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

Here is the second part of Good Morning Sunshine. Sorry that this is so confusing, but it all has a purpose. You'll see, it works out later. Anyways, review and tell me what you think! - C.H.

Chapter 4: Good Morning Sunshine (Part II)

[note: this happens on the same day as G. M. S. Part I]

When lunch was over Paul stood up. He turned to me and said, "see ya at six." Then turned and began walking in the direction of his class.

"OK, and Paul?" I said walking over to where he had stopped and turned around. He was about to respond when I leaned over and kissed him softly on the lips. All I had meant to do was thank him for trying to help me through this, but I guess my mind had secret plans- involving his mouth- and, strangely, I had no objections to this change of plans.

When it was over Paul said nothing, but looked at me with surprise in his eyes, then he walked away. "What have I just done?!?!?" I yelled at myself while walking to class, "Is this thing getting to me too?". "NO," I answered my own question, "I'm not all different... I'm still me... What's going on!?!?". Thoughts like these went through my mind the whole rest of the day, but the question most often going through my head was "What's going on?!?!?". I was losing grip on my sanity and I was losing it fast. Either that or something is going seriously wrong with the world.

"Hey, Suze." Dopey called. It was the end of the day and all I wanted was to get out of this place and go home. At least at home things were remotely normal. "Suze, are you okay?" Asked Dopey. "I've never heard that come out of his mouth before!" I thought.

"Yeah," I answered him, "I just spaced out for a sec, sorry."

"It's okay. Listen-" he said, "How do I get the new girl to like me? I really like her and I don't want to screw things up." He seemed nervous just talking about her.

"Okay...um, first talk to her. Offer to show her around. Introduce her to people... Kelly and them want to be her friends so introduce her to them. I'll talk to her and see what she's into... maybe invite her over... Okay?" I said trying to stay calm. "I'm helping BRAD get a girl...interesting- weird" I thought.

" You're the best sister ever! Wow, I just called you my sister- is that all right? It felt right. You're my SISTER! Wow!" He said smiling, "You've just made my day!"

I gave him a weak smile. "Okay. Glad I could help, I think. Let's go home now, Okay?" I suggested then began walking towards the car, Brad following close behind me.

Sleepy was talking to some girls by the car. When I approached him he glared at me. "Do you think you could get Adam to drive you and Brad home? Thanks." He said all in one breath and not even waiting for a reply.

"What about David?" I asked.

"He's getting a ride home from some other kid's parents. Now GO!" He said sounding annoyed.

"One problem." I said smiling sweetly, "I'm not speaking to Adam at the moment."

"Get over it!" He yelled/

"No problem here, but HE has other ideas." I countered.

"Than I suggest you start walking." Said sleepy with a sneer. My jaw dropped and I looked questioningly at Brad. He looked just as surprised as I did.

"Come on Brad." I said , "We are obviously not wanted here."

"I can see that." Stated Brad, "Now what?". Just then I saw Paul walking to his car. " I have an idea." I told Brad. "Paul!" I yelled. He turned around and did a double take, surprised to see who was calling him. I walked over to him, Brad behind me. "Hey, Paul, can I ask you a favor?" I said hopefully.

"You can ask and I'll see what I can do." Offered Paul.

"Can we get a ride?" I asked, "Jake turned all psycho on us and told us to take a hike."

"Sure." Said Paul, "Come on."

"Where'd you park?" I asked. He pointed to the farthest parking lot.

"Must be some car!" Commented Brad. Only the people with REALLY fancy cars- and the overly paranoid people- park in that parking lot.

Paul laughed, "You'll see."

"That is the sweetest truck!!" Brad exclaimed for the 500th time. Paul owned a dodge viper truck. It was candy apple red and the newest model. Paul smiled at the statement. He enjoyed showing off, everyone knew that.

"Thanks again for the ride." I said getting out of the truck. Paul was holding open the door.

"Anytime" He smiled.

"I hope Jesse is watching!" I thought, " I wonder what he'd do if I kissed him? Let's find out." I turned to Brad, "Hey Brad, you can go ahead inside. I need to talk to Paul". Brad was standing on the grass staring at the truck. He slowly began to walk inside, backwards, while still staring at the truck. When he finally got inside and closed the door I told Paul to get back in, I needed to talk to him. He did what I asked, As soon as he shut the drivers side door I said, "Oops, did I say 'talk'?". Paul looked at me questioningly. "This is for last night Jesse" I thought as I grabbed Paul and kissed him deeply and passionately on the lips. He tensed up as if he was afraid that I would stop kissing him and start beating him up if he reacted. Soon he relaxed. After about five minutes I pulled back and got out of the car. "You don't know how long I've been waiting for that!" He said. I smiled, "I know".

`When I got inside I went up to my room and put my school stuff away. Then I tried calling Jesse. I wanted to see a reaction, but he wasn't responding. "Fine, Ignore me!" I said and went downstairs to find something to do. "Strange," I thought, "I haven't seen a ghost since I talked to Jesse last night. Now I actually have to FIND something to do. Usually I have little glowie ghosties bugging me and MAKING me do things for them." I wasn't complaining though.

When I got downstairs Brad and David were watching TV. "David is not doing homework or studying?- weird" I thought. My mom was on the phone in the kitchen. I sat down at the table to wait 'til she was done.

"-Yes I'm sure she will be excited- yes- I'll be sure to tell her- of course- thank you, Mr.- oh, yes- Okay- goodbye" She said to the person on the phone. I sat there thinking, "I am most likely the 'she' from that phone conversation."

"Well, that was good new!" Said my mom, "Andy will be happy"

"Who was it?" I asked innocently. " Don't let her know that you know that she was talking about you." I reminded myself.

"That was the principal of Robert Louis Stevenson" She responded.

"Oh. What did he want?" I asked confused.

"They have an opening there. You start as soon as you're ready." She said smiling, "Andy wanted me to wait and tell you, but you looked like you needed some good news."

" I asked foe a way out of the Mission didn't I? Wow! I got what I asked for- cool- um, is this GOOD news?" I thought, my mind wandering. I smiled at my mother and said, "COOL!". She looked so happy. How could I tell her no when she had worked so hard to get this for me? I couldn't.

"It's almost 5:30. Andy should be home soon." Said my mom, still smiling.

"I'm going to miss dinner tonight mom. I made plans with- someone a while ago. Okay?" I said.

"With who?" She asked hopefully.

"A guy." I answered thinking that that answer should make her happy. And it did, she looked so happy that she was glowing- almost.

"Who?" She asked.

"Um" I hesitated, "you know him, that guy from the hotel last summer... Paul." I finally said. That sounded weird. Who am I kidding, it WAS weird... But it satisfied my mother. She looked even happier than she had a moment ago, if that was even possible. "Yes, the really handsome one that dropped you off the night that we found the- um- thing- in the backyard?" She said. I shuddered involuntarily at the mention of 'the -um- thing' that was Jesse's body - or what remained of it. "Yeah, that's him." I answered. She looked pleased, "do you need a ride?"

"Sure." I responded. "She wants to make sure that I'm not lying... figures... well I'm telling the truth- for once- so I'm safe on that one." I thought.

"There he is!!" Said my mom waving. She came inside with me to 'use the restroom' (meaning: to make sure I'm telling the truth.)

"Hey Paul, this is my mother." I said introducing him to her.

"Hi Mrs. Ackerman, nice to meet you." He said remembering that her last name was different from mine.

"Hi... Well I'd best be going- you have fun now!" She said walking out the door.

"She's nice." Said Paul.

"Most of the time." I answered. "So- what's up for tonight?"

"Anything." He answered.

I sighed, "This feels kind of weird- the whole 'sitting in a coffee shop talking to the guy who was one of my biggest fears before yesterday' thing". Apparently this surprised him. "You were afraid of me?" He asked unbelievingly.

"Terrified" I answered. He laughed, "You hid it well."

"I don't do well with fear- we never got along- and I am not known to play nice with those I don't get along with." This made him laugh and shake his head knowingly.

"So... are we -um- friends now?" He asked, " Now that you're not afraid of me and I've stopped stalking you.". I took a second to think about it... it's not every day that you become friends with your archenemy. "Um- I think so." I answered honestly.

"How does Jesse feel about this?" Paul asked concerned. I was silent for a moment while thinking of the best way to answer that question. "He's either really pissed off or still doesn't know about it- I haven't seen him since last night when he walked out on me." I answered. Paul looked shocked "JESSE walked out on YOU?".

I nodded my head "Yep- I was flirting with him too- he just said something along the lines of ' right-are you done yet?' and disappeared."

"Ouch. That must have hurt." Said Paul sympathetically.

"No. It just pissed me off." I answered truthfully, "HE'S gonna hurt when I see him next- the rest of our conversation was not much better than the disappearing act he pulled."

"Sorry" said Paul. I looked at him. "You didn't do anything- he did" I said.

"I'm sorry for him then" Pail said,

"Excuse me!" Said the waitress who'd been standing in front of our table for a while. "Do you guys know what you want?" She asked.

"Water" I responded.

"No, I have an idea" said Paul, "Let's go somewhere else. You need cheering up." The waitress rolled her eyes and walked over to another table.

"It was great!' I told Kelly over the phone later that night. One of her friends had seen me out with Paul that night and told Kelly, who wanted to know everything. "We went ice-skating and to dinner." I told her, "The plan was that we would just go to a coffee shop to talk, but Paul decided that I needed to be cheered up, so we changed the plan." I explained. "Why did you need cheering up?" She asked. " I- um- just broke up with my boyfriend" I answered.

"Adam?" She asked. I gasped, "NO!". "Who, then?" She asked nosily. "His name is Jesse- was- sorry I have another call- I have to go." I said quickly.

"Ok-cya" she said.

"Bye (*click*) Hello?" I said answering the other call.

"Hi, Suze, this is Kailey." Said the person on the other line.

"Hey. What's up?" I asked.

"Brad's your brother, right?" She asked.

"Yeah- but he's into someone" I said trying to see how she'd react.

"Oh." She said sounding let down.

"Cheer up!" I laughed, "He's into you! - But don't tell him I told you!"

"Oh- ok, thanks. Can I talk to him?" She said.

"Sure. One sec." I said walking over to Brad's room and knocking on the door.

"It's open!" He answered.

I opened the door, "Phone- it's Kailey" I said smiling. "She likes you" I added in a whisper. He grinned and picked up the phone,

"Suzie!" My mom called as I passed the stairs.

"Yeah?" I answered.

"Come here for a second, won't you?" She asked.

"Sure" I said, walking downstairs and into the kitchen. Her and Andy were sitting at the table smiling.

"We have a surprise for you." Said Andy.

"You know about Robert Louis Stevenson right?" Said my Mom.

" Right." I answered.

"Well," Said Andy, "We thought you needed a little something to show our care for you." He pushed a wrapped object across the table to me. I picked it up and weighed it in my hands.

"It's- let me guess- hmm - a - I know! You bought me a brain! It's just what I've always wanted a- whoa!" I had unwrapped it enough to see what it really was. I squealed, " Thank You! Oh my gosh! You bought me a cell phone! Aah! YAY! Thank You!" I hugged them both, "WOW!"

Andy and my mom smiled at each other and laughed.

" Do you have your permit with you?" Andy asked. This confused me, "I need a permit to use this thing?"

"No, but you will to use this!" Said my mom throwing me a smaller box. Then it hit me, "Is today my birthday?" I asked stupidly. My mom smiled and nodded, "did you forget?" She laughed. "I feel stupid now!" I said, then unwrapped the box. I opened it and screamed, not in terror or in pain, but in happiness. "Today is the best day of my life!" I said hugging them both again.

"I got a CAR and a CELL PHONE!" I screamed. My mother laughed, " do you want to see it?" I grinned and said yes.

Outside in the driveway was a cobalt blue Toyota Celica. It had a spoiler, leather interior, steering wheel cover, CD player, the works.

"Your father had an account set up to buy you a car when you turned 16" said my mother, " He wanted you to have a Celica, they were his favorite, and he always liked blue cars- this is from him too you know." She said. I felt a tear drip down my face as I saw my father materialize in my car. He pointed to the glove compartment and then sat there, waiting, until my mom and Andy went back inside. I got in the car. "Thank you!" I said hugging him, once I was sure that everyone else was inside and that I was not being watched.

"You're welcome!" He said smiling, " now open the glove compartment." I did as he said. Inside the glove compartment was a photo album full of pictures of him. Some of him as a child, some of him with me as a child, then I came across one of him with a car. "Was that your first car?" I asked.

"Yep," He answered, "It was a Celica too. Electric blue and brand new. Just like this one."

"I love you dad." I said, "This is the best birthday ever!"

"I love you to honey" he said, "Now lock up the car and go get some rest."

"Okay," I said yawning, "Goodnight."

"Goodnight" He answered disappearing.