"That's so touching," Death starts after I've told her everything Elijah said, "makes me gag."
"Be serious." I quietly plead, lying at the foot of my bed while Death paints her nails an ironic color of bright red. The vibrance is such a clash against her lifeless gray characteristics.
"He's the one who has had a crush on you since the first day of school, he's the one who should be serious. How has he not asked you out yet?"
"You think he likes me?" I nearly fall off the bed. I don't need a boyfriend, right now I need my friend Elijah more. I can't deny that I haven't thought about him like that...
"Oh my god! Yes! Daisy!" Death fakes a loud moan till I turn red as my hair. She's lucky no one can hear her but me, or else my parents would barge in. "Elijah has it bad for you!" Serious now, Death rolls her gray eyes. She suddenly sits up straight, her gray eyes go wide, her pupils dilating till her eyes are more black than grey. The cold chill in the air suddenly plummets to freezing, so harshly cold I can see my own breath. The lights flicker, threatening to black out all together. The birds out the window stop singing, but fly away from the tree outside my window.
Someone is dying.
"I gotta go." Death says gently, while I pull the comforters tightly around me. It must be a tragic death, like a car accident or something. I can tell by the sound of her voice. After all these years, all these deaths, I know by now when it's not a scheduled natural passing when she ups and leaves like this. Despite knowing how and when everyone is suppose to die, every now and again there is a cataclysmic.
"But about Elijah," Death pauses for a moment. "If you really, really like him, I think you should make an effort to understand this part of his life."
Later
Make an effort.
Make an effort, I chant to myself. My left hand aches as I hurriedly scribble as fast as I can. I didn't finish when the school bell sounds off. Scrambling out of my desk, I search the halls for Elijah's dirty blonde head. For someone with a sixth sense, I didn't notice Finn on my heels.
"Hey."
"Hey you."
"Ghost girl."
"Hey, Freakie Friday!"
"Would you look at me?!" I finally notice him when the dark haired junior grabs me by a fistful of the back of my sweater, and abruptly hauls me into the boys' bathroom! I like to think I shook free of him, but Finn (and his werewolf strength) really just let me go. The boys' bathroom may look exactly like the girls' room, but it smells very differently. It reeks of urine, and a very sour smelling cologne, or maybe it's aftershave. I can't tell the difference. A big difference is the line of boys the urinals with their pants at their ankles, who are looking over their shoulders at me with a bewildered look.
"Pay attention! I was talking to you." Finn scolds, his blue eyes bright with frustration. I make a run for the bathroom door, but Finn keeps the door shut by putting all his weight against it. I idiotically pull at the knob with all my strength anyway, despite knowing I won't get it to budge. I had to at least try. After one last pull that sends me stumbling backwards, I give up and shoot Finn a displeased look.
Not that long ago, whenever Finn bothered me I wouldn't have given him the time of day. I'd shut him out when he demanded to be noticed. Now, I can't remember a day where we haven't seen and spoken to him lately.
"Finn," one of the boys awkwardly clutching his crotch over the urinals shoots me a nervous look. "Not cool."
"Wash your hands or something. We're trying to have a private conversation here!" Finn barks. Hurriedly zipping up their pants with their backs to me, the boys all flock to the sink or into a stall.
"So," Finn turns back to me, his blue eyes feeling the sun beating too hard down on me. "What in the hell did you say to Elijah? He's even worse now. Today he walked to school instead of using his skateboard. Whenever he's really upset about something, he stops skating."
"Wow." The words slip past my lips, surprising even myself. It finally occurs to me that Finn honestly wants me and Elijah to recoil. My childhood tormenter, my least favorite person in the world, the boy who makes high school even worse... wants me and my only friend to work things out.
"Wow? That's all you have to say? Geez, learn to speak already!"
"I...I..." I fight to find words and a voice, neither which I use regularly. "I thought you hated me." I whisper so low under my breathe I'm not even sure I heard it myself. But Finn with his werewolf hearing did.
"I... I..." Face going slack, Finn looks like I scared the crap out of him. "I'm getting use to you. Ugh, I'm starting to tolerate you." Finn groans, looking mortified.
"I still think you're a freak." Finn quickly adds. I still think he's a jerk. We could have shaken on it.
"It's only because you're Elijah's acquaintance." Finn bitterly comments with an eye roll.
"Friend." I correct to myself, but I know he heard me.
"I've been his best friend since we were three." Finn says confidently, only to deflate a bit. "And he was always dying to talk to you, necro." He makes sure to mention the necromancy hushly at the end. "I thought it was bad when we were younger, but now? That you two actually are involved? I've never seen him so dejected."
"W-we're not inv-volved." I breathe, feeling even more embarrassed than I originally did when the boys saw me in their bathroom! Finn gives me a bored look.
"How are you going to fix this? He's my friend—my best friend. It's hard seeing him like this."
As an answer, I hold up the sheet of paper I was working on.
"Oh," Finn reads my rushed handwriting. "This way. Well, let's go show him this right now! It's important!" I know I should have been more embarrassed by everyone watching me being dragged out of the boys' bathroom by Finn, but a big part of me is too moved by how much Finn cares about his friend— our friend.
