Someone Else

Chapter 2

My house is...a mansion. Literally. The whole street is full of mansions. A rich people neighborhood. I'm rich?

When we enter the house, everything seems familiar. I somehow know where everything is.

It's almost four pm. "I'm going to make dinner today. Do you like pasta?" I asked my parents.

"Well, yes." Mom said, sounding very surprised. Ah, now I see. Amelia is a spoilt rich kid.

Dad's eyebrows lift but he doesn't say anything else. "Come down in two hours." I tell them, running upstairs to put my things away.

Amelia's room is a complete mess. Dirty clothes thrown everywhere, dirty dishes, trash all over the floor. For crying out loud, is that a f*****g used condom? At least clean up afterwards! It smells like an STD waiting to happen in here.

Do I have an STD? I think the doctors would have told me since Amelia did get her blood tested.

I shudder and go downstairs to the kitchen. I get out the ingredients for fresh pasta, meat and tomato sauce, potato salad and even tempura shrimp.

The pantry is amazing, it has everything a girl could dream of. I eat a Pop Tart while cooking.

A maid walks by and gapes at the sight of me cooking in the kitchen. s**t, almost thought my old face came back.

"Can you please clean up my room? You can throw away anything on the floor, I won't be using those ever again. Even the clothes and...everything." I say.

She nods and goes upstairs. She seemed surprised that I asked her to clean my room. What is the use of having a maid if you don't let them clean your room?

I set up the dinner table while everything is cooking and bring all the food out. At exactly 6, my parents come down.

"Wow, where'd you learn to cook?" Mom asked with amazement.

How should I answer that? I'm a master at cooking Vietnamese cuisine but I also make Italian food too?

"Just a tutorial on the internet." I answered. "Who usually cooks?"

"We usually eat out, since you never eat with us." Dad said.

Oh. That sounds sad. "That's going to change from now on. How about we switch up cooking. Like I cook on Monday, Wednesday. Mom cooks on Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and dad cooks on Sunday and Saturday?"

"Honey, how hard did you hit your head?" Mom asked. She sounds happy nonetheless.

"Hard enough to lose my memory."

They laugh and we dig in. My skills have gotten pretty good and they seem to be impressed. But then again, they were impressed with the fact that I cooked anything.

"Do I have school tomorrow?" I asked.

"Well, yes. But I thought you should take the rest of the week off, since your memory is gone." Mom said.

I pout. "But...school."

They share a look. "If you want to go, you can go." Dad said. "I'll ask the principal for your schedule tonight."

Oh yay! I've always loved going to school before we moved to Vietnam. It's fall right now so no danger of melting to death.

"So, what do we do at night? Watch movies? Play chess?" I asked excitedly. "Can we watch a movie tonight?"

"Sure, honey, if you want to." Mom said. "What would you like to watch?"

I think about this question. What would be family appropriate? "Oh, how about Ponyo? I love Ponyo."

"What's Ponyo?" She asked.

Oh boy, they're in for a treat. "It's an anime movie."

"What's anime?"

My jaw drops. They don't know what anime is? "It's Japanese. Like cartoons but so much better than cartoons."

"Sounds fun. Yeah, we should watch it. Right Rich?" She asked dad. So his name is Richard.

He just nods.

___________________________________

"Wow, I never knew such amazing things existed." Mom said after I turn off the TV. Dad even seems emotional and I pat myself on the back.

"Ponyo is really good, one of my favorites actually. There's also Howl's moving castle, Kiki's delivery service, Arietty,..." I said, listing a few of my favorite animes. "Maybe we could watch one a night?"

They nod. "I sent you the schedule and a school map." Dad said.

I look at it on my phone and grin. Class from 9-3. "No AP classes?"

"Well, do you think you can, you know, in AP classes?" Mom asked.

Oh, right. I'm Amelia now. "I'd like to try." I answered. "I'll apply for some tomorrow I guess, it's shouldn't be too late."

"You've really changed after the accident, are you sure you're okay, honey?" Mom asked.

I nod. "I've never felt better. A little sleepy though." I said. "Goodnight, I'm going to bed now!"

I run up to my room and see it squeaky clean. That maid is a miracle worker.

My laptop is on the desk and I open it up. The password should be...checkmate236.

Yes! I'm in!

I go through all the social media and even the search history to get to know Amelia better. f*******:, i********:, Snapchat... Holy moly, 2.3 million streak. Was she snapping five people an hour or something?

Oh, here's Stephanie. Red hair, blue eyes, petite. The first posts with her started 6 years ago? Childhood friend, I see.

Julian, male, muscular, blonde hair, brown eyes.

Jake, male, lean, brown hair, brown eyes. Cute, but not my type.

Macy, brown hair, brown eyes. She must be Jake's sister or something.

I look at the school's website and social media page. I'm a...cheerleader. Oh f**k! This is so much to take in...

Hmmm, weed stash, eh? I look under the bed and find a small bag of m*******a with wrapping paper also. Wow Amelia, really? You couldn't hollow out a cigarette and put the weed in like the rest of us?

I roll myself a joint and light it. The first drag is always the weakest drag as they say. My stress falls away as soon as the poisonous gas enters my lungs but damn it feels good.

I sit on the floor and lay my head back, looking and the puffs of smoke. This isn't as strong as I'm used to but still decent. Amelia, Amelia, getting scammed I see.

Oh, what about Liam? No amount of weed I smoke can make me forget him. Should I tell him? Will he believe me? He has to, I remember everything.

But when? Is it too soon now? I have a phone and I remember his number. But he's so close...

I know where he is! I'll just go to him and hope he believes me.

My phone buzzes and I answer it.

"Hey, b***h, you out of the hospital yet?"

This voice registers in my mind as Stephanie.

"Yeah, just got out a few hours ago. Nice not seeing you there." I said dryly. This girl is already ruining my buzz.

I take a fat drag and blow. She chuckles. "Already smoking huh?"

"It's therapy." I lied. "Hey, when's cheer practice again? I hit my head so hard I can't remember jack shit."

"Tomorrow after school, you sure you're feeling up to it?" She asked. So she's worried about me, good. This friend isn't a bad one.

I sigh. "Hey, I need to get somewhere right now, can you give me a lift?" I asked.

"Why not just take your car?"

I have a car? "I'm giving my parents a break from dealing with my bitchiness right now, so I can't take it anywhere." I play it off easily.

"Alright, I'll be over in seven minutes, don't make me wait." She hangs up.

That's it? No asking where I want her to take me? No suspicion that I might kill her? We've been friends for a very long time then...

I finish the joint and put a hoodie on before sneaking out the window. There are thick vines underneath my window, I suspect this is how I always sneak out. I easily climb down and stand in front of the tree in front if the house.

A red Porsche pulls up with Stephanie in the driver's seat. I hop in.

"Where do you need to go?" She asked as we are back in the road.

"The engineering college, do you know where it is?"

She nods. "It's like half an hour away. Why do you need to go there?" She asked.

Should I tell her the truth? She's a good friend, a loyal friend. Perhaps she deserves to know. I'll consider it on the way back.

"Just some guy." I answered.

"Does Jake know?"

So Jake is the boyfriend. "No, we're not f*****g or anything, this guy is just a close friend of mine."

"And I don't know about him?"

Hmm, how am I going to play this off. "You don't know everything about me, chika. I've decided I wanna be an engineer, he's helping me with physics."

"You? An Engineer? Last week you wanted to be a drug dealer." She said, like it was the most ridiculous thing she'd ever heard.

"I've come to my senses, at last. It took almost dying to realize it." I said, grinning.

She returns my smile. "Then I'll do it with you. Besties forever."

"Besties forever."

___________________________________

"I'll find my own ride home, thanks for driving me here." I told her. "Drive back safe!"

She blows me a kiss and pulls out of the curb.

I stand outside the dormitory building, breathing deeply. Please believe me, Liam. I need you to believe me.

When I step in there's a security guard but she doesn't take notice of me. Probably because I'm dressed like I'm about to go to bed.

I go up the elevator to his floor and stand in front of the door. Please, Liam, I need you.

I knock on the door and hold my breath. Tanner answers the door.

"Hey Tanner." I say, immediately recognizing him from photos Liam showed me.

He smiles down confusedly at me. "Hey... Do I know you?" He asked.

"Oh, no, I'm Liam's friend. Can I come in please?"

He looks unsure but then nods. I come into the dorm room that I've only seen in pictures and through video call. Liam is sitting on his bed, texting someone.

I look at the screen. He's texting my old number.

"Liam, I need to speak with you." I say.

He jolts, realizing someone's there. "Uh, hey?" He said. His eyes are red and puffy. He cried for me? Aww that's so sweet.

"We need to go into the staircase. Come on." I say.

When I mention his secret spot, he furrows his eyebrows, not moving.

"Bubba, oppa, papa, nerd cakes." I say. These are all the nicknames I've ever called him during the four years we've known each other.

He eventually gets down and follows me to the emergency exit.

"How did you know all of that?" He asks when the door closes.

I throw my arms around him and finally start crying. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." I mumbled into his shirt.

He tenses but his arms hold me anyways. I know he's suspecting but he won't let himself believe it.

"Remember when you threw a Pepsi can down here? And you didn't clean it up?" I asked.

He gasps. "How do you know that?" He asks, pulling away.

"Bubba, it's me. I'm here."

"No, you're not her. She's Vietnamese." He says. His eyes are unsure.

I sit down and he sits next to me. "Yesterday, I was in the accident and I died and I woke up in this body, Amelia Shackler. She died too, in a shower accident but she actually died." I explained.

"How can I believe you?" He asked.

"We first met on a talk to a stranger website where I said I was feeling 'peachy' and you thought I was being sarcastic." I said. "You created a f*******: account for me and then we talked there for a while until transferring to Kik and then w******p. You hated playing PUBG with me but I made you anyways and that always caused a huge fight."

He's starting to believe. Thank God. "Then what's my favorite color, tree and game?"

"Red, rainbow eucalyptus and Minecraft." I answer easily.

He holds me again and I sigh in relief. "You believe me?"

"Of course, baby. No one is crazy enough to follow our conversations for all those years." He said. "No one other than you."

I laugh and sob at the same time. His smell is familiar, everything about him is familiar even though we've never met in person before.

"I'm really high right now, by the way."

He laughs. "Of course you are. Where are you living now? You have new parents right?"

"Yeah, the Shacklers. They're so nice." I said, leaning against him.

"This is your chance to be happy, you know. Forget about your past and focus on now." He said encouragingly.

I smile. "It's easy, now that all the scars are gone. But Amelia, she's a cheerleader. I'm smoking her weed and everything."

"You always reminded me of a cheerleader. Maybe you're here because Amelia is perfect for you."

"Do you like how I look now?" I asked, looking up at him.

He smiles. "You kind of look like you did then, still beautiful. I can see past everything outside."

He never fails to say the perfect thing. I love him so much. "Can you please kiss me?"

He does and I climb onto his lap. Amelia is shorter than I thought. 5'4 at most. My mouth moves fluidly against his, like we've done this a million times before.

Tingles zip up and down my body, fireworks explode behind my closed eyelids.

"I love you so much, baby." He said against my lips. His hands are in my hair, behind my back, keeping me close.

"I love you, bubba." I said back.

His tongue enters my mouth and I moan softly, letting him take complete control. The sound of our heavy breathing fills the staircase.

When we finally break away for air I lean my chin on his shoulder. "I have to get back soon before the new parents catch me." I said sadly. I don't want to leave him. Ever.

"Give me your new number." He said. "What highschool are you going to?"

"Redwood High. I have no idea what will happen tomorrow, I'm so nervous." I admit. I get my phone and call his number. "It's time to go."

I get up and pout.

"How are you getting back?" He asked as he takes me downstairs.

"A cab." I answered.

"No, I'll drive you."

"Okay."