Afterlife Academy (11 page)

“Okay, thanks,” I say as I make
my way back up the stairs and emerge into the empty grey canteen.

I think about what she said as I
trudge back up to the dorm room. Charlie growls at me as I walk in, but I
ignore him. I sit on my bed and stare at the photos of Wade and my family that
were in my suitcase. I have to get out of here, no matter what Narcissa thinks.
That was my life and I want it back. I finger the rose around my neck, but I
can’t really concentrate on Wade at the moment.

I can’t believe the accident was
only a couple of days ago and everything that has happened since. I feel like
I’ve been here for weeks. Maybe I have. Narcissa did say something about time
passing differently here. Maybe it does. Maybe this is some huge karmic payback
for what an utter cow I was before.

Well, I’ve already learnt the
error of my ways. I know that you shouldn’t pick on people with red hair or
maths calculators in their pockets and that Goths are just like us with
different taste in make-up.

I get that now. If they just let
me go home, I won’t do it again and I’ll stop my friends doing it too.

Just let me go back.

CHAPTER 12

I’m just about to walk into the canteen on my own when
Anthony calls me.

“Hey, slow down!” He runs up to
me. “Where were you this morning? You missed maths.”

“Oh, really? I had no idea.”

He smirks.

“Well, if I had known it was
maths I would have made a special effort to skip anyway.”

“So, wanna grab some lunch with
me?” he asks.

I stare at him for a moment.
“Sure,” I say eventually.

Because he is voluntarily
talking to me. Because he is the only person in this entire school who talks to
me at all. Apart from Caydi, and she sits with a huge gang of other Goths
talking and laughing and generally looking very happy, and I’m pretty positive
that they wouldn’t want a brown-haired “cheerleader” joining their group.

Besides, Narcissa did have a point.
I have actually enjoyed spending time with Anthony.

“So, is maths any less
mind-numbing in a different dimension?” I ask him as we walk in.

“It’s good,” he says. “We’re
doing exactly what we were doing in our old school.”

“I have no idea what that was
anyway.”

“I was a bit worried about
having to catch up,” he continues excitedly. “But it’s good that we’re all at
the same level.”

This boy really likes maths.

“So, what do you have this
afternoon?” I cut in before he starts going on about the joys of quadratic
equations.

“Visualisation,” he says. “Same
as you, right?”

I nod. I don’t tell him that I
really, really want to visualise Wade.

“You wanna see your folks?” he
asks me.

I shrug.

“I don’t,” he says. “I’d rather
wait until after the funeral is over and that. I bet my gran is in a right
state now. I don’t think it would do me any good to see her.”

I nod.

But I have to see Wade. I have
to know how bad his injuries are so I know how long it will be before he can
come and rescue me.

“Hey, Ant! Over here!” some boy
yells as we walk into the canteen.

Anthony smiles and waves at him.
“I’ll catch ya later,” he yells back.

I look over at the boy. It’s not
Anthony’s roommate. It must be someone else he’s made friends with.

Huh.

Anthony’s made a new friend.

I’m about to say something
sarcastic when another boy waves at Anthony and beckons him over.

Anthony waves back but moves his
hand in a “no” motion.

We walk closer to the food line
and yet another boy shouts at us.

“Anthony, man, sit with us!” He
thumps the seat beside him and again Anthony smiles and waves but says no.

Other people wave to Anthony as
we pass. When we join the lunch queue, a boy near the front turns round and
says that we can cut in front of him.

“It’s okay, thanks Scott,”
Anthony says sweetly.

Huh.

Anthony made new friends.
Anthony made a lot of new friends.

Anthony is popular.

That’s a bit of a turn-up for
the books.

I get that he’s kind of a nice
guy if you give him a chance. And he wouldn’t be bad-looking if you gave his
hair a trim and changed his glasses for contact lenses. But he still loves
maths, has a scientific calculator in his front pocket, and he’s still a geek.

And people like him.

Even I like him a little bit. I
mean, the long hair is kind of cute, and if you tilt your head the right way,
the glasses could be considered adorable. He’s not perfect, but maybe perfect
is overrated. After all, Wade was perfect, and he bloody got me killed, didn’t
he?

We collect our lunch from
Narcissa. She smiles and winks when she sees me with Anthony and puts another
tub of ice cream on my tray. If this was the real world I would weigh a ton by
now.

Anthony and I sit at the same
table we sat at yesterday.

“So… someone got popular,” I say
as we sit down.

He blushes and starts unwrapping
his sandwich.

“Did I miss something major this
morning?” I ask.

“Nothing,” he says. “But things
are different here. People think I’m cool because I know the answers in maths.
And hey, no one stole my glasses.”

I know I look guilty at that
because he quickly backpedals and says, “I’m only joking.”

“You can go and sit with those
boys if you want,” I say to him. “You don’t have to eat with me just because
you feel sorry for me.”

“I don’t. I kind of like eating
with you.”

I find it totally cute that he
blushes again when he says that. I can’t help but smile at him.

“So you’re popular and I’m the
outsider,” I mutter. “This really is a screwed-up dimension.”

He shrugs. “You just need to get
more involved. So far all you’ve done is sit around and moan that you’re not
supposed to be here.”

“I’m not,” I say.

“Just make the best of it,” he
says. “No one wants to die. But for some people this is a fresh start. Maybe
you should look at it the same way.”

“I really don’t need a lecture
from you of all people,” I snap.

“Fine,” he says, holding up his
hands in surrender. “But I think the teachers are right. I don’t think you can
go back. I think you just have to accept what’s happened to you and move on.”

I roll my eyes.

“Sorry,” he says. “Let’s talk
about something different.”

“How did you meet all those
people and how come they like you so much?” I ask.

“Am I really that unlikeable?”

“It would depend on who you’re
speaking to,” I say. “I can see that you have potential but Wade and Soph might
not agree with me.”

“Potential, huh?” He winks at
me.

“Don’t get too full of
yourself.” I grin. “You still have a scientific calculator in your pocket.”

“Actually, I took your advice
and put it in my bag,” he says, grinning back.

His smile is kind of cute. How
come I’ve never noticed that before? I suppose because Anthony has never had a
reason to smile at me before.

“I’m sorry,” I say suddenly.
“For the way I treated you before.”

“You’ve already said that.”

“I know, but I really mean it. I
want you to know that. I’m sorry for the way Soph, Wade, and I behaved, and if
we ever get back home, I’m going to make sure it never happens again.”

“What makes you think we’re
going to get back home?” he asks around a mouthful of his baguette.

“We will. We have to. Look…” I
glance around to make sure no one is eavesdropping, then I lean in and tell him
about the forum page I found on the Internet. “We have to find the way out. We
can’t stay here forever.”

“No, we graduate and move on to
something else,” he says like I’ve lost my mind.

“But don’t you want to go home?”

He shrugs.

“Don’t you miss your family?”

“Look,” he says. “I’m not trying
to be harsh here because I love my gran to bits, but she’s getting old. She was
eighty-six last month. She’s too old to have a teenager around, and what
happens if I get home and then she dies? I’d be on my own again.”

“No, you wouldn’t,” I say.
“You’d have me.”

“Oh yeah,” he says. “Because you
really want to be eating lunch with me right now. You’re not just here because
I’m the only option. If Wade or Sophie walked in right now, you wouldn’t go
running over to them and pretend you’d never so much as spoken to me.”

“I wouldn’t.” I lie. And then I
think about it. “No, I wouldn’t. You’re a really nice guy, and I know that we
never gave you a chance before. If Wade and Soph were here, I’d persuade them
to give you a chance too. I do want to be here eating lunch with you. It’s not
just because no one else will speak to me.”

“Hmm,” he says.

Great. He doesn’t believe me.
I’m trying to be nice and he doesn’t believe me.

“I mean it,” I say.

“So, what do you think
Visualisation class will be like?” he asks, completely avoiding the
conversation. “Do you think it will be like the pensieve in Harry Potter?”

I stare at him. “Do you really
think I’ve read Harry Potter?”

He thinks about that for a moment.
“No,” he says eventually. “Now that I think about it, I’m sure
Cosmopolitan
is about as complicated as your reading
matter gets.”

“Hey,” I go to protest, but
honestly he’s right. “Yeah, well, maybe I’ll go up to the library here and get
them out, seeing as there’s nothing better to do.”

CHAPTER 13

Visualisation class is in what used to be the technology
block at our old school. Ghosts probably don’t have much need for technology,
so this must be much more useful. Soph and I always considered Technology a
fairly useless subject anyway.

I don’t know what I’m expecting
to see when I walk in. Maybe some huge dark room with a lot of crystal balls?
But it looks just like an ordinary classroom. There are desks set out in rows,
the teacher’s desk is at the front of the room, the walls are plain, and there
isn’t much else to see.

Clearly I was expecting
something more fantastical than this.

I take a seat next to Anthony
and he stays with me even though when we walk in a boy waves to him and pats
the empty seat at his desk.

It’s so weird to see Anthony
being popular, especially when everyone hates me.

The teacher who comes in is a
young man. Most of the adults here seem to range from old to ancient. Apart
from Narcissa, and honestly, who knows how old she might be, but I suspect it
might be about a hundred years older than she looks.

“Hello,” the man greets us.
“Welcome to Visualisation class. For the benefit of our new arrivals, I am Mr
Nathan. I understand that this class may be hard for you and you should be
aware that nothing is required here. This is all about relaxing our minds and
bodies and allowing our brains to let us see what we want to see. There is no
pass or fail, so don’t worry about that. If you don’t want to participate, you
are welcome not to come.”

Personally I think all teachers
should be that easy-going and all classes should be optional.

“Now then,” he continues.
“Visualisation is when our minds allow us to see the people we have left
behind. We know this is a sensitive topic, so we do handle it with the utmost
care. You all have group therapy sessions on your schedules, and there is a
school counsellor available at all times for one-to-one sessions if you feel
the need to talk about what you have seen. You are absolutely not forced to participate
in this class. It can be hard to see friends and family carrying on their life
without you, so no one is required to visualise. We’ll start with a relaxation
exercise to open your minds. And let’s try to keep falling asleep to a minimum,
hmm?”

Everyone laughs at that.

This is the most important class
for me. It’s good we’ve got a nice teacher.

“I want you all to relax. Just
close your eyes and imagine that you’re in your favourite place from when you
were alive. The nicest place you’ve ever been. Visualise yourself there. Feel
the motions, hear the sounds, smell the smells.”

I visualise lying on Wade’s bed.
His arms were around me and we had a Marilyn Manson CD on. His choice. His
parents were out for the day so we’d skipped school for the afternoon and gone
to his house. We’d kissed for a while and Wade had copped a feel. We were lying
down, just relaxing. Wade fell asleep and I laid there with my head on his
chest, listening to his heart beating and breathing in the smell of his
aftershave.

“Now then,” Mr Nathan says
quietly. “I want a volunteer. Who wants to visualise their loved ones? Once
again, I must make extremely clear, this can be a hugely difficult thing to
see. You do not have to do so if you’re not completely sure.”

My hand flies up in the air.

“I’m sure,” I say when he points
to me. “I have to see them. I have to know my boyfriend is all right.”

Mr Nathan nods.

I go to get up but he tells me
to stay in my seat.

I’m sure he’s going to get the
crystal ball out soon, but he doesn’t. Instead, he tells me to sit down with my
eyes closed and to clear my mind of all distractions. Then he says that I have
to concentrate on who I want to see and to think about a vivid memory involving
the person.

I do as he says. It seems like
I’m sitting there for ages just thinking about the same memory of the afternoon
lying on Wade’s bed. There is nothing in my mind. Honestly, I have no idea how
I’m supposed to see Wade without some sort of magic crystal ball or something.

But suddenly there he is. I see
him. I’m sitting in class, in a chair in the old technology block, and I can
see Wade as clear as day behind my closed eyelids.