AmeliaNotes: I didn't get any reviews for Chapter 5. Did no one like it? Did no one read it? Whatever happened, I hope you guys read, enjoy and review this chapter.

Also, on a more personal note, please hold the areas hit by the recent epic storms in your thoughts. I live in southeast Missouri currently and we're having some of the worst flooding in recent history, thousands of people in various towns in my area have had to evacuate or have had flood waters cause damage to property. It's still raining. My friends and family in Mississippi and Alabama are in the those areas worst hit by tornadoes. Please, just keep us all in your thoughts.

The Mediator

Chapter 6

Quatre called me the next afternoon to tell me we wouldn't be able to go riding until next week, because of some youth group that was renting the entire Trail Rides. Secretly, I was kind of relieved. Despite Steel's good nature, the big horse kind of scared me.

Oh yeah, and the deranged ghost.

He's still chattering as only Quatre can. My new friend talks nearly as much as a stereotypical teeny-bopper cheerleader. Except without saying 'like,' 'totally,' 'shut up' or 'oh my god.' I tune back in quickly.

"-party tonight at Dorothy's house. Pretty much the entire school is invited. I'm sure Hilde will tell you about it soon, since Dorothy and her friends are just dying," he said 'dying' in his best valley-girl voice, which was pretty good, "to meet the new boy. Fair warning, Dorothy is absolutely boy-crazy. Right now she's half in love with Trowa, who runs away from her as if she carried the Black Plague."

"Trowa's shyness extends to girls too, huh?" I was fishing, I knew it, but I had some suspicions about exactly how Quatre felt about Trowa and vice versa.

"Huh? Oh yeah, I guess so. He was going out with this girl named Mindy for awhile back in ninth grade, but Mindy's older sister Beth didn't think Trowa was good enough for her little sister."

"Beth?"

"Uh-huh, Beth and Mindy Une."

Could Beth Une be my mysterious ghost? How many people could have the name Beth in this little rinky-dink town? "I've, umm, heard those names before." I hoped Quatre would fall for it.

"Beth was the girl that died a month or so ago. She was in a car accident. I mean, you've seen the roads around here. It's easy to lose control if you're going too fast. She died almost instantly. Beth had just graduated from school as well. It's really sad."

Quatre was sounding very sad, so I decided to tactfully change the topic. "So, about this party, who's Dorothy?"

That ploy was definitely successful in distracting Quatre. About twenty minutes later I had learned that Dorothy was a royal bitch (my phrasing, not Quatre's), needed her eyebrows tweezed and was cousin to this guy named Zechs Merquise who Noin had a huge crush on. He was also a part-time model.

It might be a good idea to take Noin shopping sometime. If she's going to crush after a model she has to get over the 'jeans and a tank-top' look.

"Do you want Trowa and I to pick you up or will you catch a ride with Noin and Hilde?"

"Hold on, let me make sure they don't care if I tag along." I opened the door to my room and stuck my head out. "Hey!" I shouted at the top of my lungs. "Lu-Lu! Can I ride with you to this party thing?"

"Whatever!" Her voice floated down the stairs from her loft. "Stop calling me that ridiculous nick-name!"

"I'll ride with the girls," I informed Quatre, even though I'm sure he'd heard the whole thing.

There was silence on the other end of the line.

"Quatre?"

"Did you just call Noin Lu-Lu?"

I grinned, even though it was only to myself. "Oh yeah, she hates it."

"Right. You know she could probably beat you up?"

"Hey! Give a guy some credit! I'm not that weak!"

"Okay."

"I'm not!"

"I'll see you at the party Duo."

"I'm not weak!"

"Bye Duo!"

He hung up on me.

I grumbled a bit before putting the phone back on the cradle. I would have called him back to argue some more, but that would be pretty pointless. Besides, I'd called his house once and realized that Quatre has close to a gazillion sisters, all older, and all home from college for the summer break. Scary place to call.

There were several more hours before Dorothy's party, so I decided to explore the yard. I hadn't had a chance yet, so it seemed like a good idea. I pulled on an older pair of jeans (the grass was pretty high out there) and an old t-shirt, told Mom where I was going and made my way out the back door.

Our back yard is huge, or so I'm told, you can't see much of it. It used to be a pretty English-style garden, with lots of flowerbeds and hedges and little stone paths. Now it's just this big overgrown maze. It's a bit of a struggle to walk through, but I'm in the mood for some plain old physical activity. Maybe I'll even find a nice place that I can think. Either way, there won't be any ghosts.

"What are you doing?"

Well, screw it.

"Walking, or rather, struggling to walk." I refused to look at Heero.

"Why?"

"I wanted to explore the back yard," I told him. Just at that moment, my extremely graceful post-pubescent body decided that it was going to fall. Over something thorny. Into something equally thorny. "Oh sh-"

A strong hand wrapped around my upper arm and stopped my fall. Another hand grabbed my opposite wrist and swung me around, changing the direction of my momentum. Instead of hitting the ground and a bunch of thorns, I hit Heero's chest. I froze almost immediately. I hadn't ever touched Heero. In fact, I'd hardly even spoken to him. We weren't exactly friends, after all.

"Baka, watch where you're going." His slightly nasal voice penetrated my thoughts.

That word again! I'd have to figure what language he was speaking. I wrenched myself away from him, only to lose my balance and have him catch me again. This time, one of his arms wrapped around my waist, while the other held my forearm. Almost immediately I felt myself start to blush.

Oh. My. God. I'm blushing over a ghost.

I need a life.

He was looking at me with an unreadable look on his face. Probably trying to figure out what my malfunction was. Very carefully, I stepped away from him. His hands lingered on me (probably afraid I'd face-plant if he let go) for a few extra moments before releasing me entirely.

"Thanks," I mumbled.

He just nodded in response. "There's a path over there." He pointed off to my left. "It winds through the whole garden. The plants haven't flourished along it."

"Stupid weeds," I said, without any malice. I took his suggestion and began picking my way through the weeds, trying to find the supposed path.

"A weed is just a misplaced plant."

"Huh?" I glanced at him.

"You think they are weeds because they are plants in the wrong place. If it was in a field or meadow, you wouldn't call these plants weeds. However, since they're in a garden, they're weeds."

I stepped onto the little path, which was made of flat stones mortared together. The weeds, or misplaced plants or whatever, were less prevalent here, so I was able to walk fairly easily. "Did you just think of that, or have you been waiting to tell someone that for the last few decades?" I joked.

He ignored me. "The pond is that way." He nodded in the opposite direction of the house.

"We have a pond!" I exclaimed. So sue me, I think it's cool. I took off in the direction he'd indicated almost immediately. This time, I watched where I was putting my feet. There were fewer plants along the path, but the stones were uneven. "This garden will be so awesome when we clean it up. Mom wants to make it look like it looked when the house was first built, or as close as she can. She's really excited. We couldn't exactly have a garden like this in the city after all."

"This garden went to pieces when Mrs. Oller's gardener died."

"So, you were alive when this house was built?"

He just glared at me.

"Well, geez-louise, sorry I asked. I was just wondering what the old place had looked like." I gave him my patented 'I'm-just-curious-but-not-about-you' look that I occasionally have to use. Ghosts don't always like to talk about themselves, so occasionally you have to go about finding information in a very round-about way.

Heero continued to glare.

Okay, maybe my patented look wasn't working. This time.

"Whatever. Oh wow!" I ran over to the banks of the little fish pond, completely forgetting Heero.

In my defense, it was really cool. The pond was situated on the edge of the yard, screened on all sides by towering oak trees. The path led straight out across the water onto a decrepit-looking little walkway with a gazebo on the end. Lilies ran rampant all through the pond, covering the surface of the water with a layer of green. Occasionally, between the plants, I glimpsed some very pretty, and very large, goldfish.

"I think I found my new favorite place!" I announced gleefully.

"You haven't seen the rest of the garden."

Heero gestured for me to follow him. We walked around the garden until my watch told me I had better get back to the house or I'd be in trouble for being late to dinner. He wasn't so bad, Heero I mean. I guess I could handle having him as a roommate. The only weird thing was the bit about him being dead and all. It wasn't until we were almost to the back porch that I remembered I wanted to ask him what his full name was (when in doubt, use a history book to find out about a ghost!). I turned to look at him, but he had disappeared.

Probably to go haunt my room and read my books. Bastard.