AUTHOR'S NOTE: I don't really like the formatting here, and I think it's too long, which is why I stopped it abruptly, also I ran out of fuel for writing, so there's that too, just bear with me, Part 2 of Chapter 2 should be up soon... ish...
Dante was trying his best to keep from breaking out into a grin that would split his face in half. He wasn’t quite sure what the girl did to get on top of him like that, but it was cool, both literally and figuratively.
"Could've fooled me" the girl said suddenly after moment of silence "You seem to be pretty good at wrestling strange girls"
The girl was right, and the look on Dante’s face proved it. He’d practiced a bit of judo and some other types of wrestling.
"Well, I guess I'm skilled in theory, but I've had little time to employ my talents against..." the boy pauses, thinking about just what he hadn’t employed his talents against “... Female opponents, or any opponents at all for that matter. Even if I did, I prefer to talk my problems out"
The girl laughs suddenly, hiding her smile with her hand as she leans against a pile of boxes.
"So I guess I'm a special case? Didn't want to talk to me, just got straight to the tackling?" she says sarcastically "I don't think I'm THAT good looking" the girl adds, putting her hand down to reveal a genuine smile.
Dante pauses; this conversation isn’t exactly going the way he planned. Despite his rather forward way of starting a conversation, he doesn’t want to make an enemy here.
“Well, you think wrong; You are indeed THAT good looking.” He says, nodding slightly. The girl could tell that it was a genuine compliment and not just a lie to get on her good side.
“Hi, I’m Dante” the boy says, extending a hand
“Hi, I’m Katie” the girl says, reaching forward to meet Dante’s hand, much to Katie’s surprise contact was made and they shook hands with little incident.
“You look surprised, didn’t expect me to have such nice hands?” Dante says slyly. Katie looks up from her marveling at their hands shaking and see’s the boy studying her intently.
Retrieving her hand and placing it in the pocket of her jeans, she thinks about her reply carefully. How could she put this lightly?
“I’m dead”
“I figured as much”
Dante nods at Katie’s look of surprise
“After our first little, err, Run-in, I started thinking about what that might’ve been. I almost forgot about it, but then while reading a book I came across a small tidbit of fiction that almost perfectly explained what had happened. Apparently ghosts are very cold when they’re…” Dante pauses, his head tilted, searching for the right term
“I’ve always called it being ethereal, but I don’t know the ‘Technical term’” Katie says with a shrug, the hooded figure didn’t exactly give her a dictionary of supernatural terms.
“That works, I suppose.” The boy says, nodding approvingly before continuing “I thought it was interesting, but didn’t really know what to think beyond that, but slowly over time I became convinced”
Dante tilts his head again, a look of apology on his face.
“I’m sorry, by the way” he says quietly, Katie isn’t sure what he’s talking about, the only things he’s done is pay her a compliment and tackle her to the floor.
“For what? Tackling me? It’s alright; I guess it’s a good way to start a conversation” the girl replies, sitting down on one of the boxes, indicating to Dante that it’s okay to relax
“Well, that too, but…” Dante hesitates slightly, sliding into a cross legged position on the floor “I’ve actually been able to see you for a while”
A frown appears on Katie’s face, dominating her features as she cocks her head to the side in a way similar to how Dante was.
“For how long?” She asks, an idea entering her mind
“About a week, why?” he asks, looking up from inspecting his fingernails.
Katie breathes a sigh of relief “Oh thank god.” She says, waiting for the boy to ask why again.
“Again, I ask, why?” Dante repeats, looking genuinely interested now, Katie doesn’t attempt to hide her smile this time, “Oh it’s just that all the really embarrassing stuff was before that, so we’re okay” Katie says, adding a relieved laugh to add to the act.
Dante’s face twists into a mix of curiosity and frustration, of course he wanted to know what “embarrassing stuff” happened while he was oblivious to Katie’s existence, but he didn’t know that the only mildly embarrassing thing that happened was when Katie stumbled over her own feet once or twice in a hurry to get out of his way.
Unable to keep it in any longer, Katie laughs, rocking back on the box as she covers her smile again. A wry smile crossed Dante face as he realizes that he’s the object of the strange girl’s mirth.
“Yeah yeah, laugh it up, fuzz ball” he says, crossing his arms and sitting back, waiting for the girl to finish laughing at his expense
Points:
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Canary word: Present
Possible AI signals:
Original Text:
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125,009 Literary Works • 672,837 Reviews
I don't like it, the character interaction is stiff and the dialogue is wonky at best. The actions and reactions are unrealistic and the perspective switches from omniscient third person to tethered third person schizophrenically.