Chapter 2

The next day, the gang went to school together as usual. Danny and Rosa's hands were latched together though. That was very new. It was as if they both hardly cared if anyone saw them as a couple. They led the group with Aries, Star and Tucker following, and Sam trailing behind, deep in thought. Things had changed so dramatically since the arrival of Rosa, Sam was starting to miss the old times when it was just Danny, Tucker and herself. Some reason now things felt so drifted, lonely. She closed her eyes and shook her head. She must not think thoughts like that. Danny is happy now, she should be glad he still isn't pining over Paulina. Rosa is a good person. But internally she still wished that maybe her and Danny would be closer than usual. She opened her purple eyes and gazed at the two far ahead of her. Their arms were linked, hands tightly clenched one another's, it was as if nothing, not even God couldn't even separate their bond. It would be foolish to even try.

Star glanced at the two ahead of her in annoyance. This was not the time to be romancing. Especially with Aries so close by. They knew Aries's evil side would return with a vengeance and here they were doing what normal couples do! She bit her lower lip in frustration and focused her forest green eyes on the two lovebirds walking in front of her. Danny leaned closer to Rosa and whispered something in her ear. Star saw Rosa's face turn to a smile and stare into his eyes, then she let out a girlish giggle. She quickly put her free hand to her mouth and blushed a bright red. Star rolled her eyes and mentally wished that Rosa and Danny would get their heads out of the clouds. She then turned her eyes to the two boys next to her. Aries was better than when they all first met, but he was still deeply troubled by what his evil side had planned to do, and he was still very powerless to stop him. Especially now that Aries's evil side had fully gained his halfa part and powers. As he walked with the group, his eyes were cast downward, as if he found something purely fascinating with the cement sidewalk as they continued their walk towards the school, getting closer and closer. Her eyes then shifted to Tucker, PDA in hand and using the small gray metallic pen like pointer to press continuous things on the screen of his PDA. Obviously he was oblivious to everything around him and engrossed himself in the technology, which he held so dear. Star found herself appalled by this, but realized that was indeed Tucker. When things got wrong all he would do is plug away at his PDA.

Star then realized that one person was missing, so she glanced behind her and saw the final person of the ground treading behind them; her eyes were downcast as well. Her face looked solemn and Star noticed a absence of sparkle in her amethyst colored eyes. Star realized the gravity of the situation then. This relationship was tearing the group apart. She somehow felt responsible thinking back, she should have stopped them kissing. She should have done something! Her hands on either side of her clenched into fists as they walked. She tore her gaze from behind her to Rosa and Danny once again. Rosa and Danny were two of her good friends, how could she tell them to break up?

Aries mind was reeling with everything that happened the last few weeks, especially what he almost did to poor Rosa. He closed his dark eyes as he felt tears come. He opened them again to see the sidewalk blurred behind a layer of water on his eyes. How could he let Evil Aries control him like this? He will stop at nothing until Danny was dead and Rosa was his. And he couldn't do a darn thing about it! He now wished that he had died and said no to the voice that saved him. Now they would never let him die, because now they know you cant kill one without killing both of them. Depression had still consumed him ever since that last battle. He hadn't talked to anyone since then. He heard Rosa giggle and felt a smile cross his lips. He was glad she was happy, such a girl didn't deserve to be unhappy or in pain.

Tucker was still thinking about what they had all been through, like Sam, he wished that things were like they were before Rosa came, but he mentally objected the idea. He liked Rosa, Star and Aries. They were good kids, and good friends. Most of all, Danny wasn't alone anymore in the halfa world. Also, the ghosts that were coming were much more violent now, Danny needed all the help he could get. But he was still unsure about the decision Danny made to start dating Rosa. They both were easy targets for many ghosts. Cause now the ghost knew Danny had a weakness. Rosa. Like Star, Tucker knew that this would turn into a mess fast, but what could he do? Tell Danny to kick Rosa to the curb? He continued to press button after button on his PDA. He wasn't sure what to do. But whatever it was, he wouldn't let this group fall apart.

As all arrived to school, they were surprised to see a strange girl walk past them; she looked vaguely familiar to Rosa, Danny, Star and Aries as she passed. She had long, curly brown hair, and light brown eyes. Her skin was almost pure white and she wore clothes that hid her body well. A long sleeved baggy blue shirt and a long blue skirt to match. Finally she had blue and white tennis shoes on her feet with white socks. This is the type of girl that wouldn't stand out in any crowd, but all eyes had turned to her as she walked past. Her eyes looked deeply concerned, as if there was something deeply troubling her. But the worst came when Rosa saw her lift up the sleeve a little on her arm to reveal a bad bruise. It was on her arm and obviously hurt the girl as she looked at it near her locker. Soon though, all the gang walked past the strange girl. No one could place where they saw her though.

Meanwhile, Brooke herself felt like she had seen the gang before as a few of them walked past. She knew they were watching her in keen interest, but thought they had walked far enough away so she revealed her bruise. She looked down on it, wincing as it hurt. This is what she got when her father was in a mood. She got beaten. She quickly pulled the sleeve up and got her books out of her locker and walked to her class. She didn't want to think about this anymore, she engrossed herself in school. It was the only way to get away from the reality that happened at home. Teachers suddenly though were becoming suspicious of her behavior though. Especially Mr. Lancer. He was most of all concerned about her. He seemed to be getting close to the truth that she was a abused child. In some ways, she thought it a relief. Finally she would be able to get away from her horrid father. But depression soon sank down again as she realized that her father would kill her before he would let anyone find out that he beat her. Besides, she was beginning to wonder if her father was right about the curse. About herself dying at age 21. She sat down in her chair and stared straight ahead at the board, never letting any emotion show on her face.

Mr. Lancer soon entered the room and smiled at his class. He started to teach almost immediately after calling roll.

A couple rows ahead of Brooke, Rosa and Danny were sitting together.

"Do you think she looks familiar?" Rosa whispered to Danny.

Danny nodded and stole a quick glance at the girl. "Yeah, but I cant figure out where."

"She seems like she's in trouble." Rosa whispered worriedly.

Danny raised an eyebrow. "How do you know this?"

Rosa quickly explained to him what she saw on Brooke's arm.

Danny frowned deeply. "We need to tell someone."

Rosa shook her head. "No, first we need to talk to the girl."

"I think her name is Brooke, Brooke Perrit." Danny said, remembering how the girl raised her hand when that name was called.

"Well we need to talk to Brooke then before we go directly to someone. I don't want her to be mad at us." Rosa said.

"Why would she be?" Danny wondered. "Were trying to help her."

"Beaten girls like her wont let anyone help them. If she cant even help herself, she wont let anyone else. Trust me. That's why we have to try to convince her." Rosa explained.

"But how?" Danny asked.

"We have to get to know her, invite her over to lunch." Rosa smirked.

"You are so smart." Danny grinned and kissed her softly. She smiled wistfully at him back. Then they heard someone clearing their throat. Both turned to see Mr. Lancer looking at them, he obviously wasn't amused. Both of them turned ten shades of red and slumped back in their seats.

As the bell rang, everyone started to leave the class, Rosa though stayed behind and waited for Brooke to walk over to the door. As she did, Rosa quickly went in step with her.

"Hey there." She smiled.

Brooke blinked and looked at the girl next to her. She slightly blushed and murmured a "hello."

"Say, I was wondering if you wanted to have lunch with me and my friends." Rosa asked.

Brooke stopped short and Rosa stopped as well. Brooke blinked and looked at Rosa like she was some sort of alien. "Why?" She asked.

"Cause, you look like you need a friend." Rosa answered.

Brooke looked away, then closed her eyes and shook her head. "No, I'm sorry, I must go." Brooke started to walk away when Rosa grabbed her hand.

"Please Brooke. I only want to help." Rosa's tone sounded very urgent and warm. Brooke turned and looked at Rosa in the one eye she could see. She looked sincere, genuine. Brooke's tense nature suddenly vanished. Ignoring her sensible side, she felt herself smile softly. "Okay." She said in her quiet tone. Rosa smiled back at her. Brooke waved and then walked to her next class.

Rosa ran to her friends to tell them everything that was happening. Soon they all started to prepare for what would happen that lunch, and make sure that Brooke felt welcomed.

Bertrand smirked as he phased through the walls of Casper High. He was looking for the lonely girl he had seen the other night. He knew he couldn't fail Spectra again, so he searched high and low, finally he saw the lonely girl walking to her next classroom. No one else was around so he jumped into her path. She gasped and stopped.

"Hello there.." he grinned evilly.