Chapter One
He had recognized the dream for what it was, but that brought him little comfort.
He was standing in a clearing, the moon above him impossibly bright as it illuminated the woodland landscape. A burning cold seemed to be winding itself around him, defying the air's unnatural stillness. A woman stood directly before him in the distance, staring at him; and though the light was so intense he could scarcely see her, the look in her eyes was impossible to mistake. Angry, almost accusing. Tommy felt frozen to the spot as she stepped towards him, extending her arm and opening her hand—
"Tommy?" Lil waved a hand in front of his face, pulling him back to reality. "You okay? You seem kind of zoned this morning."
"Yeah," he said, faking a smile. "Just a little tired." He attempted to look busy by rummaging around in his locker, secretly relieved when she decided to drop the subject and resume her discussion with Phil and Kimi.
"So, do you guys want to meet up after school today?" Lil asked. "Mr. Beaker said that if we finish the Science Club display early we'd be off the hook for Open House."
"Count me in," said Phil. "There's no way I wanna get stuck goin' to one of those again."
The year's first open house was a ridiculous ritual designed to raise school spirit via bad food and even worse entertainment. Not particularly pleasant unless one enjoyed overpriced school memorabilia and watching their peers and faculty perform painfully off-key karaoke.
Tommy relaxed a little, listening to the cheerful voices of his friends and soaking in the languorous Monday morning energy. It was silly to let some half-remembered nightmare get the best of him; with a determined grin, Tommy slammed his locker shut and turned back to his friends. "Unless Pangborn sings another Emica song this year. Don't want to miss getting that on tape again."
The others laughed and nodded.
"You guys are lucky," Kimi said, leaning back against a locker as she leafed through one of her folders. "With all my extracurriculars there's no way I can—" She stopped suddenly, pulling a paper out to examine it.
"What is it?" Lil asked as she and the others looked on.
"This is Chuckie's English homework," Kimi explained. "I'd better get it to him. Do you guys know where he went?"
Tommy shrugged. "After that incident on the bus this morning? Try the bathroom."
"Never knew Chelsea could scream like that," Phil chuckled, seeming almost wistful.
Chuckie Finster was not having a good day.
He had been awake for less than an hour, but it seemed as if fate was already conspiring against him. The cereal mishap had been humiliating enough, but then he'd nearly knocked down a member of the football team in his mad dash for the school bathroom. He groaned as he peered openmouthed into the mirror, finally assured that his braces were cornflake-free. A quick look through his backpack revealed that he'd somehow managed to lose the essay he'd been working on all weekend. In retrospect, perhaps scribbling down sentences between customers at the Java Lava hadn't been the best idea.
As tempting as hiding out in the bathroom all morning was, if he hurried he could probably get a few paragraphs written before his first class started. He paused to triple check the bottoms of his shoes for toilet paper before pushing open the door and stepping back outside. Entering the hallway was like emerging from a tomb; Chuckie suddenly found himself caught up in a whirl color and conversation, the voices of bustling students intermingling into unintelligible background noise.
Normally Chuckie was glad to be a part of it, but this morning there was too much on his mind he didn't think the others would understand. A movie Nicole had wanted to see would be in the theater this weekend, but it had been nearly a month since she'd casually mentioned going with him. Would she get mad if he brought it up? And how was he supposed to know if her invitation had been sincere in the first place? The amount of giggles at the end of her sentence had to count for something, but without the aid of some sort of Preteen Girl to English dictionary, he couldn't be sure what.
Chuckie was so caught up in his thoughts that he didn't realize he'd collided with someone until his hands and knees met painfully with the hard floor.
"Chuckie! Are you OK?" He looked up to see Kimi standing above him, reflexes honed from years of dealing with a clumsy brother. Well, at least he'd picked the least embarrassing person to trip over.
"I'm fine. . ." He answered miserably, accepting the hand she offered and pulling himself back to his feet.
"Maybe this will cheer you up." Kimi withdrew a paper from her folder and dangled it in front of him.
Chuckie grabbed the paper, instantly recognizing it. "My essay!" He gave his sister a grateful smile. "Thanks, Kimi! How did you find it?"
"No problem. It must have gotten mixed up with my stuff at the Java Lava yesterday."
That was one less thing to worry about; at least he was no longer in danger of failing English. Chuckie smiled to himself as he tucked the paper away safely in his backpack.
"So, you want to catch up with the others now?" Kimi offered.
"Uh, no thanks, but you can go ahead."
"If you're sure…" She shrugged and smiled at him, turning and making her way back down the hall.
Chuckie considered calling after her, but decided he should just cut his losses and get to class; he was in no hurry to set a record for most social disasters before the first bell. By the time he had reached Mr. Beaker's classroom, Chuckie's mood had significantly improved. Today might not turn out so bad after all; he just needed to sit down, relax, and let all of this unfortunate business pass. Besides, Edith was probably already inside and talking to her was always good for his self-esteem. His smile disappeared as he opened the door and realized with an instant annoyance that someone was already in his seat.
"Hey—" he started, taking a step forward as the new boy turned towards him. Chuckie froze in horror, immediately recognizing the familiar blue eyes, the freckled face, and the shaggy brown hair. "Bean!"
In a sudden rush, Chuckie's mind was flooded with the events of last summer. He remembered the fear he'd felt as he and his friends had wandered helplessly through the woods; the inhuman sight of Bean's eyes glowing red; the shocking discovery of the photograph; the horrifying scene at the end of Tommy's movie…
Before he'd even realized he was moving, Chuckie found himself panting in the hallway, the door slammed shut behind him. He slumped back against the wall, taking a moment to will away the bad memories and regain his composure. There had to be a logical explanation for this—ghost boys didn't just enroll in elementary school in their spare time.
Panicking in the hallway wasn't going to solve anything; he could either march back into that classroom and deal with this himself or run away flailing for Tommy. With a resolute nod of his head, he opened the door and peered inside.
Bean smiled at him and gave a casual wave.
So, option two it was.
"What's this?" Susie eyed the card, automatically skeptic of anything with Angelica's face plastered all over it. Not to mention that much pink.
"An invitation to my victory celebration this Saturday!" Angelica exclaimed, tossing her hair back and leaning over Susie's desk.
"Victory celebration?" Susie arched a brow in confusion as she read the inside of the card. "Angelica, last week you said you weren't even going to Open House! Now you're singing in the talent show?"
"That was before I knew they picked the winner based on audience response!" Angelica waved her hand dramatically. "It's a popularity contest, how could I possibly lose?"
Susie rolled her eyes, biting back the urge to answer.
"So you'd better not even think of competing against me!" Angelica took a step back, suddenly seeming angry. "Unless, of course, you want to be totally humiliated in front of the entire school."
Susie sighed. "I thought we were over this, Angelica." Why did Angelica have to act like this every time Susie felt like she was finally gaining some ground in their friendship?
"Of course we are," said Angelica, looking guilty for a brief moment. "As long as you don't get any ideas about trying to steal my first place trophy!"
"Look, I've got booth duty for five different clubs; I won't have a free minute all night! I couldn't compete against you if I wanted to." Susie had learned the importance of honoring her commitments, and no cheap plastic trophy was going to tempt her to do otherwise. Besides, if the competition was as bad as it had been in the previous years Angelica might actually have a chance at winning. Noticing her friend's disappointment she added, "But I'll see if I can sneak away to offer moral support."
Angelica's attempt to reply was cut off as Harold came bounding in the classroom, breathing heavily and carrying a cardboard box. "I gave the invitations out to kids as they got off the bus like you wanted, Angelica," he said.
Angelica leaned over to inspect the box's contents and threw her hands up in frustration. "So what are you standing around here for? Go hand out the rest of them!"
The idea had made perfect sense on the way; Chuckie was sure of it.
But only now, standing flushed and disheveled in front of his friends, did he realize how crazy this whole thing actually was.
"What's up, Chuckie?" Tommy asked as he and others halted their conversation and stared on in confusion.
What was he supposed to tell them, "Hey, remember that dead kid from summer camp? He's sitting in my desk!"?
The more he thought about it, the more ridiculous it all seemed. There had to be a perfectly reasonable explanation for all this, and here he was freaking out his friends for nothing. Then again, there was always the off chance that he wasn't overreacting, and if he went back alone…
"Oh, just follow me!" Chuckie grumbled, deciding to just give up and find out the truth once and for all. He turned before anyone could respond and ignored their questions as he led the group back to his classroom.
"Mr. Beaker's class?" asked Kimi as they came to a stop. "What's this all about, Chuckie?"
"You tell me," he said, not taking his eyes off them as he thrust open the door. He really hoped that his friends wouldn't see anything out of the ordinary, then they could all have a good laugh about what an idiot he was.
No such luck; their bewildered expressions and startled gasps soon told him differently. Chuckie groaned and followed their gazes to where Bean sat staring back at them with a slight smile.
Everyone seemed frozen in place until Tommy broke the spell by walking forward determinedly. Phil, Lil, and Kimi quickly followed, leaving Chuckie to shuffle along behind them.
"Oh, hey. Didn't know you guys were from around here." Bean was the first to speak, obviously attempting to seem casual.
"Never mind that, what are you doing here?" Tommy demanded.
"I'm new," Bean replied, shifting uncomfortably under their scrutiny. "Look, I hope you're not mad about what happened this summer. It was supposed to be funny. You all just seemed so obsessed with the legends…"
"What?" Lil was livid. "You expect us to believe that was all just some sick joke!"
"Yeah! What about—?" Chuckie found himself cut off by his teacher tapping his shoulder. He realized suddenly that the entire class had been watching their conversation.
"Ahem. Tommy? Phil, Lil? I know you're all anxious to be in my class but I'm afraid you're going to have wait your turn," Mr. Beaker said with his usual lack of enthusiasm.
"But—"
"Now, now," Mr. Beaker held up his hand in a gesture for silence. "I know the separation will be painful, but I believe that in the end it will be for the best." He motioned for them to leave, which they did slowly and grudgingly, staring back at Bean until they disappeared into the hallway.
Chuckie groaned and backed away towards an empty chair. How were he and Kimi going to deal with this alone?
Mr. Beaker walked to the board and picked up a piece of chalk. "Take your seat so that we can begin, Kimi."
"No!" Chuckie yelled, jumping back to his feet. "She can't!"
"Sit down, Chuck," said Mr. Beaker. "I assure you, the new kid is no more contagious than the rest of you. Possibly less so."
"But—"
Kimi smiled and laid a hand on her brother's shoulder. "It's OK Chuckie; nothing bad is going to happen to me here in the middle of class. We made it through Camp Everwood didn't we?" He knew she was trying to be brave, but it was impossible to miss the look of apprehension in her eyes.
Mr. Beaker cleared his throat. "Now, Miss Finster."
Chuckie sank back down into his chair, watching miserably as Kimi sat down beside of Bean. This was all his fault; why did he have to go and drag the others into this?
"Way harsh on Boot Girl, Chuck," Z observed, leaning up from a desk behind him. "What do you got against this guy?"
"Oh, I don't know," Chuckie whispered back agitatedly. "Maybe the fact that he died more than a hundred years ago!"
"Pretty wonk, dude." Z shook his head and sat back.
Chuckie ignored him, refusing to take his eyes off Kimi. Being in this situation would have normally terrified him, but concern for his sister had a nasty habit of overriding his sense of logic. Who did Bean think he was, smiling at her like that?
Mr. Beaker's attempt to lecture the class was all but lost on Chuckie, who didn't even bother to glance at the chemistry worksheet placed on his desk. He twisted a pencil between his shaky hands, desperate to ease his nervousness. All he had to do was make it through this class, he reminded himself, and then he could go and find Tommy and the others. They would know what to do, they always did.
Kimi appeared to be hard at work on the assignment, her posture visibly relaxed from what it had been earlier. Chuckie glared down at his watch, impatiently watching the seconds gradually turn into minutes. Why did time have to move so slowly when his sister was in danger? Hearing the sound of muffled giggling, his head shot up with alarm. To his horror, he found that Kimi was leaning closer to Bean, grinning and whispering excitedly.
Without thinking, Chuckie sprang from his seat. This was not going to end well.
Quick author's note: Sorry for the current lack of Dil—he'll play an important part in later chapters. ;)