Spirit

Chapter 24: Beginning
“What’s your schdule?” I asked Nathan.
“I have first period… gym with Sullyvan.”
“So do I!”
“Second period, math with Erikson.”
“Me too!”
“Third period, science with Mrs. Boulder.”
I squealed happily.
“After that I have Spanish with Mrs. Rodriguez.”
“I have Spanish with Mrs. Rodriguez too!”
“After that lunch.”
I clapped my hands.
“For fifth period, I have language arts with Mr. Birdine and language arts for sixth period with her as well.” It looked like he was trying very hard not to smile.
I put my hands on my hips. “You can’t always bribe people to get what you want, Nathan.”
“How did you know I bribed them?” Nathan asked with enthusiasm in his voice.
I shook my head and glared at him.
He smiled. “So I guess we’re off to gym!”
When I got to the girls locker room, Alex came running toward me as I changed.
“Hey Alex!”
“So who’s the guy?” She asked suspiciously.
“What guy?” I asked playing dumb.
“Oh please. The blonde prince charming!”
I laughed. “He’s just a really good friend.”
“So if he’s just your friend…. Does he have a thing for Asians?” She asked and fluttered her eyelids behind her red framed glasses.
I shrugged my shoulders indifferently. Or at least I tried to.
“Should I ask him out?”
“No!” I said too loudly.
“Okay,” she said slowly and backed away.
After I was done changing, the girls shuffled into the gym. I was last with Alex.
The boys were already inside, chatting, pretending to shoot hoops, and acting like monkeys as they bounced off the walls.
“It looks like Taylor has a thing for Nathan,” Alex said and pointed to Taylor who was obviously flirting with Nathan.
I marched over to them. “Hi, Taylor!” I said happily.
“Natalia,” she said and looked me up and down.
“I see you met my… boyfriend, Nathan.” I looked up at Nathan who was trying to fight a smile.
“Your boyfriend?” She asked dubiously.
“Yup,” I said, popping the “P”.
“Really?” She asked Nathan, looking up at him.
“Yeah…. Yeah I am,” he responded and put his arm around me.
She rolled her eyes and walked away.
“So… I’m your boyfriend?” Nathan asked, smiling.
“I was acting,” I said smugly and walked away.
Nathan caught up with me and grabbed me by the arm and spun me around. “Were you?” He asked suspiciously. “Or do you really think of me as your boyfriend?”
“Don’t flatter yourself,” I said in the same tone and walked away, playing a game of hard-to-get.
Once again, Nathan caught up with me and stopped me. “Because I see you as my girlfriend,” he murmured. His expression was now serious. Our face’s were only centimeters away and I was able to feel his warm breath on my face.
I was stupefied and I couldn’t repond.
“Are our thoughts of each other dissimilar?” He whispered. It seemed like our faces were getting closer and closer together.
“No,” I managed to whispered.
Our eyes were locked on each other and our faces were only centimeters away and getting closer and closer. I felt my heart racing in my chest, going completely ballistic. It felt like it was going to beat itself out of my body with how close Nathan was to me. He took my hand and held it then slowly moved it up my arm, across my shoulder, and placed his hand at the back of my neck and scrutinized my facial expression.
Right at that moment I felt something click. Like when one puzzle piece of a thousand is set in place. It was amazing. It was gorgeous. Like the first snowfall of the season. Like the discovery of a cure for cancer. It was like love.
Our lips were only an inch away from each other when the coach interrupted us. “Are we in gym class or a wedding?” Coach Sullyvan asked, irritated.
“Oh, we’re sorry,” Nathan said and chuckled.
“Anyways, welcome to Roosevelt High, Mr. Franklin. It looks like your fitting in just well.”
The whole class laughed.
Nathan and I sat at the top of the bleachers. Coach Sullyvin gave us instructions on how to play lacrosse.
My fingers were entwined in Nathans and it felt like we were two in one. It felt like we were two repaired electric wires filled with charged energy. Everything felt just so right.
The thing was that this was just the beginning of a lot more to come.

Epilogue
“How are we going to do this?”
“We can just leave Natalia here,” Alex said.
“Alex,” I warned.
“It was just a thought!”
“Why don’t I ride in Nathan’s arms and you can ride on his back?”
“Why can’t I ride in his arms?” Alex whinned.
“Because I said so!” I rubbed my temples with my fingers to calm myself down.
“Okay,” Alex said, surrendering.
I hoped into Nathan’s arms and Alex got onto his back.
“Uh… Alex? I can’t concentrate when you keep smelling my neck,” Nathan said.
“Oh! Sorry.”
I glared at Alex. I really had to hook her up with someone. To bad her parents didn’t let her have a boyfriend until she was out of college. Darn.
“Ready?” Nathan asked.
“Yes,” Alex and I said.
Nathan jumped out of my window. I still had to close my eyes even after all the times I went through this kind of transportation. Through the sound of the wind, I was able to hear Alex scream in joy.
Once we got to Nathan’s house, Nathan set me and Alex down at the front door.
“That was amazing!” Alex squealed. “We should totally do that again sometime, Nathan.”
I rolled my eyes.
“This is so pretty!” Alex said in awe.
“Nathan?” Keith called from the kitchen.
“In here, Keith.”
Keith walked out of the kitchen with Sarah. As they walked down the wide hallway, they slowly transformed from human to ghost.
“Whoa,” Alex stuttered. “That’s really… scary.”
As Keith and Sarah got closer, they showed their white teeth and curved their hands into claws.
“Nathan, what’re they doing?” I asked. I looked over at where Nathan was standing and his face was just like Keith’s and Sarah’s. It looked like they were going to eat us.
“Natalia!” Alex shrieked and hid behind us.
“Nathan! Stop!” I cried and backed away from Keith, Nathan, and Sarah.
Alex stumbled over a vase. “Help!” She screamed.
Sarah walked in front of Keith and Nathan and let out an earsplitting, wild scream.
Alex screamed so loud, it seemed louder than Sarah’s.
Nathan and Keith let out a ferocious roar.
“Stop it!” I cried.
All of a sudden, Alex fell over. She fainted. I looked at Alex wide-eyed. And looked back at Nathan, Sarah, and Keith. They were back in their human form.
We all busted into laughter, even Sarah!
“Good job!” I said between laughs.
“Did you see her face?” Sarah said and mimicked Alex’s face.
“We should probably bring her up to a room,” Keith said, trying to calm himself down.
“She did say she wanted to ghosts,” I said, still laughing.
Nathan and Keith picked up the unconscious Alex and brought her upstairs. Sarah went back into the kitchen and started eating. I waited for Nathan at the bottom of the stairs.
“She’ll probably wake up in a couple of hours,” Keith said as he and Nathan walked down the stairs.
“Tell her I’m sorry when she gets up,” I told Keith. “Me and Nathan are going on a little date.”
Nathan took my hand and as we walked through the hallway, he started to transform. His shaking was nothing more than a very subtle vibration that you couldn’t see but only feel if you were holding his hand.
When Sarah saw us heading for the back door, she rolled her eyes. “Gross.”
“Someone is jealous,” Nathan murmured to her.
Nathan and I walked out back to the backyard.
“So are we going to have a perfectly normal human date or a supernatural ghostly date?” He asked as we walked toward the beach. It was twilight and the view was gorgeous as the sun hit the lake.
I thought about it. “Let’s be humans for now.”
He chuckled. “Alright.”
Nathan and I walked closer and closer toward the sun, my hand in his.
Nothing in the world could compare to this. No word in the world could explain the happiness I felt. No one could ever make me as happy as Nathan did. Not only was he my tranquilzer, but he was my own splint that kept me together so I wouldn’t fall apart into a billion painful pieces.
Being with him finally made me feel normal.