CHAPTER 6

AGREEMENTS

"Ah, Susannah,"

Father Dominic said pleasantly, as I entered his office.

"Er… Hi" I said, wondering what he wanted to talk to me about.

"I understand you've told Jesse about our disagreement."

Oh. He wanted to talk about that. Why hadn't I thought of that?

"Oh." I said. "Yeah, I have. Why?"

"Well," Father Dominic said carefully. "I've thought about it, Susannah." I sat up straighter in my chair.

"And?" I asked eagerly.

"I have to admit, it's very serious business." I sunk back into my chair. " - But I'm willing to help you."

Yes! I sprang from my chair, and rushed at him, hugging him.

"Thank you thank you thank you!"

"Oh." Father Dom said. I could tell he was embarrassed. "Dear." I laughed, and let him go, picking up my book bag, and heading for the door.

"Oh, and Susannah?" I turned to face him. "Who was that girl you were with this morning?" I looked at him strangely.

"CeeCee." I saw him smile.

"No, I meant the ghost girl."

"Oh." I felt my face heat up. "Her name's Rachael. I'll introduce you to her later. But now I gotta run, second period starts in five minutes."

He nodded, and returned to his paperwork. I stole one last glance at him, closing the door behind me; and practically flew down the hallway, where I collided, hard with someone else. Their books spilt all over the floor.

"Oh!" I said. "I'm so sorry!" I helped to pick up their books, and stood up, blushing furiously.

"Hello again, Suze."

I looked up. It was Paul. Great. Wish for a Jesse, get a Paul.

"Hey."

"What are you doing tonight?"

"Er… nothing really. Why? I thought shifter sessions were tomorrow."

Paul chuckled. "No, it's not about shifter sessions."

"Well, what then?"

"Rachael. She's staying at your place, right?"

"How did you know?" I asked, spooked.

He shrugged. "I guessed. But that's not the point. Do you think you could ask her if she mined visiting me some time today at 8pm?"

I stared at him. "What about Kelly?"

He looked uncomfortable, but grinned none the less. Oh my God. He was breaking up with Kelly to get together with a ghost.

"Paul?" I said, seizing his shoulders and shaking him. "Paul? What has gotten into you? You're going out with the most popular, richest most beautiful, alive girl in school. And now you want to hang out with a ghost?" I shook my head.

"I don't know. I don't know. But the minute I set eyes on her - " He shook his head. "It just – I mean – she…" He trailed off. "I mean, I knew. I knew she was special. That she was different from all the other girls."

Wow. I thought. Wow, Paul Slater is human. But I didn't say that out loud. Instead I said,

"Sure, I'll tell her. And, guess what? Father Dom agreed!"

Paul looked confused. "Agreed to what?"

Oh that's right. I hadn't told him. Yet.

"Well," I said. "I found this thing. To get someone else's life back. It's not simple. And if it goes wrong, you die, too. But Father Dom and Jesse don't know that. I think that's the only reason why they agreed, anyway. But it's going to happen!" I squealed excitedly. "Paul. Jesse's going to get his life back!"

Paul didn't say anything. I thought he would have been furious. But he wasn't. Instead he looked at me, his eyes full of concern.

"Suze." He said. "Suze, what if it goes wrong?"

I should have been touched that Paul actually cared about me, but I wasn't. Instead, this just served to piss me off.

"But it won't!" I said.

"I hope not Suze. I hope not."

I looked up at him. I didn't know he could be so human. And so much like… well… Jesse. I suddenly felt a rush of affection for him. He could be a pain in the butt, but now he was coming through for me. I hugged him. I could tell Paul was taken aback at first, but then he hugged me back. I looked over his shoulder, to find someone surveying us with a look of disgust.

I broke away from Paul, looking at the person standing against one of the pillars. It was Jesse. I bounded over to him, and hugged him too. I was in a really good mood. Jesse was getting his life back, Paul wasn't mad at me; he was going to break up with Kelly, just to spend time with Rachael, who so obviously liked him back. Nothing could spoil my mood.

Especially not, when at lunch, CeeCee, Adam and I were discussing about how much we couldn't wait for the weekend, when we heard Kelly Prescott's voice shrieking, over the happy chatter.

"What!" we could hear her shriek. "You – You -" She broke off with a sob, and ran to the girls' room. I knew this because Rachael had followed them. Them, meaning Kelly and Debbie. She overheard their whole conversation. It went like this:

Kelly: "Oh my god. Oh my god."

Debbie: examining her hair in the mirror. "Hey, you'll get over it. I mean, he was only -"

Kelly: "An ass hole. A sexist pig. An ignorant know-it-all. I know."

Debbie: "Actually, what I meant was the hottest, richest cutest and smartest guy in the school. But whatever."

Kelly: sobs "How- how could he? How could he dump me? I'm president of our class! I'm the hottest girl in the whole school, and all my clothes are designer clothes! I'm the most popular girl at school! How could he?"

Debbie: "Right. Fine. Stop crying, it's okay. Now you can go capture Jake's heart."

Kelly: (still sniffling) "Yeah. I suppose. I mean, I still am hot."

Seriously. They went on and on like that. They really think highly of themselves.

CeeCee and I were cracked up laughing. I waved at Paul, as I saw him looking in our direction. I gave him the thumbs up sign. He just replied with a grin. I was glad we were on speaking terms. Paul could be quite sweet, when he was in love with someone else, and not trying to break you up with your boyfriend.

"So…" CeeCee said, as I took a cautious bite of my salad. Tuna. "What's with you and Jesse?"

I chewed carefully, and swallowed. "What do you mean?" I asked, trying to shrug the question off.

"When do I get to meet him?" She asked eagerly.

"Er…" I said. "Sometime soon, I promise."

She smiled excitedly, revealing a set of sparkling braces.

"I can't wait."

(A/N: sorry it took so long to update, but I was really busy. And sorry that it sucks so much. It'll get better soon! Promise!)

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