Oops. . . Repeat after me: Suze has been in Carmel for 1 and a half months. Suze has been in Carmel for 1 and a half months. Suze has been in Carmel for. . .
Ignore whatever I said about her moving several weeks ago, ok? Thankies. Enjoy. . .
Lurv, Adeline
Shadows flickered across the ground. An eerie silence descended upon me, smothering in its dark black cloak. There was no sound to be heard, and I felt so small, standing there all alone. . .
When suddenly, a menacing chuckle filled the air around me.
My head jerked up as I glanced warily around me, trying to peer through the darkness. The sound. . . it had seemed to come from everywhere at once.
Suddenly, the figure of a man stepped out of the shadows and moved towards me. I stood as if frozen, unable to do anything but stare. As he grew closer, I could make out the shadow of a grin, somehow sinister in its slight slant. (A/N: Muahahaha. Invasion of the letter S! . . . Trust me to spoil the mood. Hehe)
And my head was filled with just one word, echoing emptily around my cranium.
"Slater."
I jerked up, cold sweat trickling down my forehead. It was dark out, and the glowing neon numbers on my bedside clock told me it was half past 3. I was breathing unevenly, gulping in lungfulls of air in an attempt to get my heart beating again.
Why did I keep having that dream—no, nightmare?
Really, I didn't know what exactly I was afraid of, but. . . the atmosphere, the coldness, the feeling of being so at the mercy of that figure. . . I shivered even as I laid back down. I didn't think I would be able to get back to sleep, but the covers, which I drew up to my chin, provided me with a sense of comfort, a barrier between myself and the fear the nightmare had left imprinted on me.
It's just a dream, Suze. Get over it.
But a fragment of doubt remained buried at the back of my mind. The man had seemed so familiar. . .
Cee Cee waved a white hand at me, Adam by her side, and I trudged towards her. She and Adam are my best friends in Carmel; Cee Cee's a studious albino with fair skin, radiant violet eyes and silken white hair, and she's gorgeous, even if she doesn't realize it.
And Adam. . . you could say he's a typical class clown, I suppose. He enjoys goofing around and playing practical jokes on people. You know, he's a great friend and all, but it beats me why Cee Cee has had a crush on him for like forever. . .
But I guess I can sorta emphasize. I DID like a few strange personalities back when I was a little kid. . . Emphasis here on little. As in young, clueless and stupid. I can still remember that infatuation had with Tom McKeinly, a skinny guy with huge ears and a minor case of anorexia.
Look, I was exaggerating. . .
It was halfway during religion class when Sister Enerstine stormed up to me and told me Father Dominic wanted to see me. A permanent frown seemed etched onto her forehead as she delivered her usual speech. "And you'd better hurry and get back here after you speak to him, young lady." Like, whatever. . .
I smirked—sweetly, of course—at her, then picked up my books and made my way to the office. Father D is the principal at this school, Junipero Serra Mission Academy, and only ever calls for me during Religion. One of the few things he does which result in gratefulness on my part.
And I suppose you could call him good-looking, in a priestly, regal sort of way.
Don't get the wrong idea. He is so not my type. Anyway, he's kind of old for me. Hmmm. . . maybe my grandma?
Father Dominic was seated behind his wooden table as usual.
"Susannah, have a seat. I—Have you encountered any ghosts in the past few months?"
My mind whirred. I couldn't lie outright, but maybe I could distort the truth… "Sure. My mum and I visited this friend of hers and she seemed rather suspicious, so I went back yesterday to check up on her. I found her slashing at a ghost who was very, VERY mad. But as usual, with my superb persuasion skills I managed to, you know, get him to leave and all."
Father Dominic narrowed his eyes at me. "Did you use any violence on him, by any chance?"
"Well, no…" I paused. Should I tell him about. . . ? "Ummm. Actually. You remember how my father told me about shifting? Well, it turns out you can actually shift right into that Shadowland place, and, uhh. . . "
I trailed off as his eyes widened in horror and he gaped at me. Then he must have realized how stupid he looked, because he snapped his jaw shut and turned red. I stifled a giggle, but a moment later Father Dom spoke again, and his angry voice and manner told me I was in for a long, angry speech.
"Susannah. You should know about the dangers you face each time you enter Shadowland! What if your soul gets left behind somehow, or is rejected entrance back into your body? Have you ever thought about the possible consequences? DON'T give me that look, Susannah," he exploded as I threw a bored look his way.
Um, ow. That outburst hurt my eardrums! Stupid priest.
What? He's not that holy. I mean, he actually has to resist the temptations of smoking.
Which really sucks, just in case you wanted to know. All that smoke. . . I tried it once after sneaking out from mum and Andy's wedding, and I was practically choking to death back there.
Plus Sleepy peeped out of the chapel, caught me smoking with my leather jacket draped on over my bridesmaid dress and asked me if I was in a gang. Yes, a GANG. Duh, no! Wearing leather jackets and black clothes does not make me a gang member.
Hmmm, I seem to hear faint, undecipherable mumbling sounds somewhere in the distance…
Finally, Father D gave up on his dialogue and sighed, the anger disappeared as if blown away by an especially strong gust of wind.
"And there have been no other ghosts? It is our job to mediate them, after all—in the proper way."
"No!" It came out rather too quickly, and suspicion was evident on Father D's part as he narrowed his baby-blue eyes at me. I wasn't lying.
Really. . .
Okay, so I hadn't told Father D about Jesse. But can you just imagine what his reaction would be? One word. BABOOM.
Why, you ask?
Let me create a laundry list. . .
I've put off telling him about Jesse for a long time… more than one month now, (A/N: Couldn't remember all the facts. So I'm having Suze move to Carmel at the starting of the year, and it's now halfway through Feb. Okay?)when he's always been harping on how I have to tell him if I encounter any ghosts.
Jesse practically lives in my bedroom. And he IS a guy. Father D, being a superbly paranoid guy, would immediately suspect we've been up to something. Which we have not. Sadly. . .
Mental kapow. Stop getting distracted, Suze. So, back to the point.
Jesse is the hottest, sexiest, most gorgeous guy on earth. What if Father D sees him and falls for him. Or—… Sorry. My thinking skills must have been affected by, err, Father D's brain-deadening speech. Yeah, that must be it.
The Father's a mediator, so… He'd want to mediate Jesse. I'm so not gonna let that happen. . .
Not that I'd miss him if he moved onto his next level of consciousness, or whatever. Because I wouldn't. Miss him, I mean. He's just welcome, uh, eye candy when I get home after another horrid day at school. That's ALL.
Fine, so I wouldn't mind having him stay.
Get off my case.
After staring at me for a long, long time—as if his eyes can shoot truth serum down my throat or something—Father D shook his head, stood up and ushered me out of his office.
I trailed along the breezeway, recently reconstructed after it collapsed mysteriously in the middle of the night.
Although, really, it wasn't all that mysterious. Just an exorcism I was trying to perform on a maddo ghost of a bitch who committed suicide. Needless to say, it went haywire and the beams just gave way… to cave in on ME.
Yeah, me.
Why always me?
I breezed through the rest of the lessons, until finally it neared the end of school. Last period: History.
Our teacher is Mr. Basil, who's old, white and has this ring of graying hair around his egg head. I only began appreciating my previous history teacher when I moved here. You wouldn't believe that guy. You know that show on Disney Channel, That's So Raven, there's this old sPPPitting teacher? Yeah, so Mr. Basil.
As usual, the only student sitting right up front was Anthony, Anthony Doritos. He's a typical geek—large head, wire-rimmed glasses with huge lenses, nose always in a book. Plus he aces all his exams. He's always scribbling madly in that little book of his during history. God knows how he stands all that spit.
Who knows, maybe he enjoys free showers, or something…
History was a drag. He went over for the umpteenth time the importance of appreciating the amazing culture, structural development and brilliant history of this beautiful island. Err. Whatever. Low whispers could be heard from around the entire class; others fiddled with their nails, doodled names obsessively and read under their desks.
Everyone scrambled out of their seats and rushed out of the classroom when he finally raised a hand to dismiss us. We still don't have a bell, which sucks like hell. Oh, wait, that rhymes!
I ambled along the corridor, stopping by my locker to stuff some books in. I smiled faintly as I zipped my bag up. Cee Cee and Adam were going to the beach; I'd backed out at the last second, saying something was up.
Only I'd been lying, of course. Wouldn't want to intrude on the two of them.
Not that Adam knows how she feels about him. But give them a little time and… Yeah.
I stepped reluctantly out into the blistering heat, turning at the corner of the school's structure, into the shade. I wasn't really looking at my surroundings, and next thing I knew, I was down on the hard floor, my bag thrown off and papers and books strewn all over the concrete. A shadow was looming over me, giving shade from the scorching heat of the sun.
What the heck?
Cursing, I glanced up at the cause of my fall. A boy was leaning over me, a skeptical look in his eyes. His eyes. . . they were pale blue, yet piercingly bright, and they seemed to see right through me.
When he saw my face, he seemed momentarily startled, but then the expression in his eyes shifted once again to. . . Smugness? Relief? Indifference?
I couldn't tell. But his face. . . It could be a coincidence, but I seemed to have seen it somewhere before. . .
I realized I was staring at him and blushed hotly. I gathered the scattered items hastily, glaring at the stranger when he made no move to help me. As I stood up and brushed myself off, I rolled my eyes at him.
"Help much?"
There was definite amusement in his features now. He quirked an eyebrow.
"I don't know." Mocking. "But a word of advice. . . you should watch your step."
He took some steps past me, then paused, turning his head slightly.
"Susannah."
I think I gave a sort of jerk when he said my name. The way the word rolled from between his lips made it sound so dark, threatening. . . I shuddered involuntarily, then shook my head to clear it. Surely he was just some weird guy in my school that I wasn't acquainted with, or something. Shrugging, I trudged on back home. No point standing there to stare at nothingness, right?
It wasn't until I got home that I succumbed to the tiredness that had been overwhelming me. I dumped my bag in a corner, threw myself onto the bed and conked off the moment my head hit the pillow.
I woke up some hours later to the shrill ringing of the phone. My mum installed a private line for me when I turned 14, thinking I'd have so many boys calling me that she wouldn't be able to use the phone, or something. I think she disappointed when the only person who actually called me was Gina. . .
I hooked a finger around the receiver and dangled it beside my ear.
"Hello?" My voice was slightly hoarse from sleep. Which I had been enjoying very much.
Annoyance found its way into my voice as I repeated the greeting, volume having been raised considerably.
The person on the other side of the line didn't seem to mind much though. There was giggling, then squealing. LOUD.
I winced. "Cee Cee? What's up?"
"Suze! I—Adam, he—I mean, he asked me out! On a date! I know it's only a twosome at the Coffee Clutch but still. A DATE!"
Woah. Her speed of verbalization was close to rivaling mine. . .
This was great news, though. Finally. I totally knew that Adam had a crush on Cee. So it was just a matter of time. Grinning, I yelled a congrats and was rewarded with—of all things!—giggling.
Yes, giggling. To think Cee was so scornful of squealers in the past. Huh.
Cee Cee and I shared a quick goodbye, and I climbed onto the window-seat, relaxing in the feel of the wind blowing gently across my skin, and the sun's dying rays warming my skin. As I looked on, the large orange sun sank slowly beneath the crystal blue water and the sky darkened steadily. Everything seemed calm, right, and a sense of happiness filled me for no apparent reason.
It would be alright, I said to myself. The dreams were just a result of stress; the boy an arrogant jerk with two left feet.
Knees tucked up beneath my chin, I smiled softly. Everything here was going to be great. Right?
I wish I'd known then what would happen in the near future. . .
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