One World Away

It was difficult to focus during school the next day, and I found that I had to constantly remind myself to get to work in just about every class. My teachers didn't seem to notice since I was always quiet and kept to myself. Besides, I knew how to make it at least look like I was doing my school work.

Abbeline, however, could see right through me, and in the middle of sixth period, I felt a paper ball hit me right in the ear, no doubt a note from her. I bent down slyly and retrieved it from the ground, then did my best to unfold it without making any noise in the silent classroom. There was a small message scribbled on the inside of it, just as I had suspected, though I couldn't help but think that writing on mirrors was a whole lot cooler. Still, I read the concerned question of, What's up with you?

I was irritated with the fact that my best friend could read me like a book even when I didn't want her to. Then again, I practically kicked her and Trevor out of my house. If she didn't think something was wrong then, she would have had to be blind.

Only, nothing was wrong. Things were just confusing, and a little too exciting to bring another person into the mix. That, and I probably needed to ask Brian if I was even allowed to tell another living being about him. I didn't want to break any ghost rules.

Nothing, I just haven't been feeling well is all, I wrote back, crumpling the paper once again before looking behind me and tossing the note so that it landed right on Abbeline's desk.

I watched as she read it, her features contorting into a frown before she regarded me in a disbelieving fashion and mouthed, "Liar."

Shrugging, I continued pretending to do my work. I just wanted the day to be over so that I could go home and entertain myself with movies and other such activities until Brian showed himself, if he did, that is. He had said that he'd, "... call on me soon," but soon was a relative term. For him, a short amount of time could have been a year. The guy had been spooking around since the 1800s, after all.

The moment I realized that I was obsessing over the ghost in question just a little bit, I mentally slapped myself, recognizing the symptoms as having a little crush. However, this was completely different. Brian was completely different, mostly because he was dead. I wasn't attracted to him in a shallow, romantic way. I was drawn to him because he held so much history in just one little fingertip. He was like a walking museum. I couldn't help but be intrigued.

Seventh period passed slowly once I got into it. You could only read Of Mice and Men so many times before it started to lose its amusement. I loved English, and I loved John Steinbeck, but I just had better things to do, like fraternize with ghosts and teach them about the ways of the new world.

However, at around 2:20, the class seemed to pick up when a single glance out the window I sat next to revealed a recognizable figure, dressed like he always was, leaning against a tree (or at least making it look like he was), and staring in my general direction. I smiled to myself, biting my lower lip, though I had to wonder just how he knew where to find me. Had he been a live man in his mid- twenties, I would have been a little frightened, but he was deceased and pretty much harmless. What was he going to do, walk through me?

Pushing some brown hair from my face and making sure nobody was watching me, I shot him a quick wave. Even far away, I could see him smile, his face stretching a bit and brightening as he raised a hand and returned the gesture. Apparently, he did have a sense of time and just what soon was. If I was ready for school to be out before, then I was way more than ready now. I didn't want to sit in a classroom full of kids from this generation, didn't want to pay attention to anything my teacher was going over, and I definitely didn't want to hear about Lennie talking of rabbits, mice, or any other furry animals that he wanted to pet or tend to.

I tried not to just gaze out the window, not that anyone was paying attention to what I was doing, but it seemed a little cliché. Instead, I rested my cheek against my hand and turned my eyes to the woman droning on at the front of the room. A watched pot never boiled, and I figured that if I just kept staring at the clock, the minute hand would never hit the six.

"Now, who can tell me what traits make Lennie a potential romantic hero?" Mrs. Simmons asked, leaning on her podium and over an open copy of the novel we were studying. A few hands shot up in the air, it being an AP class full of overachievers, but before she could call on any one of the students, a voice came over the intercom, the school's headmaster.

"Okay, students, thank you for another good day here at Central Vermont. You are dismissed." Mr. Shackler was not someone I enjoyed listening to on the morning announcements, but he sounded absolutely wonderful in the afternoons when he said goodbye.

All of the teenagers in the classroom quickly gathered their belongings, myself included. In just a few seconds, my bookbag was filled and on my shoulder as I made my way out of the room and, ultimately, the building. My paced quickened a little as I stepped foot on the grass, my focus on only one thing, one person.

As I approached Brian, he straightened his posture and ran a hand through his hair. "Good day, Miss Leigha," he greeted, lowering himself just a bit.

I nodded, "Good afternoon, Brian. How'd you know I was here?"

He grinned to himself and shrugged his shoulders. "It wasn't hard to find you. You had mentioned that you attended this particular school, and it isn't as if this city is a labyrinth." I laughed, finding it humorous that I assumed just because he dead, he was also all- knowing. "Did I offend you by coming here?"

"No, no!" I shook my head. "Not at all. In fact, it was nice seeing you waiting for me."

The man in front of me beamed and opened his mouth to speak again, but before he could, Abbeline ran up to me, stopping only when she was standing directly inside of Brian. I looked at him, or them, wide eyed as my inhabited friend frowned.

"I got a ninety- eight on my physics exam!" The dark haired girl practically screamed, though I didn't really hear her.

Brian was a little taller than her, and I could see his eyes over her head. The first thing that left my mouth was, "Does it feel weird?"

The ghost shook his head, chuckling, as my best friend answered excitedly, "Yeah, kind of. I mean, it's never happened before. I'm not exactly bad in the class, but I'm so pumped about this!"

A slight breeze picked up and blew my hair around my face, causing for me to pout and smooth it back down. Brian smiled, unfazed by it as he stepped out from around Abbeline.

"Well then, we should celebrate," I suggested. "I'll treat you to a late lunch if you haven't already eaten the school's nasty food."

My friend nodded, her grin growing in size. "You know me so well. How about the Japanese place on Westheimer." She danced around out of smugness, moving her arms out in front of her and shaking her hips.

"Alright," I agreed. "I'll meet you there since, you know, I have a car up here, too."

She gave me a thumbs up while still doing her little jig. I could only laugh and began walking again, seeing Brian follow, and once we got out of ear shot, I asked him, "Do you want to join us, or disappear for a while, or what?"

The dark- haired man thought for a second or two before replying, "I'll accompany you, if you don't mind."

"No, not at all," I assured him, swinging my arms as I walked toward the student parking lot. "But, um, are you gonna just show up there, or ride in the car with me?" I inquired, mentally debating over whether or not he could even sit down properly. "Can you even...?"

Brian laughed loudly. "I believe so. I-..." He broke off and seemed to concentrate on what it was he was trying to say. Speaking slowly, he informed me, "I have a slight sense of touch. I can feel a difference in pressure, I suppose." I watched him with wide eyes. "My fingers may slide right through objects, but there's a bit of resistance. For example," he cleared his throat and smiled. I felt like I was getting another school lesson, only this one was actually interesting. "When I was running my hand through your books last night, I could feel that there was something there. It isn't the same as just waving it through thin air, so if I were to sit in your car, as you call it, I would have a pretty good idea of where the seat was and where I was to sit on it."

It was a hard concept to comprehend, but it made sense in a way. That must have been why he didn't just slip right through the floors of my house.

He looked at me to see if I understood, and I bobbed my head slightly. "Alright, I think I get it." Brian furrowed his brow at my vague language, but I assumed he used context clues to help him out with it.

Arriving at my black Escalade, I unlocked the doors with the click of a button, making the ghost next to me flinch in surprise. "Brian, this is an automobile, and to explain it in the simplest of ways, you feed it gasoline, and it takes you places, as long as you steer, that is."

He examined it carefully, and I opened my door, hopping inside and shutting it afterward. Brian stepped through the passenger side and took a seat, crossing an ankle over his knee and resting his hands on it. "So, if you only sort of obey the rules of gravity," I stressed, "Does that mean that inertia has no effect on you?"

"What?" He questioned, just as I peeled out of my parking space in a fluid motion.

A small yelp left my mouth when I witnessed Brian getting flung from the car, floating right through the dashboard and windshield. He was left standing in the spot he had been sitting in, a confused expression on his handsome face.

"Well, I guess that answers that," I muttered to myself, pulling back in and glancing over at Brian when he reappeared next to me.

He sat, a little stunned before piping up, "Obviously, I don't count as a true object since I remained at rest even when acted upon by an outside force." It sounded like he just quoted one of my science textbooks.

I giggled, earning a sly smile from him, and nodded. "Obviously."

"I suppose I'll just join you later this evening."

My features fell a little in disappointment. I had been so glad to see Brian. I didn't want him to leave so soon. "Oh, I can tell you where the place is and you can meet us there," I said hopefully.

He ran a hand through his shaggy hair and shook his head. "It's alright. The more I dwell on it, the more I realize that I enjoy spending time with you because of our time of able interaction, and that isn't quite easy with your friend observing you, unless you want to look like a fool, that is."

Sighing, I nodded, understanding where he was coming from. "You've got a point there. I should be home in a couple of hours."

The corner of his mouth twitched upward in a sweet smile. "I'll be waiting for you, then." And, just like the few times he'd left me before, he just evaporated into nothing.

~

The secret about Brian was on the tip of my tongue the entire time that I was with Abbeline. As a best friend, I wanted to tell her about him so badly, but I knew that I couldn't just yet.

So, to make up for it, I let her gush about Trevor, something that she enjoyed quite thoroughly, and, I had to admit, with my lack of love life, I kind of enjoyed listening to her, as well.

"So, have you guys, um..." I trailed off and let her finish my question for me.

She blushed and flipped some of her hair from her face, biting her bottom lip. "No, but I think it could happen soon." On the outside, the purple haired girl looked like a hoodlum, someone who would scamper around doing drugs and fornicating left and right, but that wasn't the case. Contrary to popular belief, Abbeline was a reasonably modest girl. She talked big, but on the inside, she was just another teenage girl who turned red and laughed nervously when the idea of sex with her loving boyfriend was brought up.

"Oh?" I pried. "What makes you think that? Have you guys been pushing the boundaries and such?" I laughed in spite of myself, finding it humorous that I was basically living through her when it came to dating. I hadn't had a steady boyfriend since I was in the seventh grade, and that shouldn't have even counted since it was, well, in the seventh grade.

My friend shrugged as she swallowed some noodles, then answered. "I guess you can say that. I just have a feeling, you know?" I couldn't say that I did know, but I nodded anyway. "Like, I feel like I'm ready."

An easy little smile formed on her face, and it wasn't hard to see that she was thinking about the raven- haired boy who was the topic of our discussion.

I had never really felt that way about anyone before, especially not a boy, but as a seventeen- year- old, hormonal female, I couldn't wait to be in her place. I couldn't wait to stare off dreamily into space, to spend all of my waking hours thinking of that one, special guy, then keep doing so even in my sleep. I wanted to feel that kind of happiness, but good god, it was so difficult to find someone who was worth my time, save for the occasional ghostly being, of course, because Brian was obviously worth every bit of my time.