Have you ever wondered what if Sleepy has a girlfriend? Well I did, and obviously made a crappy story about it.
This is set after the SECOND book and before the THIRD book.
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"Excuse me." A lady was standing near my door.
"We are sorry to bother you." There was a man beside the lady.
I expected a visit sooner or later yet I didn't think it will be from a young couple. They were about in their early 30's and very polite. Most of their kind screams to my ears in the middle of the night, literally. "What can I help you with?" I didn't know politeness is contagious. Why can't be others be polite like them?
"Can you tell our daughter to... lighten up?" Lighten up? What kind of message is that? I know he's young – hoodie, jeans, sneakers, and all. But was he serious or has slang words have new deeper meanings?
The lady was wearing casual clothes too – a blouse and pair of slacks with high heels. She understood my expression and said "Her name is Alesana Crawford. Please tell her to follow her dreams, her other dreams."
"We love her." They both said. They disappeared faster than when they appeared in my room. I haven't even have the chance to ask other details.
Huh. What do you expect from them? I shrugged. "Typical ghosts."
The next morning I went to school. I am after all still sixteen despite my 'gift' to see ghosts. I have to know this Alesana Crawford immediately so I can have peace and quiet – I wish.
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This is one of the plus points for having Cee Cee as a friend. She has a laptop that is Internet ready. Good thing that she is the head of the school paper too. This means she always brings her laptop with her. A laptop I can borrow while she's busy with something else.
Being a mediator is really fun. Lots of research. You have to identify who in the billions of people you are looking for. Next, you have to deliver the message to the person hoping you won't get caught trespassing. Looking like a lunatic is not even included. Oh the fun!
I typed in "Crawford" on to the search engine. Thousand hits. Just my luck. The first listing was about the owner of the famous realty empire, which I clearly skipped. The second link showed me a blog by a Rick Crawford. The blog was about computers and obviously still updated. I immediately went to the third link and so on. Links were directing me either to a fan site of a particular actor or to weird blogs. How does Cee Cee make researching look very easy?
Ugh. What an ass Dopey is. I never thought this day will come. The day when I wished Sleepy was with us on the ride home. Clearly the day was today.
Where was my eldest stepbrother? He went with a friend of him or so what I heard. Doc said Sleepy's friend also attended our school until last year when she moved somewhere up north.
Good thing we arrived at the house. One more minute in the car with Dopey and Dopey will find his jaw dislocated.
As I was going up the porch, a black sedan halted in front of the house. Surprisingly, Sleepy went out the driver's side while a girl, with jet black hair tied loosely at the back, went out the other side.
The girl was a bit taller than me and has pale skin – not like Cee Cee but very pale considering she grew up here (I think). She was wearing black skinny jeans, a pair of Chuck Taylor, and a white tattered loose shirt.
"Hey!" Sleepy greeted me. That startled me for my eyes were glued at the girl. I didn't even notice they were almost in front me.
"H–hi," I stammered. Up close the girl was not beautiful, she was ethereal.
The girl smiled and I knew that it just added a hundred more to her fan club. "Suze," she said warmly. "I'm Alice." She put her hand in front of me. I shook it like it was the first time I made a hand shake. Maybe she thought I'm an idiot. We walked inside the house.
"Sl–Jake told me –" Uh-oh. I barely knew the girl and she thinks I'm a juvenile. "– that you have a cat." Her smile widened with the word 'cat'. It was bad of me to think Sleepy told Alice that I was in a gang or so what he thinks.
"She's crazy about those fur balls," Sleepy said.
"I'm not crazy about them. Okay, maybe I am, but they are so adorable."
"Uhm... I don't think my cat counts as adorable," I replied. Spike doesn't even look like a cat.
We were at the living room when Andy spoke so loudly that my heart almost jumped out off my chest. "Alice!"
"Mr. Ackerman," Alice responded gracefully. "It's been a long time."
"I see you met Suze." Andy said.
"Yup." She looked at Sleepy. "You didn't tell me she was beautiful."
"I said she was pretty." I didn't know Sleepy can be so talkative – wait, Sleepy said I was pretty? Woah! Pause and rewind.
"Pretty is not the same as beautiful, Jake."
"I guess she is beautiful, but you know that I only use 'beautiful' in a sentence with a particular name." Sleepy smiled at that. An inside joke I don't want to know more about. The important thing here was that Sleepy called me pretty and now beautiful! Sleepy, my stepbrother! Is the world ending?
"Alice, did you know Suze has a cat?" Andy said. I guess I'm still not off the hook for keeping a cat without their consent. Let's add that we have Max, our dog, who gets hyper with cats.
"Actually, she's about to show me." Alice said.
"Then what are you guys hanging here for?"
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The three of us went upstairs.
"I'll just put my stuff in my room and change," Sleepy told Alice.
Alice nodded and Sleepy walked to his room.
"Spike, the cat, is at my room." I said pointing the door in front of us with my head. "Would you like to go inside?"
"If you don't mind."
"No, it's okay." I smiled. She's polite. I like that.
The scene when I opened the door was something I have been avoiding. The cat was there all right, but he was on Jesse's lap. This is not good considering Jesse's a ghost.
Ghost, which only I can see and a few (like Father D), cannot be seen by Alice. How will I explain why the cat is hovering over the chair?
Dopey, when he first saw Spike and ratted me afterwards, was dumb enough not to notice that the first time round. Alice, on the other hand, is (I bet my life with) not as stupid as Dopey.
Yet, she doesn't seem to notice when she said, "Can I pet him?" The troubling part was she wasn't looking at me when she said that. Alice was looking above the chair, as if – as if she was talking to Jesse! That's impossible, unless...
All these thoughts left me when Spike immediately jumped from Jesse's lap and ran towards Alice. Jesse disappeared instantly after that. Spike, the traitor, became friendly with Alice and let her pet him on their first encounter. That cat tore my bag inside-out the first time we met! No kidding. Now, it obediently ran to Alice. Unbelievable cat.
"I guess it doesn't matter to you what the cat looks like. You think all of them are adorable." Sleepy was leaning at the door frame. He was wearing dark jeans and a sleeveless shirt matched with tattered Converse All Star.
Sleepy tried to scratch Spike's ears but Spike had the same idea. Spike tried to leave a mark on Sleepy's hand. Luckily, Alice pulled Spike away from Sleepy's hand. "Wow. Feisty. Are you sure you want to keep him Suze?"
I sighed. Being mediator is so fun that it even includes baby sitting a grumpy cat.
We heard footsteps going up the stairs. It was Andy. "There you are." He eyed the cat Alice was playing with. "Alice, could I force you to eat dinner with us? We'll be having strawberries for dessert, your favorite."
Alice turned her head towards Andy. "Even without the strawberries, I would still say 'yes'." She smiled.
"Good." Andy nodded. "I take that you will be late for dinner." He said while looking at Sleepy and Alice.
The both of them grinned. Another thing I don't understand. Dinner is sacred in this household. Well, okay. Not sacred but being late at dinner without proper reason will earn you some lecturing. But now, Andy is actually allowing it and even suggesting it!
"If you don't mind dad, will take David with us." He faced the other way and shouted, "David, you ready?" A muffled 'yes' was heard.
"How about you Suze?" Alice said.
I was confused because I don't know what they were talking about. "Me?" I said stupidly.
"We're going down to the beach. Would you like to come?"
"Uhmm..." Another intelligent response from yours truly.
"You'll love the show." Doc appeared at my doorway. I never thought my doorway will this be crowded.
Traditions are being bent and now they're talking about a show?
Guess what your genius narrator said.
"Uh. Sure..."
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