A/N: So you may have figured out the good news! Lolly (Mystique Angelique) and I are now in cahoots, writing another awesome fan-fiction! It's going to be pretty wicked once it gets on its way. I'm very excited after trying so hard to keep it secret! I think I've rid myself of the dreaded block, for now. It's still sort-of there, but I'm figuring it'll go away soon! I can't believe I have 43 reviews for only 7 chapters! Gosh guys, you make me feel so loved! I LOVE ALL OF YOU!

"Whoa," Paul said as he rushed into the little confessional and sat next to the crying girl. "What's wrong? You can tell us…we're here to help you."

It's funny how convincing he sounded just then. If I hadn't known Paul, I would have instantly poured my guts out to him. Unfortunately for the little girl, she had no idea just who she was crying in the arms of.

The girl appeared to be about ten or eleven years old, but from what she was wearing I could only figure she was much, much older than that. She was Latino, much like Jesse, with flowing black hair and, from what I could see, wide brown eyes hidden behind a black veil. She was wearing a very simple old-fashioned black dress and some matching black gloves made of black lace. I had no idea what this little ghost had been crying over, but I figured she must have been there for a long time.

The girl didn't answer Paul's previous question. Instead, she flung her hands in front of her eyes dramatically and buried her head into Paul's gray shirt. Paul, with obvious shock, sent me a pleading look as he patted her back uncomfortably.

Well, someone hasn't had to deal with hysterical girls. Insane ghosts, maybe, but you could so tell Paul had never lent a shoulder for little ghosties to cry on.

I scanned the small church cautiously for signs of anyone that stayed behind the tour group. I wasn't going to have anyone think that I was actually going into the confessional with Paul Slater. Because that's what everyone else would see. They wouldn't be able to see or hear the little girl's frightened cries. The coast was clear, so I went in and closed the wooden door behind me.

The confessional was dark and incredibly cramped with three people inside, but I somehow managed to find a place to kneel so that I could communicate with the stranger in Paul's arms.

"Hey, hey, now! Everything's gonna be fine," I said soothingly as I pushed her veil back, revealing a set of wet gleaming brown eyes. "What's your name?"

"M-y n-name is M-Magdalena," the girl said, her voice hoarse and awkward and out of use.

"That's a pretty name, Magdalena," I told her. "I'm Susannah and this is Paul."

But she didn't say anything in reply. Instead she wiped her nose with the back of her hand.

"Wait," Paul said as he fished out his famous hanky, the same one he used to wipe away my tears two weeks ago. He presented it to her and said, "Use this instead."

Magdalena took it without as much as a word and started crying again. Paul looked at me with raised eyebrows and shrugged. That's okay, I thought, I have no idea what to do either.

We were really sort-of pressed for time. I mean, it wouldn't be too long before Mr. Walden, or God forbid, our other classmates realized that Paul and I disappeared. So you can forgive me for my lack of tact, right?

"Maggie, tell us what's wrong, please," I pleaded, my knees getting a little tired from kneeling so much. "We're only looking to help you, so if you tell us what's wrong we can help you."

"No!" Maggie screamed loudly, rendering Paul and I temporarily deaf. I mean since it was a small space, the sound had no where else to escape to. So even though it was a short scream, it still rang in my ears a few minutes after.

Okay, so I was a little mad now. I mean, I tried to offer this poor little girl some help but what does she do? She busted my eardrums. Plus, I really didn't want to be stuck in a cramped place with the face that haunted my dreams and some psycho little girl who was heavy on the waterworks.

"Could you at least tell us how you died?" I begged as politely as possible. "I'm sure you don't want to hang around this joint anymore. It's kinda…dark in here, you know? We could help you out."

She looked at me like I had grown a third eye or something. "W-why do you want to know? How come you can see me? What are you?"

"Suze and I are shifters. We can travel throughout the realm of the living and the dead," Paul explained to her. "It's really hard to explain to you, but if you just take my hand, we can…"

"Paul," I spat as I swiped his hand from the little girl's, "We are not going to shift, okay. Not here, not now. I think we can help her out just fine MY way."

"I see that YOUR way has been very effective in the past," Paul said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "If YOUR way works so much, then how come Jesse is still hanging around?"

I believe my cheeks began to turn this horrid shade of red. God, he was such a pig sometimes. At least with MY way, the ghosts get to choose freely. HIS way was dangerous, aggressive, and just plain morally wrong. Just like him. They didn't even get to use their God-given free will to figure it out for themselves. And that Jesse punch he tried to throw…so unfair! Jesse was a special case. He didn't know why he was here. He needed to figure it out on his own. And just because I happened to accidentally fall in love with him didn't mean anything. Well, actually it did…it meant that I didn't want him to move on. I wanted him to stay forever…

"Shut up," I growled at him. He flashed me that smile that was supposed to make me go gaga or something. It was SO not working. I mean, my hands totally turning clammy and cold while my heart was racing? It had nothing to do with him. Nothing at all.

"Let's let the girl decide for herself," Paul suggested with that stupid smile all plastered on his hott face. I didn't mean that part about his face being hott. I meant hot…hot as in sweaty…you know, all smelly and stuff. Yep, hot…NOT hott.

Who was I trying to fool here?

"Fine," I hissed, "Maggie, what do you think?"

She didn't answer me, so I looked to where she was sitting. Only…she wasn't there. Obviously she became impatient with our arguing and just dematerialized in a huff without out us noticing. Well, Maggs, I feel the same way too. I just wish I could dematerialize whenever Paul was around. Life would just be that much easier to deal with.

Aggravated, I stormed out of the confessional, leaving Paul behind. That stupid Buddy System rule? It was just that. A stupid rule. No one would care anyway, except for maybe Debbie Mancuso who had the obvious hotts for him. And maybe all of the other kids that secretly looked up to him for dissing Kelly. And all those teachers he sucked up to…

Ugh. Why did I even bother?

I found my fellow classmates crowded around the Mission's fountain, hardly paying attention to Joanne's little speech about it. It was a little hot outside, and everyone was waving their brochures to fan their face.

"If someone wanted to figure out how rich and successful a mission was, all they had to do was look at the size and how elaborate the main fountain was," Joanne said as she stood by the fountain and dipped her fingers in.

The fountain was pretty big. The fountain itself wasn't very colorful, but the plants surrounding it more than made up for that. They must have hired some pretty good landscapers back in the day. Or else the Mission had a massive makeover since then.

Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed that Paul had found his way back to me. He was sort of standing behind me and kind of off to the side. I pretended that I was paying attention to the tour guide, when in fact I had other things on my mind. No, I wasn't thinking about Magdalena, even though I really should have. I mean, of course I was curious about her strange behavior. I really should have been contemplating it more. Mediation was my first priority, right? And no, I wasn't thinking about Paul. Why would I do something like that? I was thinking about Jesse.

I was curious about what he did while I wasn't there. I mean, did he just hang out in the rectory or something? Or maybe he watched my room and kept Spike company. Yeah, Spike still lived with me. Hey, it was an excuse for Jesse to visit every once and a while. Gosh, I missed him so much. It was very pathetic of me to miss him when I'd only been gone for a day. But that's just me…Miss Pathetic.

My lovely thoughts of Jesse were torn from me as I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around to see that the mysterious tapper was Paul.

"We have company," he whispered as he pointed at the fountain. I looked to see Magdalena sitting on the edge of the fountain, no trace of tears in her eyes at all. She smiled cheerfully and flicked some water at me.

"Hey Maggie," I mouthed to her, making sure no one else could see me.

"We need to talk," Paul said as he grabbed my arm. "Now preferably."

"Paul," I hissed as I pulled my arm away, "Are you trying to soil my reputation? Just because you're a freak now does not mean you should try to pull me down with you."

"I'm being serious," he insisted. He brought his voice low to where Magdalena couldn't hear him. "She's going to follow us around all week, Suze. You might not mind having another tag-along pal, but this could get annoying really fast."

"I think she's adorable," I told him, "And besides, the faster we figure this out, the faster she's gone. If we do our job correctly, she'll be resting in peace by the end of the week."

"If we do our job correctly, she'll be gone instantly," Paul corrected me.

"Whatever," I brushed him off as I threw a glance at little Maggie who was trying to see her reflection in the water. But she couldn't. Because she was dead.

"Look, Suze," Paul said with an exasperated sigh. "I didn't come here to play babysitter. We could save a lot of time if we just…"

"No," I told him flat-out. "No way. No shifting, no exorcisms, none of that. We're doing it the good old-fashioned way. Learn to deal."

"Fine," he said in a smug tone, "but when your old-fashioned way fails, mine's going to back it up."

Okay, he totally just pushed it. Was he implying that my way would fail? It's worked for me for sixteen years, thank-you-very-much, and I've never had a problem with it. Sure I ended up with a few scars in the end, but nothing that a few stitches or a cast wouldn't heal.

"Don't be so cocky, Slater," I growled at him, "Because my way's going work…just you wait and see."

Magdalena was, by then, bored of the fountain. She got up, pranced over to us, and smiled brightly. Her big brown eyes were gleaming in the sun. She tugged on my skirt and begged, "Please play with me, Susannah."

"She can't right now," Paul chimed in, "We're trying to figure out how to get you where you belong."

Magdalena's face instantly twisted from a look of innocent joy to a face filled with annoyance and anger directed at Paul. She let out this terrible shriek and with one swift movement, Paul ended up flying into the fountain with an incredible splash.

My classmates quickly jumped and crowded around the fountain, snickering and high fiving each other. I pushed my way through to get a better look. Paul was just sat there, soaked thoroughly and looked up at me with this totally unreadable expression. Everyone looked at me in confusion and then started whispering that I had pushed him in.

"Way to go, Suze!" Adam cheered me on as he held my hand up in victory.

"I…I didn't push him in," I tried to defend myself. But it was no use…everyone was applauding me.

"No use trying to be humble," CeeCee said with a smile.

Well, it goes to show you how spirited our junior unity is. They were clapping because I supposedly threw one of my classmates in the fountain. How unified is that? It's sick, I tell you, sick.

I felt a little bad for Paul. I mean, everyone thought that a girl pushed him in the water. Well actually, now that I think about it, that was true. The ghost of a little ten-year-old girl pushed him. Which I guess is a little more pathetic. But I wasn't about to let Paul get totally humiliated, even if he did deserve it. I mean, I said I'd trust him (which I still don't) so I kind of have an obligation to him, right? Even though part of me wanted to leave him there to suffer the taunting of his fellow classmates, there was this other part of me that really felt kind of sorry for the guy.

I held my hand out to Paul and said, "I'm so sorry, Paul." He took it and stood up slowly and cautiously under the eyes of his fellow classmates. That gray button down shirt? Yeah, totally ruined now. But it's not like he looked like a wet rat coming out of that water. He shook the water out of his hair like some sort of beach god or something. Then he ran his hands through his now soaking wet curls, which gathered a sigh from Debbie and a few other girls…the brave ones. But even though Paul Slater was now one of the biggest weirdoes in school, he was still a hott weirdo. A hott weirdo that was soaking wet. Kill me now, please.

I helped him out of the fountain I supposedly pushed him in and looked around nervously for Magdalena, just in case she tried something else. But the little girl had disappeared like nothing had happened. But I figured it was only a matter of time before she would show up again…and I had a feeling she could do way worse than throwing my ghost-busting partner in some water. Way worse…

A/N: Sorry that took so long! But I haven't neglected ya'll yet. My creativity has been stifled in its summer days. I guess because I find school a more thought provoking place to write a story. Sad isn't it? I'd like to thank the people who are still reading this story and are willing to put up with the long pauses in between chapters. THANK YOU GUYS SO MUCH I LOVE YA'LL FOREVER AND EVER AND EVER!!!! I know, how professional of me…but it just needs to be said.