By Next Thursday

Chapter Five

It hit 5 AM when finally boredom took over and I couldn't take staring at the wall anymore.

After digging around a bit, I found my yearbook from the previous year and decided to take a red Sharpie through it and circle all the people who had one or more reasons to hate me. Sadly, by the end I realized most of Hudson high school fell under the "more than one reason" category. Looking back I was actually surprised I hadn't been murdered sooner, honestly.

My main choices were a few girls on my cheerleading squad for multiple reasons, "Crabby" Gabby Hanson, who had been fighting to beat me in academics since grade two, various "nerds" I had shamelessly bullied or tricked into doing me favors, and my math teacher, Mr. Gold, because one time we'd kissed after school my junior year and I had blackmailed him with it ever since.

Yes. I'm a terrible person. But remember, I'm also a lawyers daughter. I did whatever it took to win. And Mr. Gold was a damn pervert anyway.

Finally, after going through the yearbook, twice, I gave up reflecting on my less than angelic life and ended up doing yoga for another hour. Luckily, by the time I started mindlessly pacing, I realized it was seven and late enough to pay a visit to Jay.

I smiled and closed my eyes, welcoming the odd little breeze that came with transporting, because it meant human interaction.

When I opened my eyes, I had to stifle a laugh. In front of me was Jay in nothing but his boxers, spooning. With his pillow.

Trying to keep my laughter to a minimum, I crept over to the side of his bed. I couldn't help but smile at how innocent his face was in sleep. Usually Jay Carmichael was smirking, scowling, or just plain pissed.

For such a notorious asshole, he sure looked sweet while sleeping.

I bent down and moved my face as close as possible to his. I breathed out loudly, "Boo!"

Jay's eyes popped open as he jumped up in panic. In his haste to get up and defend himself from what he probably thought was an intruder, he managed to tangle up his ankles in his blankets and roll of the bed with a thump and a muffled yelp.

"Holy fuck!" were the first words out of Jay's mouth that lovely Friday morning and I couldn't hold my laughter in any longer. He glared up at my while I clutched my stomach in hysterics.

"Oh man, I could do that every morning and it wouldn't get old!"

"You do that again, and I will personally find your body and murder you all over again," Jay grumbled and stood up.

With his 6'3" build towering over me, he probably should've intimidated me, especially after I witnessed last night's fight. But being a ghost had it's perks and I simply ignored him and started picking through his room, bubbling with excitement that he was awake.

He rubbed his eyes and made his way into the bathroom. "What the hell are you so cheerful about, princess?" He called through the doorway, "...and why can't you go haunt someone else." He added under his breathe.

"Hey! I heard that!" I cried in indignation, "But because you're SOcurious, I'm happy because, after seven hours of being alone, I finally get to have some social interaction. Even if it is with you." I added with faint disgust as I picked up what looked like a bloody shirt and tossed it in his laundry basket. God, fighting was gross. "Oh and also I might have some leads to my killer so guess who's coming to school with you today!" I said in a sing-song voice.

The door opened and he glared at me. "Are you always this chirpy in the morning?"

"Actually no, but seeing as ghosts can't sleep, this isn't me waking up. And believe me, you do not want to wake up a sleeping Kelly Diamond. I can tell you that much."