Okay, people, I'm sorry if I left a conversation half-way in the second chapter. I'm continuing from there in the third chapter. We left off at:

"Okay. What's her name anyway? Christie told me, but we hardly spoke about her." "Ariel," I said.

Enjoy the chapter…AND PLEASE REVIEW!!!!

DISCLAIMER: All characters except Ariel & Christie Windsor and a couple others belong to Meg Cabot.

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THREE

"Ariel Windsor?" asked Paul. "Yeah." I said. I spotted a pretty white half-buried seashell in the sand, with a bit of blue gleaming in it. I bent down and picked it up. "So Christie's a mediator," I said, analyzing the whole situation. "And her sister's a ghost who most likely has no clue about power of her sister's. So basically, we need to keep Ariel away from Christie's eyesight." "Yeah," said Paul. "Definitely. At least until Christie gets formal news of her death. Which is probably gonna be tomorrow morning, 'cause there's no freaking way that the papers and news channels won't get hold of this story." "Yep."

"So…I think you should go to your car using some excuse and tell that girl to keep her butt off the beach." "Okay," I said, laughing at Paul's expression. "I'll get there now." I turned around and walked towards where Jesse and Christie were sitting on the sheet in the sand. When I reached there, I bent down next to Jesse and said, "Jesse, I think I forgot my headband in the car, so can you give me the keys?" "Yes," he said, digging around in his pocket for the keys. He took them out and gave them to me.

I took the keys from Jesse and ran to the car. Ariel was still standing there, moping away. "Oh, come on," I said. "Stop sulking, Ariel. Death isn't the end of the world, you know. We can help you move on. And you never know what awaits you when you move on. A new life, maybe. Probably as a guy, or as a lizard or a plant." "Wow, that really made me feel better," said Ariel, sarcastically. "Anyway, I know you haven't come here to open the car. What do you want?" "You're smarter than you look," I remarked. "I came to ask you if you know that your sister can see ghosts and talk to them, too." "What?" cried Ariel. "Yeah," I said. You heard me right. Christie's like Jesse and me. Not to forget old Paul." "Who's Paul?" asked Christie, looking confused. "Your sister's boyfriend," I sighed, really fed up with these people forgetting each other. "Oh. Yeah. Right. Paul."

"So…you just came to ask me that?" "No," I said. "I also came to tell you something." "What?" "Keep your butt off the beach as long as Christie's there." "Why?" asked Ariel, looking confused again. "ARIEL!" I cried, impatiently. "Christie will flip if she sees you before she comes to know you croaked!" "Um. Okay." "And don't forget." "I WON'T!" "All right, that's about it."

I walked back to the beach. When I got to the spot, I saw that Christie had a pained expression on her face. She was holding her ankle and moaning, and Jesse was inspecting it closely. "What happened?" I ran up to them. "Sand crab," said Paul, absently. "Ooh." I winced. Sand crabs could be very nasty.

"I think we should get Christie home," said Jesse. "Yeah," I said. "I agree. That bite looks bad." "Okay. Can you walk, hon?" asked Paul. "Um," said Christie. "Lemme see. I'll try." As she tried to get up, her pained expression got even more pained. "Possible, but difficult," she declared. "Very difficult." Then she caught my eye, and when she thought Jesse and Paul weren't looking, she winked at me. She was playing some kind of a trick!

"Okay, baby," said Paul, flexing his muscles. "Now's when my work-outs will come in use!" Saying this, he swept Christie off her feet as I gaped at both of them. "Ooh," I whispered to Christie, smiling. "Romantic!" Christie giggled.

"Paul," said Christie, as we all walked out of the beach. "I think Suze and Jesse should come over to our place." "Your wish is my command!" said Paul in a silly way. Wow. I had never seen Paul so much at some other person's service before. But then again, I was the object of his affections when we were in school, but his crush on me had been a weird one. Because you don't usually tie up the girl you love with a rough old rope and gag her in a barn, trapped in the nineteenth century. But he had done this on the first place so that he could date me. But whatever. That's beside the point.

"Come over to our place!" said Paul. "We'll have lemonade or something. With those little paper umbrellas!" I rolled my eyes. Paul's idiotic sense of humor hadn't changed one bit.

Paul came out of the kitchen, holding a black plastic tray with four glasses of fizzy lemonade on it. They all had slices of lemons on the rims, along with the straws that have those little paper umbrellas, just like they serve in cafés and hotels. We were sitting on the red loveseat in the living room.

When I sipped my lemonade, I realized how parched my throat was. The lemonade felt like heaven. "Mmm," I said. "Awesome lemonade, Paul." "Thanks," said Paul, grinning. "Made it myself!"

Just then, I felt a finger tap me on my back. When I impulsively turned my head around, I saw Ariel crouching behind the loveseat. I turned my head around. I bit my lip and hissed "What?"

"Can I please stop hiding?" she begged. "No way!" I hissed. "Who are you talking to, Suze?" asked Christie. "No one," I said, hurriedly. "Just…singing to myself." I gave her a desperate smile. She smiled back at me suspiciously. "Um…I need to go to the loo," I said. "Can you tell me where it is?" "Yeah, sure," said Christie. "Go through that door and turn left." She signaled to the door directly opposite me. I got up and walked towards the door. I signaled to Ariel to follow me quickly. She got up and whenever Christie wasn't looking, she quickly scurried after me.

Finally, we reached the bathroom. We both heaved a sigh of relief. "Okay," I whispered to Ariel. "Now tell me what you want." "I want to show myself to Christie!" whined Ariel. "Sshh!" I said. "But why?" "Because I can't bear to wait until tomorrow! We don't even know if the story will be there in the papers!" "It will!" "All right. Even if it is, what's the guarantee that Christie will read it?" demanded Ariel. I sighed. This was an exceptionally stubborn ghost to deal with.

"Look," I said, trying to sound reasonable. "I'll make sure Paul makes her read it, okay?" "No!" said Ariel, like a kid fighting with his mom for a candy. "I want to show up now!" "Oh, God, Ariel," I said. "All right." "Yay!" said Ariel. "But you've gotta promise you won't shock her too much." "Promise," said Ariel, quickly. "Now can I meet her, please?" "Yeah," I sighed. "Come on, follow me."

When we walked out, Christie turned to smile at me, but as soon as she saw Ariel, her face turned pale. "A-A-Ariel?" she managed to stutter. Ariel gulped. "Yeah, Chris. It's me." Ariel walked slowly to Christie's loveseat and sat down next to her. Christie looked at her as if she couldn't believe her eyes. Ariel hugged her.

I think that's when the full impact of the situation hit poor Christie. She started crying. "Ariel!" she cried. "You're dead! How?" "I know," whispered Ariel. Then the conversation went like this:

Ariel: "My…my flight crashed into the ocean when I was on my way here."

Christie: "What? Your flight crashed?"

Ariel: "Yes." (still whispering)

C: "Oh my God. I can't believe this. I'm dreaming, right?"

A: (pauses) "Um, no."

C: (beginning to spurt more tears) "Oh God…this sucks!"

A: "Talk about it. And how come you never told me of this 'gift' of yours?"

C: "Gift? What gift?"

A: "Of being able to see and speak to ghosts."

C: "Oh. That. I didn't think you'd believe me. I thought you'd think I'm some crazy psycho freak."

A: "No way. You were my idol. I mean, you are my idol. But I guess now I'll have to stop dressing like you. Because, like Suze said, ghosts can't change clothes."

C: "Wha-at? Suze is a mediator?"

A: "Uh-huh! She's the one I went to when I died."

C: "Oh…oh."

A: "So…I guess I can still stop over, right?"

C: (laughing weakly) "Yeah."

A: "So…show me my room!"

Christie got up (suspiciously enough, she seemed to be able to walk perfectly…) and took Ariel to the guestroom. When they were gone, Paul and Jesse simultaneously looked up at me with an expression that demanded an explanation. "Okay, okay," I said, stepping back. "Don't look at me like that! I'll tell you everything!"

After I told Paul and Jesse everything, both of them looked impressed. Impressed?! Is the male species truly abnormal?! I mean, which human being looks impressed at such situations?

"Okay," I said. "Are you satisfied now?" "Yeah," said Paul. "Yes." Jesse said. Ariel and Christie still hadn't come out of the guestroom. I guess they were having a sister-to-sister chat or something. "Um, Paul," I said. "I think we'll get going now." "What? Wait for sometime! You can't leave so fast! We've met after such long time!" he protested. "We can meet again sometime later," I said. "Give me your number." Paul quickly ran into his bedroom and came out with a scrap of paper and a pen. He scribbled his number on it and gave it to me. "I'll call," I assured him. "Come on," I said to Jesse. "Let's go."

Jesse and I were in the kitchen, making pasta for dinner. Okay, correction. Jesse was in the kitchen, making pasta for dinner, I was doing the dishes at the sink. We can't afford a dishwasher yet.

"Today was quite a day, wasn't it?" I said, scrubbing a greasy bowl. "Oh, yes," said Jesse, stirring the steaming pasta on the stove. "It most certainly was." "Jesse," I said, carefully. "Can I ask you for something?" "Anything for you, querida." "Anything?" I said, even more carefully. "Name it," said Jesse, patiently. "Sleep in today." "Sleep in?" Jesse asked, looking confused. "I live here, querida." "Jesse," I said, impatiently. "You know perfectly well what I mean." "No, I don't," said Jesse, laughing. "Jesse!" I cried, flinging myself at him, soapy suds and all. "Suze!" laughed Jesse. Suze? Jesse had called me Suze, not Susannah! Something was weird here.

"Did you just call me Suze?" I asked, just to confirm. "Yes, querida," said Jesse. "I'm quite tired off calling you by such a lengthy name now. So I've decided that now on it's going to be Suze. Short and sweet." "It's your call!" I laughed. So someone had finally knocked some sense into Jesse's head. "Anyway, please sleep in today!" I begged, hugging him. "Querida," said Jesse, stroking my hair. "Why are you asking? You know exactly what I am going to say. And anyway, the wait is quite short. One month isn't much. Engaged couples usually had to wait for their wedding for about five to six months back when I was little." "Yes," I grumbled. "But that was, like, way back in the 1800's! It's 21st century now." "Suze," said Jesse, still sounding patient. "Please. I am not saying no. I'm just asking you to wait." "All right, all right," I grumbled. "And not one month. It's exactly 22 days from today." "Yes, yes," laughed Jesse. "22 days!"

Why do I get to end up with such a righteous boyfriend?

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Okay! Hope you enjoyed the chapter, people. Sorry if the story is just a wee bit slow right now, but I've got my plot all planned out, and I promise the story will pick up soon. So continue reading!!

AND I HARDLY GOT ANY REVIEWS FROM YOU GUYS THE LAST TIME! 

SO PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEZ REVIEW THIS CHAPTER!!!!!

I'm gonna update ASAP, coz I'm already on chapter 4!!

--PiSCEANGiRLPOWER