Double Life: Ghosts

A/N: I don´t like the beginning of this part -not much- but idk... that´s how it came out... 
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“Hello, Nichole” a voice said as she was walking out of the changing room, she quickly nodded and jumped in the pool touching its floor with her hands. She swam the length of it three times before taking another breath coming out on the opposite side of where she´d gotten in.

“I didn´t think you´d be here this early” the boy watched at his watch. Nichole didn´t answer but he grinned anyway and then got in the pool swimming towards where she was. He was half way into the pool when she started swimming again so when he got to where she was, she was no longer there but in the other side. Aaron looked around and narrowed his eyes at her. The girl body was covered by the water up to her mouth, her eyes were expressionless. The boy swam across the pool and she did the same two more times.

“That much you want to avoid me?” he asked but received no answer “are you afraid you might like being close to me?” he smirked but he got no answer again except her cold eyes drilling a hole in his but he stared back despite that.

“Ok, ok, I´ll leave you alone” he gave in and started to swim towards her.

“Are you ok?” he asked

“I am” were the first words she uttered

“Are you sure?” he focused on her features

“Don´t I look ok?” she raised an eyebrow

“One piece swimsuit is ok but two piece swimsuit would be better” he smirked, she rolled her eyes.

“How are you here?”

“Two can have a key” he smirked again

“You stole the key to the pool”

“I didn´t. it was given to me… well, technically”

“You better not tell people you have it or you´ll be found soon”

“I won’t. I come here to be alone” he said and she rose her eyebrows no believing his words

“You´re pretty but you´re no good company”

“Who says I wanna be good company for you?”

“Ah, so you purposely go out of your way to be bad company?” one of his eyebrows went up

“Aaron, can´t you just enjoy the silence for a while? What is it that you have to be talking all the time? No, even that is fine, talk but don´t try to make me talk. You said you came here to be alone, well this is my quiet time, don’t ruin it for me… just let me hear the silence”

“Wow” was all he said after about a minute of staring at her “that has to be the longest talk you´ve done to me –he sounded surprised, she let out her breath through her mouth and lightly shook her head- and probably that´s the most insightful thing you´ve said too.”

“Ok” she turned around and placed her hands on the edge of the pool pushing herself up and out of the pool

“Hey, hey, you don´t have to go because of me” he said, she walked away “Hey! I´ll be quiet, I promise” he said a bit louder as she disappeared in the changing rooms.

“Hey, I’m sorry” Aaron said as she got out of the changing room. She was wearing a sweater and jeans over her swimsuit. She nodded to him and headed out

“Hey, are you ok?” he attempted to touch her shoulder, she turned around

“I´m fine” the monster lent its manners with the pleasant smile and calmed voice.

Nichole walked out the building into the cold rain. She walked avoiding the pools of light. Her feet carried her through the orchard in the back of the school, to the tall stone wall which she climbed close to the river. Before Josh she always climbed the wall near the river but it had been a while, ever since the time when he was about to fall. The rain made the river sound like thunders, liquid thunders that swallowed the tiny drops that the sky cried.

The girl jumped off the wall landing in the muddy ground, the river seemed to get bigger as the rain consumed all noises. She walked along the river taking distance but still being close enough to see it. She walked slowly, as if she was on a day out. An hour went by, she´d taken the opposite path of her usual walk; she was following the river like she´d done three years ago.

Nichole stopped in the middle of the woods, on what seemed a random movement but it was not, her mind told her eyes that she was looking a squatted boy on the other side of the river, right on the edge of it. He had just drunk water, a drop on his chin made it clear. There was something in him that made her stop; he looked like a deer looking at the crystal clear water of the river. She kept walking but there were tweaks and dry leaves on the ground, the sun had been shining so when she took the step the leaved crumbled under her feet and the boy looked up, his grey eyes dilated and focused on the still girl across the river, his mouth turned into a smirk and his whole face changed, he no longer looked like a deer. He stared at her and she stared back at his ability to look innocent at one second and to look somewhat mischievous the next.

She continued her path, still following the river, ten minutes later she heard steps behind her and she didn´t have to turn around to know who it was. Ten more minutes went by and the steps got closer until at some point the boy was walking next to her, almost because he  was still on the other side of the river.

“The going back to school might be hard –she glanced him- yes –he continued with a smile- I know you go to the fancy school on the hill –he pointed his thumb back, she kept her pace and her eyes straight ahead- yeah –he chuckled- all snobby and cold… except that you, pretty girl, have gone out and you don´t seem the least scared of the dirt and, though I´ve never gone all the way up, I know it´s a long way. No sprained ankle yet?” he inquired

“Where do you come from?” a younger Nichole asked in a quiet tone

“I´m a wild cat, I live here” his eyes and features seemed to take a feline look

“Where does the kitten drink his milk?” she had the same calmed voice, he stared at her again, she watched his eyes grown again. He chuckled

“I hunt” he raised an eyebrow

“I doubt that, you look like a domestic cat” she copied his tone

“Yet, look at my good fortune, I´ve found myself a fine kitten”

“A real wild cat” she said and he snickered. She heard a car in the distance and glanced at her watch, it had been another hour. She didn´t want to get out of the woods which was why she started to walk farther of the river edge.

“Kitty´s gone scared?” he had a smile in his voice

“Wild cats don’t leave the wilderness”

“You sure you´re not too tired to go back up?” he asked after a while. She´d sat with her back on a tree, he saw her profile. She didn´t respond “I can give you a piggy ride” he smiled with the side of his mouth. She didn´t answer. “Ok, ok, I know when to leave a girl alone” he shook his head and walked away towards where the car sound had come.

A thunder lit the sky, it brought back Nichole from her memory, she´d been standing in the spot where she first saw the gray-eyed boy.

“Ash…” she murmured, the rain drowned her voice.