"Reincarnation?" Sam repeated, looking thoughtful for a moment. "It's plausible, I suppose. No one really knows what happens after death. Even those in a paranormal state of living." Sam gave me a look that told me not to argue. "But, isn't death suppose to be the final journey?" After she said no more I realized she was waiting for an answer.
"Yes, but, what if the person's mission on earth was not done? Their life not fulfilled?" I asked. Even as I spoke the words, I knew that I was right. Sam was Samantha, and herself, she was the same person in a different life that couldn't remember her previous life. It makes sense in my mind.
"I think I'm going to have to agree with you." That would be a first. "And, I think that you're right. I think I am Samantha."
"Why agree so quickly?" I was instantly suspicous.
"I've always had dreams, and feelings of deja vu, and with that feeling always came a vision of me doing something else in a different time. And I knew it was me. Like Paulina's torture. And, then, when I saw you . . ."
I pulled her into my lap. "This is really confusing." I told her.
"You're telling me?" She giggled playfully. "It all makes sense in my mind, but not aloud."
"Same."
"You've got a mind?"
"STOP TEASING!" I pretended to cry.
"You're such a faker," She sighed.
"Maybe, but if you had just walked in the room you would have thought that I was actually crying."
"Are you going to try out for the play?"
"Yes, and I'm going to get the lead too!"
"The male lead or the female?"
"Male, and you'd better get the female." I growled.
"Really? Because I was thinking that I wanted to play Paulina." I didn't detect a bit of sarcasm in her voice. Could she be serious?
"You can't be serious."
"Did I stutter?" She asked, repeating my words from the first day. "I said I wanted to play Samantha. You were the one who suggested Paulina." Now she had to be playing me.
"No, I said you should play the female lead, which is Samantha."
"No," She argued. "You said that you were playing the male lead and I said I was going to try out for the female lead and then you said that I should play Paulina."
"Why would I say that? Because if I did then Paulina might play Samantha and then I'd have to kiss her!"
"But you never kissed Samantha when you were alive. You've only kissed her as Sam. So, if you got your way you wouldn't have to kiss her and I could play Paulina like you said even though I want to play Samantha."
I thought about that for a second. "What?" She gave me a smile. Ugh. Female mind.
"Want to see what I stole from Tucker?" I shrugged. She wouldn't explain to me and I knew I was right . . . no, she was right . . . no, I had to be . . . or she could be . . . I give up. She wins.
She laid out several pieces of paper. "Samantha died the day after her engagement to Tucker, but it doesn't say why."
"Valerie and Tucker got married, but Valerie was infertile." I gave her a look. "She couldn't have a baby." I let out my breath. "That's all I could find."
"If Valerie was infertile then how is Tucker . . .?"
"Old Tucker had an affair."
"With?" She gave me a sad sort of smile.
"Your cousin." My eyes widened. Jasmine, uptight perfect little Jasmine?! Ha!
"That means we're related?"
"Yes, cousins or something." Sam commented. "Then Jasmine married a man by the name of Vladmir Masters, an old bachelor, and had another baby. Her first baby, was given to Tucker to be raised by him and Valerie."
I shuddered. When I was fourteen and Jasmine was sixteen Vladmir Masters was a forty three year old virgin. Perverted old man.
***
"I have the parts for the play!" Yelled an excited woman called Lisa. We'd just finished tryouts yesterday.
"Okay, Kwan Schoshire will be played by . . . Kwan Schoshire!" The woman frowned and continued. "Starr Lopez will be played by . . . Starr Lopez!"
"Do I sense a pattern?" Sam whispered in my ear.
"I hope so."
"Dashell Baxter by Dash Baxter! Paulina Sanchez by Paulina Sanchez! Jasmine (we still don't know her last name) is played by Jazz Fenton!"
"I didn't know Jazz was doing the play." Tucker commented from behind us. I shrugged.
"Valerie Gray played by . . . Valerie Gray! Tucker Foley by Tucker Foley. Madeline and Jack (no last names) by Maddie and Jack Fenton." I nearly fell through my chair.
"What?" Great. Ghost hunters. This should be fun.
"And finally! The leads!" Lisa announced. "Daniel is played by Danny Fenton and Samantha Manson by Sam Manson!" Lisa let out a huge smile. "Practices start tomorrow at four. They run all week until six."
"What are they going to have us do for two hours?" I heard Paulina grumble.
"Practice lines." Sam called, "Of course, all of your lines match your personality a stuck *BEEP*."
"Did you just call me what I think you called me?" Paulina threatened moving closer.
"Everybody! Listen up the slut can think!"
"Me? A slut? Who pretended to be someone their not to get a date with Dash?" I thought Paulina had her, but then again, I'd never witnessed a cat fight.
"It's called a bet Paulina. I was forced to or else I'd have to follow you around, so I supposed a few minutes with Dash was worth it."
Paulina glowered. "Yeah, but I heard you banged him."
"No, he tried to rape me but Danny broke his nose!"
"I thought you were supposed to be tough! Why did you have to have someone stick up for you?"
"I got my revenge, just like I will on you Paulina." Sam spun on her heel and grandly dissappeared out the door.
I looked after her and when Paulina narrowed her eyes at us we practically ran after Sam. Tucker ran into the door mand it was just pure luck that I didn't run through it.
"What was all of that about?" I panted.
"Oh, I've hated Paulina forever." Sam said. "I just needed to get my anger out again."
"No joke, once back in third grade Paulina-" Sam covered Tucker's mouth.
"That's a story we both don't need to hear!" She threatened.
"But it was funny!" Tuck protested.
I leaned over and whispered in Sam's ear, "You know I could just get the truth right out of his mind?"
"You like cobwebs?" She asked.
"COBWEBS? COBWEBS MEAN SPIDERS! WHERE ARE THE MUTANT SPIDERS?" Tucker screamed, ran down the hall and shoved himself in a locker.
"Is that normal?" I asked, looking pointedly at the locker where we could clearly hear Tucker whimpering.
"For Tucker," She shrugged as we passed it. We stopped at the office and picked up a couple of scripts.
"Now," She turned to me a smirk on her face and a twinkle in her eyes, "Just to warn you when we are reading the script or anything, you are not allowed to comment on how it really went, and you are not allowed to yell "That's wrong!" In the middle of a rehearsal."
"I wasn't planning too, but now that you mention it-"
"You'd better not!"
"Or what? I will endure the wrath of the goth?" I mocked, but a fire lit up in her eyes and I ran.
***
"Sammykins!" Came a yell. Sam's face fell.
"Who?"
"My mother." I hadn't met either of Sam's parents yet, and I was about to sink through the floor when Mrs. Manson appeared in the doorway. She was a tall woman, with blonde hair.
"Ah, Samantha, I was just looking-" She caught sight of me and a disgusted look transformed her features. "WHAT IS THAT?"
"That, Mom," Sam sneered the word, "is my boyfriend." And despite the situation, I felt completely euphoric at the word. Sam shot me a look, which made me think that she could understand whatI was feeling.
"Boyfriend? But, Sammy, what about that nice boy, Dash Baxter, that you met at the last party." An evil look crossed Sam's features.
"Oh, don't worry about Dash. I'm sure he's happy." Her mother gave a dirty look and attempted to sweep grandly from the room but she tripped over the hem of her dress. She gave us another look. "I'm going out." We heard the door slam.
"What did you do to Dash?" I demanded.
"Well . . . You know the Box Ghost?"
***
"Okay! Welcome back everybody and I hoped you had the chance to read over your scripts!" Lisa clapped her hands. There was a collective noise from the cast. "Well, we're going to pair up and read scenes from the script. First up, Daniel and Samantha in scene twelve."
I followed Sam up on stage. She didn't have her book, because she'd already memorized all of her lines. I don't understand how, but I needed my book so I didn't say what I actually said.
"Samantha!" I pretended to sound concerened, but it was pretty hard when she was laughing. "What happened to you yesterday?"
"My mother," more smirking between the two of us, "made me go to another party, where she announced that I would be," a lot more smirking, "getting married soon."
"To who?" Even to me, this sounded completely fake.
"STOP!" Lisa yelled. "You two aren't warming up to the scene, so Danny, put down the book. Sam, forget your lines momentarily. I want you to improv on the scene. Do it how you would if you had no script." I lapsed back into that day, and I could tell that Sam had the memories of that day running through her mind too. "And remember, we want movement too!" Lisa reminded us.
Sam sighed and turned her back to me, pretending to be looking at something on the other side of the stage.
"Samantha," I whispered loud enough to be heard, "You seem upset. What's wrong?" Sam still didn't answer but moved a few steps away. I reached out and caught her hand. "I'm your best friend. You can trust me." I spun her around and looked deep into her eyes.
"I'm sorry Daniel. I tried not to ruin your birthday, it's nothing. Really." Sam tried to pull away, but I gripped her hand tighter, seeing the real setting reflected in her eyes.
"It won't be ruined. You're here, that's all that counts. Please, you know I'll find out sooner or later."
Sam covered her eyes with her hands, so I held her upper arms. "My mother, she told me who I would be marrying." She attempted to turn away again, always trying to get out of the situation.
"You're not turning fourteen for another two months. How can she set you up now?"
"She said that no one will ask me. And she's right. I'll be stuck with Dashell Baxter until the day I die."
"You're beautiful, Samantha. Someone will ask you before you have to marry." I assured her.
"You can't possibly know that." Sam rejected the idea.
"I can," I said, and knelt on one knee, taking her hand.
"STOP!" Lisa yelled. I released Sam's hand and stood back up. "You two what was that?" Sam and I looked at each other and shrugged in unison.
"How can you not know?" The stage manager, Terry, demanded. She was staring at us, eyes wide, as was everyone else in the auditorium.
"THAT WAS GOLD!" Lisa yelled. "PRICLESS! PERFECTION! So real! I was lost in the moment!" She paused. "Do you think you'll be able to recreate it?"
"Absolutely."
"No problem." We assured her.
"Okay," Lisa said. "Maddie, Jack, Jazz, you three are up. You're playing Daniel's family members, and you're going to be talking about Daniel's decision to ask Samantha to marry him." Sam and I dashed off stage to avoid being seen by modern day Fenton's.
"I think it's wonderful that Daniel's found somebody," Maddie began. "She's so nice too, she completes him."
"I told you the first day I met that girl!" Jack interjected.
"Actually, I think that Aunt Madeline pointed it out to you," Jazz said with a look.
"Does it matter?" Maddie demanded, leaning against her husband. "We're going to have a new member of the family! And, Jack, grandkids!" I just about choked. I looked at Sam who was a delicate shade of red.
"Is that the way that their conversation actually went?" She whispered fearfully.
"I hope not." I said, shaking my head.
"I just hope that Daniel's not making a mistake." Jazz said, drawing my attention back to the stage.
"How would he be making a mistake?" Maddie asked, looking at Jazz with something that looked like real fire in her eyes, as though . . . as though she was actually my mom having this conversation. It was something I'd never really considered before. What if they were all reincarnated like Sam? The easy way I got on with Tucker, the way I instantly dispised Dash and Paulina. The way Tucker had a crush on Jazz but stared at Valerie . . .
"Samantha is a good girl and everything, but she's so defiant, she'd never be a quiet housewife. Are you sure that will be good for Daniel?"
"Daniel gets so cocky sometimes, she's the only thing that brings him down to earth."
"I hope you're right." Jazz said, and for some reason, she was staring right at me.
Thanks to NarutoxxAddicted for all the great ideas/guesses. Right now, you're the closest to the mystery. But, not even the greatest detective could crack this case, and yes, people, that is a challenge. Oh, and I finally have an answer for the question about the historical society. No one has actually tried to crack the case before, so, it never came up. Does that work?
Anyway, I it just recently occured to me that I made a mistake on Samantha and Daniel's birthdates. I said that Samantha was two months younger, but I think I made her two months older, please ignore this, since I cannot find it to correct it. Thanks.
This story will probably be coming to a closing soon, but, that just leaves room for more things to come through. I hope some of you will check out my other fics.
~DI4MGZ~