Suze: You interrupted my date! Why are we even here anyway?
Me: I got mad, and I wanted to rant about it in my journal. I don't have a journal, so I'm ranting here!
Doc: you said that there was a new scientific breakthrough!
Adam: I was told there would be free bacon.
CeeCee: Free bacon? You dragged me here for FREE BACON?
Sleepy: What about my new Ferrari?
Dopey: A Ferrari? You already have a Camaro! I want the girls that I was promised!
Jesse: All I want is an answer.
Me: Very simple, I'm "borrowing" all of you for my rant!
Disclaimer: I'm not Meg Cabot; I'm just "borrowing" her characters for my rant.
Time Frame: After Twilight
Suze's POV
"Mom, I'm home!" I screamed from the front door. I had gotten back from a bowling game with Adam, CeeCee, Jesse, and some of my other friends. Friday nights at the Carmel Bowling Center were half priced, so we played every week.
"And where have you been, young lady? You are in big trouble!" My mom seethed from the kitchen, a murderous gaze dancing in her eyes.
"It's Friday night, mom! I was out bowling, like I always am on Friday nights!" I protested, wondering why my usually perky mom was so evil all of the sudden.
"No more bowling on Friday nights, missy! And your grounded for three weeks for all of the trouble you caused" Mom shrieked, grabbing my arm tightly and shaking me by it, probably creating a bruise.
"Yes, mom." I muttered obediently, causing my mom to let go of my arm and shove me towards the steps to my room.
I walked up to my room slowly, thinking about my mom's strange behavior and rubbing my sore arm. I flicked the light switch on, closing my eyes at the momentarily blinding light.
"Susie, get Jesse and Father D, you can't fight this one alone." Doc insisted, walking up behind me almost soundlessly.
"David, I haven't seen any ghosts lately, I don't know what you're talking about." I responded gently, trying not to hurt his feelings.
"Not everything is what it seems." He hinted, before leaving me to decode his cryptic message.
Sleepy knocked on my door a short time later, walking in cautiously, as if a sparkly bottle of perfume was going to attack him at any minute.
"I heard yelling, did something happen, Suze?" He asked caringly, looking at my arm where it was already discolored.
I guess I just fell apart, seeing how it was 8:30 and Sleepy was more worried about me than his rest and relaxation. I broke into silent sobs, trembling with terror.
"I-I just don't know what's going on, Jake." I cried, sniffling softly.
"Suze, it'll be okay. You'll figure something out, you always do." He consoled, patting my back awkwardly.
"This is different, I don't know anything about this; I'm clueless!" I wailed, grabbing a piece of paper and tearing it into shreds.
"Suze, Nancy Drew never got all her clues up front, she had to do some snooping to figure everything out. I know what we can do." He explained, still trying to calm me down.
"I don't kno- wait we? You're willing to help?" I confirmed; wiping away my tears with a tissue he had given me.
"Something is wrong with our mom, so it's important to figure it out, and I'd like to help, because you're usually so amazing at being a detective. Like that time you found out about Tad's uncle, or the time you put that other murderer in jail." He rambled on and on and on. I did catch a few words and phrases, one of them being 'our mom'. Somehow, it felt better to know that everyone in my family was close enough to drop the whole 'I'm only related to you through my parent's marriage' and be normal.
"Jake, I'd appreciate your help, but I'll need some other people too. Is it okay if we have a whole team?" I asked, knowing that he would be driving us around a lot, even though all my friends had their licenses. Jake had a job, and mom was used to him going out late.
"That would be great; it would be like an ultimate detective case. I'm all for it!" He grinned, leaving my room mumbling about a 'detective bag' or something.
I walked over to Doc's room to inform him about our team, but he surprised me by opening the door just before I knocked.
"Count me in, Suze. I have a feeling you'll need everyone you can get." He pointed out, motioning to my arm, which was grossly discolored.
"I should put on a long sleeved shirt…I'll be right back, get your stuff ready." I whispered, not wanting my mom to hear what we were scheming, just in case she hurt any of us.
I went back to my room, changed into a black turtleneck and black jeans, and laced up my combat boots.
"Suze?" Sleepy and Doc both asked from my doorway, both of them dressed in black.
"Yes?" I asked patiently. This was their first case, not everyone knows what to do.
"We have two questions. When do we leave? What about the others?" Doc inquired.
"Jake, give me your cell phone." I ordered, reaching my hand out. He obeyed and I slid the phone open. I texted CeeCee and Adam, but remembered Jesse didn't have a cell phone. I realized that I couldn't call him, because my mom would definitely heat, so I decided to stop by his apartment later.
"We leave at idnightmay." I whispered in pig Latin to my two clueless brothers.
"Okay, need anything else, Suze?" Sleepy asked, realizing that I hadn't gotten all of my team gathered yet.
"Yeah, you two cover for me, I won't be more than an hour, okay. Say I'm studying for a big test we have in geometry." I breathed, already opening up my window and sticking one leg out. I braced myself for impact and jumped, landing in the back yard.
Grabbing a bike, I snapped the helmet on and flew down the hill and over a rickety old bridge to Jesse's apartment complex. I threw myself up the stairs all the way to the fourth floor. 12, 13, Bingo, number 14. I reached into my pocket and pulled out my key, and unlocked the door.
"Jesse!" I yelled into the apartment, still out of breath.
"Querida, what's wrong?" Jesse asked, rushing to my side.
"M-my mom." I wailed, starting to actually cry for the second time today. I collapsed against Jesse and buried my face in his shoulder.
He locked his arms around me, sitting down on the couch ad sitting me on his lap, still crying into his new shirt. He accidentally brushed up against my bruise, making me whimper and hiss in pain.
"Susannah, what aren't you telling me?" He sighed, rolling up my sleeve to examine my injury.
"I-I'm sorry, I got here as fast as I could my mom grounded me, and I'm not supposed to be out of the house." I sobbed.
"Your mom never grounds you, what's going on?" He asked desperately, trying to understand.
"My mom got mad at me for going bowling, and then she grabbed me and shook me, that's why I have a bruise." I explained between bursts of tears.
"That doesn't sound like your mom at all, what can I do to help?" He offered helpfully.
Meet me at the bowling center at midnight. CeeCee, Adam, David and Jake will be there too." I smiled, knowing he'd walk to the ends of the universe for me.
"Pretty powerful ghost if you're asking help from four non-mediators." He joked.
"David is…different. I think he can sense ghosts somehow." I wondered out loud.
I looked at my watch, finding that my time was running out, and my mom would find out about me sneaking away.
"Goodbye." I said standing up.
"Goodbye" He echoed. He hugged me tightly, not wanting to let me go back to my crazy mom.
I detangled myself from him and trudged out of the building. Knowing I didn't have much time, I just stashed my bike in the bushes near the main office and ran home. I climbed up the outside of my house, using my boots to my advantage, and opened my window. My window was the only one in the whole house that opened up both ways.
"She doesn't want to be disturbed!" Sleepy's voice came from the other side of my door. It sounded really uneasy and shaky, like he was thinking about what would happen if my secret got spilled.
My doorknob turned slowly, and the door cried out in pain as it was thrown open with such force that it almost knocked over my antique mirror.
"You LIED to me!" My mom yowled, turning to Sleepy with a malicious expression dancing in her misty eyes.
"No, it was my fault!" I muttered, stepping closer to her and executing a move that should have broken her wrist.
Unfortunately, the rules of my life insist that everything I do must fail. She grabbed me and threw me back on my mirror, shattering it into a million pieces, most of which got embedded into my back and sides.
Out of the blue, my mom fell, hitting her head on the floor.
"Suze, what just happened?" Doc asked, running into my room worriedly.
"She just…collapsed." I explained vaguely, standing up and brushing bits of glass off of me.
"You go get your cuts and scrapes fixed up; I'll hold her off for a while." Sleepy ordered, gesturing to where the glass punctured me.
"Actually, I'm not leaving mom. You guys go get the bandages, I'll be right here." I compromised.
Me: And that's a wrap…for now.
CeeCee: join us next time when everyone dies of boredom!
Me: CeeCee! None of you will die of boredom… unless I end the story.
Random Quote of Randomness:
"Go eat your pants!" - KK (In a British accent)