Disclaimer: Meg Cabot owns everything from The Mediator.

New

Prologue – Suze's pov

I stared at the guy standing at the front of the room. And so did practically every other girl there at the time. God, this guy was hot!

I didn't even notice him come in at first. I was sitting in homeroom with my friends, whom I hadn't seen much of over the summer. I wanted to catch up, you know. So I didn't notice the new guy until my friend CeeCee pointed him out to me.

Paul Slater – that was his name, according to Mr Walden – didn't look at all uncomfortable standing there at the front of the classroom. He told us all about how he'd just moved here from Seattle with this kind of arrogant smirk on his handsome, tanned face. This was naturally the complete opposite of how I'd acted when I moved here from Brooklyn at the beginning of the year. But then I guess there's a difference between people looking at you in admiration of your incredibly good looks (like in Paul's case) and people looking at you in shock and confusion over your unusual behaviour (like in my case). I suppose Paul had every right to be smirking like that.

Besides, I could tell just by looking at him that he was so not the type to be nervous about these things. It was obvious that Paul was totally confident and used to being popular. And he was definitely the hottest guy in the class. Which, I realised as he went to take his seat, meant he now belonged to Kelly Prescott. I mean, the only free seat in the classroom was behind hers. It was official. No one else stood a chance.

Not that this mattered to me. As if. I didn't need Paul Slater. Sure he was hot, but that didn't mean I was interested. My heart already belonged to another.

It was just a shame that that guy - to my knowledge anyway – had no idea I existed.

Yeah, I'm working on that.

The thing with Jesse is that the moment I first laid eyes on him I knew it was love… Okay, maybe not. Since I don't know the first thing about him and all. Except his name, obviously. But I only know that because CeeCee told me, and she knows everything. At least that's what it seems like sometimes. Because she's smart, you know, and she's editor of the school paper.

So anyway, I'm pretty sure that I'm not really in love with Jesse de Silva, because for all I know he could be a total jerk… Although I doubt it, because CeeCee says she spoke to him one time and he seemed nice enough. Plus, he's never been out with Kelly Prescott, which has to be a good thing.

And even though I don't have solid proof that Jesse isn't everything I have fantasised him to be since I first saw him, I still feel my heart breaking every time he walks past me in school, because I'm not there in his arms.

Okay, not quite.

But when he's near by my face definitely heats up. A lot.

I am so pathetic.

So you can probably tell that I am so not the type of girl guys like Jesse de Silva ask out on a regular basis. I'm not hideously ugly or anything. I guess I'm okay looking. I have nice hair (when it's loose, not when it's tied back - that's not a very good look for me, I've found); an impeccable fashion sense, and I don't have webbed toes or anything…

But I've never had a single boyfriend.

I have never been kissed.

I am probably doomed to remain single for the rest of my life.

Which sucks, really.

There have been one or two guys who have asked me out, then realised their mistake and never spoken to me again. But that doesn't happen often. Which I suppose must be a good thing.

There is a reason for all this, you know. See, I'm kind of… different to other people. And although it's nothing physical, it tends to show in the way I behave sometimes. I try to hide it of course. But it's hard for people not to notice the amount of times I skip class, or how I dislike old buildings, or how occasionally I am caught talking to people who aren't there. Or so people think anyway. They just don't know that those supposedly non-existent people I talk to? They're there, all right.

They just happen to be dead.

And I'm the only one who can see them.

Well not the only one. I know another mediator – that's what we're called. Mediators. Liaisons between the living and the dead. It is our duty to help the souls of the departed move on. To where? I'm not sure. But that's my job and, yeah, it sucks.

Father Dominic, however, would disagree. He's the other mediator I mentioned. And he is also the principal of Junipero Serra Mission Academy. Which would make me perhaps the only girl alive who hangs out with her school's principal on a regular basis. Yeah, I forgot to add that one to the list of things that make me look like a complete freak.

Anyway, while I'm sure that my being a mediator is some kind of curse or something, Father D loves it. The guy's a priest so I guess I can understand that, since priests like helping others. But I am serious; this mediator thing is no joke. Those ghosties can get rough, and I don't get any credit whatsoever for dealing with them. Which is really unfair, I think.

I'm not sure if since I moved to Carmel earlier this year anyone has picked up on just how special I am, but if they have then I'm positive you understand why I'm so sure I would never have a chance with Jesse. If I could get him to notice me in the first place, that is.

Or maybe he has noticed me and is just choosing to ignore me. Maybe when I first arrived here all the guys had a meeting and discussed the best ways to ignore Suze Simon. And even Paul Slater got a leaflet about it when he moved here. I mean he definitely wasn't making any effort to look in my direction during homeroom.

It's a conspiracy, that's what it is.

Not that I'm bothered about what Paul Slater thinks about me. There's only one guy whose affections I am after, and it ain't Paul.

So as I sat there in homeroom, only half listening to what Mr Walden was saying, I put Paul Slater out of my mind. Unlike a few girls I could mention, I knew he was nothing to get exited over. We were probably never going to have anything to do with each other, after all.

And I was quite happy to believe that Paul Slater's arrival at this school was not going to be the start of a drastic change in my life.

For a while anyway.

A/N: I got the idea for this story ages ago, but only recently bothered to type it up. I have got other stories to update, but one more can't hurt can it? I hope you like it. Please tell me what you think.