Afterlife Academy (17 page)

It’s misty and foggy in the
daylight, but now I can barely see a few inches in front of my face. I hate
this. It’s so dark and depressing here. There’s no colour. Except for me, of
course, and I’m not especially colourful, just normal-looking. The most
colourful thing about me is the pink rose necklace, which still feels warm to
the touch after my lying in bed and holding it for so long.

I crouch there and feel spooked
for another ten minutes before Anthony shows up.

“Shit, you scared me,” I hiss as
he puts a hand on my shoulder and makes me jump out of my skin.

“Sorry,” he whispers. “How are
we supposed to see anything in this much fog? We should have done this in the
daylight.”

“We have to try,” I say.

Anthony and I had looked at
lunchtime but we hadn’t found anything. We’d gone to the canteen, grabbed a
baguette each and wandered around outside, trying to look unsuspicious amid
curious glances from Narcissa and Gloria shouting “hasn’t your prince come
yet?” at me.

People in this school know everything.
I hate it.

“I don’t even know what we’re
supposed to be looking for.” Anthony moans as we creep out from behind the
canteen and glance around to make sure no one’s watching. Not that we could
really see them if they were.

I think this mist descends
deliberately to make it harder for students trying to break out in the middle
of the night.

“Look, you didn’t have to come,”
I snap at him quietly. “But you want to get home as much as I do and there
might be a way. We have to do something other than just sit there all day.”

He doesn’t say anything to that.

We’re creeping across the main
yard area now, completely out in the open. No buildings to hide behind. We’re
pretty much stuffed if we get caught now.

“You know, we could always try
graduating,” Anthony suggests. “It might be the easier option.”

“I don’t want to graduate,” I
whisper. “I want to go home. I don’t know what actually happens when you
graduate, but I’m pretty sure that they don’t send you back home. Caydi thinks
that this exit would take us back to before the accident so we can change
things. If we find it, we can stop ourselves dying.”

“Oh, wonderful,” he says
sarcastically.

“Shut up,” I tell him, wondering
why he’s being so annoying again. This is just like old Anthony. “If you didn’t
want to come, you should have just said. And sod off back to the dorm room if
you’re just going to moan all night.”

He sighs. “Can’t leave you out
here on your own, can I?”

“I can take care of myself, you
know.”

“Yes,” he says. “That must be
how you ended up here. You know, dead from being able to take care of
yourself.”

“You can bloody talk,” I say to
him. “You’re not exactly the most living person in the universe.”

“Yeah, well, at least I—” He
stops talking abruptly.

“What?” I growl.

“Did you hear that?”

“Oh, quit trying to scare me,” I
say.

“No, Ri, I’m serious.”

We stop. We’re still in the
middle of the yard with nothing to hide behind.

“These people are ghosts,” I say
to him quietly. “They could sneak up on us anywhere. This is so scary and—”

That’s when Anthony kisses me.

His mouth crashes into mine and
he pulls my body up against his.

I’m about to splutter and shove
him off when I sense a light on us.

“I should have known it would be
you two.”

We jump apart to find Mr
Burgrove shining a torch at us.

I’m too stunned to speak.
Anthony just kissed me.

Oh shit, we’ve been caught.
We’re dead meat.

“Being outside at night is
strictly forbidden,” Mr Burgrove says.

“We didn’t know that,” Anthony
says. “We’re really sorry, sir. But you must know what it’s like to be young
and in love.”

Mr Burgrove sighs.

“We thought it would be better
than sneaking into each other’s dorm room,” Anthony says. “We didn’t think we
were hurting anyone.”

Whatever the hell Anthony is
playing at, he’s playing at it really well. I can tell Mr Burgrove is
softening.

“Ah, young love,” he says
fondly. “I remember those days. It was the time of my life.”

He stares at us for a moment
longer, as if trying to figure out if we’re for real, but then he finally says,
“All right, I’ll let it slide this time, but let me make it clear that if I
catch either of you outside your dorm rooms after lights out again there will
be serious consequences.”

Anthony and I nod furiously.

“Go on, off with you,” Mr
Burgrove says, waving us away. “Next time, find somewhere less public for your
snogging sessions.”

We walk quickly back the way we
came, waiting to make sure Mr Burgrove is well out of earshot before either of
us speaks.

“What the hell was that?” I hit
Anthony hard on the shoulder. “What the hell did you think you were doing?”

“Thank you for saving my ass,
Anthony,” he mimics me in a faux girly voice. “Or maybe you didn’t notice the
part where we didn’t get caught for what we were really doing.”

“Oh, I noticed that part all
right,” I mutter.

“Sorry,” Anthony says. “But I
had to do something to stop us getting caught looking for a secret exit.”

“Well, it worked,” I admit
reluctantly.

“Yes, it did,” he says. “Now I
just have to go and wash my mouth out with bleach.”

“
You
do?” I splutter furiously. “You aren’t so bloody tasty yourself, you know.”

“Fine,” he snaps.

“Fine,” I say and storm away
from him.

I don’t bother to climb through
the window. I just storm in the door and past the resident advisor who is
thankfully sleeping at his desk.

I feverishly clean my teeth and
then throw myself into bed angrily.

That boy is so frustrating. Who
does he think he is?

“What’s the matter with you?”
Caydi asks sleepily.

“Nothing,” I snarl. “Argh.
Everything, okay? Everything is the matter.”

“Where have you been?”

“Out,” I say. “With Anthony.”

“Hmm, Anthony,” she says before
I have a chance to say anything else.

“Don’t ‘hmm, Anthony’ me,” I say
frustratedly. “The jerk just kissed me.”

“Oooh,” Caydi says. “Tell me
more.”

“There’s nothing to tell. We
were out looking for… something.” I catch myself just in time. “But Mr Burgrove
came along so Anthony kissed me to make it look like we’d just snuck out for a
snogging session.”

“Do not tell me you were out
looking for the exit,” Caydi says.

I shrug before realising she
can’t see me. “So what if I was? Anthony and I know this school better than
anyone else. If anyone can find it, it’ll be us.”

“Ri, there are people who have
been at this school for years and never found it.”

“I’ve been at this school for
years,” I counter.

“Yes, but I’m talking about
people who have actually been at
this
school for
years, not the one in the living world where secret exits to different
dimensions don’t regularly pop up.”

“That’s exactly what I’m talking
about,” I tell her. “People have been at this school for years, Caydi. I can’t
stay here for years. I don’t think I can even manage another week. I just want
to go home.”

“You’re not alone in that,” she
says quietly. “But we can’t go home.”

“I can,” I say. “I refuse to
stay here. Wade is going to come and rescue me, and if he doesn’t, then I have
to find the way back on my own.”

Caydi sighs in an “oh, not this
again” way but doesn’t say anything.

I think she must be going back
to sleep when she says, “So, tell me about kissing Anthony.”

“It was disgusting!”

The bed creaks as Caydi shrugs.
“I think he’s kind of cute,” she says. “You two make a sweet couple.”

“Are you kidding me? Anthony is
so… I don’t know. Just so not Wade.”

“It’s none of my business, but
Wade doesn’t sound all that wonderful to me. Plus he’s not here.”

“You’re right,” I say. “It is
none of your business.”

“I thought you and Anthony got
on really well. You always sit together and eat lunch together. I thought you
liked him.”

“I do,” I say. “Just not in that
way. How dare he kiss me without even asking when he knows full well I’m going
out with Wade?”

“Sounds to me like he saved your
ass.”

“He kind of did,” I admit
reluctantly. “But that’s not the point.”

“You keep saying that, and yet
you haven’t told me what the point is.”

“I don’t know,” I growl frustratedly
again. “I’m with Wade. I’m committed to Wade. Anthony knows that and yet he
still kissed me.”

“I don’t think it meant
anything,” Caydi says. “He was just thinking on his feet to save your ass. God
knows what Mr Burgrove would have done if he realised what you were really up
to. Being outside at night is bad enough, but being outside to poke around for
a secret exit would be considered seriously criminal in this school. You
could’ve both got yourselves expelled for doing that. I reckon you owe Anthony
a thank you.”

“If you like him so much, why
don’t you kiss him?” I snap.

“No, thank you. I’m sure you’ve
noticed that he’s not my type. Besides, I have a little something going on with
Rick. You’ve probably seen him sitting at our lunch table. Seriously, Ri. Don’t
get so worked up about it. Anthony saved your ass and you know it. It’s not
like Wade would ever know or even care. It’s not like one little kiss to get
yourselves out of trouble is cheating on the guy.”

“I guess you’re right,” I say.
“Night.”

“Don’t go sneaking out at night
again, okay? It’s a big rule here.”

I nod.

“Night, Riley.”

She rolls over and within
minutes I know that she’s gone back to sleep, but it’s not that easy for me.

I can’t believe Anthony kissed
me.

I can’t believe it felt as good
as it did.

And I can’t believe I just said
that.

For the love of God, this is
Anthony we’re talking about. Geek extraordinaire. Really, really annoying.
Teacher’s pet. Major suck-up. Maths calculator in the pocket job Anthony.

Also? Not Wade.

Very not Wade.

I love Wade. And I can’t believe
that I could be lying here—different dimension or not—and fantasising about
kissing another boy.

Especially given that the other
boy is Anthony.

Wade’s mortal enemy.

Well, maybe not quite mortal
anymore, but enemy nonetheless.

Wade would be devastated if he
knew what had just happened.

And that I had kind of liked it.

That kiss felt really nice.
There was some kind of spark thing that made my tummy flip over that I’ve never
felt with anyone before. Not even with Wade.

Although that could have been
down to the surprise of having a tongue stuck down your throat in the middle of
the night while a teacher watches.

Not that tongues were involved.

Unfortunately.

No. I did not just say that.

The kiss didn’t mean anything.

Unfortunately.

No.

Anthony was out of line. You
don’t just go around kissing girls because there might be a teacher watching.

Even if it was a really good
kiss.

And it did save us from Mr
Burgrove’s wrath.

Ugh.

This is so confusing.

I have to get out of here.

CHAPTER 21

Anthony doesn’t show up in the canteen the next morning.
That freaks me out a bit. What if he’s really upset by what I said to him last
night? What if he thinks I hate him? Oh God, what if he hates me? What if he’s
going to sit with all the people who keep calling him over and completely
ignore me now?

Breakfast is so lonely without
Anthony here.

Even the pancakes loaded with
chocolate and syrup that Narcissa produced for me don’t make me feel any
better. It’s quiet and lonely at our little tucked-away table and then Clare
comes over and sits down opposite me.

“Hi,” she says.

“Er, hi,” I say, quickly
swallowing a mouthful of coffee.

She doesn’t say anything for a
moment and I start to feel antsy, like she’s going to beat me up or something.

Finally she speaks.

“Caydi says you’ve been looking
for the secret exit.”

I nod, unsure of how I’m
supposed to respond.

“You can’t do it on your own.
There’s a group of us who meet every week in the woods just outside the school
fence.”

She hands me a business card.

“Keep that. It’ll tell you when
the next meeting is. This one is on Saturday afternoon.”

I glance down at the card and
sure enough, it says, “Chess club. 2.30 p.m. Saturday.”

“Chess club?”

“We have to cover our tracks,”
she says. “If a teacher found this with ‘Secret Exit Coalition’ written on it,
we’d be in big trouble.”

I nod.

“You would be an asset to the
group,” she says. “You and that boyfriend of yours know your way around—”

“He’s not my—”

“Just come along. Bring him too
if he can be trusted to keep his gob shut. And don’t mention this to anyone.
You’ve probably figured out by now that teachers aren’t too keen on this exit
rumour and don’t want us looking for it.”

“It’s true then?”

She shrugs. “I think so. No one
can prove it, obviously. But people have disappeared with no warning. You
usually know when someone’s about to graduate, and these people weren’t. The
problem is that if you find this thing, you have to go through it. You can’t go
running back to us and tell everyone because the teachers would find out before
you had a chance. So we don’t really know. My best friend went a few months
ago. I thought that maybe I could try to visualise her and find out if she was
back on Earth, but it turns out that visualisation only works for people you
knew when you were alive.”