Beyond the Grave by Mara Purnhagen Read Free Book Online

toe in sky-blue. She turned her face slightly, and I immediately recognized her.
    â€œBliss!” My voice echoed throughout the two-story room. A few people turned their heads, and I blushed. I strode over to the windows, trying to appear confident instead of completely mortified.
    â€œCharlotte, hi.” Bliss fidgeted with her purse—a tiny satchel also sky-blue in color—and cleared her throat. “What are you doing here?”
    Bliss Reynolds and I did not share a positive history. We’d both spent the previous school year as seniors at Lincoln High School, where she’d worked hard as the school news anchor and I’d edited her stories with Noah. She viewed me as a constant threat to her position as lead anchor, while I saw her as merely annoying. When her grandfather had died in March and she was out of school for a week, I had taken over her job. It wasn’t something I’d wanted to do, but our teacher had insisted. Despite my best efforts to be mediocre, I had won rave reviews from the student body—and jealous anger from Bliss. I had thought she would never let it go, but Bliss had proved to be a better person than I’d given her credit for. After my mother’s injury, she’d stayed late every day to make sure my work got done. And when I’d returned to school two weeks later, she was nothing but nice to me. I almost missed her snarky comments. Almost.
    â€œI’m taking classes here this year,” I told her now. It was crazy how happy I was to see a former classmate, even if it was one I didn’t get along with well.
    â€œMe, too.” She snapped the clasp on her purse. “I was supposed to go out of state, but then my grandfather died, and my mom needs me right now. I’m helping her out and earning some credits here so they’ll transfer next semester, maybe.”
    I nodded. “Same with me. Although I’ll probably be here all year.”
    â€œOh.” Bliss smiled hesitantly. “So, is it a long commute for you?”
    â€œNot really. You?”
    â€œNot at all. We live over on Woodlyn. It’s my grandfather’s house, actually.” She got a kind of faraway look in her eyes. “We still have all his garden gnomes in the front yard, even though my mom hates them.”
    I thought of Mom’s blue slippers sitting under the computer desk. Would she ever wear them again? Or would they remain there forever, a curious monument to remind us of how she used to be?
    Bliss and I chatted a little longer. “Maybe we could have lunch sometime,” I suggested. “That is, if the cafeteria here isn’t like the one at Lincoln.”
    She laughed. “I already checked it out. Not sure about the hot food, but they have an impressive salad bar.”
    â€œSounds good. We should do that sometime.”
    â€œSure.”
    I waited for her to suggest a day we could meet, but she didn’t say anything more. She was being polite, I realized, but had no intention of actually hanging out with me.
    â€œIt was nice to see you, Bliss.”
    She nodded. “See you around, Charlotte.”
    We went in opposite directions to our classrooms. I was right on time for my first class, which I enjoyed simply because all I had to do was sit back, listen to the lecture and take notes. It wasn’t high school. There were no late passes or slamming lockers or people whispering rumors to each otherabout who did what behind the bleachers last Friday. I had entered into a drama-free zone, where everyone was too occupied with real, adult life to worry about the eighteen-year-old girl sitting in the middle of the room. I was wonderfully anonymous, and as long as I completed my work and didn’t bother anyone, I would stay that way.
    The only person who knew me was Bliss, and I guessed she was as alone here as I was. And maybe she was reluctant to be friends with a former high school classmate she barely knew, but that