Elsie couldn’t recall the exact day she became a ghost. Most of her real-life memories were fuzzy, the same way they would feel in a dream. She could never remember how she got to certain places either. She would just suddenly appear somewhere with no memory of walking there. Nights would pass in a blink, like she didn’t go to sleep at all but teleported forward in time. It was because of all this that her days went by so peacefully and quickly, unable to dwell on her past memories and unable to talk to living people about it. Memories would only appear randomly when she needed them, like when talking about the cucumber cupcakes with Cooper.

Everything had continued in a slow monotonous tune for weeks or maybe even months before Cooper showed up. She’d wander the school halls, eating whatever she wanted and dressing in clothes she could only dream of wearing in real life. Everyone ignored her, walking right through her body. If she was able to remember who her parents were, she was sure they’d do the same.

That was why it was such a relief to walk past Cooper on his first day in the school and have him notice her. He did a double take at the giant jawbreaker she was sucking on, probably wondering why she was carrying such a large candy in the school hall. Then, his eyes went wide with realization and he turned away, pretending he hadn’t seen her.

It was the first time a real, living human had acknowledged her. She couldn’t resist following him after that, trailing him for his first three days and saying whatever came to mind in the hopes that he’d eventually break his silence. Then, in one of his classes, he finally reacted when they started discussing the cucumber cupcakes, something she remembered an older lady telling her about, though she had no clue when that conversation happened or where they’d been at the time.

Ever since that day, he’d responded to her. Sure, he didn’t seem all that happy to converse with a ghost, but he tolerated her in the beginning and now she was beginning to think he actually enjoyed her company. He’d warmed up to her in only a few days.

This makeshift friendship continued for a week. He was her tether to the real world, preventing her from moving on, and she was grateful for it.

But, after a while, something finally changed.

She was peering through a wall at Cooper one day, watching him sit in his Math classroom next to Cage, and she was feeling awkward about walking in. He’d only been friends with Cage for a little while and she didn’t want to ruin it. Everyone seemed to be accepting his strangeness now, most likely assuming he had a mental illness, but that didn’t mean he could just talk to the wall without people getting a little weirded out.

That was why she had to hesitate, for his sake. At least until Cage went away.

Sighing and pulling a burger out of thin air, she took a huge bite, waiting for the opportune moment to speak to her best friend.

“Who are you looking at?” A deep male voice came from behind. She would have jumped if she wasn’t so used to him doing it. “Are you creeping on someone? Ooh, you stalker. Who could it be? Have you formed a crush?”

Elsie turned to her only other friend in this school, Milo. He was another ghost, or whatever they technically were, and he’d supposedly been here a few months longer than her. Most of his school days were spent in other classrooms, though. It was unusual to see him at this hour. He was standing behind her, leaning through the wall to see who she’d been watching.

Milo was tall and thin, with dark hair that he wore long enough for it to form a ponytail. He had dark eyes and a look that was both messily lazy and delinquent-like. Her first impression was that he died because he got into a gang fight, but after she got to know him and his nonchalant, work-avoiding personality, she realized he looked this way purely on accident. While food was her favorite thing, lying around and doing nothing was his.

“I’m not a stalker,” Elsie answered, finishing her burger while he studied the face of each boy.

“But if you wanted to be, it wouldn’t be hard. Don’t worry. I understand the temptation.” Milo grinned mischievously.

As far as they could tell, Elsie was Cooper’s age while Milo was most likely a senior when he died. They had to judge based off height and the maturity of their faces. There was no sure-fire way of knowing, though.

“Aha! I know who it is!” Milo spun his finger around, building up anticipation before pointing.

Elsie caught herself glancing at Cooper, her face heating up ever so slightly. She wasn’t sure why Cooper’s presence embarrassed her.

“It’s him!” Milo held his hand forward and pointed at the tallest boy in class, Cage.

Elsie smirked and shoved the back of Milo’s head. “As if.”

“No?” The older boy squinted at the class, rubbing his head as though her push had hurt him. “I thought for sure he was your type.”

“You don’t even know my type.”

“I do. Tall. Dark hair. The complete opposite of you.”

“When did I say that?”

“…You know we don’t retain memories. How should I know when you do or don’t say things?”

“You’re the one who—” Elsie took a moment to shove a handful of sour candies into her mouth, ignoring his teasing grin. She wasn’t actually mad or offended, which was always made obvious by how little inflections she used when speaking. “It’s not him.”

“Then who is it? I must know!” Milo scanned each person’s face. “Him?” He pointed at the teacher, then frowned. “My rival.”

“No, it’s not Mr. Lassiter. I’m not the type to befriend older men.”

“Do you think that’s how you died? Kidnapped by an older man?”

She shrugged. Neither of them had any clues as to how their lives ended. “Why are you so sure it’s a guy I’m looking at? I probably had tons of female friends here before I died.”

“You?” Milo raised his head and laughed at the ceiling. “Oh, you’re serious.”

“Milo…”

“I’m kidding. I know. It’s just that you’ve been hiding this special person from me, so I’ve become suspicious. If you were watching a friend of yours, you wouldn’t keep it so secret. That’s why it has to be a guy. Am I right?”

She said nothing because he was.

“And it must be a guy you’re interested in, because whenever I ask you about it, you eat more. That’s a sign that you’re nervous.”

He was right again. “I don’t like him.” They technically just met. Sure, she liked Cooper platonically, but Milo was reading into this too much.

“Love at first sight. I know it when I see it.” He tapped his forehead in a conspiratorial way. “Takes one to know one.”

“Your type of love is embarrassing, Milo.” She finished chewing her candy and swallowing. “I’d rather die a second time than experience the love you’re so obsessed with.” He had a habit of stalking the girl he’d taken a liking to and they both knew it was downright creepy. Thankfully he still respected the girl’s privacy but still.

“Hey, don’t talk bad about my unrequited crush. One-sided love is beautiful in its own way.” He struck a manly pose, as though that somehow made it better. “What’s so special about this guy anyway? I’ve never seen you follow anyone around before. Are your ghostly ways finally manifesting?”

Elsie pursed her lips, wondering what exactly was so unique about Cooper. His ability to see ghosts was the most important thing, of course, but there was something more that drew her to him. She couldn’t quite put her finger on it.

“Oh.” Milo nudged her. They were both standing inside the wall now. “Look. One of them is looking our way. That’s weird. It’s almost like they can see—”

Elsie glanced at Cooper. Sure enough, he was staring at the two of them, both of their heads and limbs poking out of the wall like decorations. His jaw had dropped. He must not have expected to find yet another ghost inside the school. They must be uncommon, judging by his facial expression.

That, or he was shocked to see her talking to another boy.

“Wait, can he see us?” Milo leaned forward, nearly falling on his face in the process.

Elsie waved at Cooper, smiling innocently. “Hey.”

“He can?” Milo actually did fall this time. “A real human? One who can talk to me? Oh, it’s been so long!”

Cooper heard this and looked away, reminding Elsie of the first time they met. He was avoiding eye contact, hoping Milo would lose interest.

“Leave him alone.” Elsie grabbed Milo’s arm and dragged him back through the wall. “Just because he can see us doesn’t mean he wants to associate with us. He’s trying to study.”

“And I’m trying to avoid going insane from only talking to you…No offense.” Milo turned around, ready to charge back in and interrogate the boy. Before he could ruin the small flicker of normalcy she had, Elsie decided to use a small lie to convince him to stop.

“He’s from a family of ghost hunters,” she whispered, as though this was top secret information. “If you make him hate you, he might send you to the afterlife.”

Milo stopped in his tracks. “He might what?”

“You’ll have to face judgement for all the annoying things you’ve done to people in your past life,” she said, pulling a loaf of bread out of her pocket and biting into it.

“…Oh.”

“What was it you were planning to do again?”

“…I was…going to hang out with you, of course.” Milo slapped her on the back, all stalking forgotten. “They’re watching a movie in the sophomore History class. Let’s head over there.”

Elsie followed him, glad she got to see Cooper at least once before Milo dragged her away. He’d looked traumatized when he saw them together. She hoped that wouldn’t affect how he treated her the next time they interacted.