Confessions of a Teenage Zombie

After Alex finished his fifth slice of pizza, he took a large sip of his soda. I watched him intently. He was opening up, I think, but he still seemed nervous. He kept glancing down at his pants. I think he regretted not changing into jeans before leaving the house.

Although knowing Jon, he probably dragged Alex out without giving him a chance to change. Or maybe Alex felt comfortable wearing his pajamas in front of Jon, and me seeing him in the pajamas was making him nervous.

I wasn't too judgmental, though.

"So do you like sports?" I figured small talk would maybe ease Alex into not being so nervous around me. I never liked making anyone nervous, and I wanted Alex to know I was a fun guy.

"I like croqueting," Alex replied, smiling a bit. I didn't really know much about croquet, except that the outfits people wore to play were awesome. I cleared my throat and took a sip of the soda Jon had. "I tried to get into football, but it just... didn't work out. It was in no way interesting to me."

"Yeah, I understand." I glanced out the window. "My brother tried getting me into it. He said 'oh, hey, there are sweaty guys jumping at one another!' Well, trust me, it was not as sexy as I thought it would be. He tricked me."

"You have a brother, too?" Alex asked. I nodded my head.

"A brother and a sister." I smiled. "I'm the baby of the family, though, and I'm the favorite. Obviously. Also, the best looking."

"I don't know them, so I can't judge on that. I guess for now, you totally are, until I have definitive proof." Alex sounded kind of nerdy for a minute. All he needed was a pair of broken glasses that was only being held together by tape.

"You have my word that I'm the best looking one." I grinned. Alex let out a small giggle. He looked out the window, probably trying to locate Jon. "I should probably like, steer clear, huh? Maybe find my own way home. He's way angry at me."

"He's just... angry in general. It's not you, Brendon." Somehow, hearing Alex say my name was awkward. Like, I was trying to portray myself under a different identity, but hearing the name made it feel like Alex could see right through me.

Of course, it would've helped if I had started with something different, like Henry or something.

"And besides, it's starting to get dark. You don't want to be wandering the streets where you could get approached by perverts. As you said, you're good looking." Alex let out a yawn. I stared at him.

"Actually, all I said was that I was the best looking of my siblings," I stated. Alex's eyes widened, and he looked around. "But thanks for the compliment."

"Yeah." Alex laughed nervously and looked out the window again.

An hour later, Jon drove me back home. I had him drop me off across the street from the actual house, just to make sure he suspected nothing.

"Hey, that's the haunted house I hear about in school," Alex said, pointing out of Jon's window. I looked at him, an eyebrow arched. It wasn't the first time I had heard it was rumored to be haunted. I wondered how that rumor started. Alex looked at me. "Ever gone adventuring in there?"

"Nope," I replied. "You know... there could be cockroaches in there, or maybe even g-g-ghosts! Zoinks!"

"Jinkies." Alex laughed.

"Well, thanks for the pizza, and the ride home," I stated. Jon turned and smiled at me. I smiled back before turning to Alex. "Hey, good chatting. Be good, kid."

"Okay." Alex took in a deep breath. "Can I call you?"

"Well, I don't see why not. You have my number." I ruffled Alex's hair before dramatically exiting the car. I waited for Jon to get a good distance away before running across the street and into the house.

"Hey," Shane greeted. He was in the living room. I walked in and sat next to him on the couch. "Art told me your makeup smeared. Bet you looked sexy as shit."

"If by sexy, you mean gross and hideously colored, then yes." I looked around. I remembered Ryan and Brent; specifically that they were angry at me. At this point, they were probably rehearsing the plan they had come up with for getting back at me.

Of course, this was assuming one of them had a strong enough desire to plan anything. Ryan, though he was able to throw his cup across the room, didn't really have the means to do much. Besides, I think it was a moment of anger thing.

Brent wouldn't care enough to do a thing. He was a pretty apathetic person. He'd probably only agree to it if Ryan suggested it.

"Brent still here?" I inquired.

"Nah, he left. He didn't seem too happy. Actually, I'm surprised you went out instead of hanging out with him," Shane explained. He cocked his head a bit and looked at the wall. "Of course, he also spent his time with Ryan. Think they played leap frog?"

"If they did, it was the most boring and awkward game of leap frog ever," I replied. I sighed. "Hey, did you know that this house is allegedly haunted, or something?"

"Yeah. Why do you think I was so interested in snapping pictures when I was mortal?" Shane looked at me. "There are all kinds of rumors about this place. Like, some people think that the last family that lived here was murdered."

"Were they?" I inquired.

"Who knows? It was more than a century ago. Art told me the house has belonged to his family for a long, long time, but he never specified how long." Shane scratched his nose. "But, you know, I'd dismiss any haunted rumors about this place. People like to exaggerate to spice things up."

"I should completely dismiss it? Because there might be some nugget of truth to the rumor, right?" I inquired. Shane sighed.

"Truthfully? This house is haunted. Do you see us living here? Ryan is a ghost. He doesn't exactly float around moaning and groaning, but it still counts. We can't let people know that, though," he explained.

"What if someone tries to get in, though?" It was a little worrying how calm Shane was being about all the haunted house rumors. They worried me, and I don't know why.

"They really don't. Every so often, Art will hang out outside and do things like plant flowers or drink lemonade. You know, to throw off suspicion." Shane furrowed his eyebrows. "Of course, he is a bad gardener, and his flowers die, and he gets sad. I should tell him to try something else."

"Um, right." I got up and left before he started rambling. The guy could go on and on. I went upstairs and ran to my room, jumping to the ground and rolling inside Indiana Jones style. I slammed the door closed, because I kind of wanted to avoid Ryan.

Although I guess I would have to deal with him eventually. Not now, though. Now, I was going to call Alex and set up some fun plans for tomorrow.