Ghost Story

Chapter 13

If today is your first day of school, I hope this chapter makes today a little better.

If today is not your first day, this is to celebrate a little bit longer of a summer.

That Saturday, Emma dressed in a sleeveless green dress that ended mid-thigh. Mary Margaret and David had already approved of letting her go to the party. They knew Anna and Elsa, and knew about the parties that they had thrown. The police had never been called and they were very good girls. They trusted them and their daughter. There was a knock on the door downstairs, and she ran down with her heels in hand.

"Bye, Mom, bye Dad!" She yelled before going outside where Ruby and Graham were, waiting for her to give her a ride to Anna and Elsa's party.

When they got there, music was blasting and garbage littered the front yard. Emma made her way inside and grabbed a bottle of soda from the kitchen. She went to the living room where plenty of people were dancing to the loud music. She was a little disappointed to find that nothing was distracting her.

"Swan! Glad you could make it!" Elsa said happily and Emma stood up to give her friend a hug.

"Yeah, I needed to relax," Emma said.

"Enjoy yourself! Eat whatever, drink whatever, dance, have a good time! I'm gonna go see if I can find Jefferson."

Jefferson and Elsa had crushes on each other, but both refused to admit it. They also both thought that the other didn't feel the same, despite what everyone told them. Emma found her other friends and talked to people she had seen around school, but had never struck up a real conversation with.

Around midnight, people began to go home. By 1:00, it was only her, Elsa, Anna, Jefferson, Anna's boyfriend Chris, Neal, and Walsh, a guy who had a crush on Emma since he came to Rochester High. Ruby and Graham were there too.

They all decided to play Truth or Dare. Emma was sitting in between Neal and Walsh, silently hoping that the game would end soon and she could go home.

The questions started off innocent enough. Asking who their crushes were, who their past girlfriend or boyfriends were, which celebrity they wanted to marry. The dare questions were interesting which made everyone laugh. They consisted of prank calls, clown makeovers, and getting toilet paper tails. But soon enough, the questions started to become personal, and the dares became physical.

Jefferson and Elsa had already kissed once, Ruby and Graham had kissed twice, but once Emma was dared to kiss Neal and then Walsh, she quit and started walking home.

"Hey, Emma!" She heard Graham call behind her. She stopped and turned around, wrapping her arms tighter around herself to fight off the cool breeze.

"What?" She sighed.

"I know you weren't comfortable with that. All you had to do was pass and lose the points."

"That's not it. The thing is, is that they would have only gotten worse. Everyone knows that Neal and I broke up. They know I don't want to be with him, but they still dared me to do that! Nobody seems to understand that I don't want to deal with that asshole anymore. Walsh just seems like a complete stalker. He always has been since he moved here. But, they just think that it's funny to mess with me!" Graham put his hands on her shoulders and stopped her from ranting anymore.

"Hey, listen to me. We are fourteen years old. We shouldn't even have serious relationships and heartbreaking break ups. I guess they just don't seem like it's a very big deal. Most kids nowadays date and break up in one week."

"I know, but I was very happy with Neal."

"It's time to forget about him. Find another guy who is ten times better."

"I think I already have, but we can't be together." She looked down to the ground. "He's gone."

"There are plenty of other fish in the sea."

Emma nodded. "Thanks, Graham, but I think I'm going to go home. It's been a long night and I'm tired."

"Follow me. I'll give you a ride home."

They walked back to Elsa and Anna's house and Graham ran inside to grab their jackets while Emma stayed by his car. She grabbed her phone, seeing a bunch of texts from all of her friends asking her to come back or asking her where she was. When Graham came back out, she grabbed her jacket and put it on. Since her arms were covered now, she felt warmer already.

Graham opened the car door for her and let her get in, and then went over to the driver's side. She texted both of her parents to let them know that she was coming back home, and a few minutes later, they pulled into her driveway.

"Thanks for the ride," Emma told Graham. She leaned over and kissed his cheek before getting out. He waited until she was safely inside before driving back to Elsa and Anna's.

After taking a shower and getting ready for bed, Emma sat down on her bed, brushing her wet hair. She pulled up Netflix on her computer and waited for it load. After catching up on some shows that she was in the process of binge watching, she laid down and shut the light off.

She thought that her eyes were playing tricks on her when she saw a dark, tall shadow in the corner of her room. The same corner from when she saw him that first night. She scrambled out from under the covers and turned the light on, but nothing was there. Her heart beat erratically in her chest. It had been a month in the house with no activity, which made sense because Killian was gone. But, what if he was coming back?

Slowly, she turned her light off again and covered her body up with the blankets. Four loud knocks on the wall made her jump, and she could hear a crystal clear, male, and accented voice right beside her ear.

"Did you miss me?"

I have no idea if Rochester High is a real school in New York, but I do know that Rochester is a real town.