Afterlife Academy by Jaimie Admans Read Free Book Online

listened to my petition to let
us have proms, but she doesn’t need to know that.
    “Why do you have brown hair
anyway?”
    “Because it’s my hair colour?” I
stare at her like she’s gone mad.
    “No, I mean, how come you’re
still brunette? Everyone in this place has black or grey hair. No one keeps
their living colour when they come here.”
    I grab my ponytail and pull it
around so I can see it.
    She’s right. My hair is still
brown. The same chestnut brown with blond highlights that it’s always been.
    “Maybe it takes a while to kick
in,” I venture. But that can’t be right because Anthony is already grey.
    “It kicks in the moment you
die,” she says. “I don’t know why. No one knows why, but it does.”
    “Can I borrow your mirror?” I
ask.
    She takes it off her dressing
table and passes it to me.
    I stare at my reflection in it.
    Given everything that’s happened
in the past few hours, I hadn’t even thought about how I looked, even though
everyone around me was grey.
    But I’m not.
    My clothes are grey, yes. But my
skin is normal skin colour, and my eyes are still blue, and yes, my hair is
still brown.
    “Is this weird?” I ask Caydi.
    “No, it’s very weird.”
    “Do you know what it means?”
    She shrugs. “Not a clue. Didn’t
Mrs Carbonell mention it?”
    I shake my head.
    “Do you think it’s a good
thing?” I ask worriedly.
    “How am I supposed to know?”
    “Sorry,” I mumble. “I’m just out
of my depth here.”
    “We’ve all been there,” she
says. “It will get easier after therapy sessions.”
    “Therapy sessions?”
    “They’re requisite for the first
two months,” she explains. “Then optional after that.”
    “This is so freaking weird.”
    “What part?”
    “All of it.”
    “I know,” she says. “But it will
get easier.”
    I shrug.
    It won’t. Not for me. I know it
won’t. I don’t belong here. I belong with Wade and my family. Although not
together because my dad would probably kill Wade given the circumstances. Oh
God, the funeral. My funeral.
    How on earth are my mum and dad
going to pay for something like that? And who will go? I wonder if Sophie will
go. Of course Sophie will go. Oh God, Sophie. I’ve been so preoccupied with
Wade that I haven’t thought of how Sophie must be feeling. She’s just lost her
best friend. She must be devastated too. Who will she hang around with at
lunchtimes? Who will she go shopping with? Who will she spend Saturday nights
with now that I won’t be there for popcorn, Ben & Jerry’s and chick-flick
girly nights?
    And the funeral. Dad will kill
Wade at the funeral, if not before. If Wade is fit enough to go, that is. Maybe
he’s seriously injured and won’t be able to leave the hospital. Or maybe he
just won’t be able to handle it. Maybe he’ll have to say his goodbyes to me in
private.
    Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god.
    “Hey, Riley.” Caydi snaps her
fingers in front of my face.
    “Sorry,” I mutter.
    “Dwelling on it doesn’t help
matters,” she says. “This is life now.”
    “Actually, I thought this was
death.” I try cracking a joke but it goes down like a lead balloon. “Why are
there so many fire extinguishers around?” I try to fill up the awkward silence
that follows. “If we’re already dead, it’s not going to make much difference,
is it?”
    “You shouldn’t mention them,”
Caydi says. “We all know they’re there, but we don’t talk about them.”
    “Why not?”
    “Isn’t it obvious?”
    She stares at me but I obviously
don’t get it because she huffs and rolls her eyes. “Mrs Carbonell died in a
fire. She’s a little over-precautious. Not that it really makes any difference,
but the woman has obviously got issues. So no one mentions the fire stuff. Just
ignore it.”
    “Oh,” I say. I hadn’t thought of
that.
    “You should unpack your stuff,”
Caydi says. “I cleared some things out of the wardrobe and this chest of
drawers is for you.”
    “Okay,