Kat Wells is the perfect student, cheerleader, and daughter. But that's not who she really is, not truly. The real her is hidden behind a perfect mask that nobody sees, except him.
Wally Clark was the perfect jock, friend, and son. But everything ch...
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Wally woke up the next morning with one goal in mind: getting answers about the Janet situation. Throughout his time as a ghost, he had made peace with the fact that he was stuck forever in his high school.
However, with the recent discovery and the force of a woman that was Kat, he was now ready to find a way out.
It was time to talk to their ghost teacher about the true meaning of his research. He was still hesitant to wake up Kat, who was deeply asleep next to him. Last night had been the best he ever had.
His chest clenched as he remembered her words, "I love you." No one had ever told him those words before, and the way she said it, with her smile and her eyes, he truly melted on the spot.
He knew they were already dead, but he still felt a wave of protectiveness towards her, so strong that he could barely breathe sometimes. He smiled when she snorted and burst into laughter as she opened her eyes.
"What was that noise?" she asked, still in a sleepy blur. "Nothing, Kit Kat," he paused, brushing a strand of hair out of her face, "just you."
He received a pillow in the face as she buried her head between her hands. "That's not true. I never make weird noises." She realized too late the double meaning in her sentence and watched as Wally's grin widened. "Are you sure about that?"
When they finally got out of bed and gathered the strength to face the day, they joined the meeting group in the gymnasium. The air was dense, filled with tension in the room.
Everybody knew what was about to happen, even M. Martin, who straightened in his seat uncomfortably.
Kat and Wally settled in their chairs next to each other. "Is Rhonda coming today?" asked the teacher. Nobody replied, nor did they need to because as the question was asked, the door opened, letting Rhonda into the group, followed by Dawn.
Kat couldn't hide her smile when she saw that they were holding hands. The night had been good for everybody. Charley silently cheered for them, and Rhonda briefly dropped her cold gaze to wink at him.
"Dawn, what a surprise to see - ," started the teacher before Rhonda cut him off mid-sentence. "Cut the bullshit, M. Martin. We need some answers." All eyes were on him, waiting to see his reaction.
His jaw tensed, and he arched an eyebrow, putting his glasses into place. "What are you referring to?"
"Janet," replied the ghost at the same time, causing him to freeze completely. It took him a few beats to collect himself before he spoke again. "I see."
He rose from his seat, and everyone else followed, afraid he would try to escape, even though they were all stuck together. "Who is she?" Wally asked.
The teacher swallowed slowly before sitting down again. "She was one of my former students." "But you told us you were the only death in the fire." He didn't reply to that, and Rhonda spoke up again. "You lied. Why?"
When he didn't answer, she almost screamed, "Why?" Dawn applied a gentle pressure on her hand, seemingly calming her down.
"Shame, i was ashamed" he said, almost whispering. Kat took a deep breath before asking, "Tell us what happened, the truth."
He cleared his throat, a small tear glistening down his cheek. "Because it's all my fault." His entire body, usually so straight in his chair, suddenly collapsed into sobs and tremors. "I caused the fire. I didn't mean to, and I tried—I tried to save her, but she was right next to the explosion, and I couldn't do anything, and then it was too late, and she stayed there." He ripped off his glasses, hiding his face in his hand. "I'm trying. I'm trying so hard to help her."
Kat stood up and approached him gently. "What about the rest of us? The other ghosts and the ones before you?"
He raised his gaze to meet hers. His eyes were full of shame and despair, as if keeping this to himself had enslaved him in his own misery for decades. "I'm sorry," he said.
"About what?"
"The others, before me and Janet, they were never stuck."
The revelation caused a wave of gasps among the ghosts present in the room. "What are you talking about?" Wally stood up and moved closer to them.
"I don't know either. That's why I've been studying you, trying to find a pattern, a way to help all of you," he explained.
Everyone stared at him in silence, trying to process everything that had just happened. "So you think it's personal to you?" Dawn asked kindly. "Because of what you did to Janet?" He nodded slightly.
"That doesn't make any sense," Rhonda pointed out.
"But being a ghost and being stuck for all eternity in high school does?" Wally responded, making a valid point. "None of this has made any sense from the beginning. But maybe now—"
"Now we can actually work together to find answers," Kat finished his sentence, putting her arm around his and then turning to M. Martin. "Together."
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Kat was really unsure about her plan. It didn't help that Rhonda kept pointing that out. "Are you really sure about your plan?"
"I never said it was a good plan," she bit her lip, recalling her previous theory. If everything was indeed personal to M. Martin's breakdown, he had created his own personal inferno that somehow had affected all of them.
So, to break free, they had to break him free first. According to that logic, they had to help Janet, the oldest stuck ghost there. It was something they had never done before, nor experienced.
M. Martin explained that he had tried everything. He gave her all the test answers, tried to convince her the test was canceled, that she had passed, that she was dead and had to leave the room—everything.
But in the end, nothing ever mattered. She would reset and go back to her textbook. Time seemed to reset itself, trapping her in an endless void of nothingness.
While he was explaining all of this, Kat couldn't help but think about the ghost in the bleachers, trapped in the rehearsal because they lost the nationals.
They were a team, and above all, they were friends. The loss was personal, and now they were stuck trying to reach that goal. A personal goal.
"Have you tried something completely related to her personally? Maybe it has no relation to a stupid chemistry test. No offense," Kat suggested. "None taken," he replied before readjusting his glasses again. "What happened to her in detail on that day? Do you recall anything, even if it seems small to you?"
He shook his head. "No... it was decades ago, I—I—" he stumbled.
"Think harder," Rhonda urged.
"We could do an anti-séance!" Dawn exclaimed, clapping at the idea. The other ghosts sighed, except for Kat, who said, "Actually, that's not a bad idea."
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yeah i know i could have come up with a better plot for this part, but don't blame me (love made me crazyyy) no more seriously i think it kind of make sense (a little ?) idk anyway it is what it is so i hope you manage to comprehend where my logic is at.
ohh and i already wrote the next chapter (yeah i know, i'm fast and furious today)
