A/N: About Jesse's behavior (i.e. threatening to break Josh's face), I'd imagine that Jesse, already the protective type, would be accostumed to threatening people (ghosts or otherwise) who offend him or others. Afterall, having them go after your father can't be terribly good for one's attitude. And I have my own plans for Gina concerning Jesse's mediating skills.

To Pearl: The Mediator Series is written by Jenny Carrol AKA Meg Cabot. If you'd like snippits of the books, they're at www.jennycarroll.com I highly suggest them. Any book that leaves me smiling stupidly for the next week or so is a good book, in my opinion.

I haven't actually written the whole rewritten series yet, but I do have all ideas laid out for what's to come. The teaser was just a small bit of what I'm planning for the 4th one.

And, yes, there will be more Jesse/Suze fluff. Patience is a virtue.

Chapter 6:

At the end of the day, I was waiting for Carrie and Jenny in the school lobby. We were going to their place for dinner with Annie and Dad. I saw Jenny run up first and she said excitedly, "Everyone's talking about it! My fourth period has a window and we saw the whole thing! You saved Shannon McKinley's life, Jesse!"

"It wasn't anything really. I just happened to see the thing wobble and pushed her out of the way." I didn't think it was such a good idea to attract so much attention on my first day.

"Don't you think it's a bit suspicious, Jesse?" Jenny added in a hushed voice. "Shannon's almost died twice in a month. It could be Bryan's ghost or even a conspiracy by the faculty."

Carrie reached us and rolled her eyes at Jenny. "Don't be stupid, dweeb. Everyone loves Shannon. Why would anyone want to kill her?" That was a good question. Why would Bryan want his girlfriend dead?

We made our way back to Dad and Annie's apartment, stopping by my place to drop off my backpack (Carrie had been right about the homework). Their apartment was a bigger than mine, obviously, but with two more rooms and without a study. Carrie had her own room while Jenny didn't mind sharing with Megan. Annie presumably did her work elsewhere. We kids set the table while Annie and Dad brought out the food. Annie's cooking smelled wonderful. After several years of just dad and me (I did most of the cooking, by the way), this was heavenly. We were having herb chicken with mashed potatoes and corn on the side. Dad had to open with the question, "So how was school today?"

Jenny eagerly answered, "Jesse saved Shannon McKinley's life!"

Both Annie and Dad stopped midway of eating. Annie asked, "Did you really Jesse? From what?"

I shrugged and explained again, "That sculpture on the fountain almost fell on her. I just pushed her out of the way."

"Don't be getting into your old antics again, Jess," said Dad. He was joking, but I knew what he was talking about. I always managed to get into the oddest situations back at Carmel. Someone's missing a family heirloom? Dad happens to see me return a locket to an elderly old lady. Murderer on the loose? Dad sees me in the cemetery and the cops catch the criminal the next day. I know parents are infamous for knowing too much about where their kids are, but in my case it's a little riskier.

Carrie decided to join in, "People are calling Jess 'Don Juan' since he's just swept away the entire female student body with his superhero act."

I had to go a bit red at that as I muttered, "Gina just had to make that remark…"

Dad laughed, "'Don Juan,' eh? Suits you, Jess, always been the heartbreaker. Whatever happened to that Kelly Prescott? I thought you two would go well together."

"Dad, Kelly didn't have enough wit to fill a teaspoon," I supplied. "Maybe if they could actually have a conversation instead of fluttering their eyelashes at me, I'd be interested." Or maybe if they had curling brown hair and emerald green eyes.

I had to swat the notion away as Carrie smirked, "It didn't take much more than that for you to ask out Shannon."

I sighed and said, "First, she asked me. Second, how could I say no? I need to take a look around to get my bearings straight anyway."

Annie said thoughtfully, "McKinley… Oh, them. They've asked me for prices on a few places. Apparently, her parents are thinking of moving out of state." Good, then maybe she can get away from homicidal boyfriend ghosts. Until then, I had to find out why Bryan wanted her dead and put a stop to it.

Jenny changed the subject, "I like your new friends, Jesse. They're nice to me when they see me with my books, especially Gina. She likes mysteries too." This led to a full questioning on my choice of friends from Carrie until Annie told her to be quiet.

As we were cleaning up, Jenny stood next to me as I put the clean dishes in the cabinet. She asked, "Have you heard anything odd in your apartment? Particularly in your bedroom?"

"No," I answered automatically. But curious as to why she specified my room, I added, "Why?"

"Because I was doing more research on it and it turns out that at least several deaths and disappearances were in your apartment. There are plenty of sources to sort out. Everything from ladies to murderers has been through there. The entire building used to be a prestigious gallery that was owned by an old wealthy family." Her eyes widened as she spouted the information, eager for my reaction.

I hoped she couldn't see my ears perk up at the words ladies and murderers. I asked as casually as I could, "Hey, Jenny, could I get a copy of that information? Just for a bit of background?"

"Sure thing!" She sounded thrilled that someone else was interested in her research.

A minute later, the phone rang. Annie, up to her elbows in suds with Dad drying, called out, "Carrie, can you get that?"

Carrie put down her set of dishes next to the sink and picked up the phone with a chirpy, "Hello, Taylor residence." Her expression looked surprised as she lowered the phone from her ear and said, "Hey, Jess, Gina's on the phone!"

I finished up putting the dishes up in the cabinet and took the phone from her. "Gina?"

I could hardly hear Gina as her voice was drowned out by bass from some music. She said, "Hey, Jess! How's it hanging, man? Wanna come down to the Spritzer with the crew?"

"Umm," I wondered vaguely what a spritzer was, "I'm a bit busy tonight. How did you know to call me here?"

"What? Don't you live there?" She joked, "You're not living out in the gutter under Carrie's place, are you?"

"No, I just have my own apartment a block from here. I came over for dinner."

"Oh, no shit, Jess?!" I knew I had said the wrong thing when Gina exclaimed, "Man, we have got to have a party some day!"

I replied firmly, "No parties, Gina. The last thing I need is to get kicked out in my first week." Well, that and killer ghosts, but who's keeping track?

"Alright, alright… But then we have to-" her voice was cut off by a beep for call waiting.

I quickly said, "Sorry, Gina, there's a call for someone else. I'll talk to you tomorrow, ok?" I switched over, "Hello, Taylor residence?"

A male voice asked, "Jesse?"

And I recognized it, "Josh?"

"Uh…" You could just feel the confusion over the phone line. "What are you doing there?"

"My stepfamily lives here," I rolled my eyes even if he couldn't see it. "Need to talk to someone?"

"Oh." He ignored the question and said, "Hey, Justin and I saw that whole thing with the fountain. Awesome moves, man. You up for a party on Friday at his place?"

"I'm actually going out with Shannon on Friday…"

"No way!" He sounded envious before suggesting, "Well, mention it to her too and see if you can both drop by. And um…" He hesitated before saying, "Invite Carrie and whoever else along too." He hung up.

I put the receiver back and turned to Carrie, whom he was probably intending to call in the first place. "Josh called. He just invited us to go to a party at some guy's named Justin on Friday."

Her eyes lit up, "Justin Cary? Oh my god, we're so there!"

I asked, "Who's he?"

"Only the hottest guy at school, Jess. Every girl at Birchwood wants to jump him." That was a little more information than I needed. Apparently Justin was the guy Josh had been talking to in . Josh was more of a sidekick than anything else. I thought it was a bit odd to be invited to a party by a guy whose face I had threatened to break.

I went home a half hour later and planned out what I was going to do. I had to sneak into school and talk to Bryan. Simple, yes, but there wasn't much more I could do given the circumstances. Besides, if the security system really was out of commission, then my job would be quicker. No trips to the police station for me tonight.

Back at home, I changed into a black sweater (in my adjoining bathroom, as was becoming habit) and grabbed a flashlight. Yeah, I certainly looked suspicious, but how else am I supposed to dress for breaking into the school? As I headed towards the front door, a voice called out, "And where do you think you're going, Jesse de Silva?"

I turned around and saw Susannah standing behind me with her arms crossed, once again with that small frown on her lips. "To my job, of course," I replied casually. I didn't want to lie to her since she obviously had been the one that fixed up my apartment. It was technically true, wasn't it?

Still frowning, Susannah said, "I don't like this one bit. He's going to kill you."

"Oh, he might try." When I saw her scowl darken, I added quickly, "I've done this before, querida. I'll just get an explanation out of him and if he still wants to kill Shannon, I'll just have to change his mind by force." I tried to keep my tone sounding matter-of-factly but I don't think she bought it.

"You're going to get yourself killed, Jesse." She was still frowning, but she didn't look angry anymore. Her eyes were more worried than anything. I almost didn't catch it as she said, "This Bryan has a murderous rage, nothing like you've seen before. I don't want to see your new family weeping at the sight of your mangled body crushed under another statue."

"How did you-" I blinked in surprise, "You've been following me!"

She unfolded her arms, and twiddled them behind her back looking uncomfortable. "So?" Susannah tried to sound unconcerned.

I sighed and turned around to go to the door but I heard something that made me jump. The sound of an old deadbolt locking into place. The thing must have been ancient and hidden away from the renovators years ago. Nothing could budge that heavy door now save dynamite or telekinesis. And only Susannah had one of these. I turned around slowly, telling myself I wouldn't shout at her. She did look more nervous than ever, but stood her ground. I said, "Open the door, Susannah."

She stuck out her chin, "No."

"Fine." I walked to the window, tugged it open, and was halfway on the fire escape when I felt a pull.

"Jesse." She just said my name, that's it. But it was so soft, I almost missed it. I turned my head to look at her. My eyes moved from her concerned face down to where both of her hands were gripping my wrist. Her skin was pale against the black of my sweater and her hold was tight for such small hands. She saw where I was looking and quickly let go as if I had burned her. Still in a bit of shock, I continued out window and climbed down the fire escape. I looked up at the window when I reached the roadside, but Susannah was gone.