Bad Girl Gone by Temple Mathews

Author:Temple Mathews [Mathews, Temple]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Published: 2017-08-07T18:30:00+00:00

DANCE

I flew through the night to Andy’s place, landing softly on his roof this time. No gecko-climbing for me—I had evolved. I passed through the roof and floated down into his room.

“Andy?”

He wouldn’t answer. He couldn’t hear me. But I liked the sound of saying his name. He wasn’t in his room. I lay down on his bed and smelled his scent. It drove me crazy. I rolled over and hugged his pillow. I looked at his corkboard and something stood out. He’d written “Fourth period?” on two separate sticky notes. Andy had a thing for sticky notes. They were goal setters for him. He’d leave them up until hell froze over or until he accomplished his written goal, whichever came first. What did he have for fourth period? I tried to remember—I was pretty sure it was Spanish but I wouldn’t bet my life on it. School seemed so far away right now.

I poked around in his room a little longer, touching the shirt on the back of his chair and his black baseball cap. He had a picture of the two of us tacked on his corkboard and I gazed at it, feeling my heartbeat. Everything about me had changed. But I still had a heart.

I heard music playing. At first I thought it was just in my head, but then I moved to the open window. It was coming from below. I went out the window and floated down into his backyard. Andy was lying faceup on the picnic table, staring up at the night sky. He was listening to a streaming station. The same one we listened to together. I moved over and wondered how I could ever get close to him again. I had an idea, but would it work?

My fingers found the surface of the iPad. I chose a different song. Our song. As soon as it started playing, Andy began to tremble. The moon cast a bright blanket of pale white over the yard.

“I miss you so much,” he whispered.

“Oh baby…” I said.

I could feel the heat from his body. I crawled onto the table and curled up next to him, laying my head on his chest. He couldn’t feel me—there was nothing to feel; I was nothing, not even vapor. How could I ever give him what he needed, the comfort of a girl? I cried softly to myself. Then he said, “It’s okay, Echo.”

My body tingled. I jerked my head up, expecting him to be looking down at me. But he was looking at my picture on the iPad. He was talking to it. But why? Why, when I had just started crying, had he chosen to comfort me?

He knew I was there; he could sense me. As our song continued to play, I was lifted up by hope. Maybe our love wasn’t doomed! Maybe it was so strong that not even death could destroy it. Andy propped the iPad on the table and got up and stood still with his eyes closed.

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