Disclaimer: Just see Chapter One for the disclaimer.

Chapter 2

I sat, there in Father Dom's office, staring at Julian like an idiot. Well, I guess I was staring at his eyes more than anything else. They hypnotized me. They looked so much like Jesse's.

"Nice to meet you too, Susannah." Julian said pulling my attention away from his eyes.

My attention was diverted from his eyes to his voice. It was deep and smooth, like Jesse's.

Oh, crap. He reminds me of Jesse. I thought.

I felt both Julian and Father Dominic staring at me. "Oh, crap." I muttered. "Sorry, I was thinking about something. Call me Suze."

I looked at Father D. "Why did you need to see me?" I asked.

"Right, I wanted you to meet Julian so you can show him around." Father Dom said.

"Okay. Is that all?" I asked.

"Of course not. Julian if would wait outside for a moment while I speak with Susannah." Father Dom said.

"Sure." Julian said and walked out of the office.

I sighed and looked at Father Dominic. "He reminds me of Jesse." I whispered.

"That's because that was Jesse." Father Dominic said.

"Father D, I think you've lost your mind. That was not Jesse. That was Julian." I said.

"But that was also Jesse. It seems that his soul was put into Julian's body after he moved on. It's where he was supposed to go."

"Wait. What? You're saying that Jesse's back?"

"Yes. He came back as Julian. Well back as a part of Julian. Julian's soul, it seems, is still the dominant one."

"I didn't know two souls could inhabit one body." I said. "I didn't think that was possible."

"I did not think so either. But apparently we were wrong." Father Dom said.

"So, let me get this straight, that is Jesse." I said.

"But that is also Julian." Father D said and looked over my head at something. "I'll have to do some research as to what exactly is happening. So for the time being, stick close to Julian."

I was doing a mental happy dance. Jesse had come back. It was meant to be, he came back. "He came back to me." I mumbled under my breath.

"Susannah, Julian doesn't know about Jesse's soul. So he doesn't know you. Please Susannah, don't try and force any of this on Julian."

"OK Father D. But that doesn't matter because Jesse came back." I said with a smile.

"Susannah." Father D started.

"Don't force anything; I got it Father D. Can I go before I miss all my classes?" I asked still trying to contain my smile.

"Yes you may." Father D said.

"Wait. How did you know that Jesse's soul was in there?" I asked.

"Like you, I noticed it. But I also felt Jesse's presence."

"How come I didn't?"

"You didn't feel Jesse's presence because you're trying so hard not to think of Jesse."

I nodded and left the office.

Julian was still waiting there. I took a deep breath and walked up to him. "Hey, listen about what happened with me in there. I'm sorry. My mind tends to wander a lot." I said to Julian.

"No problem." Julian said and we walked out of the office. As soon as the door was closed Julian turned to look at me. "What the fuck is up with that look?"

I blinked at him. This was definitely not Jesse. "What look?" I asked.

"Both you and the priest looked at me like…I don't know. I can't explain it, but it fucking creeped me out." Julian said.

"Oh, it's just that you reminded us of a friend of ours." I said and looked ahead of us. I glanced sideways at Julian. Now that I was really looking at him, he had a lot of physical similarities to Jesse.

They were the same height. They both had the same olive color skin. The same dark eyes. I wondered if Julian would look as good without a shirt as Jesse did.

"Why do you keep looking at me?" Julian asked.

I wasn't aware he had seen me looking at him. "Sorry, you just remind me so much of my…friend." I said.

"Who was this friend? Was he your boyfriend?" Julian asked.

"His name was Jesse. And no, he was not my boyfriend. Not technically anyway." I said.

"What do you mean by 'not technically'? Where you friends with benefits or something like that?"

I blushed. "No. Jesse was like my best friend. But our relationship was…complicated."

"There was a lot of past tense in that sentence. Did he…die or something?"

Or something, I thought. "No, he just…moved." That was technically true.

"So, you were in love with him?"

"How did you? I-I mean no."

Julian looked at me incredulously. "Right."

"OK, this is so none of your business." I said and maneuvered around one of the doors that opened.

Students started streaming into the breezeway. I headed to my locker. It turns out that Julian's locker was right next to mine.

"You were, weren't you?" Julian asked.

"I was what?" I asked, feigning ignorance.

"You were in love with that Jesse guy?"

"Hey Suze. Who's Jesse?" A voice asked from beside me.

I turned to look at CeeCee Webb, my best friend. She was looking from me to Julian.

"Hey CeeCee." I said and closed my locker.

"Are you going to introduce me to your new…friend?" CeeCee asked and looked Julian up and down.

"Right. CeeCee, this is Julian Diego. Obviously, he is new. Julian, this is my friend CeeCee Webb." I said.

"Nice to meet you Julian." CeeCee said. "So, Suze, who's Jesse?"

I slammed my locker. "No one." I said and headed to my next class.

"Hey Suze, aren't you forgetting something?" Julian called to me.

I turned to look at him. "I don't think so."

"Did you forget that you're supposed to show me around?" He asked with a smirk.

Shit. I had forgotten about that. "Well, are you just going to stand there like an idiot, or what?"

Julian's smirk got even wider as he walked up to me.

"Let me see your schedule." I said to him.

He handed me a piece of paper. "Aren't we going to be late?" Julian asked.

I looked up to see that the breezeway was almost empty. I shrugged. "I have an excuse."

"And that would be?"

I looked up and smirked back at him. "I have to help the poor challenged new student find his way around the school."

Julian narrowed his eyes at me. "Do you have to be such a bitch? So what I know you were in love with Jesse, big fucking deal."

"It is a big deal. Especially when you mention him in front of my friend who, by the way, didn't know about Jesse. I never planned on telling her. Now guess what?"

"What?"

"I fucking have to tell her now, because CeeCee will not be placated with 'no one'. So thanks so fucking much."

"God Suze, take it down a notch. And while you're at it you might want to take that stick out of you ass."

This smug son of a bitch did not just say that, I thought. I swear I was so close to punching him. I would've done it to, but I didn't want detention on the first day back.

"We have the same class this period." I said while I clenched my teeth together.

Julian got this smug look on his face; he knew he hit a nerve. "That's the best you can come up with?" He asked.

"If you like all your teeth in place, I suggest you don't continue to piss me off." I said. I wasn't messing with him either. I had kicked plenty of asses in my day. Albeit those asses belonged to ghosts, but they still counted.

"Ms. Simon. Don't you have a class to get to?" A voice rang through the breezeway. I turned to see Sister Ernestine—with her gigantic chest and even bigger crucifix decorating it—came barreling down upon us, the large black sleeves of her habit trailing after her like wings.

"I'd like to see you, the both of you, in detention after school." Sister Ernestine said.

"Father Dominic asked me to show Julian around because he's new." I tried to argue.

"That may very well be, but you still have to follow the rules. And the rules clearly say tardiness results in detention. Get to class. Now." She said.

I rolled my eyes and walked toward my next class, with Julian behind me. I muttered under my breath about how a nun shouldn't be as evil as Sister Ernestine was.

I guess Julian heard what I had said because he snickered under his breath. "Geez, you are such a bitch." He whispered.

"Fuck off, Julian." I snapped as we reached the door to our class. Julian did something I didn't expect.

He opened the door for me.

Damn him. He shouldn't be so nice to me when I mad at him. But that act was purely Jesse, and I couldn't help but smile at him. "Thank you." I whispered and walked into class.

I immediately notice all the girls in the class look at Julian. I'm pretty sure they were undressing him with their eyes.

None of these girls better even come near him. He was mine.

Sorta.

Okay, not really, but Jesse was mine. And seeing as Jesse's soul was in Julian's body, it made him mine too.

I apologized to the teacher and went to an empty seat. Thankfully the only other empty seat was next to mine.

When Julian sat down the teacher started talking. "As I was saying before Ms. Simon interrupted, the person sitting to your right will be your partner throughout the year."

Yes! Julian was to my right. I resumed my mental happy dance from earlier. Julian was my partner.

When I looked over at Julian he looked at me. We rolled our eyes at the same time. Then we both smiled at each other.

I looked away and saw that practically every girl was giving me the death glare. It was a total 'if looks could kill' moment. I wanted to laugh because we mediators are very hard to kill.

Many a ghost had tried to kill me.

I sat there and tried to pay attention, but really I was trying not to ogle Julian. I wondered if Jesse was aware of what was going on. I wondered if he could see me, or sense me.

Most of all I wondered if he could ever come forward. I wanted very badly to talk to him. To finally get a chance to tell him how I feel about him. I wanted to tell him that I knew he was in love with he and I wanted to yell at him for not telling me sooner.

A folded up piece of paper landed in front of me. I looked at it and then at Julian, I knew he had thrown it.

Throwing paper? How mature, I thought.

Read it, he mouthed at me.

I rolled my eyes and opened it as discreetly as possible. I read what it said.

Are you mad at me? He wrote.

I half smiled and wrote back. So what if I am. I threw it back at him.

He frowned slightly, wrote, and then threw it back. I'm sorry. It said. Please don't be mad at me Suze.

I looked over at him. He looked back at me with those eyes. There was genuine sadness in them, a lot like Jesse's. His eyes made me melt and I sighed. Okay, I forgive you. But please don't bring up Jesse anymore. At least not in front of my friends, I don't want them to know about him.

I tossed it back.

He wrote and tossed it back. Thank you for forgiving me. So you said I couldn't bring Jesse up in front of you friends, but am I free to ask about him when we're alone? And why don't you want your friends to know you were in love with him? He asked

I tried not to smile to widely. He asked if we'd be alone. I certainly hoped we would be. I wouldn't mind talking about him, but only when we're alone. I don't want my friends to know because they don't know who Jesse was, and it is far to complicated to explain. I sent it back.

The note landed on my desk again. When exactly do you want to be alone with me? I rolled my eyes at the underlined 'exactly'. Would you explain your relationship with Jesse to me?

Why are you so interested in Jesse? I wrote back.

Any guy would be curious about potential competition.

I snorted. You don't have to worry about it. I don't think Jesse's coming back. Okay, so I didn't know that for sure, but either way he wouldn't be competition. They were in the same body for Christ's sake.

Okay, but if he did. Come back, I mean. Would he be competition?

I was about to write back when the teacher spoke. "Okay, that's all for today class. See you tomorrow. Ms. Simon? Mr. Diego? Can I speak to you?"

I sighed and shook my head. We were caught.

Julian and I approached the teacher's desk.

"I would appreciate it if, next class, the two of you refrain from passing notes in my class. I tolerated it today because it is the first day back. But if I see the two of you passing notes from now on I will not be so lenient. Am I understood?" She asked.

Julian and I nodded and walked out of class.

"Is it your sole purpose to get me in trouble?" I asked Julian.

"Me? You're the one who got me detention." Julian said as we walked to our lockers.

"But you had to go and start passing me notes. As if the conversation couldn't wait until lunch." I said as I took my books out of my locker.

"Most of the conversation could've waited, but since I'm not allowed to talk about him in front of your friends, I wanted to know." We started toward our next classes; we didn't have that class together. "So would he?" Julian asked.

"Would who?" I asked.

"Jesse." He whispered into my ear. I got many dirty looks from a lot of the girls. "Would he be competition?"

I stopped at the doors to the classroom. "This is your class." I pointed to one door. "My class is next door. See you after class." I said and started to walk away.

I felt Julian's hand wrap around mine. "Not until you answer my question." He said.

His touch had a curious effect on me. I felt heat and electricity flow from him to me. I looked at him–up at him–and my heart started beating faster.

Great. This is just what I need. A crush on the guy my true love's soul is in. I was being punished.

"How about I answer it after school. When you give me a ride home." I said. I was slightly stunned by my boldness.

We stared at each other in silence for a few minutes before Julian spoke. "Okay, I'll give you a ride. But you'll start explaining your relationship with Jesse."

I smiled. "I told you. It's complicated."

I wouldn't be able to un-complicate it unless I told Julian that Jesse was a ghost. Yeah, like that was going to happen.

Julian smiled and leaned closer to me, bringing his face closer to mine. "I guess I'll just have to keep up." I whispered and looked deep into my eyes.

I couldn't help but let my eyes wander down to his mouth.

Holy hell, I thought. His lips look so damn kissable.

"See you after class." I whispered and turned around. I smiled while I tried to control the sixteen-year-old giggling school girl inside me.

I definitely liked Julian.

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A/N: I'm not quite sure if this is actually being read, but whatever. Please review if you want to find out exactly how this plays out. Trust me, it'll get good.