Sometimes people let you down but that doesn't mean they don't care about you. We're all human. We make mistakes.
-Sunmeee

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'You're staring. Gawking actually but hey, who cares?' Gavin sniped.

I swallowed and cleared my throat. Then I swallowed again which is weird because there was nothing to swallow. Not even spittle. My mouth was completely dry which is actually a good thing because that means I'm not drooling. I just couldn't find my voice. What is happening to me?

'You do realize steroids are illegal right?' I said when I finally found my voice.

'I'm not on steroids.' He snapped angrily.

'With a body like that, you are on steroids. Way too much steroids.'

'I'm captain of the football team and you know how coach works us half to death. Yet it surprises you that I have a good body why?'

'Good point. But teenagers aren't supposed to have a really good body. Is that even allowed?' I asked, gesturing to his naked torso.

'You have a problem.' Gavin declared. 'And will you stop staring at my body or...' He smirked.

Focus, Vasilisa! Focus! You're supposed to be looking at the tattoo. Not the body. Or the chest. Or abs. Remove your eyes from the abs. Come on! Look away!

By some cosmic force of nature, I managed to tear my eyes away from his abs and construct a normal sentence. Thank goodness.

'Whatever. The tattoo is big. And pretty intricate.' I noted. Good job! Just don't look down.

(The tattoo looks something like this. I can't find any thing similar on a guy).

'Yeah. At least its reducing. An entire petal is gone. Happy?'

'One petal? There's more fifteen petals on the tattoo.' I crossed the space between us and stopped when he was within arms length.

The space between us crackled with a feeling I didn't recognize. It had been too long since I'd been around a guy. Much less a half naked one.

'It's still something.' Gavin offered.

'I don't know, Gavin. It's.... There are.... The tattoo is a lot more than one petal but I guess you're right. It's still something.' I raised my hand and let it hover in front of the tattoo on the left side of his chest.

'I've still got a long way to go.' I whispered.

'Don't worry. We'll get there.' Gavin replied.

'Don't be so optimistic.' I remarked.

'Why not?' He asked.

'Because something bad always happens when people are optimistic.' I mumbled before walking out.

***

'So I was thinking.' I began.

'Well that's dangerous.' Gavin remarked. I rolled my eyes.

'As I was saying, I was thinking we could walk to school today. Enjoy the bright morning sun. Hand out a dollar to the occasional hobo.'

'You are kidding.'

'Fine fifty cents.' I conceded. He glared at me.

'Okay twenty five cents. Nothing less.' I stated.

'I wasn't talking about the money!' He scoffed. 'You are delusional if you think I'm going to walk to school.'

'Oh so you're cool with the money?' I surmised.

'No! I was going to get to that.' He glared.

'Ah geez. This is a good plan Gavin. Why do you have to be against it?'

I guess I have my work cut put for me. Time to pull out my blackmailing muslin.

'Is making me penniless by any chance part of your plan? What are you going to do when I run out of cash? Start selling my face for a pretty penny?' He asked sarcastically.

'Get over yourself, idiot. You are singularly the most annoying, self absorbed and most selfish person I have ever met. You are in desperate need of a good bashing and long overdue for an ego deflation session.' I replied.

'And I'm guessing you've taken it upon yourself to fulfil that duty.' He said drily.

'Why, yes of course. I have to do my part for humanity. I can't let the world deal with an attitude this rotten. The human race is not equipped to handle anything this awful.'

'You're gonna blackmail me into walking, aren't you?' He asked.

'Totally.' I smirked.

'Fine. I'll get my bag and then we can walk.' He spat.

'You know, by now, I thought you would have learned.' I mused.

'Learned what?' He grunted.

'That I always get my way.' I smiled.

***

'Gavin its just a frigging dollar. Give it to him!' I all but yelled.

Gavin glared at both me and the hobo in response. We had already gotten to school. He was refusing to give the hobo who occasionally shows up in the school's parking lot money.

'Gavin!' I threw my hands up in frustration. 'Jesus Christ! A dollar isn't going to break you!'

'It might.' He grumbled.

'Gavin!' I said sternly.

'Fine.' He reluctantly relinquished the dollar to the poor hobo.

'Thank you!' I exaggerated. Gavin rolled his eyes.

He swaggered into the school. He stopped at his locker and got out his books.

'Dude what took you so long?' Leo asked. Tom nodded his head by way of greeting and propped himself up against the row lockers. He was rapidly typing something on his phone.

'Don't ask.' Gavin muttered darkly, glaring at me.

'Now I gotta ask.' Tom looked up from his phone. 'What took you so long?'

'Someone had the brilliant idea of walking to school.' He grumbled. 'I walked. I walked to school.'

'Geez. Thank goodness it wasn't me this time. I swear my parents think of the strangest things for me to do.' Tom shrugged.

Gavin didn't bother to correct him that it wasn't his parents who forced him to walk but rather a two hundred year old ghost. Because let's face it, he would be committed to an insane asylum before he could even finish his statement and we can't have that because if he's in a psych ward, then who's going to help me break the curse? I still need him for now.

He can be taken to a madhouse after we break my curse. I wouldn't bat an eyelash. Not even if they carried him away kicking and screaming. I would probably just grab some popcorn and enjoy the show. I've always wanted to know what it tastes like. One of the down sides of being a ghost is not being able to eat. I've got a list of things I would love to try out starting with pizza but that's never going to happen.

'I gotta bail, guys.' Gavin muttered, slamming his locker shut with a little too much force.

Someone's grumpy.

'You do know sulking is for eight year olds right?'

'Shut up.' He grumbled and nodded his head at Asia as we passed her in the hallway. Her smiled fell and the hand she was using to enthusiastically wave at him slowly dropped to her side.

I frowned.

'Okay, that was unexpected.' I mumbled. He didn't reply.

'That went downhill pretty fast. What happened? You guys seemed okay yesterday. So okay you didn't even realize I was gone until you got back home and now you're nodding at her? What did I miss?' I asked.

'Nothing. We're fine.' He glared.

'You're clearly not fine. You nodded at her.' I pointed out.

'So?' His eyebrows furrowed. He was clearly not seeing the problem.

'So? You hooded at her.' I said incredulous.

'Has that by any chance become illegal some time between yesterday and now?'

'Gavin, you don't nod at a girl you like. Ever! You nod at your friends. Your teammates. Not the girl you like! That's like saying, hi welcome to the friend zone.' I said.

'What?' He gaped. 'You're a ghost. Maybe that's how things worked in the nineteenth century but this is the twenty first century. No one thinks like that.'

'Oh Gavin. Gavin. How dumb can you get?' I shook my head. 'Friend zones hadn't been invented back in the good old days. Life was a lot simpler then. If a guy likes you, he dances with you at balls and calls on you all day long. And every twenty first century girl thinks like that. What you're doing right now, is called sending mixed signals.'

'What?' He scrunched up his face. 'Asia thinks I zoned her?'

'Forget it. You dug your grave, you die in it. Not my problem. Though I thought you'd be a lot smoother considering you're a player.'

'Exactly. I'm a player.' He replied and then realized what he said because he quickly changed it.

'I mean I'm not a player but I haven't had a real relationship before. I guess I don't really know how to deal with it.' He frowned.

'That's too bad. I'm sure you'll figure it out.' Despite my kind words, my tone was anything but kind. Gavin shot me a wide eyed look. I shrugged.

'You gotta help me.'

'In your dreams, Playboy.' I replied promptly.

'Come on!'

'Never.'

'Please.'

'Not even if your life depended on it.'

'Come on. This could count as a good deed too. You're helping me.'

'No it doesn't. You don't count.'

'Actually I do. It's your curse so you helping me counts as well. Maybe even more since this is something you're doing by yourself and not something you're making me do for you.' He cheeked.

'Forget it. Nothing you say or do can make me help you.'

'Oh come on! Please! Just this once.' He begged.

'Fine. I will help you.'

'And in return, I have to?' He asked.

'Ahhh. You know me well.' I grinned.

'I just think of the most despicable thing a person can do.' He shrugged. I rolled my eyes.

'In return, you have to volunteer to help out at the Callahan's house. You know Mrs. Callahan just gave birth. I'm sure they would appreciate the help.'

'No. No way. That's not fair. You're only giving me relationship advice.' He argued.

'Well relationships can make or break a person's life so I think it's perfectly fair.' I countered.

'No it is not! This can only break my life.' He replied.

'Well, your relationship with Asia can make it back then. Win-win for everyone.' I summed.

'No. That's completely unfair. Even you wouldn't do that.' He said. I gasped dramatically and he raised one eyebrow.

'When have I ever given you the impression that I play fair? And I can't believe you think that highly of me. It disgusts me! Do you think I got to where I am by playing fair?!' I said theatrically.

'With a two hundred year old curse and blackmailing a teenager into doing your dirty-- well good work in case?' He shot me a pointed look.

'I'm not sure that's the comeback you want to go with.' He said sardonically.

'Sarcastic comebacks weren't exactly a thing in the nineteenth century.' I shrugged.

'And neither was playing fair. Apparently.' He replied sarcastically.

'All the sarcasm in the world isn't going to make me change my mind. You know that right?' I asked.

'I detest you.' He declared.

'Hey! That's a new one! Your vocabulary has been growing. Good to see.'

'Hate you.'

'Great! See you in history class.' I smiled, walking away.

Author's Note:

Hi readers. Sorry for the late update. Again. It's been rough these past few days. I was ill. I could barely get around my room much less the house. I don't even know how I managed to write this chapter and I'm sure by the time I'm feeling better, I'll come back and edit it. Possibly delete almost everything in this chapter because it's awful but in meantime, it stays. I hope you like it more than I do.

I apologize for any and all mistakes in this chapter. I didn't edit it. Not that I ever edit but this chapter was written under not-so-great conditions so it's bound to have more mistakes than other chapters.

Either way, thanks for reading.

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