Moovalous- Haha, good luck with midterms!! But that you so much for reading my story! I am glad you like it!
Fishtails- Fluffy is ALWAYS nice! Teehee. And I shall keep on writing!
Nikki- I am glad you like it a lot!
Michelle- Michelle…go read the actual books. Will give you something to do while waiting for my lazy butt to write the next chapters! Haha.
Chelsea- I WROTE MORE! I hope you like this chapter also.
mOochiko- I sent you an email. You rock and I love you! I hope you like this chapter!! You make me happy!
Linda – Glad you loved it!
Kelikei- continuing now.
JesseIsMyRomeo – thanks for the advice. I hope you still love my story!
nikki007- I hope I didn't take too long to update!
I love my reviewers and "fans" if I can call you people that. You make me happy. This chapter will be dedicated to…Michelle, Meg, and Doodle because they always bug me till I write and yeah I love them they are the coolest friends ever.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Ok wait, before I write this, I must say, I have been writing this for like a year and a half. That is a long time. I have put a lot of time and energy into this story and I love writing it and I hope you all love reading it. You all are what keep me going.
Jesse POV
Suze suddenly looked at me, her being the confused one for once, and asked, "Wait. Who is Kyle?"
"You know, I am not exactly sure myself. He is a senior in my Spanish class. Kyle Robinson. He seems very…stupid. I do not remember being that idiotic when I was his age!" Ok, I was probably being a little harsh on the guy, but I was shocked. He could only talk about "chicks" and surfing. Just like every other teenage male here. What has happened to the youth of today?!
"It is not so much the book smarts that guys lack now a day…it is their logic and common sense. They do not think before they speak and think all girls think they are mega studs or something." Susannah replied to my statement.
I shrugged and said, "Maybe, I will have to observe him and others around me to see how they act…I am going to want to fit in here."
Susannah's eyes widened with fear and yelled, "NO!"
This startled me greatly and I asked, "What? What is it?"
Suze POV
I cannot believe this. He is going to observe the dimwits in my school to see how he should be as a 21st century dude. They are going to corrupt my Jesse! "No, please Jesse, promise me you will not change too much! They will ruin you…I love you the way you are NOW…" I looked up at him with pleading eyes. Oh yes, I am very skilled at the whole pouting puppy dog eye look.
He just smiled at me and chuckled, "Do not worry, Querida, I will not go changing too much on you." He then leaned down and lightly kissed my lips. He then glanced at the clock, which read 8:45. "I am sorry, but I must go back to the rectory now. Father Dominic wanted me back by now…he said something about having The Talk with me or something to that manner. Whatever that means." He stood up and pulled me up with him. We exited my room holding hands and walked down the stairs and then onto the front porch.
I closed the front door behind us and said, "Well goodnight Jess. I will see you in the morning." I smiled sadly at him and added, "It will be weird without you around to open and close my windows for me…"
He wrapped his arms around me tightly and my head went automatically onto his shoulder…he smelt nice…wait. Jesse has a scent? I could SO get used to this. He leaned his head to mine and gave me one last kiss and said, "Yes, I will see you in the morning, Querida. I love you."
He let go of me and walked towards his car…wait no…that is Father Dom's car. I guess he was letting Jesse borrow it for tonight. Aw, how nice! I smiled to myself and watched him leave. When he was out of my site and went back inside and went to my room. I flung myself onto my bed and heaved out a giant happy sigh.
.Wednesday.
The next day at school it was announced that the formal dance was not exactly a 1800s dance. It was a masquerade! This means we all get to dress up in old-fashion dresses and masks. "Excuse me students. Have some of you might have heard, there is a formal dance this Monday at the local Haunted House. It will be in the theme of a masquerade and there will be a best-dressed award! I know it is late notice, but it was suppose to be a surprise for you all. We will have Tuesday off of school. We hope you can all come and tickets will be sold at lunch today and the remainder of the week."
Right away everyone in homeroom was buzzing with talk about it. Who to take, what to wear, how exciting it all was. CeeCee and I joined in the fun also discussing what our dresses and masks should look like.
"Well, when I think Masquerade, I automatically think about the scene from Phantom of the Opera…OH! Wouldn't that be SO cool if you, Adam, Jesse, and I went as Phantom characters?!" I said getting more and more excited by the second.
CeeCee giggled and said, "Oh my god, that would be so much fun! You are brilliant, Suze! I think you should be Christine and Jesse should be the Phantom! I will be Meg and Adam can be Raoul. This will be amazing! We should keep our idea on the down low though, so no one steals it…" She had leaned in closer and whispered the last part.
"You ladies come up with anything interesting for the dance?" Paul asked from behind us. Have you ever noticed how he tends to just pop up from behind randomly? Weird.
"I am assuming you mean to wear?" I said in response.
"Hmm, yeah that or just whatever," he said back to me.
CeeCee shrugged her shoulders and said, "Not really…nothing creative has come to mind yet." I am so glad at least one of us can lie, seeing that Paul can see right through me when I lie.
With that it was time to go onto our morning classes and another day began…
That night I was in my room when the phone rang. "Hello?" I answered.
"Hey Suze, it's Paul," the voice on the other end of the line said.
I wonder what was so important that he felt the need to call me. "What is up, Paul?" I really was interested.
There was a short pause and then he said in a somewhat pained voice, "I do not understand it, Suze…"
Um. What the hell? "Understand what…?" I was so confused. I mean…what could he be talking about? I am the one that is always asking him the questions here…
"I told you I loved you…you did not have to sit around to hear it from me…I willing gave you my love and I wanted to help you…and…you pick HIM. I do not understand why."
I just stared at the phone is shock. I mean, this doesn't sound like Paul at all. He is normally totally dispassionate about everything or totally outraged. "Uh. Because I love him?" I know this probably was not the answer Paul was looking for but I was still in a state of complete confusion. "Look. I'm sorry, but there is nothing I can do about that!"
He chuckled softly…but not in the sexy way Jesse does…more in his I am evil and we all know it kind of way. "You might not be able to change that, Querida, but I can…and I will…" He said querida in a totally mocking tone of Jesse.
Ok, now I was pissed. Who the hell does he think he is? "What the hell Paul! I thought we were friends now, and friends do not do shit like this to each other!" I mean, God, come on!
He laughed again and said in a darkly serious voice, "Oh come off it, Suze. You and I both know you did not really want to be friends with me. You never trusted me. You just wanted to stay on my good side to keep Jesse safe. I also figured that the saying 'its easier to catch flies with honey then vinegar' is true and it worked…kind of. I know now that you will never be mine. The freaking love bond shit between you and Jesse proves that, and I cannot stand it anymore. How the HELL do you expect me to be friends with the girl I love when she is off loving an ex-ghost?" Now he was the one sounding pissed off.
My fingers ran through my hair in frustration. I cannot believe he would fake being nice to me and my friend to get me to like Jesse less! God, and what pisses me off the most is that I am hurt. I actually liked being friends with him but now I see he really is just an evil bastard spawn of Satan. "Paul, how can you do this to me?" I said in a voice barely over a whisper.
He was silent for a moment as if the hurt in his voice pained him. Maybe he was right. Maybe somewhere in me I had decided to be friends with him only because I knew it would keep Jesse safe…maybe I am just a big fake who uses people to get what she wants…oh god…I am such a horrible person…After thinking about all of that a sob escaped from my mouth. "Pa-Paul…I'm…sorry…" I sat there silent trying to hear if he was there or not because he wasn't saying anything.
Suddenly I heard a haggard breath being exhaled from his mouth and I could tell he was crying or at least close to it. "I loved you Suze…loved you…and if you only just let me show it to you…" he broke off and took a deep breath as if to gain control of his emotions. When he spoke again his voice was much stronger and colder. "You brought this upon yourself…" He then slammed the phone down and the line went dead.
Oh god…
Sleep did not come too easily that night for me. I tossed and turned thinking about the conversation with Paul. He was hurt and pissed and I have learned that these emotions did not mix well with Paul. He once informed me that he did not deal well with loosing and look how that ended up…I was left stranded in the Shadow land. He said I brought this upon myself…brought WHAT? What is he planning to do to me? Or worse, to Jesse? God, I should have known not to trust him to be my friend…
That day at school I was like a walking Zombie. Father Dom saw me stumbling down the hallways to get to my classes and frowned. "Come here, Susannah. I want to talk to you in my office."
I looked up at him through half closed eyes and nodded. I silently followed him to his office and sat down in my normal seat. Ah, to be sitting down! It felt heavenly. I slouched down so I was basically lying down in a sitting position and looked sleepily up at Fr. Dom. "Can I just stay here for a while? Or, like can you get me caffeine? I can barely keep my eyes open…" I yawned and stopped talking. It just took too much energy.
Father Dominic frowned down at me again and said, "Are you spending too much time with Jesse or something that you aren't getting enough sleep? You really need to get at least 8 hours of sleep a night, Susannah"
I looked up at him in shock and then sort of laughed. "Uh, no offence, but I have not gotten that much sleep on a regular basis since I was like…eight. And also, no, it is not from spending too much time with Jesse. In fact, I did not even see him after school hours yesterday. I just could not sleep due to something that Paul said to me…"
Now instead of frowning at me, Father Dom just looked at me with concern. "What did Paul say to you? Are you ok?"
I nodded my head and said, "Oh, yeah I am fine…at least for now. I mean, I really do not know exactly what he was talking about or what he is planning on doing…. but when it comes to Paul Slater I kind of just expect the worse, yanno?"
"Well, what did he say to you then to get you so worried?"
This time I frowned. I looked down at my hands and played with the hem of my sweater. I mean, do I really want to tell a priest that Paul is pissed off because I don't love him, but I love an ex-ghost? Would he understand that? I mean, god I hardly understand it and I am involved. I still couldn't quite understand why Paul all of a sudden went all-jealous on me when a day earlier he was perfectly normal. Or as normal as he ever was. Except, was he and I being friends EVER normal? Not really. I sighed and said, "Well, ok, I am still trying to figure it all out myself…but you see, Paul informed me he loves me a few days before Jesse turned human. And Jesse coming back to life sort of proved that I really truly love him, its like, one of my powers or something. This totally pissed off Paul though, because it meant that I do not love him nor ever will. He then went all weird on me and accused me of never wanting to actually being his friend I just acted nice to him to keep Jesse safe…but that is so not true, at least I don't think it is…anyway he then told me 'I brought it upon myself' and I will pay and things like that. He was really upset. I felt sort of bad but it made me realize why I never wanted to be his friend before. He is Satan!"
Father Dom's eyes widened at my last remark and went, "Susannah! He is NOT Satan!"
I raised an eyebrow at him and said, "Oh really? How do you know this? Do you know who Satan is? I don't think so. So ok maybe he isn't Satan but he is at least the spawn of Satan in human form." Harsh, I know but he so deserves it. Paul, I mean, not Fr. Dom, who is like the least Satan-y person I know, being a priest and all.
He just sighed at me and shook his head back and forth. "I am going to ignore that comment, Susannah. So, you do not know if he is actually going to do anything?"
I shrugged my shoulders and said, "Its Paul. You can't tell with anything when it comes to him."
Father Dom folded his hands and placed them on top of his desk, I think to keep himself from grabbing his handy pack of cigarettes that he rarely ever smokes. Heh, I seem to have that effect on him. "Since you do not know for sure, I suggest you just keep an eye out and be careful, ok? And get some sleep. But not now, now you must go back to class."
Jesse POV
Ah, back at good ol' Spanish class. I was sitting next to Kyle again and was probably paying more attention to him then to la profesora. I was raised speaking Spanish, I do not need to listen completely to her! I noted what Kyle was wearing and how his hair was styled. His hair was dark blonde, dirty blonde I think Susannah said it was called, and it was what I later learned was called shaggy or suffer boy look. Interesting names for styles now-a-days. He had on baggy-ish pants and a pink polo with his collar up. I wonder if he knows it is up like that…hmm. In my day, only girls wore pink, but I suppose not anymore. I seriously hoped Susannah was not expecting me to wear pink though. Yes, I think I am too manly for that.
I started comparing my looks to him to see how I was doing in the whole fitting in thing. His skin was tanned, from I guess surfing, but mine was even tanner. I am just naturally dark. My hair had been cut with Susannah's help so it went right above my eyes and still had a slight curl to it. I had on corduroy tan pants and a navy blue long sleeved button down shirt that Susannah had picked out for me. I would be so lost if it weren't for her help!
Suddenly Kyle whispering to me interrupted my thoughts. "Yo, dude, do you understand question 4 on the worksheet?"
I looked down at my paper, which I had finished almost 15 minutes ago. "Si." I then went on to explain it to him and he just shook his head in amazement.
"How do you understand this shit?" He asked me.
I took offense to that! Spanish is not 'shit' I do not go around calling his culture shit! Have some respect! I frowned and said, "My family speaks Spanish…I grew up around it."
He shot me a somewhat apologetic look and said, "Oh, sorry man…" His face brightened again then and asked, "Hey, you still going out with that Suze chick?"
I clenched my fist around my pen and simply nodded and then asked, "Why?"
He shrugged and said, "Oh, just wondering because if you weren't I would ask her to the Masawhatever dance thing."
I rolled my eyes to myself and said, "Masquerade?"
"Yeah!" he said. "That's it! Like I said before, dude, she is hot. You are lucky, even if she is younger then us. Hah, that Paul dude should just take a hint. She is obviously not interested in him."
I smirked at that. I couldn't help it, even though I do not like other males thinking about my Querida like that, he is right. She IS hot and well, just amazing, and I am lucky to have her. I wonder if she knows about other guys liking her though...besides Paul obviously. "Yes that el bastardo pequeño should take a hint. I have no plans of leaving Susannah."
Kyle laughed and said, "Right on, man! You show that…uh…whatever you called him!"
I chuckled to myself and thought that Kyle maybe would not make such a bad friend after all…
TBC.
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The dance should be soon…