Wednesday

On the next day Zitao was practically sleeping over the cafeteria table.

He was so tired from last night.

After getting home he has stayed up all night searching for some clue or news, something that could give him lights about what happened in school last year. But he found nothing, not even a single thing.

He felt like he was Sherlock Holmes with a difficult case.

Except that he didn’t had Sherlock's intelligence.

Kris’ parents must be really powerful to be able to keep all so covered up. Damn his luck.

“Zitao!” Sally screamed from the other side of the room.

Every single head in there turned to the crazy hysterical sound. Oh Sally could be so discreet sometimes. Feel the irony in the words.

Zitao merely waved, telling her to come and sit next to him. Which she shakes her head and tells him to come to her to a table in the far end of the room.

Frowning he does what he is told.

And what is his surprise when he finds no other than Dan sitting beside her. At least he would have the opportunity to talk about something he wanted for a long time now.

“Hello guys.” He smiles his half smile to them, receiving a huge grin from Sally and a half hearted ‘hey’ from Dan, who seemed like was more interested on his lunch than what happened around him. He seemed like the type of person who wouldn’t care if everyone killed each other as long as he has a package of noodles with him.

“Dan I have something’s to ask you.” He said while sitting in front of him.

He looked lazily over his lunch at him.

“Shot.”

EW, mouths full of food aren’t made to talk.

“It’s about Kris.”

“Wha-“ Suddenly Dan chokes on his food and starts to cough like he is suffocating.

Yeah, that seemed to get his attention didn’t it?

“Why didn’t you mention you were friends with him?”

Zitao leaned over the table even more curious thanks to Dan's reaction to Kris name.

“Who-Who told you that…?” He managed to choke out.

“Oh… I just heard it from someone.” Tao shrugs nonchalantly.

“No one would have said that! I wasn’t friends with that guy ok? Nobody was. He didn’t had friends!” Dan almost shouted that into Zitao’s face.

'Yeah, maybe ‘lackey’ was a better word but oh whatever.' Zitao fights the urge to say that out loud.

“He was a freak and a bully! Always talking about stuff that wasn’t there and throwing his parents money and power on our faces. He was an awful person!”

'Yeah maybe that’s true, but you were as bully as him Dan.' Zitao fights the urge to roll his eyes.

“I’m outa here!”

Dan gets up and nearly runs out of the cafeteria. Forgetting completely about his precious lunch.

Well, saying he got worked up over this would be an understatement.

“What happened?” Sally asked open mouthed.

“I have no idea.” The boy shrugs. 'I don’t understand all this secrecy either.'

“Weirdo…” She mutters before looking with shiny eyes at him. “Anyway, do you wanna go shopping after classes? I think that new cake shop is finally open. And then we could go and watch a movie!”

She looked so radiant. That kinda made him feel bad.

“I’m sorry Sally, I can’t. I’m busy tonight.”

“Aw!” Her smile immediately drops “That ! Will you be free tomorrow night then?”

“Hum… Maybe? I’ll let you know latter ok?”

“O-Okay….” She says looking sadly at her meal.

-⌛-

In that same night, there he was, sitting on the top of a school desk, hearing Kris telling him one of his stories.

“-And obviously she couldn't see me but the cat could and it freaked out! It started to run in circles, stepping on things, clawing her shirt! She thought it was possessed!”

He laughed heartily, leaning his head back. He looked so carefree and happy.

“Omg! I can’t! That poor teacher!” Zitao managed to choke out.

“I know right?! She was just trying to get the stray out of the building and then I came along and turned it into a haunted house story!” He laughs even more.

“Ah, I did feel bad.” Sighing, Kris wipes his eyes from the intense laughing attack he just had. “I stopped trying to reach out for people after that. I don’t want to upset anyone anymore or cause problems.” He looks down for a short moment.

“But… You reached out for me.” Tao reasons.

“Yeah, but I thought you were just some dumb kid coming to school looking for a ghost.”  He shrugs “Besides I was only joking when I talked to you. I used to start conversations with people but they never heard me.” He suddenly looked at Tao intently “I wonder why you’re different.”

“I don’t know.  Nothing like this did have ever happened to me before.” Zitao shrugs.

But that question was really interesting. Why was he the only person capable of seeing and hearing Kris? Why was he able to travel to the past and change things? Why was he the only one that could help this boy?

“Maybe we share a connection. Something beyond time, beyond death…” Kris says looking ahead. His face slowly turns into a scowl as he sinks on his own words.

“I dunno. It just sounds so stupid now that I’ve said it out loud.” Chuckling amused, the tall white haired guy shook his head before continuing. ”All that I know is that you’re the first friend I’ve had in a year … No, maybe the first one in my whole life.”

“… … …” Zitao looked surprised at him.

That was just so sweet of Kris. And that light blush on his cheeks.

“I’m glad that I’ve met you, Kris.” The words left his mouth before he had time to think about them, making him blush embarrassed as well.

“Yeah… Me too…” Kris softly replies, walking closer to Tao.

Looking at him weirdly, Tao doesn’t move. Like, what harm could a ghost do to you when he can’t touch you? And he looked like a nice guy. Now that he was dead at least.

“Zitao…”He whispered flushed as he leaned closer to him.

Tao couldn’t help but close his eyes.

For a short moment nothing happened. Then, he could feel just the slightest brush against his lips.

His eyes snap open wide as he stares in surprise to Kris. His face was so close and so red. Tao could only imagine how red his own face was.

“Kris… Did you just…?”

At the sound of his voice Kris looks away blushing even more.

“Sorry. But I… I really wanted to do that.” He quickly stands up, embarrassment evident on his actions and voice. “Now let’s go. We have work to do.”

And with that he walks out of the room.

Tao sits there dumbfounded by what just happened.

I can’t believe he just kissed me! And I can’t believe I just felt it! Maybe he wanting it so bad made it possible for me to feel it?

-⌛-

“The pool?” Zitao looks around, snuggling more into his jacket. Such a chilly night. “Really?”

“Hey! There’s no arguing with my ghostly senses.” Kris looks at him with fake hurt on his face.

Oh god such a crybaby.

“If you say so…” Tao sighs.

-

“… … …”

They were in the same pool, but everything was much brighter with sun light.

No one was in the pool area tho. It was so calm and clear.

Zitao started to walk around it and suddenly a burst of bubbles at the water surface caught him by surprise.

A close look revealed him what he feared.

Kris was underwater.

Lying at the bottom of the pool unmoving.

What the hell.

Without thinking too much, Zitao quickly dives into the pool.

“Kris!?” Tao shouts while pulling Kris with him to the side of the pool.

“Don’t worry I’ve got you!” He says when Kris starts to struggle on his hold.

Once safely clinging to the pool edge, Kris starts to cough and sits up.

“Omg, Kris! You’re-“

Tao excited cheers are cut off by a very pissed off Kris.

“What the hell is wrong with you?!”

“Wha-“ Tao is taken aback by a very angry faced Kris.

“Are you trying to kill me?”

“No!!” Tao nearly shouts too “I thought I just saved you! Weren’t you drowning? Or stuck? Or dead?!”

“I was clearly none of these!” Kris seemed taked aback by Tao worried voice.

He climbed out of the pool and offered his hand to Tao

“C’mon, get out.”

“Oh… Th- Thank you.”

As Zitao takes Kris hand, he can feel his own face flushing up like a lighter caught on fire.

“Come here and sit down for a minute.”

Zitao nods as Kris takes him to some benches. Both of them sit down as Kris lets out a sigh followed by a low chuckle.

“I can’t believe you jumped into the pool like that. You’re in your uniform for crying out loud!”

Tao looks down embarrassed.

To make everything better his shirt was white what meant that it was clenching to his torso like a second skin.

A blush started to spread across Kris face as he noticed Tao’s see-through shirt.

Embracing himself, Tao tries to hide his body from Kris eyes and shivers with the sudden cold air.

Suddenly a jacket covers his vision.

“Here. C-Cover yourself! Quickly before you get sick!” Kris nervous voice ringed at Tao’s hears.

“Thank you…” he mutters, grabbing Kris jacket and dressing it.

Kris was so tall, taller than Tao and that was saying something. It was so hard to find someone taller than him. Kris’ jacket was big on him, but enveloped him in warmth and a somewhat safe sensation.

Both of them were looking on different ways, no one dared to meet the eye. Both faces were red and they were nervous. Neither knew how long they were sitting side-by-side in silence, but it felt comfortable somehow.

Tao thought he must be going crazy for feeling so calm standing beside Kris, a guy who just two days ago said he would make his life a living hell, or kind of. But still, it was such a big change of behavior. Thought Tao didn’t knew how many days it had been for Kris. It seemed his time and Kris’ times were on different speeds since he was visiting the ghost’s memories and not exactly living along with it.

He couldn’t keep wondering what if he couldn’t make it? What if he wasn’t able to safe Kris life? What would happen then? Will Kris need to be a ghost until someone like Tao appears again? Or worse, Kris would have to be a ghost forever!?

“… Cold?”

Kris voice brings him out of his thoughts and back to reality.

“Sorry did you say something?”

Kris flushed face quickly goes back to its normal skin tone.

“Are you cold?”

“Oh… No! I’m fine, it’s very warm today and your jacket is really cozy. Thank you by the way.” Tao smiles softly, bowing his head in appreciation.

“Yeah…” Kris only nods and looks back at the pool water.

Following his gaze Zitao starts to wonder.

“What were you doing down there?”

“You mean in the pool?” Kris looks at him, when receiving a positive nod he looks back at the pool. “I was thinking.”

“…. Thinking?” Zitao blinks confused.

“Uhun.”

“At the bottom of the pool?” This time he frowns.

“It’s… uh… look, I know its weird ok? But…” Kris sighs before continuing. “But sometimes I like to let myself sink to the bottom and just, I dunno, meditate or something. It’s the closest I can get to solitude. Even if I can only do it for a few minutes at a time.”

Looking at him, Zitao let’s his works sink in, trying to understand it meaning as he nods.

“That’s strange.” He blurts out.

With a soft snort, Kris nods with a “Yeah.”

“You are strange.” Zitao concludes.

“Yes, thank you.” Kris looks at him with a face.

Holding gazes, Zitao can’t control himself anymore while looking at Kris face and erupted in fits of laugh, to which Kris followed, not as showy as Tao but still laughed a little.

“Oh, but hey! Don’t you dare to tell anyone about this!” Kris suddenly says “I’m supposed to be practicing for the swim meet next week.”

Tao only shakes his head and smiles.

“Don’t worry about it. I couldn’t tell even if I wanted to.”

Kris looks at him surprised, before shaking his head.

“I rarely understand the things you say.”

Tao chuckles and punches Kris shoulder lightly.

“Idiot. What where you trying to think about?”

A surprised and shocked look passed by Kris face before he gets back to his neutral expression.

“Nothing much. Just stupid things.”

“Do you want to talk about it?” Zitao leans forward watching attentively his feet splashing on the little puddle in front of him.

Again, the same surprised expression crosses Kris features. Looked like he wasn’t used to have someone caring for him.

“Hum, well, fine. But it’s just gonna to bore you.” He warns. Noticing Tao’s lack of response he continues. “It’s my parents.”

Zitao quickly looks at him surprised.

'Is he really going to talk about his parents with me?'

“Don’t take this in the wrong way, but I never wanted to come to this school. It’s a good school and all, but my parents were the one that chose it as part of my fast-track to a prestigious university.” He sighs. “My father’s already got a nice government position waiting for me. He wants me to join his department as his right-hand man so I can learn to be just like him.”

“Your father works for the government?” Tao asked surprised by this discover.

“Yeah… I’m really not bragging this time but… He’s kind of a big deal. So he wants me to be one too.”

“But what do you want?”

“Me?” Kris shocked voice gave away what Tao suspected all along. He definitely wasn’t used to people caring about him. “I… I wanted to go to a vocational school.”

“A vocational school?” Zitao tilts his head looking at Kris with curiosity. “You mean, like the school on the other side of town?”

“Yeah! Actually that’s the one I wanted to go to. I don’t know what I want to do with my life yet, but… I know I want to make stuff.”

“Make stuff? Like what?” He was loving to discover this new side of the tall blonde guy.

“Like anything! Wood, metal, plastic… furniture, jewelry… I just like using my hands.” He shrugs before looking at Tao with a smiling face. “I bet that surprises you, uh?”

“A little. But then, I knew hardly anything about you before. If that’s what you want to do, I really hope that you do it.”

At these words Kris face flushes once more. He looks away embarrassed for a moment, before his gaze fall back on Tao with an amazing shy smile showing on his lips.

“I really don’t know how to deal with you.” He confesses.

His arm brushes lightly with Tao’s, making both of them aware of how close they were sitting and how less Kris was wearing.

Tao’s mind starts to wonder at how Kris had no idea that he was supposed to die soon.

That sent a wave of sadness on Tao body, and he forced himself to look down. At the same time Kris gets up from the bench.

“I better go.”

With that he starts to walk away.

All Zitao could do was stare helplessly at his back while feeling his heart beating hard in his chest like it wanted to jump out and run away.

-

A sudden flash of white and he was back to his time.

With a big shiver, he notes horrified that he’s still wet, and Kris jacket it’s still on him.

He embraces himself a little more.

“Wow that was one intimate little scene.” A tall white haired guy was standing in front of Tao looking down at him a little flushed, but smiling. “I didn’t feel like I could intrude.” His smile suddenly leaves his face as he sees Tao’s own expression.

“Hum… Are you ok?”

“I’m cold.” Tao whines with a small voice.

“Oh. Right. Yeah. I guess it’s a little chiller in those clothes when it’s the middle of the night…” He smiles softly “At least my jacket seems warm. You look cute on it.”

Zitao only nods as he stands up.

“Thank you. I’m going home.” He mutters.

“Huh? Do you feel sick or something?” Kris worried tone was audible through his voice.

“I feel strange… My head is all messed up.” He whispers, frowning a little.

“O-Oh, ok… But I’ll see you again tomorrow, right?”

Looking briefly at Kris scared face made Tao heart shrink a little bit more. Kris was scared that Tao left him alone.

“Yeah. See you tomorrow.” He forces himself to smile a little at Kris.

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AHHHH omg it's been so hard to write latelly, but I'm still here! I noticed I have many typoos and mistakes, so I'll try to work on it and correct the previous chapters don't worry.

Oh, and I would like to say that this story has only two more chapters until the end. Yep, that's right. It's almost over.

So you know. If you want to criticize or make a comment or help about my english, be my guest. But remember to be kind and polite. Eh. Ok?

Enjoy this chapter please. And thank you for being here with me!