18 Truths by Jamie Ayres

second.
    “Well, I should go to my own room for the remainder of the evening or the party timeline will move up considerably.” He shifted his body off the bed and gathered his things, pausing at the door. “I don’t know if I’ve told you lately, but I love you.”
    Closing my eyes so he wouldn’t see the tears forming again, I nodded yes.
    “Even so, I love you.”
    “I love you, too,” I muttered, and I opened my eyes just in time to see him walking through my wall—something I didn’t think I’d ever get used to.
    I glanced at the clock on my desk. 11:58 p.m. Earth time. A week ago, we were entering Dr. Judy’s office for the last time as her patients; now we were her interns.
    Time didn’t matter, since I didn’t need sleep anymore. I still doubted my qualifications for my new position, but the good news was pulling an all-nighter to prepare would be a piece of cake now. I opened up the folder labeled ‘Role Playing’ on the tab and studied the character I needed to portray for Grace’s limbo. We got to keep our same names, same personalities. The alternative timeline would take place in Black Mountain, North Carolina, and I wondered if that’s where Dr. Judy made her home on Earth or if her family had since moved. At nine years old, I had visited Ashville with my parents on vacation, and I thought Black Mountain was nearby. The town certainly sounded familiar. I skimmed over some notes on the area, but this induced boredom after five minutes. Then my gaze landed on the cover story for Nate and me, my eyes bugging when I read the part about us pretending to be twin siblings.
    What the heck?
    The typed document stated that since the community was a small town with only about two thousand people, two teenagers from different families moving there at the same time would seem too contrived. We needed to work together though, so pretending to be siblings equaled the best solution.
    Based on our recent make out session, I wished some acting classes had been part of our spirit guide training. No way would I be able to pull off this one.



“The truth is rarely pure and never simple.”

—Oscar Wilde
    ate and I headed through the nearly empty hallway of Charles D. Owen High School together, bags over our shoulders, inhaling the scent of bleach, pine sol, and fresh paint. My shoes made quick scuffs on the tile as we found our way to the classroom using a map Ash had given us. I hadn’t felt terror like this since Conner died. Today, just like that fateful day on the sailboat last April, someone’s life was in my hands. More than life actually, her very soul! And just as no amount of boating safety classes could’ve prepared me for that lightning strike, no amount of spirit guide sessions with Ruth could’ve truly prepared me for what lay ahead.
    But turning back now wasn’t an option, so I rubbed my arms to get rid of the goose bumps and plowed ahead.
    Grace was registered for two classes this summer: Algebra II and Biology. Nate and I enrolled in both with her, although we posed as incoming seniors wanting to get used to our new school before the fall semester started. At least playing a goody-goody was right up my alley.
    The atmosphere in 13-A was a hive of activity, sounding like a frenzied mob at Discount Mart at the stroke of midnight on Black Friday. Students swooped in with traveling coffee mugs in hand, their phones buzzing with early morning text messages as the teacher shouted at them to put their stuff away. I slid into an old fashioned school desk and hung my backpack on the chair. Nate and I both sat next to each other in the back row to keep an eye out for Grace. As the teacher reached my seat, I took the syllabus with cold fingers, wishing I’d spent every moment studying for my real assignment instead of making out with Nate. The late bell blared, and still Grace didn’t show. I listened to the teacher give announcements and watched Nate gaze out the window, a look of concern on his