“Hey, Ellie! Wait up!” 

Yep. That’s me, Ellie Libby. The school's nerd. And that girl that was calling me. That was my bestie Savana. And yes it’s spelled like that. She's weird like me. Everyone calls us the freaks but really we just don’t really like what normal girls like. I don’t wear dresses or heels or makeup like the rest of the girls in the school. Neither does Savana. 

“So what’s up with you today. You're not really talking like you usually do… Oh is it because…”

I stormed off before she finished that sentence. The accident happened last month before school. Me and Millie Benjamin were riding into Maine for our last trip before school. She was looking at me but then all of a sudden the car started spinning then it went black. When I opened my eyes I was in a hospital room. I was looking all over in a panic when my mom grabbed my hand and the words she said will always haunt me… “Ellie, She’s gone…” 

All I could hear in those words .“she's gone”  she's not gone she’s just… She's just… Then I hear the bell,  I run to 7th period before I’m late. I sit down at my desk right before the teacher can get there. Once we were all seated Mr.Bean started talking, “ Today we have a new student. She came all the way from Indianapolis. So be nice to her.” 

When she walked in all eyes landed on her. She’s beautiful with long blond hair that glows in the sunlight. She’s wearing a thick red sweater and a pair of baby blue jeans. Her eyes are like a blue-green grey color. She looks like autumn. “Hey, I’m Cleo. I’m 17 and I love soccer and Basketball.” 

Every guy at school is lining up to escort Cleo around the school. She says no to most of them and then comes and links arms with me. “This girl here said she would show me around. Right?” She gives me a look of desperation so I say “Yes that’s right.” and we walked off.

 “Thanks for helping me back there, I really needed it.” 

“It’s not a problem. Those guys hate me anyway.”

“Why do they hate you? Did you do something?”

“No, I’m just not very likable I guess.”

She links my arm again “I like you.” and before we know it we are at the door of 8th period. “Thanks I wouldn’t have been able to find this class without you.” And just like that, she disappears into the crowd of people. If only I were as popular as her. 

During class, I keep on glancing in her direction, and every time I do she's looking away from me. Like she was looking at me but then I turned my head and she looked away. But all I see now is how her hair glistens in the sun. Her blond hair is now turning gold. She looks like an angel. “Mrs. Libby, did you hear what I said?” It was Mr.Adrian. I guess I wasn’t paying attention and he called on me. “What- Oh no sir I didn’t hear you.”

“Well, what were you looking at then, Hmm.”

“I guess I just spaced out.”

“Whatever, so as I was saying…”

I look back over to her and she's staring at me with a huge smile on her face. At first, I thought she was laughing at me but really she was laughing at Ryan who was making funny faces at her. I look down and there is a paper on my desk, I guess I didn’t notice that the teacher assigned us work. I grabbed my pencil out of my bag and I started writing. Not the answers but a story. Sometimes I write stories in my head. I usually jot them down before I forget it. 

The bell rings and we all race out the door to get on the bus and drive home. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Cleo waving her hand at me. She races up to me. “Hey, where are you going?” 

“Home, I’m taking the bus.”

“Oh, can I go with you? I don't feel like going home today.”

“I mean I guess there isn’t really anything interesting about my house.”

We race down the halls, looking like seventh graders and out the two front doors, and out onto the bus. We picked a seat on the way back. Terry the bus driver gives me a look because I usually sit in the front. When he looks away me and Cleo look at each other and start laughing like how best friends laugh by looking at each other across the classroom. When it’s my stop we get off and she looks surprised when she hears my dogs barking.

“Yeah, sorry I didn’t tell you I have dogs. I totally forgot.”

“It’s fine! I actually love dogs!” 

She takes my hand and we run down my driveway and onto my porch and when I unlock the door she runs inside and starts playing with the dogs. She looks like she is having fun. I let them out to go to the bathroom and we put our stuff in my room. 

“So everyone has been talking about you and saying that your girlfriend died in a car accident last year. I just wanted to say I’m so sorry that happened to you.” 

I remember the day of the crash. The scared look on her face. Both of us screaming. Then black. And of course the hospital.

“Yeah, It’s fine I heard the whole thing. I still remember the day I woke up in the hospital and my parents told me she was gone.”

“I’m so sorry. I remember the day my little sister died. She was only a week old and I was seven.”

“That must have been hard. A little girl being told that her sister isn’t coming home.”

“Yeah, it was. Hey, how about we watch a movie to get this off our mind.”

“Ok I’ll go get the popcorn and you can pick the movie.”

I go down the hall to the kitchen and find the popcorn in the cabinet and put it in the microwave. Cleo comes out and tells me she picked the movie After. I watched that movie a thousand times but since she wants to watch it I'm going to let her. There is no sense in fighting. I hear the microwave go off and I reach and grab the popcorn. It’s hot but I don’t want to act like a pussy so we go back to my room and watch the movie. 

When the movie ends I feel her head on my shoulder and her breathing is steady.  I guess she fell asleep on my shoulder. I try not to move so I shut off the light and wrap a blanket around us. It was cold at night. I guess I dozed off because when I woke up Cleo was gone and the sun was up. She must have called her mom or dad to come and get her. I walked out into the kitchen and grabbed some cereal. Mom is downstate for work and my dad left when I was 12. I haven’t seen him since. 

I pour myself a bowl and head out the door and wait for the bus. Once I got on the bus and got to school. The bell rang so I ran to my locker and grabbed my English book and headed to the homeroom.

“Today we are going to go on a field trip. You will have to choose your partner.” I and Cleo look at each other at the same time. We already knew that we were going to be partners for the trip. 

After we got on the bus I was looking out the window when Cleo tapped my shoulder. “I wonder where we are going. To a lake maybe? Oh, I know! A museum.”

“Probably.”

But then we turned on this dirt road that no one has ever seen before. My first thought was Omg, we are all going to die. I knew I should have asked to go to the bathroom at the beginning of class. But we come to a clearing. And there is a... Wait… a lake?! What is a lake doing in the middle of nowhere? Me and Cleo glare at each other probably wondering the same thing. Why?

Once everyone is off the bus the teacher tells us to go have fun and she and the bus driver will be back before dawn. Then just like that. They're gone and we are stranded in the middle of nowhere. “Well, might as well have some fun!” He ripped off his shirt and dived into the water. Everyone follows after him. But for me, I just sit at the edge of my bra and relax. 

Someone brought their speaker and was blasting music. Cleo was dancing with Calvin and everyone was either swimming or dancing like it was the end of the world. I was just on the bank laying on a towel that was for some reason in the bottom of my bag. The cool breeze was bouncing on my skin in the late August breeze. I love it here in California. Even though it is August it is hot and breezy. But cool enough some days we have to wear a sweater. That day was the day we met Cleo. I looked over and she stripped down to her underwear running and diving into the water. All I hear next is a big “Splash”. 

When I look down she's floating on her back in the water. “Come down Ellie! The water is so warm!” I take a few steps back. I plant my feet, take a running start, and jump. It feels like I was falling forever but once the water hit my feet it was a sense of relief. Cleo was right, it was warm.I swim around a bit before I head to the surface. Once my head is above water I hear shouts and cheers. Cleo swims over to me and hugs me, sending chills down my spine. 

It’s nighttime now and the bus driver and teacher still haven’t come and get us yet. Stacy built us a fire and someone found liquor in their bag. Half of the bottle was gone before it got to me and only three people were sitting in front of me. I downed three chugs before Cleo pulled the bottle away from my mouth and started drinking herself. She downed the rest of the bottle in four chugs then threw it into the fire. Richard and some other guys walked down the trail trying to see if they could find a store so they could get more food and liquor for us. 

An hour later they come running back to us with four bags in there screaming “We got beer!” Everyone around me starts cheering as they put the bags down and we all start digging in to see what they brought us. I grabbed two beers and gave one to Cleo.  Then I grabbed a bill out of my pocket and popped to cap off of our beers. Cleo took three big chugs off of hers. Then she looked at me and said with her eyes your turn I took four massive chugs off of mine before I looked at her. She looked surprised. 

It was probably four in the morning when I heard bus tires rolling down the path. I looked up and there were huge headlights. “EVERYONE MOVE!” I pushed Cleo out of the way while everyone else was scrambling towards the lake. When the bus stops the door opens and our teacher walks out. “Hello students, I can see you all are tired. Just board the bus and get some sleep. We will arrive at school shortly.” I thought It was kind of suspicious that they came at 4 in the morning to pick us up. But we were all so tired, so we grabbed our things and headed towards the bus. 

In the morning I was still on the bus sleeping with Cleo in my arms. I didn’t want to wake her up so I just grabbed my phone out of my bag and started texting my mom telling her what is going on. A few minutes later she woke up. “Are we still on the bus?”

“Yes, we are. I thought that they would wake us up when we got to school but I guess not.”

This is creepy. First, they didn’t come and get us when they were supposed to. And now they didn’t wake us up when we got to school? What the hell is going on. I walk down the aisle and open the bus door. Cars are parked all around us. My mom came running up to me and held me in a huge bear hug. “I thought you wouldn’t come back.” She is sobbing in my arm while hugging me. “I don’t know what you are talking about. I just texted you. Here look.” I showed her my phone. She grabbed it and told me this wasn’t her number. Someone must have messed with my phone while I was sleeping.

Police cars are swarming us now. Cleo runs down the steps and towards me. “What is happening.” I want to tell her that it will be ok. That everything will be okay but nothing will come out of my mouth. So I just hold her. One of the police officers comes up to my mom, “Ma’am we caught the bus driver and the teacher we are just here to interrogate the students. 

The next thing I know is that I was sitting in a room with only two chairs and a table. The detective tells me that my teacher and bus driver was planning on filling the bus full of some sort of poisonous gas to kill us while we were sleeping. Luckily my mother knew that something was up so she called the police, I don’t remember what he said after that. He let me go home and rest, saying that I should probably not go to school for a couple of days just like my classmates. 

Once I step out of my mom's car I walk inside the house and lay down on the couch. “I can’t believe this. My teacher wanted us dead. Why? We didn’t do anything so why us, there has to be a reason, a reason for all of this.” I don’t know what that reason could be but I know that there has to be one. My phone starts ringing and I pick it up. It is Cleo. When I answer it she is crying saying that she is scared that she wants me to be there with her. I told her that she could come over to my house. 

An hour later Cleo shows up and her eyes are red and puffy and she has dark circles under her eyes. When she comes inside me and she goes into my room. “Halloween is coming up you know. Are you going to dress up with anyone?” I really hope she asks me because I have known her for about a month now. 

I, her, and Savana could dress up and be something cute. “I think I just want to stay in and decorate and watch scary movies.” I like that idea some and her walk to the nearest store and pick out some cute decorations and candies. I call Savana and tell her that we are going to watch scary movies in my room for Halloween. She said that she is down to do that 

3 weeks later

I and Cleo are sitting on my bed waiting for Chance and Savana to get here. Cleo runs upstairs to grab the popcorn out of the microwave when they walk through my door. Savana looks completely shocked to see that I and Cleo decorated for Halloween. Cleo comes back down the stairs with a cute bowl full of popcorn. We sit on the couch in my room and turn on the tv. 

We end up watching Annabelle and Savana is such scary when it comes to scary movies so she is cuddling with Chance while he looks at me to help him. I start laughing when Savana screams, Cleo nudges her nose into my arm in fear. I held her close as she fell asleep.