I Text Dead People Page 4

  Anna slowly shuffled with arms out in front of her as she felt around for her lamp, trying to avoid bumping into the bed. She clicked it on and the light illuminated her cozy purple-walled room. The schoolbooks still sat untouched on her desk, but she didn’t open them.

  Instead, she went to the window and looked down in the yard.

  Nobody was there. Anna couldn’t help but wonder if maybe she had imagined it all.

  A loud thump brought her attention back to her desk.

  One of the old books from the library, a collection of poems by Edgar Allan Poe, lay on the ground, wide open.

  Her eyes fell on the black, bold letters of a poem. “Annabel Lee,” on page 121.

  A black circular mark that looked like it was from a cigarette marred the bottom of the page across from it, right beside the last two lines of another poem, “A Dream Within a Dream.”

  Is all that we see or seem

  But a dream within a dream?

  That same night, Lucy flung herself across her bed. How could he stand her up like that? And today of all days. She plucked a chocolate from the emergency box stashed in her nightstand, second drawer from the bottom.

  “I just don’t get it,” she grumbled, popping a hazelnut truffle into her mouth. Outside, the setting sun created a swirl of colors like a painter’s palette. The shadows danced across her room, a reminder that another day was ending, another day that her phone didn’t ring and she still hadn’t heard from John. Lucy got up and slapped the blinds closed. She wasn’t in the mood for anything beautiful.

  Sitting on the edge of her bed, she reached for a chocolate covered with sprinkles. Maybe, she thought, he hadn’t stood her up. Maybe he was sick. Or something had happened, something extreme, something that had prevented him from making it to her house. Or to his phone to call her.

  A wave of worry washed over her. The possibilities whirled through her mind. What kind of a girlfriend was she? The kind who sat around eating high-calorie candies while wallowing in self-pity?

  No. She stood up. “I’m the kind of girlfriend who is always there for my boyfriend,” she whispered. She carefully placed the half-eaten chocolate back into its wrapper, saving it for later, and closed the lid on the box. Now she just needed to figure out where to find him.

  With her phone in hand, Lucy marched downstairs and out the front door. She pulled up her flashlight app and headed down the street toward his house—or rather, where she thought his house was. Because actually, she had never had the chance to visit him. Yet. But she had seen him walk in that direction one time after school.

  Lucy’s chunky black heels crunched on the gravel road, the tiny beam of light from her phone flittering back and forth on the ground in front of her. Her feet were already killing her. Being fashionable was a lot of work.

  An owl called nearby. Frogs croaked. Crickets chirped. The small sounds were unnerving, breaking the silence. She didn’t want to be left alone with her thoughts. She needed a distraction. She needed to set the mood.

  She popped her earbuds in and scrolled through her playlist, selecting the one titled “All Things John.” She had put that together the day he had given her his phone number. Since then, she continually added songs that reminded her of him to the quickly growing list. She adjusted the volume, turning up “Forever and Always” by Taylor Swift, the song she’d wasted no time adding when John was a no-show.

  A new text flashed across the screen. Was it him?

  She pulled up the message, sighing. It was only her mom. Probably saying she was staying for another week in New York for business. She definitely had bad timing and a habit of being highly annoying at the worst possible moments.

  Another text came in before she had a chance to read the first one.

  If she had been coordinated, she would’ve jumped up and down at that exact second. But she didn’t trust herself to pull it off, especially wearing heels.

  Opting for balance, Lucy slowed her pace, frowning, as she read the message.

  8 pm Winchester Cemetery. Friday night. Surprise. Don’t text back.

  What did John mean, don’t text back? Telling her not to do something only made her want to do it ten times more. But instead, she practiced her patience, closed her eyes, and counted to eleven and a half. Then she took a long, deep breath and opened her eyes. There. All better.

  Friday night was only four days away. What would she wear? How would she do her hair? Lucy came to a dead stop. “But…why does he want to meet in the graveyard?” she mumbled. She put the phone next to her heart. Maybe it symbolized something. Something fantastic. Something like…his undying love for her.

  Lucy spun herself around and teetered back toward her house. She didn’t have to go look for John. He had come to her without her even trying.

  There was a bite to the air, and Anna could almost make out the fog from her breath as she walked to school. She’d gotten only a few hours of sleep, thanks to bad dreams. And on top of that, she’d had to wake up even earlier to avoid taking the dreaded shortcut through the cemetery.

  All the creepy noises Anna had heard the night before replayed in her exhausted brain. The footsteps on the stairs, creaking doors, the scraping of branches on her bedroom window like fingernails raking along the glass. She’d woken up with her bedroom window wide open. Why her mom would open it she had no idea. It was more than a little strange, since her mom knew her room was colder than the others in the house.

  Only a few students were outside the school, but they were rushing indoors. Except one person, who sat on the steps dressed in a T-shirt and leggings, head in hands.

  As Anna got closer, she realized that it was Millie.

  “Hey!” Millie waved, looking way too cheerful so early on a Tuesday morning.

  “Hey,” Anna said. “Aren’t you cold?” She’d worn her white denim jacket over a long-sleeve tee, and even that wasn’t warm enough.

  Millie shook her head. “Nah, I’m used to it.” She stood up and walked inside with Anna. “So, did you meet up with them after school yesterday?”

  Anna shrugged. She didn’t really want to tell Millie what had happened. It was obvious Olivia was using her, but she wasn’t going to admit that to anyone. Still, Anna wanted to make friends, and it was hard enough keeping secrets without having to lie on top of it.

  “Yeah, for a little while. It wasn’t that bad.” She didn’t bring up the party in case Millie wasn’t invited.

  Millie raised an eyebrow.

  “Well, okay. Maybe you were right about Olivia and she is a bit…rude. But Eden seems cool. I might even join their study group.”

  Millie snickered. “Yeah, right. Like they ever study. They probably only get passing grades because someone does their work for them.”

  “I wouldn’t be surprised,” Anna muttered. She shifted her messenger bag to her other shoulder. “So…I’ll see you later, okay?” And before Millie could say anything, Anna took off. Her shoulders ached and the strap of her bag was digging into her skin, even through her coat. She walked down the hallways, searching the numbers on the lockers for the one she had been assigned.

  As she passed other students, she noticed a few nearby whispering. She caught the words “new girl” more than once. Anna tried to look oblivious.

  To her relief, she found her locker pretty quickly.

  Locker 121.

  She stared at the number for a minute, not sure why it sounded so familiar. She twisted the combination as given on the paper she held in her hand and tried the locker.

  She pulled harder. It didn’t open. She tried the combination again. It still didn’t open. She groaned, leaning her head against the locker, and silently prayed for it to open.

  “Need some help?”

  Anna snapped her head up. A guy with large black glasses and a monstrous camera hanging around his neck was grinning at her.

  She held back a laugh. This was how her prayer was answered?

  She threw up her hands in defeat. “I can�
��t get my locker open.”

  “I noticed,” he said. When Anna stared blankly at him, he laughed. “Want me to try?”

  “Okay,” Anna said, offering him the paper with the combination.

  “Sure,” he said. He gave her a sideways glance. “Aren’t you afraid of giving your locker combo to a complete stranger? You never know what I might do with it.”

  “Well, I can’t open it, so right now there’s nothing even in it,” Anna said.

  He twisted and turned the dial expertly. The locker opened.

  “How did you do that?” Anna demanded, amazed.

  “Years of experience.” He tipped an imaginary hat and headed down the hallway.

  “Hey, what’s your name?” Anna called after him, realizing she should have been friendlier.

  He looked back at her, dark eyebrows raised. “Spencer.”

  “Thanks, Spencer!”

  He nodded and a moment later he disappeared into the crowd of students. Anna looked into her empty open locker and threw her books in mechanically, coming across the phone and hesitating for a moment before placing it back in her bag. She had grabbed the phone that morning, even though its screen remained dark, because she didn’t want to take the chance that it would suddenly decide to come back to life while she was at school and her mom would find it.

  In Language Arts, Anna glanced around for an empty seat. Millie mouthed “Sorry” to her, since someone had already taken hers from yesterday. Some students were standing around, talking to their friends, their backpacks thrown on top of nearby desks claiming their seats. Toward the back she saw two adjacent empty seats behind two guys fist-bumping.

  She started making her way, watching her feet, but when she looked up again, there was only one seat left. Johnny sat in the other. He was wearing the same jacket as the day before—it looked a bit beaten up and could probably have used a wash—with a forest-green hoodie underneath.

  As she plopped her bag on the ground next to her desk, Anna reminded herself to breathe and act normal. Johnny didn’t spare a glance at her, even after she sat down next to him.

  Maybe he didn’t remember her from yesterday. Maybe he had a short-term memory problem.

  The classroom door opened and closed for the next few minutes as more students trailed in. Without moving her head, Anna stole a look at Johnny as he nervously ran a hand through his shaggy dark hair.

  Then he finally tilted his head toward her.

  “So, how you like it here?” he asked.

  So maybe his memory wasn’t so short-term after all.

  “Good. I like it…” She trailed off because she didn’t know what else to say. She picked up her pencil and doodled a cupcake on her notebook. C’mon, Anna. Say something.

  “So…” He paused for a moment, clearing his throat, and out of the corner of her eye she could see one of the girls with ice-blond hair taking an overly obvious interest in her. She thought it was Nessa. She was probably spying so she could report everything back to Olivia. “Where do you live?”

  “Oh. Um.” She didn’t want to lie, but she definitely didn’t want to tell him the truth. “Not too far from here. How about you?”

  A smile crept across his face. “I’m not too far away either.”

  Anna giggled nervously. At least he didn’t ask her anything else.

  The teacher walked down the aisle between the two of them as he handed back graded quizzes from the week before.

  Anna still had the feeling there was something about Johnny that was so…familiar. She couldn’t quite figure out why, though.

  When class was over, Anna followed the rest of the students pushing their way out. Millie had already disappeared.

  At lunchtime, Anna didn’t see Millie anywhere in the halls or at the bench where they’d eaten the day before, so she walked into the cafeteria alone and stared dismally out over the crowds of students laughing, gossiping, and eating at their tables. She spotted Spencer leaning against the milk cooler, talking to the guy in front of him in the lunch line, juggling a bottle of water and laughing.

  Anna grabbed a water bottle to put on her tray, watching as Spencer reached for his camera and started taking pictures of the students around him. Missing her tray completely, she dropped the water bottle, which crashed to the ground and bounced against the leg of the girl in front of her. With an aggravated sigh, the girl spun around to face Anna, attitude written on her face.

  “Way to go, new girl!” she snapped.

  “Sorry,” Anna apologized, flushing. “It was an accident.”

  The commotion caused other people in line to look over at her, including Spencer and his camera. Anna quickly looked down, covering her face with her mousy brown hair just as a flash went off in her direction.

  Just great, Anna thought. She passed up the frozen pizza that was seared under the heating lamps and “chicken patties” topped with shriveled lettuce and grabbed the only edible-looking thing, an apple. Impulsively she put a granola bar on the tray too.

  After she paid for her food, she hesitated. Should she sit with a group of people she didn’t know or sit by herself at one of the few empty tables in the cafeteria?

  She couldn’t just stand there. She would look like a total loser. Trying to look confident, she quickly walked to the nearest crowded table, with only one empty seat, plunking her tray down in front of her as she sat.

  Like they were in a scene in a bad movie, everyone at the table stopped talking and turned to stare at her. The silence lengthened uncomfortably, and Anna wasn’t sure what to do. So she stared down at her food and then looked back up at the group around her. They were still just looking at her. Anna felt her cheeks burn pink.

  “What’s up, new girl?” a girl with a black pixie cut said at last.

  “Hey,” Anna replied. It came out as such a whisper, she wasn’t even sure she’d said the word aloud.

  “Where’d you move from?” a thin boy with unruly hair asked.

  “Sacramento.” She figured she should set the rumors straight before they got too out of control.

  A girl named Claire who she recognized from gym class put her hand on Anna’s arm in a comforting gesture. “That is so tragic.”

  “It is?” Anna couldn’t help it; the question just fell out of her mouth.

  “Did you live close to a mall?” a girl in a gray lace crop top asked. “That’s my dream.”

  “Kind of. Sacramento has a lot of malls. It’s a big city.” Anna’s voice cracked.

  And just as quickly as the questions began, they stopped, and the awkward silence returned.

  This had been a big mistake. She stood up abruptly. “Actually, I see someone I know. Nice to meet you guys.” She quickly walked away from the table. “Never, ever do that again,” she muttered under her breath.

  Spotting an empty table in the very back near the fire exit, Anna made a beeline for it. No sooner did she sit down than a girl with a lunch tray walked straight toward her.

  The girl, who looked super familiar to Anna, was bouncy—a little too excited to be in school. Anna’s eyes fell immediately on her boots. The heels had to be at least three inches, and even then she seemed on the shorter side. Her heart-shaped face was the color of vanilla yogurt, and a sprinkle of freckles crossed the bridge of her small nose. Unlike Anna’s limp locks, her shoulder-length brown hair looked thick and almost seemed to bounce in rhythm with her steps. The scooped neckline of her aqua-blue designer shirt was a little low, something Anna would never wear, revealing a crystal daisy pendant necklace. Her jeans, which were tucked into her boots, were intentionally distressed. They looked a lot like Anna’s, which really were old and worn. Anna had paid three bucks for hers at a thrift shop, but she was pretty sure this girl had dropped at least a hundred dollars on hers.

  The girl tossed her bag onto the table, staring intently at the food in front of her.

  Anna was about to say something when she noticed that everyone in the cafeteria was staring at them.

&nbs
p; Bouncy Girl sat down across from her and leaned in. “You should probably leave,” she whispered, her eyes still focused on her lunch tray.

  Anna’s smile fell from her face as if she’d just been slapped. Her first reaction was to be defensive and tell Bouncy Girl that if anyone was leaving, it wasn’t going to be her. But Anna didn’t like confrontation, and she especially didn’t want to start something on her second day at a new school. As she reached for her tray, Bouncy Girl added, “People don’t really talk to me. So if you want to make friends here, you won’t want to sit anywhere near me.”

  “Oh. Well, uh, do you want me to move to another table?” Anna blurted out.

  “Do what you want,” Bouncy Girl said with a shrug. “But don’t say I didn’t warn you. Unpopularity is like a disease, and especially around me, it’s definitely contagious.”

  Anna glanced around the room. If she got up now, where would she go? She decided to make the best of this. “On second thought, I’ll take my chances,” Anna said, not moving. She kind of wondered if the girl was throwing a pity party for herself and liked to be dramatic. But then again, the attention from the rest of the room was hard to miss.

  “Do these people always stare like this?” Anna asked in a low voice.

  “All the time.”

  “That’s stupid. Why?” Anna couldn’t help being curious.

  “They don’t like me,” the girl muttered.

  “Right. That’s a good reason,” Anna snorted. “By the way, I’m Anna.”

  “I know.”

  They sat and ate together in silence, but at least it wasn’t the awkward kind that made Anna want to run screaming from the room. And she definitely preferred that over the gawking from the last table.

  As she finished her apple, her messenger bag started vibrating against her feet, startling her. It was as if it had a mind of its own.

  Pulling it out, she saw a new text.

  Meet me after school at the cemetery—Millie