Victor

It could be hard. It could be extremely hard.

I found this out when, for the next two days, I pursued Yuri and tried to get him to talk to me at least, but he avoided me and any interaction with me, seeming pretty hellbent on keeping it that way.

Whenever he saw me, he ran in the opposite direction. Whenever he heard me, he pretended he didn't. Whenever I tried to trap him, he was too quick and nimble, my attempts failing every single time.

Honestly, it's getting pretty old.

When I complained to JJ about this, he just gave me an unimpressed glance and said, "Come on, Nikiforov! No one said this would be easy, and you knew what you were signing up for! This is our redemption—the beginning of Victor's and JJ's redemption, so stop whining and start trying harder."

To that I responded with a roll of my eyes and an irritated groan. Afterwards, JJ continued to "motivate" me.

So I keep at it, tracking down Yuri whenever I can and trying to get him to talk to me. Of course, he continues avoiding me and running away. Once I saw him whispering to Phichit as he glanced cautiously at me. It didn't take a genius to know what he was talking about.

"Victor Nikiforov has been stalking me for the past few days and it's really freaking me out. Should I call the police and get a restraining order or something?"

Well, that's what I imagine he's been saying.

As Yuri whispered about me to his friends, Takeshi and Phichit would glare in my direction while Yuko avoided eye contact with me like Yuri.

I've bullied Yuri ever since the first year of high school; no doubt they're suspicious of me and think I must be planning something against Yuri and maybe even them.

I'm not, but they sure as hell don't know that. If I told them the truth, they'd probably have me committed to a crazy-house and that would most definitely NOT work in favor of JJ's and I's plans.

Having my dead friend's afterlife, Yuri's life, and my conscience on the line, I continue to practically stalk Yuri. I noticed he usually goes to his locker between periods to get a textbook or put one back. Not all people do that; some take all their things to each class and don't even use their locker.

But he did it everyday, like clockwork. At this point, though, he's started to anticipate I'd try and find him at his locker, so he'll go as fast as he can before I can get to him.

Every time I think I have him, he'll slip away at the last second. Honestly, I feel like hunting a wild animal would be easier at this point, but unfortunately that isn't an option. My task is Yuri, and if I want to save his life, send JJ to heaven, and live the rest of my life guilt-free, then I have to somehow find a way to get him to talk to me.

However, I've been trying to do that for days now and haven't so much as made a millimeter of progress.

Moreover, I have no idea how I'm supposed to get him to talk to me.

I better come up with something soon; there's no way I'm going to pull this off if I spend all my time up to the deadline chasing Yuri around and having him too afraid to talk to me.

To sum it up, if Yuri doesn't agree to talk to me, everyone's screwed.

***

A week later, and I've still made no progress. I don't know if Yuri can suddenly sense when I'm coming or something, but he's continued to successfully avoid me. Usually he's easy to find, like when Leo and some of the guys want to have "fun" with him; he's easy to find and get alone then. But, apparently, it's when you don't want to bully him that he's impossible to catch.

At one point I gave up trying to approach him and tried to chase him down the hall and attempt to corner him, but since the universe hates me, he was able to evade capture.

"Wow," JJ had said, shaking his head. "Captain of the basketball team, yet you can't catch a weak nerd to save your life. Just wow."

"Shut up. He isn't weak, he's actually pretty fast," I had defended myself. "Plus, the halls are always crowded! How do you expect me to get to him if there are about a million people in my way?"

I swear I must've tried every method in the book, and none of them have worked. Yuri's still avoiding me, and I still haven't convinced him that life is full of happiness and rainbows and smiles and all that other crap.

My head pounds, and I feel myself getting yet another headache. I've been stressed all week about how to fix this avoiding me issue, and for all my hard work I'm rewarded with headaches from stress.

Not only that, but I've got other things to be stressed about. Namely, school. Ever since it started, I hadn't given school much thought or worried about it at all. My mind's constantly been on JJ and I's game plan for Yuri—that it's all I've been thinking about. For awhile, I even forgot I was in school at all, but now it's given me a reason to pay attention again.

A few days ago it was announced in math class that we'd be having a test soon (our first test of the year) and that we should start studying immediately so we'd be prepared. Well, when you've traveled back in time to save your dead friend from an eternity of damnation and your classmate you bullied from committing suicide, math tests aren't exactly at the front of your mind.

So, not only did I not study for the stupid test, I didn't listen to any of the things that the teachers had been saying. Sure, this is the second time I'm learning this stuff, but I learned this material nearly a year ago; you forget a lot of stuff in the span of a year. Hell, I forget a lot of stuff in the span of a week.

In summary, I'm mathematically screwed.

Well, here I am in math class anyway, sitting at my desk, waiting for our teacher to pass out the dumb test that I'll inevitably fail because I've been too busy this past week trying to prevent someone from killing himself. It's funny, because at the rate I'm going, I'll fail at that too.

The last few people getting to class slip through the doorway right before the tardy bell rings. Once everyone's inside, the teacher closes the door after them and goes to her desk at the front of the room.

She holds a stack of papers in her hands. The tests, obviously. "You've been preparing all week for this test, so I expect everyone in this room to get a passing score if not a perfect score. You know the material, so you all should be fine," Her eyes scan the room and land on a few people who obviously never paid attention in class. She knows who they are—they aren't exactly discreet. "That is, those of you who paid attention and studied should be fine." None of which I did.

"So," a familiar voice suddenly says. I turn in surprise towards the empty desk on my right side. There sits JJ, an amused look on his face. "Math test you didn't study for, huh? Tsk tsk, Nikiforov. I though you knew better than to slack off."

I narrow my eyes at him just as the teacher starts passing out the tests. I make sure to whisper. "Oh please. Don't act like you would've paid any attention or studied if you were in my place. Besides, I'm a bit preoccupied at the moment, what with trying to stop someone from committing suicide, and all. So, JJ, spare me," I hiss quietly.

"Victor, why are you whispering?"

I flinch involuntarily. The teacher is suddenly beside my desk.

I swallow. "Er... just going over some of the material out loud, ma'am. You can never be too thorough...!" I lie quickly and as smoothly as I can.

"Well," she says briskly, placing the test on my desk, "let's keep it to ourselves, hm? The test is starting and we don't need people hearing the possible answers from you on account of your whispering."

I nod, avoiding her eyes. "Yes, ma'am. Of course, ma'am. Sorry." As expected, she doesn't even blink at the supposedly empty desk to my right. Obviously, one my classmates is absent. I wish I was absent, especially today.

Soon, the teacher hands out the last test. Yuri gently takes it from her and places it on his desk to my left before she walks back to her own desk. Yuri's in my math class this year, and I'd completely forgotten he was until he walked in and took the desk next to mine. After that I remembered that I used to sometimes copy off him when I got stuck and needed answers. He was basically the reason I passed twelfth grade math. He's smart and always seemed to ace every test he took.

"You have the entire class period," the teacher says. "Good luck. You can begin now. And no talking! If I see anyone talking to anyone, I'll assume you're cheating and take your test up, automatically failing you. Clear?"

We all wordlessly nod. Even though no one ever talks, we get the same lecture every time before we take a test.

Everyone begins taking the test. I silently look around, and what makes matters worse is that everyone seems to know what they're doing. How is that possible? I know for a fact that I'm NOT the only one who didn't pay attention!

Yet everyone else seems to have turned into math geniuses overnight—not one face looks confused and worried like I feel.

"Well?" JJ asks me, looking around as well before his eyes meet mine. "Aren't you going to take the test? You only have so much time, you know."

I narrow my eyes at him again. I have a feeling I've been doing that a lot. "Go away. I can't concentrate if you're here, practically breathing down my neck!" I snap, whispering as quietly as I can.

JJ casually leans back in the desk's chair, and I'm slightly surprised he doesn't fall through it, being a... ghost and all. Can't ghosts go through stuff? Like in the movies and TV shows? Whatever. He holds his hands up in defense, giving me a look. "Okay, okay! I'm going. Good luck by the way," He smirks. "You'll need it."

Then poof, he's gone.

I roll my eyes to myself before I write my name on the test and look at the first problem.

I stare at it for about a minute or two and don't understand a thing it is saying. At this point, I'm convinced the teachers are just writing down gibberish and trying to see how confused they can make us before we realize it's all just nonsense.

After a few more seconds of utter confusion, I look up from my still blank test and around the room at everyone else again. This time, I notice that mostly everyone is already on the second or third page of the test while I'm not even past the first problem. I mentally sigh. Damn, my parents are going to be pissed. They assume I've been paying attention and studying. Maybe if they knew I was attempting to save a life, they'd let me off easy. Unfortunately, I can't tell them that because I can't tell anyone that; JJ said it's strictly against the rules of the deal.

I just watch everyone continue to solve the test's problems. The room is completely silently except for the sound of pencils against paper and people occasionally picking up and using their calculators.

My eyes eventually drift from my classmates to another problem I'm supposed to solve, only this one doesn't have anything to do with math. Yuri still sits across me, looking at his paper and writing math-looking things down. He's completely concentrated on his test and doesn't notice I'm staring at him now. I just continue to stare at him, having completely forgotten about my test.

And then it hits me. The solution to this test thing is sitting right next to me and always has been. As previously stated, Yuri's practically the reason I passed math. I used to copy off him all the time, so why not do it again? I'd literally be repeating what I did about a year ago, or more technically, right now.

Just copy off him like you always did. I don't know why I didn't think of that, oh I don't know, at the beginning of last week!

My eyes go from Yuri himself down to his test. He's already on the forth and final page. He's always been a fast test-taker. I silently groan, wishing he was on the first page instead of the last; that way I could've copied off his whole test instead of getting the answers for just the last section. Oh well, it's better than nothing.

I turn to the last page of my test and ready my pencil. I give our teacher a quick glance. Luckily, she's reading a book and almost facing entirely away from Yuri and me.

Then, just after Yuri writes down his answers, I write them down on my own paper, looking back and forth from his test to mine as I go. Seconds after he writes something new down, it is on my paper. Of course, I make sure to not write it the exact way Yuri wrote it; the teacher would definitely get suspicious if Yuri and I turned in identical tests, and I definitely know which one of us she would accuse of cheating.

I continue to copy off Yuri until he suddenly raises his hand halfway through the second to last problem. The second he looks up from his paper, I instantly look back at my own, trying to make it seem like I hadn't even glanced at Yuri's test.

His raised hand gets the teacher's attention. She looks away from her book and says, "Yes, Yuri?"

"May I please use the bathroom?" he asks her politely.

She smiles. "Of course. You've got plenty of time to finish the test. Take the pass."

Yuri mutters a quiet thank you before he stands up from his seat and grabs the restroom pass off her desk. He then exits the classroom with it, closing the door behind himself.

Seconds after he's gone, I look at the clock on the wall. We have fifteen minutes left to complete the test. Plenty of time, as the teacher said.

Except for the fact that I only completed one out of the four pages that needs to be done.

Soon, the teacher goes back to reading her book, again facing away from Yuri's desk and mine. It's right then that I get another idea.

I do a quick glance around at my classmates. They're all still completely absorbed in their tests. I sneak a peek at our teacher, who's still completely absorbed in her novel.

Once I conclude that no one is about to look up from what they're doing, I quickly and silently lean over across the aisle towards Yuri's now empty desk, his test still sitting on it. I grab his test and flip to the first page, which displays all his glorious, glorious answers.

Salvation. I leave his test on that page and immediately begin to copy down his answers on to my own page. Once I finish that section, I reach over and grab his test again (after another quick look at everyone around me, of course) before I flip to the second page and begin copying off that.

And I do that for the third page as well, frantically copying as fast as I could write, trying to finish up before Yuri gets back from the bathroom and finishes his test.

Just as I finish the last question on the third page, the classroom door's handle turns and Yuri walks back inside with the pass. As he gives it back to the teacher, I flip the pages of his test back to the forth page. He turns around just as I withdraw my hand back towards my body, making it seem like it's been laying on my lap as my other hand held my pencil and wrote.

Yuri approaches his desk and sits down, not even blinking in my direction. He has no idea I just copied off his entire test while he was out doing his business. No one has any idea I did what I did.

I wait until Yuri begins to resume where he left off, finishing the last two problems. I begin copying those down as well. Just two more problems and Yuri will done and so will I. Just two more problems and I'll be able to turn in a passing test and my parents won't see a failing grade on my report card and get pissed at me.

Just two more problems.

Yuri finishes the first one and moves on to the second. I finish copying that one and watch as Yuri works on the next one.

As he writes, I continue to copy.

Almost there...

I can tell he's about to finish up the problem.

Just a little bit more...

Then Yuri finishes the problem and I keep copying it down on my paper, close to getting the whole thing. I continue to look back and forth from Yuri's test to mine, making sure I get everything.

I'm almost done. Just one more—

"Victor Nikiforov!"

I freeze mid-copy at the teacher's voice. Oh God.

I slowly look up and away from Yuri's test to meet my teacher's disapproving gaze which is fixed on me. She saw me. She caught me cheating. I've NEVER been caught cheating! I've always been careful!

"Victor," she says even more firm, her teeth gritted as her eyes narrowed into slits.

I gulp as the entire class has looked up from their tests and at me. Even Yuri's looking at me.

Still, with everyone's gazes on me, the teacher's seems to be the most intense.

My heart begins to race and I can practically feel myself sweating.

Busted.