douches.”

Before I could reply to that, two officers came into the office with them. “Afternoon, boys. Do you know why you’re here?”

“Not a clue,” Theo replied, an arrogant look on his face that told me he was lying. 

“I’m sure you’ve heard your fellow classmate Sabrina Wellington was found murdered under the bleachers last week,” one of the officers said, ignoring Theo’s response. 

“Oh, yeah, that sucks. Brina was cool people,” Tommy said, making me frown as a stab of sadness dug into me. “Let me know if there’s anything you need from me.” 

Tommy and I had history together last semester and sat beside each other. We ended up working together on a project and realized that we had a lot in common. I hung out sometimes with him and his partner sometimes after games. 

“Yes, that goes for all of us,” Theo said, continuing to answer for all of them. “Brina was family.”

I scoffed at that, crossing my arms over my chest petulantly. The officer seemed to have the same feelings because she moved to stand in front of them, leaning back against the principal’s desk. 

“I’m going to level with you guys right now. We found something that could put her murder on any of you, but you already knew that,” she stated, making Tommy get choked and cough. “We found the pin the team won at Nationals last year clutched in her hand.”

“Why’d you only bring us in? All the guys have that pin, we won it last year,” Alex said, reminding me he was here. 

“We’re eighteen, stupid,” Theo replied, making Alex nod in understanding. “But none of us are interested in speaking until we have lawyers present, isn’t that right, Zach?”

“Shut up, I’m answering any questions they have. Sabrina was my friend,” Tommy said, glaring over at Theo. He moved the side of his jacket to show the pin on the collar. “My pin’s right here.”

I noticed Zach wasn’t wearing his letterman and hadn’t said a word since he’d come into the office. I saw the second officer watching him, noticing the same thing I did. Those pins weren’t something he could get a replica of, he was going to get caught without his. 

“Look, it’s no secret that Wellington was a slut. She could’ve been fucking any of the dudes on the team and got herself in trouble that night,” Zach snapped, his voice cold and detached. “I’m leaving before this becomes a goddamned witch hunt.”

Zach was up and out of the office quicker than I could blink. Theo and Alex followed right behind him, but Tommy stayed in his seat. I wanted to hug him and thank him for being the only genuine friend I had when I was alive. 

“Brina was a good person, she helped me a lot. I want to help her,” he said to the officers, making my eyes burn with tears as I moved to sit beside him and sit my hands on his even if he didn’t know I was here. “I’ll give you my contact information.”

He left after writing it down for the police, leaving Wally and I alone with the adults. I wanted to hear if they said anything about Zach. 

“Can we get the contact information for all the football players?” the officer asked. The principal agreed and left to talk with the front office, allowing the officers to talk alone. “I hate these little privileged assholes. That Hines kid and that Wheeler kid don’t feel good. I think we should check them out first.”

“Hines first,” the other officer said evenly. “He didn’t make eye contact a single time and couldn’t sit still for shit. He’s suspicious and guilty of something. I want to know what.”

We left the office and went into the teacher’s lounge, finding it surprisingly empty. I was grateful for that because I was feeling a lot of emotions and really didn’t want to do that in front of a group of strangers. Wally felt comfortable, something I didn’t have the energy to dissect at the moment. 

“Hey, do you want to talk about what just happened?” Wally finally asked, giving me almost fifteen minutes to process everything. 

“I don’t know what I’m feeling right now. Can you check back in later?” I asked, swallowing around the lump of emotion in my throat. “Like, don’t leave me alone though. I like when you’re here.”

“I’ll stay until you tell me to leave,” he promised, sitting down on the couch and stretching out his legs to rest on the coffee table in front of us. 

[soggylampshade-11]

Dead Like Me. Chapter 2.

Hi. I didn't expect this to pop off the way it did, so thank you so much! Here's the second chapter, I hope you like it!

Trigger warnings: mentions of SA, language, body/sex shaming, brief mentioning of s*icide, brief mention of drug use

Chapter 1 Chapter 3

Chapter 2

For a lot of reasons, I waited until class was in session to go to the girls’ locker room. I wanted to wash Zach Hines off me and change out of the shorts he made feel dirty. I was grateful for the first time since I died that I was an athlete. I had at least two other changes of clothes in my gym locker that I grabbed before any police could take it as evidence or whatever they did during investigations. 

I scrubbed my entire body until my skin burned then crouched under the water. I wasn’t going to sit on the nasty floor of the group shower, I knew all the things that touched it. I just needed a second to let out everything I was feeling about what happened. There were so many memories and emotions washing over me that I just had to sob for a minute without the prying eyes of other people. Even if they had good intentions like Charley and Wally. 

After I felt a little better, I turned off the water and put myself back together. I wore leggings and a sports bra with a jacket over it and my sneakers. I wasn’t really sure what I was supposed to do now that I was dead other than wander around the school aimlessly. That was a better plan in theory because wandering aimlessly let me hear all the rumors swirling about me.

“Have you heard about Sabrina Wellington? She let the football team run a line on her then killed herself under the bleachers.”

“Have you heard Sabrina Wellington overdosed under the bleachers last night?”

“Have you heard about that cheerleader who hooked up with Zach Hines then got into an accident because she was drinking and driving?”

The last one didn’t even make sense because they found my body on campus. Regardless, it was hard hearing the rumors about me having sex with anybody. I was a virgin when I died. If things had gone any further with Zach before he killed me, it definitely wouldn’t have been because I wanted it to.

I ended up just putting in my headphones and running on a treadmill in the gym. I found out people couldn’t see me unless they were dead and couldn’t tell if I was using objects around them. I also figured out ghosts couldn’t sweat. That was nice considering I was running at full speed with Rob Zombie blaring so loud in my headphones I couldn’t string together a single thought if I wanted to. 

By the end of the school day, I’d run almost seven miles on the treadmill. I’d listened to Rob Zombie and Slipknot’s entire discography. Headphones were the best way to block out all the bullshit. Unfortunately, they did nothing about seeing Zach Hines walk through the parking lot after class like nothing was wrong. 

I wanted to scream and hit and punch and let him know how I felt. I tried, but he didn’t miss a step and continued going to his truck. I picked up a big rock from the parking lot and launched it through the back glass of his truck, but the glass instantly pieced itself back together. 

“We can’t mess with anything in the real world,” Charley said, coming up to stand beside me. “If you can even hear me right now that is.”

“Huh? Why couldn’t I hear you?” I asked, turning my body to face his. 

“Wally said he tried talking to you earlier when you were running, but you ignored him. Then I saw you wearing those headphones that kids wear now that have no cords on them. You still have them in, so I figured you might not be able to hear me,” he explained with a sheepish shrug. “But I guess that’s not an issue.”

“I’m sorry. I’ve had a horrible first day being dead and wanted to shut my brain off for a while,” I told him, getting my case out of my jacket pocket and sticking my headphones into me. “Sometimes the only way to do that is to blare music so loud it should burst my eardrums.”

“Right, I get that. I miss my discman like crazy,” he agreed. “I picked the wrong day to leave it at home.”

“When did you die?” I asked, realizing how rude that was a beat later. “Shit, sorry, that was insensitive.”

“No, it’s fine. I died of anaphylactic shock in 1994,” he replied, the two of us walking back into the empty school together. 

“Are you and I the youngest ghosts here?” I asked, holding open the door for both of us. “Because I don’t recognize anybody but Wally and that’s because there’s a picture of him outside the boys’ locker room.”

“You’re the first ghost we’ve gotten since I’ve been here,” he agreed, his hands tucked into the pockets of his jacket. “Rhonda was my guide when I got here. Not that she isn’t cool, but I think I’m a lot friendlier than her. Granted, I’m not 6’2 with big puppy dog eyes or anything… but I’m a close second, I think.”

“I’m glad I had you to greet me, you’re a very calming guy,” I praised, watching him smile proudly. “I died because a football player was pissed I wouldn’t hook up with him under the bleachers last night… and you saw my dead body. I feel like we’ve bonded on a whole different level.”

Charley laughed at that, the two of us falling into step together as we walked into the teachers’ lounge. Rhonda and Wally were already there, both greeting us when we entered. I sat on the sofa beside Wally and propped my legs up. 

“I’m sorry I ignored you earlier when I was running out my anger,” I told him, bringing my airpods out of my pocket to show them to him. “I had these in and I was on a mission to outrun my anger. I didn’t do it today, but tomorrow’s a new day... at least I assume I can charge my airpods here.”

“Aipods?” he asked, glancing at the square box in my hand. 

I grinned at that and opened them, handing one to him after I turned them on. “Put it in your ear and trust me.”

He did as I said without hesitation and I put in the other one, playing a Fleetwood Mac song. I figured Korn wasn’t really his jam. I wouldn’t admit to it, but I ended up playing a playlist I made for when I rode around with my dad. I refused to think about how they were probably around the same age, at least they would be if Wally wasn’t dead. 

“What are you thinking about?” he asked a few songs in. 

“My dad,” I answered honestly. “I can’t imagine he’s doing too good without me right now. I’d say my brother’s home from college and with him. I’m just glad he’s not alone.”

My dad and I lived alone in the home he bought with my mother back when they were pretending to be in love. My brother, Oliver, was born when they were nineteen and I was born when they were twenty-one. They were together until I was seven and Oliver was nine.

We woke up one morning and realized we were really late for school. Dad left before daylight, leaving the responsibility of getting us ready and on the bus to mom. We looked around the house for her and found a note stuck to the fridge. 

I can’t do it anymore. Love, mom

My dad always said she was a free spirit who couldn’t be tied down for too long. I thought that was a really nice way of saying she was selfish. I hadn’t spoken to her since I was twelve and she crashed my birthday party at the roller rink. She’d been drunk and decided she should be celebrated for giving birth to me. That night my dad explained to me and Oliver that she’d always had a drinking problem and left because dad told her she had to get help or he was going to take us away. 

“My dad stopped coming to my games years ago, but mom still shows up and screams like I’m running plays,” Wally sighed,  bringing me back to the teachers’ lounge. “His seat’s empty until I sit in it. She doesn’t know I’m there, but it makes me feel better to be with her. Now that I say it out loud, it sounds really stupid.”

“Not stupid,” I disagreed, bringing my legs up onto the sofa to sit cross legged. “Thank you for making it feel kind of okay that I died.”

“It’s not okay, but I don’t want you to feel alone,” he corrected, squeezing my knee comfortingly. “I know what it’s like to feel alone in a room full of people. I don’t want other people to feel like that.”

“I do, too. Cheerleaders aren’t the most emotionally mature people in the world,” I agreed. “When I was fourteen, I went to the hospital because I sucked at eating. When I came back, one of the other girls on the team started a rumor that I got pregnant and went away to get an abortion.”

“There’s not enough money in the world for me to be a teenage girl,” Charley stated, reminding me he and Rhonda were in the room with us.

“Yeah, being a dead gay kid is so much better,” Rhonda remarked, making me snort. 

“Try being a teenage girl who’s bisexual and dead. It’s a real riot,” I remarked, the music changing to a Joan Jett song. “Wow, fitting.”

I was shocked at how comfortable I felt with these people I didn’t know existed until this morning. My entire world was turned upside down in a night, but they made it feel like I could be okay here. At least as okay as you could be when you were spending your after life in high school, I guess. 

~

Thank you so much for continuing to read my story! I appreciate each and every one of you so much!

[soggylampshade-11]

Dead Like Me.

Hi, I've recently binged School Spirits and I really like Wally Clark. There is a criminal lack of fics written for him, so I decided to write one of my own. This includes an OC of my own creation named Sabrina. I hope you all like it!

*Just a note, this takes place a couple years before Maddie's situation happens.*

Chapter 2 Chapter 3

Chapter 1

Triggers: implications of SA, language, violence

I was walking out to the parking lot after cheer practice when someone grabbed my arm. I’d stayed after practice ended to work through some routines with Coach Armstrong for longer than I thought because it was dark out now. So I cried out when the person pulled me under the bleachers.

“Chill, Sab, it’s me!” Zach Hines said, making me relax when I saw it was only him. “Hey, why are you still here?”

“I stayed after with Armstrong to work on some routines for this season,” I explained, watching him move closer to me in the cramped space. “Hey, whoa, what’s up? Personal space is important, my dude.”

“I love how you challenge me,” he grinned, continuing to come to me until my back hit the bleachers. “You look so good in these shorts, I love watching you cheer while you wear them.”

“Dude, Chloe’s my friend,” I said, trying to push him back from me. “You remember Chloe, right? Your girlfriend? About 5’9 with red hair?”

“I don’t want to talk about her right now. I want to talk about you going to Homecoming with me,” he said, ignoring what I said completely. 

He put his hand on my hip and trapped me where I was. “Uh, Zach, I think I should leave. Chloe’s my friend.”

He only hummed, pressing his body to mine and kissing my neck. I kept trying to get him off me, but he was so much bigger and stronger than me. He was the fullback for the football team. His hands were all over me and my heart was racing, fight or flight kicking in. I couldn’t run away from him, so I had to fight. 

“Zach, stop!” I cried, hitting his chest.

“You want this, every girl wants this,” he argued, banging my body back against the wood until I stopped moving. 

“I don’t!” I cried, my adrenaline keeping the pain from sinking into me as my spine repeatedly slammed against the wood behind me. “Zach! Stop it! You’re hurting me!”

“Shut up,” he hissed, continuing to push me until my head hit the wood so sharply everything went black. 

~

There was a surprising lack of pain in my body when I woke up. The sun was shining bright and there were a ton of strangers gathered around me. 

“What happened?” I asked, but none of the people replied to me or even acknowledged that I’d spoken. “Hello? Can you guys hear me? What happened?”

I pushed up into a sitting position and then stood, but they didn’t move out of the way. It was like I slipped through their bodies. When I turned around to look at them, I screamed when I saw my lifeless body laying where I’d just been. 

“Hey, it’s okay,” someone said calmly behind me, making me turn quickly to find a guy wearing glasses and a denim jacket. “Hi, I’m Charley.”

“What the fuck is happening?” I cried. “Why can you see me but they can’t?”

“Let’s go inside, it’s not very fun to be out here with all this,” Charley said, gesturing toward the school. 

“Why would I go somewhere with you?” I asked, crossing my arms over my chest defensively. "I don't know who you are."

“Because I’m dead like you,” he replied, making me look at him incredulously. “You’re dead, you died under the bleachers and those EMTs announced it.”

“I’m dead?” I asked in a hoarse whisper, kneeling down by my lifeless body. “Holy shit, I’m dead.”

I felt Charley kneel beside me and place a hand on my shoulder. “I’m sorry, this is the worst way to find out you died on campus. It’s, like, the absolute worst thing to find out when you wake up.”

“Sabrina Wellington, age 17,” one of the EMTs said, making me look over at him even though I knew he couldn’t see me now. “Principal’s on her way, the football field’s blocked off from students. We should get her out of here before they realize what’s going on.”

A lot happened at once after that. My body was placed in a bodybag, the EMT frowning as she zipped it up. A surge of panic rushed through my body, but Charley stopped me when I tried to follow them.

“Once you get to the end of the school boundaries, you get yanked back to where you died. That means you’d regenerate under here again and it hurts,” he said, sounding sad. “I’m sorry, you’re stuck here with us.”

“Us?” I asked distractedly, watching the EMTs carry my body away and load it in the back of an ambulance without the lights on when it drove away. 

“There’s a group of us who died here. We meet up in the gym everyday to talk,” he explained, gesturing to the building with his shoulder. “Do you want to come with me?”

Before I could say anything, I saw Trish and Ellery standing at the edge of the football field. “Can I find you later? I need to go talk to my friends.”

“They’re not going to be able to see you!” Charley shouted after me as I jogged over to them, but I just waved him off. “Okay, see you later!”

I hurried over to my friends and heard them talking. “I can’t believe she’s dead! She was at practice last night, barking orders like always.”

“Hey!” I cried, but they didn’t acknowledge me. 

“It’s like she didn’t know Alison was fighting to take over as captain,” Trisha stated with a giggle. “I guess the fight’s over now.”

“Ladies! Get to class,” Mr. Hill shouted, making us jump. “Don’t forget there’s also a grief counselor here for you if you need it.”

The two of them left me standing there in shock. I’d cheered with them since I was six years old. We’d been inseparable since then… but I think they hated me. What the hell? I walked slowly inside the building, feeling my eyes burn with tears 

I didn’t realize until I pushed open the double doors of the gym that I was going where Charley suggested earlier. There was a gym class happening, but I walked through it easily to join the group of people sitting in a  circle. 

“Is this dead kid AA?” I asked, standing behind an empty chair. 

A girl with dark, curly hair snorted at that and rolled her eyes. “Wow, never heard that one before!”

“Welcome, I’m Mr. Martin,” the man in a sweater vest said, standing up and gesturing to an empty seat. “Please, have a seat and join us.”

I nodded and moved around to sit in one of the folding chairs between a guy in a letterman jacket and the girl with dark hair. She was sucking on a lollipop and looked bored out of her mind. 

“Right, let’s go around and introduce ourselves to our newest member,” Mr. Martin said, sitting back in his seat. 

“Hi, we met this morning,” Charley said, waving at me with a friendly smile. “I’m Charley.”

The girl with the lollipop said, “Rhonda.”

“Sabrina,” I said, bringing my legs up onto the chair with me and wrapping my arms around them. 

“I’m Wally,” the guy in the letterman said, making me realize he looked really familiar. Like he read my mind, he said, “The one that the football field’s named after.”

There was a picture of him hanging in the hallway outside the locker rooms. The thought of the locker rooms made me flinch because I’d seen Zach standing by the doors last night. The feeling of his hands forcing me backward and the roughness of the wood digging into the bare skin of my shoulders.

“Sabrina? Are you okay?” Wally asked, drawing me out of the memory. “You disappeared for a few minutes.”

“Sorry,” I said, sounding a million miles away. 

“You get better at handling the memories,” Charley said gently, making me look over at him. 

I couldn’t imagine he was right, but I nodded my head anyway. The rest of the group was talking about something, but my focus wasn’t here. I was thinking about Zach trying to force himself on me and hurting me. He’d slammed my head against the bleachers so hard that it killed me. 

Then there was the way my friends talked about me this morning. My dead body was found underneath the bleachers where a guy I considered my friend killed me. A guy that I trusted tried to force himself on me then killed me. 

My chest drew tight and I knew I was going to have a panic attack. I was up and out of the gym, running until I was in the girls’ bathroom. I gripped the sides of the sink in my hands and looked in the mirror. 

I was wearing a silver moon necklace around my neck, there was a tube of abandoned cherry lip gloss in the floor, a couple bobby pins on the little shelf below the mirrors, and an empty soap dispenser on the wall. I could hear water dripping from the sink, the sound of water rushing through pipes in the walls, the sound of someone walking out in the hallway, and the distant squeak of gym shoes. 

My breath was back to normal, making me look at my reflection again. The girl in the reflection looked like me when I was alive, but I knew I wasn’t anymore. My eyes were glassy with tears and I wasn’t wearing makeup, so my freckles stood out against my pale cheeks. I busied myself with putting my hair back up to still my shaking hands. 

When I walked back out of the bathroom, Wally was waiting for me. He was sitting across from the door with his arms resting on his raised knees. 

“Hi,” he greeted, keeping the space between us. “You ran off and I wanted to make sure you were okay. I don’t want to crowd you or freak you out, but this is a lot to do on your own.”

“You mean finding out that a person you trusted tried to assault you then hit your head against the bleachers so hard it killed you and then finding out the girls you’ve known since you were six actually hate you is hard to do alone?” I asked, going over to sit beside him. “You just want to be my friend because I’m a cheerleader… was a cheerleader.”

“I’ve seen you cheer before, you’re good,” he admitted, cheeks flushing a little when I looked at him. “Not in a creepy way, in a ‘I watch the football games’ kind of way.”

A small smile found my face as I leaned my head against the wall behind us. “Thanks, I absolutely fucking hated it.”

“No way! I hated football!” he cried, making me look at him with my brows raised. “It was fun when I started, but my mom had insane ideas on what I was supposed to do on the field.”

“Same, my mom wanted me to go to nationals and get scholarships,” I explained, smiling humorlessly. “It turns out my entire team wanted to take away my captain title and give it to another girl. So, I guess I wasn’t as good at it as I thought I was.”

“That sucks,” he agreed, making me laugh at the ridiculousness of the situation. “You have a nice laugh.”

“Don’t flirt with me. I just died,” I said, but I couldn’t stop myself from giggling. 

“I died in 1983, I’m allowed to flirt,” he replied, bumping my shoulder with his. “You’re going to be okay, Sabrina.”

“Brina, my friends call me Brina,” I corrected, turning my head to look at him. “And you’re my friend.”

“That’s presumptuous of you, Brina,” he said, smiling brightly when he turned to look back at me.

A genuine smile tugged at my lips, one bigger than the false one I’d used today. My life was over and I’d found out the people I trusted weren’t trustworthy. I cheered in the stadium named after the goofy guy beside me, but I think I liked him more than my living friends.

~

And that's the first chapter of my story! I'd love to hear y'all's input on it! Tell me what you liked, what you didn't like, anything really. I'm working on this as inspiration hits and have another 2 chapters ready to go. I hope you liked this one!