Chapter 3. Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire

Saturday morning I woke up with the hope of looking around my room and see the light glow of my favorite ghost. Unfortunately for me, when I took that glance around there was no sign of Jesse.

Why would he be here? He didn't live here anymore, so I can't expect him to be here when I wake up every morning. Most importantly, he kissed me yesterday. He never comes around right after he kisses me.

Since it was Saturday, I chose to lounge around in my pj's all day. I went downstairs to grab a bowl of cereal, then headed back up to my room to finish reading that book CeeCee recommended and had let me borrow yesterday.

The house was totally silent, with the exception of the clinking of my spoon against my bowl, and the occasional flip of a page. And that is how the rest of the weekend went. No sign of Jesse. Sunday, CeeCee and Adam invited me to spend the whole afternoon at the beach, and I quickly accepted the offer.

I wish my life could always be this easy. Lounging around one day, and the next soaking up rays at the beach. No more mediator stuff. Just me and a 'normal' life. Well, add in a Jesse and it'd be perfect.

Of course my 'normal life' never seems to last long enough. I'd just gotten home from the beach Sunday evening. I bounced up the steps, in a genuinely good mood, opened up my door and saw Jesse sitting in the window seat. Looking ever-so-hot, need I fail to mention.

Before we had gotten into Adam's car to head home from the beach, I had graciously remember to put my shorts back on over my bikini bottoms. The top was fine for me, but I knew well from past experience it still wasn't enough 'coverage' for Jesse. One look at Jesse's face as he saw what I was, or wasn't wearing as the case may be, and I knew he was going to start in on me. So instead of standing there, waiting for the speech I quickly grabbed the first pair of clean pj's I could find and ran towards the bathroom.

"I know, I know, Jesse. I'm changing." I said, holding my hands up.

After I finished changing, I came back into my room, and picked up the homework I had yet to finish, and began working, sitting cross legged on my bed. From the few glances I had of Jesse out of the corner of my eye, I saw he was sitting in the same place, looking out the window, while petting that horrible cat, Spike.

I'll admit it. I was staring at him for a while, or... well... the whole time I was supposed to be doing my homework. I couldn't help it! Besides, it's not as if I'm not already failing trig anyway.

I was snapped out of my daze when he turned around to face me. Naturally I whipped my face back towards my books in the hopes of looking as if I'd always been working. It's kinda rude to stare, and it's quite embarrassing to be caught staring at the hottest guy in the entire world, which would probably account for why my face was turning scarlet so fast.

I waited for Jesse to say something, anything, but after five minutes of silence I figured that he probably wasn't planning on saying anything.

"Jesse?" I asked as I looked up from the homework I still hadn't really even started yet. But when I looked up to where he had been sitting since I had first walked in the door from the beach, he wasn't there, gone without a goodbye. Once I had finished as much homework as I had the patience to, I crawled under the covers and feel asleep.

Monday morning came too quickly. I was rushed out the door by Dopey, and before I knew it, I was lined up in front of the Mission Academy, listening to Sister Ernestine. I was happy to find that Father Dominic hadn't needed to talk to me about anything this morning. Well, that's what I thought until I got to homeroom and was told to go down to the office.

"Good morning, Susannah." Father Dom greeted me pleasantly as I walked into the room.

"Hey." I answered, waiting for him to tell me whatever it was he wanted to.

"Did you notice the female ghost walking the halls this morning?" He asked.

"Ummm...no. Who is it?"

"Her name is Brook. She was a student here, before she passed away." He answered. The name sounded really familiar to me.

"Uh, Father Dominic?" I asked while I tried to figure out where I knew that name from.

"Yes?"

"Was she in any of my classes? The name sounds familiar. I think she was in my second hour science class, but I'm not sure." He looked at me, then down at a piece of paper in front of him, on his desk.

"Here's her schedule. Yes. She was in your class." He said as he put the paper back down. "Promise me you'll be on the lookout for her, and you'll talk to her. I'm completely booked today."

"Sure. Yeah I will. Do you think she knows she's dead yet?"

"I don't think she does. She was looked quite confused as she walked about."

Now to convince the girl that she really is dead. After I left his office, I walked down the hallways towards my class. As I was nearing the classroom I saw her. I knew who she was. She was the really smart, quiet girl who sat in the back of the row I sat in.

I only knew a little bit about her. She was the captain of the soccer team, and had just won the full scholarship to the University of North Carolina that was given to one athlete per state. She was a nice person as far as I knew.

I tried to grab her attention by waving towards her, but she was too busy trying to figure out why she couldn't take a drink from the drinking fountain. Even though I'm not really a sadistic person, it was funny to watch. I held in my laughter as well as I could.

"Ummm, excuse me? You're Brook, right?" I asked politely. She was the best soccer player in the state; I didn't really want to get in the way of her kicks.

She whipped around. I noticed that she was still in her pajamas, and her face was really puffy; like she had been crying a lot today. I had a pretty good guess what was making her so sad. She looked astonished that I was addressing her.

"Wait, yo-you have can see m-me?" She stuttered.

"Apparently so." I held out my hand. "Suze Simon."

"Uh, hi." She answered as she continued to stared at me. "I have a question."

"I guess that's to be expected. Shoot." I said as nicely as I could.

"How come no one can see me? How come I'm being completely ignored? And why am I... g-glowing?" She said as she motioned to her glowing self.

"You're dead." No need to sugar coat it.

"Excuse me?"

"You're dead."

"No, I heard you, I just don't think I'm understanding you. I am not dead. You're lying." She accused, as she started to step backwards towards the wall. She was treating me like a crazy person. Maybe I was; I have quite a few pieces of evidence towards being one, but still... she only knew one of them, and plus, it's not nice to treat people like they're crazy.

"First off, why would I lie about this? And secondly, I don't appreciate being called a liar." I told her.

"Well you are, because I'm definitely not dead, and besides, how did I die? Hmmm? Answer me that since you think you know so much." She asked me as she crossed her arms across her chest.

"Ok, I'm a mediator. I can see ghosts and I'm supposed to help them on to their next 'step'. I know when someone is dead. I don't know how exactly people die, understand?" I said. Jeez, she's a whole lot different than I expected.

"Sure, I understand. So, if I am 'dead' as you say, even though I'm not, what am I supposed to do now? What did you say about 'steps'? She asked as she looked skeptically at me.

"My job is to help you onto where ever you're supposed to go from here. There's a reason you're a ghost here, and haven't moved on. Since you said you don't know how you died, I'm guessing that's probably part of the reason." I concluded. Then, looking up at the clock on the wall continued, "I need to get back to class right now, I'm already late, but can you hang around and meet me in the graveyard during lunch?" I asked while I began to walk backwards to class.

"Uh, sure, I guess. What am I supposed to do in the meantime?" She asked. God, she couldn't even think of something to do for two hours?

"I don't know. Go for a walk?" I suggested.

"Right." She said over her shoulder.

"Bye." I said just before I opened to door to homeroom.