"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Kitty asked.
"Yeah, I'm sure. This is where we are going to get all our answers. Well, hopefully. And besides, there's no turning back now," Jake said as he and Kitty entered the theater. "You're sure they have class now, right?"
Kitty nodded. "Yeah."
Jake paused for a second to look at his friend. "Do you think you're ever going to take this class again?"
"I doubt it." Kitty shrugged. "I'll just be reminded of her every second here."
As if on cue, Marley appeared next to Jake and Kitty.
"Marley's here," Jake announced.
Kitty gave a small smile. "Yeah, I know," she said as she watched Jake's face twist in confusion. "I can like, feel her presence or whatever it's called," she clarified.
"Oh, okay." Jake nodded and continued walking with Kitty up the stairs to the drama classroom.
"Oh wow," Kitty breathed as they walked through the doors into the large drama room. "Just like I remembered."
"You can stay outside if you want," Jake told Kitty. "You know, if it's too much for you."
Kitty swallowed the lump in her throat and shook her head. "No, I'm good. Let's do this." She walked up to who Jake figured to be the teacher, and tapped his shoulder. "Hey, Mr. Schue."
"Kitty!" Mr. Schue looked surprised. "I wasn't expecting to see you here."
"Yeah, I know, but my friend and I need to talk to you about something."
"Is it about Marley?" Mr. Schue lowered his voice.
Kitty nodded. "There were so many people here that night. Someone must have seen who took her to the parking lot."
As Kitty conversed with her teacher, Jake walked up to some of the girls in hopes of trying to talk to them about Marley.
"Um, hi, I was wondering if you knew about Marley Rose?" he asked.
One girl snorted. "Who doesn't know about Marley Rose. She's been the talk of this town ever since she died."
"Well, do you know anything about how she died?"
The girl's tone lowered seductively. "You know, this conversation should really be done privately. How about over dinner at Breadstix?"
Jake looked over to Marley, who was hovering next to Kitty as she spoke to Mr. Schue. "Um, I don't think that's a good idea," he finally said.
"Why?" the girl demanded. "Do you have a girlfriend?"
"It's, uh, complicated," he said, still keeping his eyes on Marley. She must have sensed him staring at her, because she suddenly turned around and smiled at him.
Bored with their conversation, the girl turned back to her friends and didn't speak to Jake again. By this time, Kitty was done talking with Mr. Schue, and he took his whistle and blew it loudly.
"Alright guys, we are going to take a little break," Mr. Schue announced. "Kitty needs to talk to everyone for a minute."
"Thanks," Kitty whispered to her former teacher as the teenagers all took a seat on the floor. Jake walked over to join Kitty.
Kitty cleared her throat. "Okay, so you guys all know what happened to Marley," she began. She paused as everyone nodded sadly. "Well, I think someone who belongs to this theater did it."
"Kitty, that is a very large accusation to be making," Mr. Schue stepped in.
"But it was here," Kitty stated. "Someone who was here took her to the parking to and killed her."
"The killer could have snuck in and taken her," one of the girls spoke up.
"Sugar has a point," Mr. Schue said. "I mean, for all we know Marley could have had a stalker following her everywhere."
Kitty shook her head, refusing to believe it. "What about you, Unique? You guys were kind of friends. What do you think happened?"
"I don't know," Unique sniffled. "The last time I saw her, she was getting in her costume for dress rehearsals for Romeo and Juliet."
"I'm getting a weird vibe," Marley said as she suddenly appeared next to Jake, startling him slightly.
Jake quickly excused himself to the bathroom so he could talk to Marley without anyone giving him weird looks.
"What do you mean?" he asked when they were alone.
"In that room, something didn't feel right. I don't know, I can't really explain it," Marley said, shivering a bit. "But I think someone in there knows something and isn't telling us."
"Let's go back in," Jake said. Marley nodded and followed him back into the room.
"Come on, guys!" Kitty was yelling as Jake and Marley walked back in. "Someone in here had to have seen something. The theater was crowded that night. There had to have been a witness!"
One of the girls-Sugar- spoke up again. "I don't know, Kitty," she said, wiping a tear away.
"I can't take this anymore," Kitty sighed, rubbing her temples. She grabbed Jake's arm and pulled him out of the room. "Let's go home."
"Thanks again," Jake said to Mr. Schue before Kitty dragged him out. Marley glanced back one more time at her former classmates before vanishing once again.
"Marley told me when we were in your class she was getting a weird vibe there," Jake said once he and Kitty got home.
"Really?" Kitty asked. "Is she here right now? I want to know what she thinks."
"Tell her what I told you earlier," Marley said. "That I think someone in there knows more than they're telling us."
Jake relayed Marley words back to Kitty, who began to nod.
"Yeah, I think so too," she said. "But who?"
Marley just shrugged.
"She doesn't know," Jake said. "But we can go back tomorrow if you want."
Kitty shook her head violently. "No way. I'm not going back there. It was way too hard."
Jake nodded understandingly. "Then I guess we can meet up with some of your friends in the class. Ask them what they know."
"They're not my friends," Kitty muttered under her breath. "If they were, they'd tell me everything they know about Marley."
"Tell her to go to sleep," Marley advised Jake. "Kitty gets really grumpy when she's tired."
"Marley wants you to go to sleep," Jake said. "She doesn't want you to be grumpy."
Kitty smirked. "Same old Marley. Always looking out for me."
"You should listen to her."
"Shut up," Kitty rolled her eyes jokingly. "See you tomorrow." She ran upstairs and retreated to her room.
Jake decided it was a good idea to get some sleep as well. As he climbed into his bed, Marley hovered next to him, scaring him once again.
"You really gotta stop randomly popping up without warning me first."
"Sorry," Marley chuckled. She disappeared and reappeared again next to Jake in his bed.
"Do you think we'll ever find my killer?" she asked softly.
Jake turned to face her. "I promise we will."
"You shouldn't make promises you can't keep," Marley whispered.
"Hey." Jake reached out to touch Marley's hand, even though he knew his hand would just go right through hers. "I won't give up until we find out."
"Jake?"
"Yeah?"
"Ghosts aren't supposed to have one, right?"
Jake furrowed his brow. "Have what?"
"A heart."
"A heart?" Jake repeated. "No, I don't think so. Why?"
"Because I...feel something in here." Marley pointed to where her heart would be if she were alive.
"What do you feel?"
"I feel...love," she whispered.
"L-Love?" Jake stuttered.
Marley nodded. "I-I think I love you. But I don't know how that's even possible."
"I don't know either," Jake said, still kind of in shock. "But I don't know how it's possible for me to talk to ghosts, so I guess we're both pretty special."
Marley giggled. "Guess so."
A comfortable silence washed over them for a few minutes.
"I love you too," Jake suddenly blurted out.
Marley looked at him, her glassy blue eyes piercing into his chocolate brown ones. "Really?"
Jake nodded without hesitation. "I was too afraid to tell you, because I was sure you weren't capable of feeling anything back."
"But it's impossible for us to be together in any way," Marley said sadly.
"Unless I die too." Jake shrugged.
"That's not happening," Marley said firmly.
"But I would die for you, you know," Jake said. "If it meant being with you forever."
"You're such a cheeseball." Marley giggled. "Get some sleep."
"Okay, fine," Jake laughed. "Goodnight."
"Goodnight," Marley repeated as she watched Jake close his eyes and fall into a deep sleep.
Jake awoke the next morning to the sound of wailing ambulances. He got out of bed and looked out the window. He was shocked to see that the ambulances were all parked on Kitty's street.
Kitty!" Jake yelled, running as fast as he could down the stairs. He had a horrible feeling in his gut that something was wrong. "Kitty, where are you?"
Jake ran out the front door and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Kitty standing across the street. However, his smile quickly faded away when he saw her tear-streaked face.
"It's Tina," Kitty choked out. "She's dead."
Whoa, what?! Cliffhanger!
