Hey guys. You are all awesome. I got, like, 7 reviews in less than an hour. That's AMAZING.

Here's chapter 2 for you. For those of you who are wondering why Suze turned Jesse down, and what happened with her ex… well, that's the whole plot line, isn't it?

Chapter 2

"And you must be Ms. Simon." I turned from the door, breathing a little unevenly, to face a middle-aged nun, holding open a book and smiling.

"Uh… yea," I said intelligently. "Hi." Someone snickered, but I ignored them.

"Father Dominic said that you would be a bit late to class. Have a seat." There was one seat open near the window, between an albino girl (I never knew people could be albino too. I mean, once in like 7th grade a reptile expert came, and he had an albino boa constrictor… but it never crossed my mind that there would be albino girls) and a girl who is likely one of the Queen Bees of the school, if her designer outfit and perfectly colored honey blonde hair was to say anything. "Now, Ms. Simon, we're short one copy of the book, but I'll have one for you, if you can stop by my office after school. For now, please look on with Ms. Webb or Ms. Mancuso." Not knowing which was which, I scooted my desk over towards the albino girl.

The less popular, I've learned, are less likely to stab you in the back.

"Cee Cee Webb," she whispered, introducing herself, while Sister Beth called on someone to read.

"Suze Simon," I answered politely.

"Where'd you move from?" she asked. God, all I wanted was to read the story. I didn't need friends.

And my friends obviously didn't need me.

"I transferred from RLS," I whispered back. She looked like she was going to ask another question, when Sister Beth interrupted.

"Ms. Webb? Would you care to explain what just happened in the first scene?" I zoned out while she summarized, staring at the words on the page but not actually reading them.

I spent the last 10 minutes of class doing this, until, without warning, all the kids stood up and started leaving. I stared around, confused.

"C'mon, Simon," Cee Cee said. "Where's your next class?" I fumbled for my schedule.

"Trig with… Ryson?" She pulled me up.

"Me too. Let's go."

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By the time lunch rolled around, I decided having Cee Cee around wasn't such a bad thing. She was really smart, and funny.

But, you know, all I really needed was someone to sit with at lunch, so I didn't look like a complete freak.

Right?

However, it looked like I didn't have to worry about not sitting with anyone, even if I wasn't exactly looking for friends. Along with her, I ended up sitting with that boy from the office that morning, Adam, another girl—Rose? Rachel? Something with an 'R'—and a few other people I didn't catch the names of.

I sat there, eating the lunch Andy had made for me, when Cee Cee looked over my head, and I felt my back get a chill, having suddenly been covered by a shadow that had not been there a moment before.

"Hey, Jesse," she said, and I choked.

"Hello, Cee. Hello, Susannah," he said. "Father Dominic would like to see you again." Shit! I had completely forgotten. I quickly finished my lunch, shoving the rest into my mouth and chugging the rest of my juice. Jesse chuckled.

"Come, Susannah," he said. I sighed.

"Call me Suze," I told him, trying to keep my heart from speeding out of control.

"I think Susannah is a beautiful name," he said with a smile. He appeared completely unscathed from being shot down earlier that morning.

It would be so much easier for me if he disappeared into the corner to lick his wounds and heal his punctured male ego like any normal guy would.

Back in the little lobby of Father Dominic's office, the nun there raised her eyebrows at me, and said, "Father Dominic will see you two in a moment." Jesse pulled me down into the chair next to him. I picked at my nails, in attempts to avoid eye contact or conversation, but instead just completely ruining the paint job I had done that morning to match my green button down and cream-colored skirt. Jesse rested his arm casually on the arm rest, so that his skin was grazing mine.

What was with him touching me? Doesn't he know that it's driving me crazy?

After several hours (actually, it was only about 5 minutes, but it felt like hours), Father Dominic came out of his office, showing two people out. "Thank you for coming in. I'll call you both soon," he told them. Then he saw us. "Ah, Susannah, Jesse. Please, come in." I stood up hastily and hurried in. Jesse followed lazily, with a supreme confidence and self-assuredness that I envied.

"Now, Susannah, I wanted to speak to you about a ghost who has been visiting us the past few days. She is a young woman about your age, who died in a car crash about a week ago." I vaguely remember my mother telling us about the "tragedy" over dinner one day. "She says that she has to tell her boyfriend something, but when we ask her what, she gets frustrated and leaves." I smirked.

"God, you two are such guys," I told them. "She probably wants you to tell him that she loves him. Girls are always too afraid to when they're alive, but then when they're dead it's too late." Well, not always too afraid. But I think those who aren't afraid are the perfect example of why others are.

Father Dominic stroked his chin. Jesse looked thoughtful. "I imagine that could be right," he said. "Jesse, do you know of how to get in touch with Lily?" He shook his head. Lily is a pretty name, I thought. It's too bad she died.

Suddenly, she appeared. She was a little bit shorter than me, with dark blonde hair and stylish glasses. She was wearing jeans and an American Eagle tee-shirt, and looked vaguely familiar.

"Who are you?" she asked me.

"I'm Suze," I said.

"You look familiar. Do you go to RLS?" she asked. I paused.

"I did," I said carefully. "But I go here now."

"Susannah is here to help you," Jesse said. "Like us."

"Listen… did you want us to tell your boyfriend that you love him?" She sighed, exasperated.

"Finally! I was wondering when they would figure it out. It's about time!" she said. I grinned.

"A bit obvious, huh?" She nodded, smiling too. "Well, can you tell us your boyfriend's name, so we can tell him?"

"Ryan Litrell." My eyes widened. Now I knew where I'd known her from. "Can you tell him for me?" I hesitated.

"One of us will," I said hesitantly. She beamed.

"Thank you so much," she said, and then she was gone.

"Wonderful work, Susannah," Father Dominic said. "I had a good feeling about you. Now, how about we find this Ryan boy's phone number, and then you can call him? There's a payphone just outside the property, the number won't be traced."

"Uh, I don't think I'm the best to do it… Jesse? How about you?" I said quickly. He looked a bit perplexed.

"Sure, Susannah," he said slowly.

Father Dominic looked at his watch. "Your lunch will be over in about ten minutes… you can go now, I don't want to take up all your free time," he said. Jesse and I left.

For lack of anywhere else to go, I rejoined Cee Cee and Adam, and Jesse came too. I guess he was friends with them.

"So, Suze, we were all going to the beach this afternoon. Want to come with?" Adam asked. "I can teach you to surf, if you don't know how," he offered flirtatiously. It sounded like fun, but stopped myself.

"Uh… I don't think so. I have… stuff to do after school," I said. He was unperturbed.

"Maybe tomorrow then." He asked Rayna (or Reily) a question, and everyone stopped paying attention to me…

Except Jesse, whose intense stare I tried to ignore. I pretended to be fascinated by something Cee Cee was telling me, but I felt his eyes burning my face for the rest of lunch.

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After school, I found Sister Beth and got a copy of the book, then I waited by Jake's car patiently while he battled through the hordes of girls who were chatting him up. Not really, but there were a few girls hanging around who wouldn't leave.

Eventually, though, he finally came to unlock the door and let me, Dave, and Brad in.

Back at home, I went immediately up to my room, after grabbing an orange, and started doing my homework.

The rest of the week went along just like that. I'd go to school, have a chat with Father Dominic, working on whatever ghost had popped in with him and Jesse, and refusing to do anything outside of school with Jesse, Cee Cee, or Adam. I had lunch with them, and did have a lot of fun… but whenever my lips formed a "Yes" when they invited me to go to the beach, or to get coffee, or ice cream, or just to hang out, my brain kicked in and I remembered that I couldn't.

So there I was, about a week later, at home after school, doing my homework. I had only gotten through a few more pages than what we had read that day in "The Tempest" when Annie popped in for a visit.

"Hi, Suze!" she said, bouncing a bit on my canopy bed.

"Hi, Annie," I said back, getting up to throw away my peel. "How are things going?" She stopped bouncing, and shrugged.

"Okay, I guess. I tried going home, but my mommy was really sad and it made me sad." I frowned.

"Annie, if you don't mind my asking… how did you die?" Tact I may lack, but at least I got answers.

"I was walking home from my friend's house when a big car came flying around the corner. They hit me, but then they drove away."

"Do you know what type of car it was?" I asked. "Then maybe we can find out who was driving it, and he can get in trouble. Then maybe you'll be able to go to heaven." At least, I hoped she would go to heaven.

I was suddenly reminded of this movie I had watched last year in English, "Defending Your Life." In it, this guy died and had to defend how he lived his life, so he can move on. The bit one of the lawyers said that kids automatically moved on.

"It was blue… or maybe black. It was big, bigger than my mommy's van." I nodded.

"An SUV?" I asked. She shrugged.

"Maybe."

"How old are you?" I asked.

"Ten and a half," she said. Huh, I guess kids are looking older and older these days.

There was a knock on my door, and Annie disappeared. "Come in," I called.

"Susie, how was school?" my mom asked, coming to sit next to me. I shrugged.

"It was okay," I said vaguely. She paused, and rubbed my back a bit. "Father Dominic seems nice," I supplied, knowing exactly why she had started it. To get details.

"That's good. He is a nice man." She paused again. "Listen, dinner will be ready in about an hour. Jake's friend just came over. They have a project for history they need to get started on, and he's eating with us tonight." I nodded, and she left.

An hour later, Andy called me down. I put down my pencil, and hurried down the stairs. I stopped dead at the foot of the stairs, because there, talking to my mom, was Jesse. He heard me, and turned around and smiled.

"Hello, Susannah," he said. I smiled weakly.

"Susie, do you know Jesse?" my mom asked.

"We… sit together at lunch," I said, shooting Jesse a look clearly telling him to keep his mouth shut about the mediator business.

"Oh, that's nice," she said. "Sit down, everyone." I sat down at my usual chair, and Jesse sat down next to me.

I should be glad that a guy so obviously likes me, at least a little bit. Any normal girl would be swooning, jumping at the chance to go out with him, to fall in love with him.

But I can't. Not after what happened last time I fell for a guy.

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After dinner, Jesse told Jake he had somewhere to go, and that he'd come back over in a few days. I had started back up to my room when Jesse called my name. "Querida, Adam, Cee Cee, Rachel, and I are meeting for ice cream at eight. Come with us."

"What did you call me?" I asked, my eyes narrowed. He laughed.

"Come with us, Querida. Please?" He then gave me a dazzling smile, and hit the weak spot of my shield. I sighed.

"Okay."

"Don't sound too excited," he joked. "Come on, I'll drive." And with that, we left.

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