Timeout

By: ChocolateEclar

Disclaimer: I don't own anything that has to do with the Mediator Series by Meg Cabot/Jenny Carroll, including Jesse (but I can still dream), Suze, Paul, Father Dominic, CeeCee, Adam, etc. 

Claimer: I fully own Miss Evelyn "Eve" Gemma and the plot. (I still wish I owned Jesse instead of Eve though.)

Chapter 1: Out On a Limb

Okay, I should've watched out for the poison oak and the palm trees shouldn't have surprised me.

But can you blame me for being pushed into the Pacific by a peeved spirit? Give me a break. How was I supposed to know that would happen if I tried to help her? It's my job after all. Being a mediator, I mean. The thing about mediators is we can see and touch ghosts. The bad thing about this is they can touch us as well.

All right. It's not always such a bad thing. Take Jesse for example… On second thought, don't. I don't want to think about him right now.

Back to the whole falling into the Pacific Ocean thing.

Father Dominic says I'm lucky I didn't break my back on a jagged piece of rock like in the movies. If only I had that kind of luck with a certain Latino ghost… Ah! Stop it, Suze! No thinking about him, remember?

As I was saying, I'm lucky I didn't kick the bucket right then. Not like hitting the waves full force felt that good either 'cause, let me tell you, it wasn't fun. I admit it. I screamed. (Not before swearing at the woman who'd pushed me though.) As soon as I hit the water, the breath was knocked clean out of me, and I took in water fast. I made it back to the surface though.

It took awhile, but I managed to drag myself onto the little bit of shore under the cliff. I lay there panting and choking up salt water for awhile – I was cursing Eve, the girl who'd pushed me, and my bad luck. I was freezing even though it was the middle of October and I was in California.

By then, I was pretty winded. Even without the hacking up salt water and the ruined, drenched (now-sandy-as-well) clothes, my back hurt from where it'd hit the waves and my lungs burned, so that I was pretty darn miffed.

Okay, I was more than miffed. I was downright pissed off. I mean, I try to help someone and this is where it leads me. By the time I walked the mile home, my sneakers were sloshing as I walked and my clothes clung to me tightly. (I didn't even want to think about my hair.) Not to mention, how bad my back felt! It's a good thing mediators are so durable.

Fortunately, no one was home when I reached my house otherwise I'd have had quite a bit of explaining to do what with my overall appearance. I dragged myself up the stairs, wincing at every step. Once in my bedroom – Jesse was still gone… Darn! Bad, Suze! Bad! – I grabbed a T-shirt and jeans, and changed in the bathroom. So what if Jesse had moved into the rectory? So what if no one had seen him in three weeks? Not like many can see him anyway. Just mediators. He is dead after all. That didn't mean he wouldn't just pop in – oh darn. I did it again. I just had to think about him, didn't I?

I flopped down on my bed, causing a magazine to bounce where I'd lain it that morning. I winced at the pain in my back and snatched the magazine up. I flipped through the articles until I reached one that made me snort. "Ways To Know If He Really Cares…" I read. Yeah. Like I needed – Argh. Okay, I'll admit I read it. I'm a sixteen (almost seventeen)-year-old girl after all.

1. It may sound cliché, but he's always there for you no matter what happens (even if it seems like he's just getting in the way).

Well, Jesse's been there for me a lot since I first moved to California, but I'M NOT THINKING ABOUT HIM, SO WHY DO I CARE?!?!?!

I am such a lovesick loser.

I closed the magazine with a fed-up expression on my face.

************************************************************************

The thing about the ghost who pushed me off the cliff is she was once this famous radio host known as "Eve" in the 70s or something. Miss Evelyn Gemma was a real beauty apparently who was eventually thought to be crazy. She claimed to talk to ghosts, which – I know from my own experience – is not a good thing to admit. It tends to get you visits from psychiatrists.

So – after her ratings fell and she was fired – she committed suicide. Being the social reject I am, I can understand how bad it can get, but still, I wouldn't go that far.

Anyway, after thirty some years of being in purgatory, she finally turned to a mediator. Me. Talk about bad luck. To her it hadn't been three decades, so the thought of my generation not even ever hearing of her floored her.

"I won best TV show three years running!" she had screeched. She was really pretty even though I doubt she looked that good when she had died, being drugged up and all. She was kind of like Maria – Jesse's dead ex-girlfriend - with her big curls, but Eve's were longer and auburn. Her eyes were this big brown hue, and as she yelled they widened. She was wearing a knee-length, red and black plaid skirt and a black turtleneck sweater, along with high heels.

"Calm down," I said. Jeez. Ghosts are so touchy. The littlest things set them off. Like anyone cared who had won best TV show in the 1970s.

Eve frowned causing one corner of her mouth to bunch up.

"Just tell me why you haven't moved on to heaven or hell or wherever you're going," I added.

"Because they think I'm mad!" shouted Eve, grabbing her plaid skirt with her fists to keep from lashing out at me. "All my fans abandoned me just because of that stupid rumor! I won't let them remember moi in such a way!"

"That's the thing… You were a mediator like me, and, well, most people just don't believe in ghosts except other mediators," I reasoned. I was trying to remain calm, but the whole Jesse incident had frazzled my nerves. But I'm staying clear of that topic for now, or I'll cry. I hate crying.

"That's not the point. You have to tell them!" exclaimed Eve.

"How?" I asked, one eyebrow cocked. "I can't just break into a radio station and announce something like that. I'd be locked up in a second."

"Just do it!" shrieked Eve. By then, the mirror was shaking with her kinetic energy. That's another bad thing about ghosts. They can move objects by just thinking. It usually happens when ones upset or mad. The longer the ghost's been around the stronger they are. I have seen a pretty recently deceased ghost chuck a statue head at me though.

"Alright, alright. I'll do it," I lied. What else could I say? She was going to break something if I didn't cool her down.

This was pretty much how I came to be pushed off a precipice.

************************************************************************

The day after my cliffhanger – did I just say that? Forget it. It's the result of momentary loss of sanity due to lack of hot cowboy ghost in my life. If I was ever really sane that is – I went to Father D's office as soon as assembly was over. As principal of the Junipero Serra Catholic Academy and fellow mediator, it was easy to find him.

I was attempting not to grimace whenever anything touched my back. I had a nasty blue and purple bruise there – meaning wearing my new blue bikini at Kelly Prescott's beach party was a definite no-no. I had told him about Eve on the phone two days before, but this was his first time hearing about my run-in with her by the Pacific.

"Any developments with your dealings with Eve, Susannah?" Father Dom questioned as soon as I was seated. He was sixty something and pretty attractive for an old guy. He was the only person I could really talk to about Eve considering Jesse was MIA, and no one else knew fully about mediators. I mean, CeeCee and my best friend from Brooklyn, Gina, guessed, but they didn't know the full truth of it.

Father D – being a fellow mediator – could relate to me. We have totally different ways of mediating though. He prefers peaceful chats with the undead while I like a good ol' ghostly butt kicking. Well, I am a teenager and he's an old priest. The only other teenage mediator I know is Paul Slater and I won't be going to him for help even when I'm dead and buried.

"Well, not so good," I replied.

"What do you mean, Susannah?" inquired Father D.

"You won't like the answer," I pointed out.

"Come now. Tell me, Susannah," said the good Father. "I've been mediating for many years. I'm sure I can handle whatever happened."

I told him. He didn't like it at all.

************************************************************************

The day before I had decided to get a ride to the library from Adam – who's always happy to take CeeCee and I anywhere in his VW Bug – so that I could do some research on Eve. Normally, I would have Jesse keeping an eye on Eve so she wouldn't try anything, well, violent, but that doesn't really work with his disappearance. If he didn't show up in a week I was going to go to Paul Slater's house, as loathsome as I think he is. Knowing him, he could've had Jesse exorcised.

************************************************************************

"That reminds me," I said to Father D, interrupting my own tale. "Have you seen Jesse around?"

"I'm afraid not, Susannah," replied Father Dom.

I frowned and continued my story. I had a bad feeling about Jesse's disappearance. He was either avoiding me really well or Paul had indeed exorcised him. If I had to pick, I'd say they're both really likely…

************************************************************************

So, I was looking through these old newspaper from the 70s – one of which was about how "the Hollywood beauty" had gone mental and been "raving about seeing spirits to her agent, Kathryn "Kaety" Hunter" – when Eve showed up totally livid. A few books were flying already, telling her mood quite effectively.

What was she annoyed about now?

"Hey, Eve," I said softly, so no one else could hear me "talking to myself." "What's wrong?"

"What's wrong?!" screamed the phantom beauty. "WHAT'S WRONG?! You're going back on your promise! That's what's wrong!"

"I'm not," I retorted.

"Liar!" hissed Eve. And then she was gone.

I sighed. Just great.

************************************************************************

"That doesn't sound too bad, Susannah," said Father Dominic.

"That's because I'm not finished, Father D," I answered.

"Continue then."

"As I was saying, I decided if I had to I was gonna exorcize her." I held up my hands at the dark look he gave me. "I know! I know! Exorcism is a last resort! But what else can I do with her? Anyway, I decided to try and ask CeeCee for help with gathering more info on Eve."

"Ah," muttered Father Dom.

************************************************************************

So I called CeeCee up from the payphone outside the library.

"Yeah?" I heard her familiar answer.

"Hey, CeeCee, can you help me with something? I just need a few questions answered," I said.

"Alright. What is it, Simon?"

"Do you happen to know anything about a Evelyn Gemma, AKA Eve?" I queried.

"No. Sorry," answered CeeCee.

"S'okay," I said. "Do you know of any radio stations around here that broadcast nationwide that are really old?"

"How old?"

"Atleast thirty years."

"Ummmm… Let me check," said CeeCee. I heard her fingers fly over her keyboard before she said anything more. "There are two. One's in San Francisco and the others in San Jose."

"Isn't San Jose like fifty miles away?"

"Yea."

"Great," I muttered sarcastically. I knew San Francisco was even farther from Carmel-By-The-Sea. Now how was I going to get Eve to leave me alone without having to exorcize her?

"'Need anything else, Suze?" CeeCee inquired.

"Nah. Thanks for the help."

"No problem. Why did you need to know though?"

"Research project," I lied.

"For what?" CeeCee asked skeptically. I should've known that wouldn't work with her.

"'Can't talk. Gotta go! Bye, CeeCee!" I said, hanging up quickly.

************************************************************************

"That wasn't very polite, Susannah," grumbled Father D.

"Jeez, what else could I have done?" I demanded. "'Told her 'I needed her help so that I could break into a radio station and add a note on long dead Eve's sanity to a radio transcript or something?' She'd think I'd flipped."

"As they say, honesty is the best policy."

I snorted and continued my tale. Who were "they" to talk anyway? Did they have a problem with ghosts? I don't think so.

************************************************************************

I decided that that night I would take a taxi to San Jose so I could break into the radio station there. I had it all planned out too. I studied a map of San Jose I found in a tourist pamphlet in the library.

I just hadn't thought Eve would think I was moving too slowly in helping her.

Either way, I'd have been in trouble. I would've probably been caught before I could set a foot in the building.

I could've done without the swim though.

So I was walking home from the library – while going over my "brilliant" plan in my head – when she appeared. I was about a mile away from home and nearby, the ocean was roaring as it crashed against the shore below us.

I told her about my plan, but she just screamed, "Why are you wasting time going home?! Besides, San Jose isn't where the station is located!"

"Oh, well, is it in San Francisco?" I asked, taken aback, yet irritated at her tone at the same time.

 "No!" screamed Eve, making her way towards me. I reluctantly backed away from her. "Los Angeles, you moron!"

"But – unless CeeCee's wrong, which I doubt – that station doesn't exist anymore," I said. "Wouldn't it be fine if I just had the announcement made nationwide via some other station?"

"Not a chance! How can you even suggest such a thing?!"

"What's the big deal?!" I hollered back.

************************************************************************

"Excellent mediation technique," interrupted Father Dom dryly.

"Atleast I didn't punch her," I defended myself.

Father D just sighed and signaled me to continue with a wave of his left hand, as he massaged his forehead with his right.

************************************************************************

"The big deal, as you put it, Susannah, is I want my reputation back and my revenge complete NOW!" roared Eve. "If you won't help me you're just getting in my way!"

That was when she pushed me. I screamed and fell into the Pacific.

************************************************************************

"It wasn't fun gettin' home, let me tell you," I finished off with.

Father Dom was looking a bit worse for wear now that I had related everything to him. The cigarette pack he always fiddles with when he's aggravated – which seems to be around me mostly – was out and being tossed from one of his hands to the other.

He sighed and said, "Are you sure you're all right, Susannah?"

"One bruise on my back. No biggie," I replied, shrugging. Besides, I added silently, I was more concerned about the whole thing with Jesse. That gave me an idea.

"Well, I gotta get back to class, Father D," I said, standing up. "It's almost second period."

"All right, Susannah," said Father Dom. "But I'll be dealing with Eve from now on."

"Oh, come on. I'm fine. I can handle her."

"Susannah-"

"I'll be in touch," I said, cutting him off. I was out of his office and past the secretary before he could say anything else.

************************************************************************

A/N: Now is the time for you to click on that little purplish button down on the left-hand corner of the screen…otherwise don't expect chapter 2, got it? ^_^ All I ask for is one review – one considerate, possibly helpful review that is.

A/N 2: Anyway, bye!