Strawberry-Shortcake01 - Aww, Linds. Its ONE story. All of my other Mediator stories are J/S. So don't be such a party pooper.
LlamaDuck - Pre-Twilight. And it most definitely is NOT a one-shot. See? Here is the second chapter. And its longer than the first. That is a good thing.
Disclaimer: Ms. Meg Cabot own everything you recognize. Everything you don't . . . well, I own that.
Summary: Its one thing to have loved and lost, but its another to have your heart completely broken. Suze has to deal with the knowledge that her beloved is gone. But even more than that? She thinks she's falling for someone else. Someone she never would have dreamed of.
Inferiority
Chapter 2
Summer came and went.
I wasn't really up to going out and hanging with my friends. You can understand that, right?
I mean, if you just lost someone you loved so much, wouldn't you feel like sulking and wasting away in your room?
Exactly.
So, yeah, summer wasn't that much of a hit for me this year.
I know I said I'd move on. And I will.
Its just that...it might take a while for me to get over it.
Over the summer I promised myself I'd find someone who would be good to me like Jesse was. I also promised myself that I'd take it slow and make sure I loved them.
Its one thing to have loved and lost, but its another to have your heart broken.
As soon as school started up again, I tried to turn over a new leaf. I tried to make a better impression than the last time I was at Junipero Serra Mission Academy. I got a whole new wardrobe - courtesy of my mom. I even tried to do good in school. I listened in class; I did my homework; hell, I even studied for my tests.
Things were starting to fall back in place.
...Except the whole love thing.
GOD, I have got to stop thinking about that.
I mean, I am only 17. Some people don't even meet the person they love until they're in their thirties. But I really don't feel like waiting that long.
Look at my mom, though; she fell in love again - and with a good man, too.
Yeah...
CeeCee, Adam, and me for sitting at our usual table in the courtyard. We did the usual routine that we did everyday - eat lunch, gossip, make fun of Adam.
Then CeeCee piped up out of the blue. "So, Suze, we haven't really hung out in a while. Well, I mean, like we did last year. And I was thinking maybe you'd like to join Adam and me at the Clutch today."
She had a point. We used to hang everyday practically last year, and, well, this year, not so much.
"Sure, Cee. I'd love to," I replied.
Her violet eyes lit up. "Really?"
"Of course."
Then the glow went away. There was something wrong, I could tell.
"S-Suze, I - um, do you think we could talk? You know, us three?" she asked. Then she stole a side glance at Adam.
Was there something I should know?
"Oh. Yeah, Suze. We've been meaning to ask you something." Adam looked a little nervous, like he didn't want to bring up the subject - what that subject was, I have no clue - but knew he had to - for his and Cee's curiosity's sake.
And by the looks they were giving me, I knew what they wanted to know. And it was wrenching my heart just thinking about it.
"Suze? What's wrong?" Cee asked, her concern obviously showing.
"What? Nothing's wrong," I replied quickly.
"Oh, Suze, your crying," she said.
I was? Well, this was news to me. God, why do I always do this? And right in the middle of the courtyard.
Great, as if I'm not already too much of a freak as it is.
"Really? Oh, um, it must be allergies," was my stupid reply. God, as if she'd fall for that.
She smirked at me. "Suze, I'm not stupid. Just tell me what's the matter."
"You don't — nothing." God, when will I stop with these incessant lies?
"God, Su—" CeeCee started to say, but she was cut off by the loudspeaker.
"Will Susannah Simon please report to the principal's office please," came a sweet female voice in the loudspeaker.
"See you guys later," I yelled over my shoulder as I grabbed my messenger bag.
As I was walking through the long breezeway, I felt a familiar chill course through me.
And then I bumped into someone, nearly knocking them over.
"Jeez, Suze, watch where you're going!" came the shrill voice of Kelly Prescott.
"Oh, uh, sorry," I replied. Lovely, I know.
"You should be sorry, you freak!" she yelled at me.
"Lay off her, Kelly," another - masculine - voice came from around the corner.
"P-Paul, I was just—"
Paul pushed passed her and grabbed my hand, instantly sending chills - good ones - down my spine. "I don't want to hear it, Kelly," he said to her. Then to me, he said, "Come on, Suze."
I was too stunned to do anything but let him lead me to Father Dominic's office.
"How did you know Father D wanted me?" I asked.
"They called your name over the loudspeaker," he replied.
Oh. DUH.
"Right," I said.
"Go right in you two," the secretary said.
I looked at Paul. "Father Dominic told me yesterday that he wanted to see me during lunch," he explained.
Oh.
Paul opened the door to Father Dom's office and held the door open for me as I walked in. He shut it behind us and took a seat beside me. For some odd reason, him sitting that close to me didn't bother me as much. Weird.
"Susannah, Paul, I trust you two know why you're here," Father Dom said.
Right. Our recent project. A.k.a the ghost of one of the novices that died of a blood clot near her heart. Her heart rate soared, as did her blood pressure, and it was too much for her heart, so it completely shut down, killing her. Well, at least that's what the doctors told us.
"Mmhmm," I mumbled.
"Well, Sister Helena doesn't seem to know what's holding her back," he told us.
Uh, duh. I figured that when she told me so.
"And we, as mediators—"
"Shifters," Paul corrected.
"Of course," Father Dom agreed - even thought it was only Paul and I as shifters. "We, as shifters and mediators must figure out what's keeping her here so she can move on peacefully."
"No offense, Father D, but I'm pretty sure Paul and I knew that."
And can you guess what he did, then?
He rolled his eyes at me!
Hmph.
"Well, Susannah, it seems I always need to remind you to not use your fists when dealing with ghosts, especially a novice," he said.
"Father Dom! I would never harm the ghost of a novice," I said, outraged. I mean, he thinks I'd purposely hurt a server of god? I would never!
"Okay, Susannah, calm down," he advised.
"Whatever," was my response.
And then we talked about how we could possible get her to move on. Personally, I couldn't care less, but Father Dom, who was the one who deemed the ability as a 'gift', insisted we do as much as we could.
Lovely.
So, we spent a good forty-five minutes in his office discussing the matter. Then he told us we could go back to class, when it was more than half way into seventh period - history with Mr. Walden.
Paul and I walked out, grabbing our passes from the secretary on our way. Then I noticed Paul following me.
I turned around to ask him why he was doing so, when he said, "Don't even bother, Simon. I'm in your history class, remember?"
That was the third time today when the word 'duh' seemed to classify the situation.
"Oh. Right. Sorry," I said.
"Not a problem," he simply said.
Then he walked in front of me to go to his locker. He got his books for the rest of the day out.
"Would you like an escort to your locker, Miss Simon?" he joked.
I looked back at his face - my eyes had wandered down the hallway because of a strange noise - and said - definitely out of character, too - "Why thank you, sir, you are ever so kind. Your company would be a pleasure."
He chuckled. "Okay, come on, before we get in trouble."
And then he grabbed my hand.
It was weird. I didn't feel like puking when his large warm, hand folded over my cold, tiny one. I actually felt little shots of electricity shooting up my arm. This wasn't normal.
And when he practically pulled me down the hallway toward my locker, my heart fluttered and sped up.
This DEFINITELY wasn't normal. Not by any means.
Then he stopped and I bumped into him. He laughed a little, while I mumbled a 'sorry'.
Then I thought, the normal side of me kicking in, Hmm...he knows where my locker is? STALKER!
I did my combination and got the right books, quickly glancing in the mirror on the inside of my locker. I looked pretty okay if I do say so myself.
Obviously Paul thought so too, because he said, "You look hot today, Simon."
Yep, that's definitely the Paul I know.
"So do you," I said.
WHAT!
That slipped out! I wasn't supposed to say that!
I take that back!
Paul grinned and said, "Glad you think so." Meanwhile, my face was as red as my t-shirt, which was the color of a tomato.
Gah, why does my subconscious ALWAYS speak for me!
You know what? I couldn't help but notice that Paul didn't smirk. He grinned. There IS a difference. And it - it meant something to me. That he didn't act cruel when I said that, even if I was completely embarrassed.
And stupid.
I shut my locker door quickly and said, "Okay, let's go before Waldo goes AWOL."
Again, Paul laughed.
Paul Slater laughed at MY stupid joke.
Or maybe he was just laughing at me.
"Alright," was all he said and we walked down the rest of the hallway toward Mr. Walden's classroom.
When we walked in, Waldo said, "Ah, look who's decided to join us, class."
Haha, very funny.
I smiled sheepishly, handed my pass over, and took my seat, as did Paul.
Well, without the smiling sheepishly part.
The remaining ten minutes or so were boring.
Well, except when CeeCee leaned over and asked why I was gone so long.
Paul was within earshot of her, so I knew he heard. So, I turned to him and gave him a what-the-
hell-do-I-say? look. He just shrugged his shoulders.
Big help you are, Paul.
So, I just ended up telling CeeCee it was some Vice President crap.
But when she asked why Paul was there, I came up with some crap quickly.
"Oh, his grandfather is giving the school money for what we were talking about, and he had to be there."
"Oh, okay," she said. "But, wait. Why wasn't Kelly there, then?"
Okay, that was a good question. One that I did not have an answer to. Okay, I did, but not a very good one. I don't think "Because she was" would satisfy CeeCee's inquisitive instincts.
Luckily, before I could get an answer out, Mr. Walden dismissed us with a wave of his hand - we STILL didn't have a bell system, which majorly sucked.
I shot out of my seat and ran for the door. Fortunately, I escaped in time and went to my next class. Paul was in that one, too.
God, this is going to be a long day.
Okay, I promise the next chapter will be more exciting. I was just trying to get a foundation for it and all. Understandable, right?
Alright, so just REVIEW for me, will ya? I need the reviews to get me going.
- § -
Lurve,
Nicole