Chapter 1: Life#2
The first thing I remember is the stairs.
The second thing I remember is dying.
The third thing I remember is the bell.
_RRRIIINNNGGG._
I open my eyes to my locker. Pink, glossy, covered in stickers I haven’t seen since junior year. My backpack is new. My shoes don’t have blood on them.
And across the hall, Kathy is laughing with my boyfriend.
Josh.
Except it’s August 27th. First day of senior year.
And I died on May 3rd.
That's when I realized,I had been Reborn.
I was still trying to understand what had happened cause I had just been lying at the bottom of the stairs in my own pool of blood with Josh and Kathy watching as life was slipping from my body.
“Earth to Moretti?” Cindy snaps her fingers in my face. Asha giggles, phone already out.
_Moretti._ Right. In Life #1 I begged the office to list me as “Ava Miller.” _Please. No one can know._
Look where that got me. Dead.
So I don’t correct her. I just stare.
“You good?” Josh asks, but he’s not looking at me. He’s looking at Kathy’s hand on his arm. Possessive. Familiar.
In Life #1, that hand broke me.
In Life #2, I catalogue it. *Exhibit A: They were already together before I died.*
“Fine,” I say. My voice comes out flat. Wrong. Kathy’s eyebrows lift.
“Weird,” Asha whispers, but loud enough to record.
Good. Let them think I’m weird. Weird doesn’t get pushed down stairs. Weird survives.
I turn before they can say more. My eyes scan the hall automatically — exits, cameras, threats — and land on the back corner.
Damon Salvatore.
Black hoodie. Head down. Sketching in a notebook like the rest of us don’t exist.
In Life #1, I made sure I didn’t exist to him either. Crossed the hall. Laughed when Kathy called him “An outcast"
now that I think of it I never really knew why he was called an outcast.
he was the only one that went to look for help when life was draining from me,he was so worried and was ready to kill anyone who stood in his way.
I stop walking.
_Why?_
Josh calls my name. Kathy laughs. The bell rings.
I don’t go to Damon. Not yet.
Instead, I walk into first period and sit in the back. Alone. I spend all of English Lit watching.
*Observation 1*: Josh passes Kathy notes.
*Observation 2*: Cindy spikes my chair with gum when I get up.
*Observation 3*: Damon Salvatore doesn’t look up once. But his pencil never touches the paper when I’m moving.
He knows something’s off.
At lunch, I don’t sit with Josh. I don’t sit with Kathy’s table. I don’t sit with Damon either.
I sit alone. Middle of the cafeteria. Where everyone can see me choose nobody.
Kathy chokes on her salad. Josh stares. Asha’s filming.
And from the back corner, Damon Salvatore finally looks up.
His dark eyes meet mine for one second.
He doesn’t look confused. He looks… _expectant_.
Like he’s been waiting.
I pick up my apple and take a bite. I don’t smile. I don’t wave.
*Rule #1 of Life #2*: Don’t let them know you remember.
*Rule #2*: Find out who killed you.
*Rule #3*: Figure out why Damon Salvatore was so sacred he was going to lose you..... without asking him.
Not yet.
