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One of the guys came over, grabbed her, and lifted her in the air. She shrieked, laughing, as he threw her over his shoulders and hauled off for more drinks. That’s what he said they were going for.

Cassian was glaring at Lee, doing some conversation with his eyes, but Lee was only giving him a slightly hesitant look before sitting in the same place where Maya had been. “You okay?”

Cassian moved closer, saying under his breath, through gritted teeth, “What the fuck?”

Lee barely gave him a look. “Claudia’s a bitch, but don’t worry. Rebecca and Maya will back you in the girl circles.”

“Dude.” From Cassian.

Lee finally sighed and lifted his gaze to him. “You met her just today.”

“Still.”

Lee held out a hand toward the hallway. “You came with the bitch who went after her.”

They were having this conversation in front of me. I wanted to die and melt at the same time.

“That was prearranged.”

“What? Her being a bitch?”

Cassian paused, frowning. “Well. I don’t know. Yeah? But.” He indicated me. “Dude.”

Lee stood up from the couch. “Let’s talk elsewhere.”

Cassian threw me a frown, grimacing. “I’m sorry. I—I’m sorry.” He hurried after Lee, disappearing into a hallway.

I wasn’t sure altogether what he was apologizing for. Claudia? Or…I didn’t know, but the third thing that happened when they left was that I realized I was drunk. And the no ghosts thing was bugging me. Okay. Maybe I should’ve been more worked up about Claudia, or Lee and Cassian doing whatever they were doing over me, but this was me. This was my life. I didn’t get guys interested in me, much less these two who seemed to be arguing over me. I wasn’t stupid. This would not last. Both would come to the conclusion they weren’t interested in me. They’d literally wake up, see a picture of me, and come to their senses.

I wasn’t going to sweat whatever conversation they were having right now.

My outcast social life would go back to normal, probably sooner than later, but yeah, I wasn’t above enjoying it for the moment. However, this place having no ghosts was the real issue I was interested in. I couldn’t believe that. There had to be some ghost somewhere, and if there wasn’t, I wasn’t above sneaking to the neighbors to find out the truth.

I pushed up from the couch.

One of the guys who Lee annihilated on the video game asked me, “Where are you going?”

I was drunk so I wasn’t thinking when I answered, “I’m going to look for ghosts.”

The room went quiet.

He yelped, “What?”

Someone answered, “I think she said something about looking for ghosts.”

He jerked upright on the couch. “Ghost hunting?” He tipped his head back, downed the rest of his beer and smashed the can against his forehead. “I’m in!”

7

There were no ghosts in the mansion. I already knew that, but it was confirmed as we traipsed, and when I say ‘we’, I mean myself and eight others who decided to join the trek. We went through almost the entire place. We were at the pool and a basketball court before I caught a glimpse of my first ghost since coming here.

He was sitting on the wall that separated this house and the neighbor’s. Smoking a cigarette, kicking his feet, he saw us walking around the emptied basketball court in the middle of the night. He started laughing. “Look at these drunk idiots. They⁠—”

“They what?” I questioned, leading the pack.

The people behind me quieted. So did the ghost.

He trailed off, lowering his cigarette to his lap. He cocked his head, giving me another perusal. Some of the ghosts, I couldn’t tell the specifics of their clothing, just a general type of what they were wearing. With him, I could see everything. He wore jeans that faded on the front, faded where it looked trendy. He was wearing a letterman jacket, along with a white t-shirt underneath. General sneakers. His hair was smashed under a ballcap with a few brown curls escaping underneath. Dark eyes. Light brown skin. He was a jock, or had been a jock. He felt like a new ghost, a recent death.