I extend my hand to shake hello, and he slowly extends his, too, cautiously, like he’s confused about my plan.
This should faze me, but it doesn’t.
I reach over, and because I am so intent on producing a nice, strong handshake to show how awesomely confident I am, the force of my swing-and-miss throws me shoulder first into Colin’s chest as if I am tackling him at the twenty-yard line.
Except that I don’t actually tackle him because I CAN’T DO THAT EITHER! So I pass right through his chest and BOOM! I wind up floating flat on my face an inch away from the floor. I literally just threw myself on the ground for no apparent reason.
Mortified.
“I’m sorry,” I mutter, wishing I had remembered that I can’t perform most of the things I learned to do by the age of six. “That was so stupid of me. Oh, god, I went right through your body, didn’t I? Talk about an invasion of privacy … I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.”
If my face weren’t completely see-through, it would be bright red right about now.
“Don’t worry about it,” he replies, laughing. “It happens to all of us when we first get here. It took me almost two months to learn how to change my clothes—don’t be so hard on yourself. Come on, let’s go find your first class.”
Okay … so, things could be worse. Having Colin carry my things, show me around school, and teach me the ropes one-on-one doesn’t sound half-bad, right? Then again, it’s only Day 1 of my new life (I mean, afterlife), so I could still be wrong.
Dead wrong.
Orli Zuravicky is a writer, an editor, and an amateur interior designer, which basically means she likes to paint stuff in her apartment. She has been in children’s publishing for fifteen years and has written over sixty-five books for children. She hopes to write sixty-five more. She lives her happily ever after (life) in Brooklyn, New York.
#1: Ghostcoming!
#2: Crushed
Text copyright © 2016 by Orli Zuravicky
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This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
First printing 2016
Cover art © Melissa Manwill
Cover design by Jennifer Rinaldi
e-ISBN 978-1-338-19013-7
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