Confessions of a Teenage Zombie

Ryan looked around his room. He saw the photo album, and then looked at me. I smiled nervously.

"Been looking through my photos, huh?" he inquired. He didn't sound angry, thankfully. I nodded my head. "Find anything that piqued your interest?"

"Well, those nude photos of you at eighteen were plenty interesting, to be honest," I stated, grinning. Ryan glared at me and sat down on his bed. I sat next to him. "Kidding, obviously. I thought all those pictures of you and Spencer were pretty cute. You guys seemed like brothers, nearly."

"We were, basically. I saw him today." Ryan smiled, but it was a sad smile. I stayed silent, wanting him to continue. It was good for him to talk about these things; it made him less sad later on. "Blake had some questions for Brent about vampires. I guess he had been reading Twilight, and wanted to know if the facts were right."

"He could've just checked the internet... or used common sense," I mumbled. Blake was a pretty smart kid, so why he didn't just get that most of it was faked, I don't know.

"I think he really just wanted to spend some time with Brent." Ryan sighed. "Anyway, Spencer just sat in the corner while they talked. It was really hard not to come out of the wall and talk to him."

Ryan stared at the window. It was tough; out of all of us undead, he would never be able to see his old friends again. The only people he could talk to were Shane, Art, Brent, and myself. We were great and all, but none of us really knew Ryan as well as, say, Spencer.

And even if Ryan could attain a permanent physical body, the fact is, he's still technically dead. Even if he reinvented himself like I had, he could never have the same relationship as he had with Spencer.

Besides, having seen Spencer's disbelief of the supernatural, I could guess that Spencer would see through the reinvention and question Ryan.

Not everyone had a friend like Jon, who usually believed most of what people told him. Mainly because he was usually a little baked most days.

"So did Art and Shane make up yet?" Ryan asked. I looked at him. "They were just sitting in the living room, quiet as mutes. I wasn't sure if they were just enjoying each others company, or if it was an awkward, uncomfortable silence."

"I'm thinking it's probably the former. They were going to make up, which is why I came upstairs," I explained.

"I'm surprised you didn't sneak down to spy on them." Ryan grinned.

"Hey, I'm a mature person! I would never do that kind of thing during such an important moment in their relationship." I went to smack Ryan in the head, only to remember it would have no effect when my hand went through. "I mean... I did think about it, but I didn't do it."

"Good to see you're maturing these days," Ryan said. I glared at him. "No, I mean it! If it were a month or two ago, you would've sped down there to listen in. What happened? Is it that Alex kid?"

"Maybe, maybe not. I just figured that I needed to chill out and stop going with the first thing that popped into my head," I replied. "My first response is usually not that good, so I'm going to try and think things through a little more."

"Good for you." Ryan smiled and wrapped his arm around my shoulders. I could feel a bit of warmth. How could Ryan be doing that? Must be some ghost thing. Like, when Ryan learns to fully come into his ghostly self, he can start to make some slight physical changes.

Or some ancient Chinese secret crap like that.