And I am BACK! With the second chapter of 'The Things She Says.' I'm sort of writing this in between commercials for the Much Music Video Awards, and I'll try my best to edit everything after, but I apologize if there are some missed mistakes. I've never been good at multitasking. By the way, did anyone watch that? Metric, the best Indy band EVER, won the Best Indy Music Video Award for 'Poster of a Girl'! They also performed 'Monster Hospital', a thoroughly awesome some… download it or something, because it doesn't sound as good live…. Oh well.

Also, I just realized that in the last chapter, it said 'The Beginning' at the top. That was actually my original title for this story, but I changed the file name. I just forgot to change that. Sorry if I confused anyone.

I'd also like to thank my reviewers! I can't remember their names right now, because I'm writing on my laptop, which doesn't have internet… meaning I have to save all the files on a floppy and then upload them. Pain in the arse. But I'll make sure I add their names for chapter three. On with the story!

The Things She Says

Mediator: Book One As Jesse

Chapter Two

"Never mind, Mom. Everything's fine. The room is great. Thanks so much," the girl said to her mother quickly. I loved her voice. Velvety smooth and pretty, I was glad this was the girl I'd be sharing a room with. But despite her lovely voice, she sounded unconvincing.

I could tell her mother didn't believe her. She gave another sad sigh and said, "Well, I'm glad you like it. I was sort of worried. I mean, I know how you get about… well, old places."

Aha! So it was old places that the girl had trouble with! Not window seats. I sighed in relief. Getting emotionally attached to an inanimate object is not the healthiest of things, I know, but it's the only thing I can get emotionally attached to that I can touch. For example, when they had removed the lamp from the room a few months ago during the redecorating, I had been heart broken. That lamp and I… we were always there for each other. And once upon a time, there had been a framed painting of a forest scene hanging in the hall just outside of the bedroom. The dog, that big, foolish excuse for a dog, had somehow managed to knock it off, and it had smashed to bits. I had haunted that animal for weeks, grieving the loss of one of my closest… I can't really say friends, can I? Closest furnishings, I suppose.

"Really, Mom," the girl said, trying to comfort her somewhat distraught mother. "It's great. I love it."

Upon hearing this, the man, who had been quiet up till now, began hustling around the room excitedly, and pointed to the lights.

"Watch," he said. Then he clapped his hands. On the lights went!

I watched in astonishment. So that's how you turned those on! I had been struggling for weeks to turn them on without using my kinetic power. I had not been able to find any of the switches that I always saw everyone flicking on and off that controlled the lighting. How incredibly frustrated I had been! I couldn't help but grin, and I raised my hands and clapped. The lights promptly went off.

The man, who had not clapped his hands, looked towards the two women in astonishment. The mother was examining the glass-topped dresser, and the girl seemed lost in thought. She turned to watch the man as he clapped again to turn the lights on, and a sort of pained expression crossed her face. She rolled her eyes, and followed him around the room as he pointed out other exciting features he had installed. The girl was quick to express her delight, and didn't look in the direction of the window seat again.

I sat back and memorized her expressions as the man showed her the silver television placed on the wall across from a chocolate coloured love seat, the stereo and sound system that worked amazingly (I should know… I often turned it one when no one was home… alright, so I danced some, too), the pink-fluff horror of a phone, and the little adjoining bathroom.

The man eventually ran out of things to show her, and left the room to "start the barbecue in honour of you're arrival, new step-daughter!" He grinned at the mother and the girl and then shut the door quietly behind him.

The mother turned back to her daughter and gave her a worried look. "Is it really alright, Suze?" She wrung her hands in front of her. "I know it's a big change. I know it's asking a lot of you—"

The girl took off her leather jacket slowly and tossed it on the bed. I let my eyes travel down her bare arms, admiring her fair skin. Almost everyone here was tanned to a golden crisp, and I secretly hoped that this girl, Suze, never would be. What a fine sight she was, in all her fair-skinned, dark haired glory.

"It's fine, Mom," the girl said, sounding a bit exasperated. "Really."

"I mean, asking you to leave Grandma, and Gina, and New York," the woman continued. "It's selfish of me, I know. I know things haven't been… well, easy for you. Especially since Daddy died."

A death in the family! I was beginning to feel excited. Perhaps I could meet this man, if he had not yet crossed over to the other side! But then I stopped. If the girl's father was still around, I highly doubt he would approve of me being here with his daughter.

I sighed. So much for that. But the thought of the father maybe not being around gave me hope, and my mood rose again.

The mother was giving her daughter a talk about "fresh starts" and things along that line, and I tuned out to watch the girl's facial expressions and reactions. From the way her look turned to one of boredom, I could tell that she'd heard all this before from her mother. The woman had switched to talk about meeting new people and being friendly. Then she spoke of treating everyone with respect.

Eventually, the woman seemed to run out of steam and stopped to look at her daughter, who stood watching her with slightly raised eyebrows.

"Well," the woman said, rising from where she had been sitting at the end of the bed. "I guess if you don't want help unpacking, I'll go see how Andy is doing with dinner."

Andy! That was the man's name. I'd heard it plenty of times before, but I had always fallen back into the habit of calling him 'the man.' Ha ha, the man...

The woman stopped at the door, and turned back to face her daughter with tears in her eyes. "I just want you to be happy, Susie. That's all I've ever wanted. Do you think you can be happy here?"

I watched, smiling at the mother-daughter moment as the girl stood and gave her mother a hug. "Sure, Mom. Sure, I'll be happy here. I feel at home already."

The mother sniffled and asked, "Really? You swear?"

"I do." The girl pulled back and smiled at her mother. What a beautiful smile she had! All straight and white teeth…

The woman nodded and left, shutting the door behind her. The girl stood at the door, as if waiting for the sound of her mother's footsteps to disappear. Once they had, she swung around to face me, and to my complete astonishment, looking directly at me, she said:

"All right. Who the hell are you?"

I know, I know! So short! But I want most of the chapters to correspond with those in the book. I'll try my best to make them longer, but having them shorter just means I can update more often! I've already got chapter three started. Plus, I have a thing for cliffhangers :). Although, if you've read the books, which I'm sure you have, you know what happens next. So then it's not much of a cliffhanger, is it? Anyways… let's have those reviews!

Disclaimer: The Mediator is by Meg Cabot. The only things I own of this story are the best things! Jesse's thoughts! Ha ha!