Wow, it's like 3:27 on a Monday afternoon (Columbus Day, it's a school holiday) and I'm home listening to Christmas music, drinking a hot mocha frappuccino, and writing. God, I'm so weird sometimes. If it weren't a holiday, I'd be at practice right now. I wouldn't get home until 7:30 at night. Yay for no school, man!
Merci bien, mes reviewers.
Pens in Potatoes: Yea I know what you mean. I don't know where you live, but there's definitely some sickness around where I live. Maybe there's an international bug going around that is making everyone in the world feel like crap.
UnangelicHalo: I don't know how to spell anything in Spanish...I take French. Haha sorry about that.
moovalous3: Haha yeah it actually took me a while to figure that out too...and I'm writing the story! lol.
aet1253( ): I actually didn't even realize Jesse wasn't in the story anymore...oops. Don't worry, I'm working on it. We all want more Jesse. ; )
Roomate153: Cool! I made someone's heart race! Well, that part was supposed to be suspensful, so I guess it worked. : )
Okay, this chapter is longer than my usual ones. (Yay!) So I hope you like it.
"Suze! Suze, wake up!" I groaned, and rolled over. Who would dare try to wake me up this early?!? I mean, it's only...damn it, its 7:00!Great. I'm late again. A/N: I don't know what time Suze's school starts, but I'd definitely be late if I woke up at 7:00 I jumped out of bed, narrowly missing squashing Doc, and stumbled over to my closet. Good thing I had taken a shower last night or I would be one gross looking girl today. I grabbed a pink tee and a white ruffle skirt, and groped my way to the bathroom, blinded by the light that was suddenly flooding my room. Five minutes later I emerged, looking perfect. Doc stared, and asked,
"Wow, how did you manage to get ready that fast?" I grinned, and ruffled his hair as I walked out the door.
"Years of practice, kid."
As we walked down to the car, I realized that I felt insanely happy for no reason. I mean, it was a Tuesday morning, and I had to go to school, so usually I would be a grouchy little bitch, but today was different for some reason. Then I remembered last night. The articles. Jesse. I have to talk to Father Dominic! I gasped, and screeched,
"We have to get to school right now!" Jake looked at me strangely.
"Um yeah, I know we're late, thanks to someone sleeping in, but since when are you so worried about getting to school on time?"
"Just drive, please."
We got to school with a few minutes to spare, but since we had to go to assembly, I wouldn't be able to talk to Father Dom until after homeroom. I can't wait that long! I stared out at the courtyard while the assembly was going on, not listening to anything, until I heard my name.
"Miss Simon! Come here please." I looked up, and saw Sister Ernestine's angry face glaring at me. Uh-oh. She grabbed me by the shoulder and dragged me into the office, saying,
"Have we not had this discussion before? Your skirt is much too short...again. I would have thought you had learned your lesson the last time around..." I thought of the last time this had happened, and almost laughed. Yeah, I probably should have learned my lesson the last time, considering I was almost murdered after I was sent home to change. Of course, Sister Ernestine didn't know that, but it was still pretty funny. I mean, it sounded like she was threatening me—like she'd murder me herself if I came to school again with a short skirt. Ha. "...however, this is not why I called you." I looked up, startled. "Father Dominic wishes to speak to you in his office. He said it was urgent. I will be waiting out here, however, to speak with you myself about your—ahem—choice of outfits when he is finished." I didn't listen to the rest. I bolted into Father Dom's office, startling him from the Furby he had obviously taken from a student. He was currently bashing said Furby against his desk.
"...stupid..." slam. "...thing..." slam. "...won't..." slam "...shut...UP!" slam. A/N: Heh. Furbys.
"Father Dom!" I yelled, and he glanced up, looking sheepish. "Do you know anything about reverse exorcisms? Do they really work? Has anyone ever done one? Hmm, I wonder what they would be called anyways...Endorcisms? Haha, it sounds like some weird form of exercise, like Jazzercise. Everyone Endorcise now!" I broke off. Wow, can you say babbling? But hey, can you blame me? I was excited. Father D blinked, obviously overwhelmed.
"Could you ask that again Susannah? A little slower this time, please." I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself, and sank down into a chair opposite his desk.
"Do you know anything about reverse exorcisms?" He blinked again, and said,
"Well, I've never heard of it before...why do you ask?" I pulled the article out of my bag and handed it to him. He skimmed it quickly, looked up at me, and then looked back at the paper in his hand. "Oh my. Where did you get this?" I grinned.
"Oh, nowhere important. So what do you think?"
"Well, technically, there seems to be no reason why it wouldn't work...but why are you giving me this? Is there some reason..."
"Hold on. Check this one out too." I gave him the papers on body restoration, and sat back in my chair. He looked surprised. No, surprised would be an understatement. He looked shocked.
"Susannah! You can't possibly be thinking..." I smiled mischievously and nodded. Father D sighed. "Susannah, we've been over this before. There must be some reason Jesse is still here, and you are supposed to be finding out what that is and helping him move on, not bringing him back to life."
"But I know why he's still here! It's because of me! He loves me, and I love him. This is what's meant to be."
"But Susannah—"
"I don't want to hear it. I am going to do this with or without your help, Father Dom. I know this is the reason Jesse has been on Earth for so long...I am helping him by doing this." I replied, looking completely sure of myself. Father Dominic sighed again—he seemed to do that quite a lot around me—looking resigned.
"Fine. I will help—if only so you don't mess it up yourself. Of course I want Jesse to be happy, but I think the only way is to let him move on by himself."
"What about me? Don't you want me to be happy?" I asked.
"Of course I do, but this is your job. You are supposed to help the ghosts, and put yourself—and your happiness—second."
"But I would be making a ghost happy. This is what he wants, too."
"Have you talked to Jesse about this?"
"No, actually, I was thinking I wanted it to be a surprise." I bit my lip, looking hopefully at Father Dominic.
"Fine." He said again.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" I squealed, jumping up and down. I started to leave, and then sat back down. "Wait. What did you want to see me about in the first place?" Father Dom looked confused for a second, then replied,
"Oh, that. Well I met a new ghost this morning, and thought that she was more your type of project. I thought you might like to meet her." I sighed inwardly. I didn't need any more 'projects'. My life was complicated enough already. I only said, however,
"Um, can it wait? I have to get back to class." He rolled his eyes, and said,
"Yes, go." I turned to leave, and I could have sworn I heard, "Since when have you been so concerned with getting to class?" What?!? Why does everybody keep saying that to me? Am I really always that late? Wait, don't answer that. I sighed exasperatedly, and left the office. I started walking back to class, when I heard,
"Miss Simon! Not so fast, if you please." Argh. Sister Ernestine. Dang it, I had forgotten. Woohoo, now I get a long lecture. But not only that, before she let me go back to class, I had to pick a pair of pants to wear the rest of the day because my skirt was "a completely inappropriate length" and it made me "look like a prostitute." Well, thanks a bunch, Sister. That's always nice to hear about my newest designer purchase. But that wasn't the worst part. The only pair of pants that were long enough to fit me (most of them looked like they belonged to a five year old) were overalls. Yeah, that's right, overalls. I felt like such a loser walking through school with those on. Like a mechanic, or a construction worker, or something. But really, even that little incident couldn't squash my good mood. Jesse and I were going to be together forever!! Suddenly, nothing else in the world seemed important. Nothing could make me unhappy today. Ironically, just as I was thinking that, who happened to show up? Yeah, you guessed it. Paul. I looked up at the sky, and yelled,
"Haha. Very funny. You know, whoever you are, you have a really twisted sense of humor." Paul looked at me like I was crazy. Well, I'm sure I looked crazy. I was in a pink baby tee and overalls, for crying out loud, and I was yelling at the sky. Carmel Insane Asylum, here I come.
"So Suze, I was thinking..."
"Oh, really? Congratulations! I'm so proud of you, Paul!" Lame, I know, but hey. The opportunity was staring me in the face. I couldn't resist.
"Ooh, look who's trying to be the clown today. You sure look the part." Paul retorted.
"Hey! Now that wasn't very nice. I can't help my choice of outfits." Paul grinned, and said,
"Yeah, I know, I heard about your little...um, situation. And I must say that skirt that you were wearing this morning was pretty hot." He winked, and I glared at him.
"Shut up, loser. Now what did you want?"
"Well, I can't make our lesson next Monday, because I'm going back to Seattle to visit my parents." Yes! No lesson next week! Yippee, no Paul! "So I was thinking we could have it tomorrow instead." Damn it. "Are you busy?"
"No..."
"Great! Meet me in our usual spot." He sauntered off, and I shuddered. It made me sick to think that Paul and I had a 'usual' anything, except maybe a 'usual' hatred towards each other. Oh well, there's nothing I can do about it, right? And it's only for a little while longer. Soon, Jesse won't be able to be exorcised any more. I smiled, and walked off.
"Okay, you now know all the basic shifter powers, but your technique still needs some work." It was Wednesday afternoon, and I had just had the worst day of my life. I failed a history essay test, I spilled coffee all over my white tank top, and I had gotten into a verbal bitch fight with Debbie Mancuso. And my day wasn't looking much better...I was back in Paul's room.
"My technique needs work?" I laughed. "Paul, it's not a sport or a dance move or anything. My technique?"
"You know what I mean." He grinned and threw a pillow at me. "Now don't be a smart ass, I'm trying to teach here." I rolled my eyes, but listened. "Okay, like I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted..." I smirked at him. "...you know how to do everything, but you need practice. What if you need to get away from somewhere quickly? It wouldn't be a good idea to leave your body behind." Oh my God. Did he know what happened on Monday?!?! Is he playing with my mind? Or was that just a coincidence... "So that's what we're going to be working on today. Shifting under pressure." Okay. I don't think he knows. I think I'm still safe.
"How are you going to manage that? I don't really feel any pressure to get away now. It's not like you're trying to kill me or anything." Hmm, I hope I'm not giving him any ideas.
"I'll do the best I can." He replied. I gasped, and then realized he meant creating situations, not trying to kill me. Well, you never know with Paul Slater.
For the next 20 minutes or so, I practiced dematerializing to different parts of Paul's room, trying to imagine myself in the positions he put me in. I could tell I was getting better; I hadn't missed one yet. In one particular scenario, I was being chased by a crazy guy with a knife that had just killed my best friend, and I materialized next to Paul's door. After doing the same thing nine times, I had it down pat. Paul walked towards me, saying,
"You've got it, Suze. I think you've really got it! Great job." I smiled.
"Thanks. Yeah, it feels like I know what I'm doing..." I trailed off. Paul was still walking towards me, getting closer. I started feeling a little uncomfortable. He was way too close now. He was standing right in front of me. I could feel the heat from his body and his breath on my face. I was very aware of his form close to mine, and I realized that I was breathing very fast. I was nervous.
"Yeah, you've got it, Suze." He whispered.
"Paul..." I said uncomfortably. This was not a fun situation. Yeah, sure he was an A-list hottie, and God knows he was a great kisser, but my heart—and my lips—belonged to Jesse DeSilva. And now there was no reason why we couldn't be together. I think the last time that I gave in to Paul's kiss was because, deep down, I knew that my relationship with Jesse could never work. I think, subconsciously, I really did want all of those things that Paul had said, and I wanted a boyfriend that could give them to me. At the time, that was Paul's appeal. But now, there is no reason for me to fall for Paul Slater. Soon I will have a boyfriend that can give me everything I want. So when Paul kissed me, I was able to fend off my hormones. Sure, his kiss was amazing—gentle, sweet, yet still fiery—but I kept my mind in check. I concentrated, and dematerialized. I appeared on the other side of Paul's room, sitting on his blue La-Z-Boy A/N: Is that how you spell it? Paul looked confused for a second, probably because he had just found himself kissing his door. Heh. He looked around, and spotted me on the other side of the room. I cocked my eyebrow and said,
"The agreement was that you'd keep your hands to yourself, Paul." He laughed, and replied,
"But I wasn't using my hands." I glared at him. "Okay, okay, I'm sorry. But hey, just think of it as passing the final test. Your shifting abilities saved you the trouble of gouging my eyes out again." I smirked, remembering the last time he kissed me. If only I had really gouged his eye out...I know, I know, that's really gross. "Alright, fine, lesson over. Do you trust me to drive you home, or would you prefer to walk again?" I sighed.
"Fine. You may drive me home. Just don't touch me...at all. With any part of your body." Eew, that came out wrong. Judging by the grin on Paul's face, he thought the same thing. Hey, I meant his lips, people! It just...oh, shut up.
When we got to my house, I got out of his convertible and slammed the door. I started to walk up the driveway, and I heard,
"What, no goodbye, Suze?" I turned around, and said frostily,
"Goodbye Paul." Hmm, I liked the sound of that. It had a sort of finality about it...like I was saying goodbye for good. God, I hoped so. I walked up to my room and opened the door, and had a pleasant surprise. Jesse was sitting on my window seat, like he always used to before he moved out. I dropped my backpack, walked straight over to him, and kissed him. We broke apart a few seconds later, and he asked,
"Bad day?" I sat down next to him.
"The worst." I lay my head on his shoulder, and he put his arms around me. "It will all be over in a little while though." I added quietly.
"Do you want to talk about it?" I smiled, and said,
"Oh, I'm just working on a really tough project." Yeah, you could say that. I smiled secretly and said, "I'll show it to you when I'm done. Hopefully that will be pretty soon."
Hmm, that was a pretty sucky ending, but I couldn't think of what else to write. And sorry for the posting delay, but my stupid internet stopped working for about 2 weeks and this is the first time I could get on. It's been driving me INSANE. Alright, so there it is. I actually like this chapter for once. So I hope you do too...lots of reviews, please. Review even if you didn't like it...I won't mind hearing some criticism.