The Mediator: Changes- (Based on the mediator series by Meg Cabot/Jenny Carroll)

Sorry it took so long... I haven't been able to get on the site for some reason... Oh, ' chapter 1' wasn't supposed to be a cliffhanger, but I didn't have time to type any more, so I figured that leaving it off there would be kind of suspenseful... ok, so here is the rest of the chapter from where I left off! Tell me what you think. - C.H.

Chapter 2: Wrong Impressions II

I never thought I would be so happy to hear that voice, but when he said those two words 'By me' he saved me- for the moment at least. Adam, who had renewed his grip on my shoulders, turned towards the voice. He looked at me questioningly and I gave him a purely sympathetic look, before I walked over and hugged Paul. (Yes, you heard me right, Paul.)

"But Suze," Adam said incredulously, "You hate this guy, remember!"

"Not since thanksgiving." Paul said matter-of-factly, "We sat down and talked everything through... and look what happened!" He hugged me again. "Why is he being so nice?" I thought, "He better not want anything in return!"

"Is this true?" Adam asked me. I nodded my head 'yes' and said, "Sorry Adam- really." In my most sympathetic voice.

"So am I!" He said angrily, then went back to the table. I saw him say something to Cee Cee, who beamed at him, then they left together. That could not be good.

"Ahem," coughed Paul, still standing behind me. I turned to face him. "Glad to see that I'm not the only one that you're making miserable." He said smiling.

"You don't SEEM miserable." I pointed out.

"It's not every day that you get to help the girl of your dreams, not to mention the worlds most beautiful girl, make someone else's life a living hell," he said, " And I got to hug you and live to tell about it." I shot him a glare to which he responded, "Of course I won't- tell I mean- plus-" he began, but said the rest so fast and quietly that I couldn't understand any of it.

"What?" I asked.

"I now know-" he began but was cut off by a high pitched squeal.

"Oh there you are!!!!!" A ditzy girl squealed. Paul looked horrified and tried to hid behind me, whispering, "HELP ME!!!!!!" Into my ear.

"Who are you?" I asked the girl. She stopped staring at Paul to glare at me for a second, then returning to staring at Paul she said, "I'm Lauren. I transferred here because I heard that Paul went here. I came from Florida to be with him."

I choked back a laugh and tried to keep a straight face, " I will really need to wash my mouth out with soap after today," I thought. "Why did you come after him?" I asked, trying to sound defensive.

"I love him- you wouldn't understand." She said in a stuck up way.

"You did not just tell me that you love my boyfriend!" I said while thinking " SOAP! NOW! MOUTH BURNING!"

"Your what?!" She asked looking venomous.

" Boyfriend- do I need to spell it out for you?! BOY. FRIEND. GOT IT?" I said enunciating the last four words. I turned around and kissed Paul squarely on the lips. "I need SO much soap" I thought. Paul reacted in pure pleasure by kissing me back, and doubling my need for soap by adding his tongue into it.

Lauren gave a screech and howled "NOOOOOO!!!!" She was intent on pitching a fit, but decided against it and ran inside towards the bathroom. Once she was gone I pushed Paul away from me.

" You're a good kisser" He said grinning,

" You SO owe me!" I said shuddering.

" No, now we're even," he said, " I saved you, then you saved me."

I disagreed and told him so. "You got to hug AND kiss me during both of those things." I reminded him.

"You got out of telling Adam about the dead cowboy living in your room...who he can't see!" Paul countered.

"Why do you always have to have a good reaction ready?" I muttered under my breath.

"Plus," he continued, not hearing my comment, "You've been missing our meetings." He let out a deep breath, "I would hate to see the result of missing those if I were you."

"I knew that he was faking! That was just too weird!" I thought, then said out loud, "Can't we just take a break?"

"One condition" said Paul calmly.

This is interesting. "What?" I asked cautiously.

"We sit down and have that talk I mentioned to Adam." Said Paul, "In his words: 'I think you've got the wrong impression of me'... in my words: I now know how you feel with me following you, with the whole Lauren thing, but hopefully I'm not THAT bad ... at least I don't squeal. But anyways, I want to talk out our differences- if we can- no physical stuff, of course. I want to get to know you and maybe be friends? JUST FRIENDS?" Said Paul ending in a pleading voice.

"Fine," I said. "This is REALLY weird. Paul just wants to be friends? I can't wait to tell Jesse... maybe I shouldn't... no, I won't tell him... he would be suspicious or something... plus, I want to see what Paul has to say with nothing physical involved." I thought.

"Great!" Said Paul smiling in what looked to be relief, "Tomorrow at six at that coffee shop by your step brothers pizza place."

"Jesse!" I yelled once I was safely at home in my room with the door shut and locked. The rest of my school day had been spent avoiding everyone by hiding in Father Dom's office. We took that time to have one of our 'Susannah please try not to kick the ghost's butt' conversations. Those were always fun. Now I was staring at the ceiling, yelling to someone that nobody else in this house knew existed, except for Doc who had suspicions of a 'ghost' haunting my room.

"Jesse!" I yelled again, thinking, "Why is he so SLOW!"

I was just about to call Jesse for a third time when the phone rang. When no one else answered it I picked it up. I had a really strange feeling about this call. "Hello?" I said cautiously.

" Oh My God!!!!!" Said the person on the other side.

"Cee Cee?!" I asked, "is that you?"

" I think so." She said sounding happy to say the least.

"What happened to make you so happy?" I asked, already knowing, and dreading, the answer.

"I happened!" She gushed. I held my breath. "He kissed me!!"

(I exhaled) That was not as bad as I thought. "Wow!" I exclaimed, " 'HE' is Adam right?"

"Yeah!" She confirmed, " But..."

"But what?" I asked cautiously.

"He wants you... But he's mine!" She said starting to sound, weirdly enough, evil, "You can't have him! He's mine, my own, my precious!" She said, ending an evil laugh. "I'll have him, you'll see!" She yelled and hung up.

"Ok, that was worse than I thought," I said aloud, "That was just plain weird. I warned her about all that coffee...it just goes straight to her head."

"Jesse!" I yelled, resuming my call for him. This time he showed up, unearthly glow and all.

"What?" He asked. Apparently he's learned a few things from me in the form of greetings.

"Nice to see you too!" I said sarcastically, "Yes everything's fine! Oh, my day? It was great! Crazy, yes. Weird, yes. Scary, yes. But-" Jesse cut me off.

"-What's wrong querida?" He asked sounding distant but still somewhat concerned.

"Wrong? Nothing's wrong Jesse! Everything's just different... falling apart!" I said.

He sat down on the window seat and gestured for me to sit next to him. "Tell me about it." He said in his smooth silky voice. So I sat down and told him everything. Everything except about my plans to meet Paul tomorrow. When I was done he looked at me strangely. "Are you feeling all right?" He asked.

"Great! He thinks I'm making it all up!" I thought to myself. Then it hit me; I could use this to my advantage. "No, actually I have this huge headache," I started, " and it hurts right- here." I said pointing at my lips.

"Right... are you done?" He asked distractedly, and, without waiting for an answer, disappeared.

That pissed me off! Nobody just DISAPPEARS on Suze Simon! Especially when she's flirting with them! "I'm gonna get him good!" I said to myself, going into the bathroom to change into my pajamas. Then I went to bed, still thinking about how pissed I was at Jesse and how weird my day had been.