Kat never could have guessed that she would ever spend an entire weekend in school, but it was the new normal for her now.

She woke up alone again that morning with a note from Wally. She had never received a note or letter from a boy before, so she couldn't stop the butterflies from dancing in her stomach as she opened it. He had nice handwriting, and she noticed the lack of grammatical errors, which was a bonus.

He had gone training on the field for some reason, and her mind immediately went to picturing a topless Wally working out. She tried to ignore it and went in the direction of the locker room, hoping to take a hot shower.

It was the best shower of her life - well, her death. She took her time, thinking about everything that had happened. Was her mother okay? And what about Nat? She thought about her funeral and what Monday would be like, and the day after. When she was about to give in to the anxiety, she remembered the talk she had the night before and immediately felt better. Was Wally serious about doing that quest with her? Some parts of her to-do list were weird or straight out of a romantic comedy. She could never ask him to do that kind of stuff with her, but then, did she want to do that stuff with him?

She had written that list over the years, every time she had seen something she absolutely wanted to do but never had the courage or chance to do it. As she had never had a boyfriend before, she daydreamed about it a lot.

As a hopeless romantic, Kat had had crushes before, especially from movies and books, but not so much from guys she knew. She always fell for the nice guys on TV and not the big pretenders - she was talking about real nice men like Peeta from The Hunger Games, Steve Harrington from Stranger Things, or Percy Jackson (her ultimate favorite). But as she thought about her list and Wally's proposition, she found herself surprised not to be totally against some parts of it. She brushed away that thought. Wally was just being friendly; there was no way he could be into her.

Before heading to the football field, Kat decided to take a walk around the school she was now seeing from a different perspective. "Wait up!" she heard behind her and smiled, recognizing Charley's voice. "I've been looking everywhere for you."

"I'm sorry, I had to take a shower and change," she said, brushing her wet hair with her fingers.

"Nice shirt," he said, noticing the soccer jersey Wally had left for her.

"Thanks, it's better than the cheer croc top, more comfortable." It was oversized, but she liked it, and it was clean. She was actually going to take a look at the lost and found later to find a more appropriate wardrobe, and Charley offered to go with her to introduce her to the rest of the ghosts at the same time.

"Do you know that you're wearing his?" her friend teased her, referring to the name and number on the back. "Oh, shut up," she said. She had actually noticed and it felt somehow intimate, but she refused to see any double meaning other than the kindness of her friend.

As they continued their exploration of the school, they stumbled upon a girl with big brown eyes and chestnut hair perched on some lockers, looking at a light ball. Charley cleared his throat before whispering in Kat's ear, "That's Dawn. Sometimes she hangs out with us, and the rest of the time she's up there. She's kind of strange; Rhonda says it's because of the acid or mushrooms."

"Like drugs?" she asked, examining the girl. The girl had a style from the 60s or maybe the 70s. She looked nice, a little out of it maybe, but sweet. "Hi," she waved at the girl who smiled back at her, scanning her with crazy eyes. She stared for a long minute before returning to the contemplation of the buzzing light above them.

"Okay," she stated, but Charley started walking again. She followed him, not before turning one last time to Dawn, wondering what had happened to her. Was she eventually going to lose her mind too, after a few decades? She rubbed the chills on her arms and smiled in relief when they reached the lost and found section, at the back of the school theater. The clothes were also used as costumes for plays or school movies, which was cool because they had a lot of styles to choose from. That was a good thing because Kat never got the opportunity to figure out what was hers.

"We're shopping, Kitty Cat?" Rhonda was settled on a huge wooden box, still licking a lollipop. She was, as usual, wearing black, but her pants were cool. "I like your pants, the pattern is pretty," she told her, making her smirk. "I could say the same about your jersey, I mean, your boyfriend's."

That comment made her blush and feel a little uncomfortable. What would the others think if they knew they had slept in the same bed? "Rhonda!" reprimanded Charly, and she laughed it off. "C'mon, Kitty Cat, no big deal."

She jumped off the box, leading her to the clothes' hanger. "What are you looking for today, miss?" Her imitation of a shopper assistant voice was impeccable. "Well, you see, I'm a little lost. I don't know what would suit me."

"Leave that to us," Charley winked before the three friends began their search for lost treasure. After what seemed to be an eternity of digging through loads of items, Kat had found several cool shirts, including some from the school's movie club with Ghostface's mask on one, the Halloween title on another, and Star Wars fan merch. As she was still unaware of her personal style, she believed those shirts would do for now. However, she decided to keep the jersey on, ignoring the stares of her new friends.

As they were making their way back to the gymnasium, Kat couldn't help but notice the weird band playing outside one of the windows. "It's best to ignore them," said Rhonda. "You don't want to become like that."

"They're stuck," explained Charley. "They have been since they died on the bus returning from nationals. They lost, so they convinced themselves that they had to keep practicing." She watched in horror and sadness as the group repeatedly restarted the same routine, wondering if they knew to some extent that their lives had ended.

"C'mon, let's go. It's movie night tonight, and M. Martin needs us to prepare it," she followed her friends, leaving the stuck ones behind her. She wished she could help them but left that desire for now.

Before finally heading to the gymnasium, they stopped by the cafeteria where an enthusiastic Wally was already behind the counter, packing as many snacks as he could carry.

His eyes caught hers as soon as they entered the room, and his face lit up when he noticed she was wearing his shirt. "Strawberry or chocolate Kit Kat?" he asked, pointing at the donuts. "Why not both? Let's be crazy tonight," she responded, making him nod in agreement. "Very good thinking."

Rhonda rolled her eyes and headed straight for the candy section, grabbing a handful of sweets. Once Charley's and Kat's arms were as full as Wally's, they all headed towards the movie night.

A handful of teenagers were already seated on couches and mattresses set up for the occasion. M. Martin was already seated on a chair, ready to start the movie. He welcomed the last people to arrive, and Charley threw himself onto a couch next to Rhonda, making her sigh. Wally led Kat to another couch, and they put down the snacks before them before the boy grabbed a blanket for both. "So nice and cozy, not at all what I had expected death to be," she thought to herself, smiling at Wally who was , already looking back at her before they both turned their heads towards the movie.

"Do we really have to watch another sports movie?" asked Rhonda in disbelief. "There are a lot of other genres, you know."

"I chose it," whispered Wally in Kat's ear, making her shiver in delight at the sudden proximity.

The movie was, indeed, bad and boring, but Kat didn't really care. Its length gave her an excuse to settle against Wally's torso, giving him the opportunity to play with her hair. He hadn't cuddled like that with anyone since forever ago, and he hadn't realized how much he had missed it. Or maybe he enjoyed it so much because it was Kat.

They both got so comfortable that, by the end of the movie, Kat had already fallen asleep. Everyone left, and Wally promised M. Martin he would clean up everything in the morning before gently taking Kat in his arms and carrying her back to his room. He settled her on the bed, brushing her hair from her face before lying down next to her. As he fell asleep, he felt her hand move to rest against his chest and froze. He fell asleep like that, too afraid to move, and that the hand would go away.

When he woke up, as early as usual in the morning, he found them intertwined with each other and wondered how he had gotten so lucky.

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I love Sundays, especially when I have no classes on Monday (yay). I'm living the life, baby.

enjoy 🐝