Haunting

Chapter three: Monday (part one)

Summary: You grew up on them...whether to scare you or intrigue you. Ghost stories, chilling and mysterious. Some people don't believe in them..and those are the people that come to find out, first hand...That they're true. -Not a Mary-Sue, and is really interesting. PLZ read.-

A/N: This is an odd idea in and of itself, and I realize this. But its October, and its getting near to Halloween...and I just got this idea. I hope you all will like it...after all, this is a challenging thing to write if I still want it to be legit. -grin- I hope I manage it all right.

BTW: There is no romance in this. At least not between any female and any newsie. Just to set that straight. This isn't a Mary-Sue.

Disclaimer: No, I do not own newsies. Thank you.

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"Any idea, like a ghost, must be spoken to a little before it will explain itself."

- Charles Dickens

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School wasn't all that bad up in the freezing cold north, Elizabeth had come to find out. Different, yes, of course, but not unbearable. In fact she actually kinda liked it. The only thing she really had to adjust to, were the buildings.

The south had plenty of room, so the schools, whether they be elementary, middle, or high, were spread out accordingly. One floor, spacious rooms -on occasion- and portable classrooms located on the side.

Her school now wasn't like that at all. Instead, they tried to save space and build upwards. Two stories, or more depending on the situation at hand and the city, most of the time with a basement or underground floor.

She hadn't really had to deal with a single stair for most of her life, and now she had to manage at least a hundred every day. The bus ride was nothing spectacular, boring in fact, since their driver was a crabby old man who looked ready to drop dead from a heart attack at any moment.

Not to mention he wouldn't turn on the radio no matter how many times they asked.

Once she hopped off the bus, in all her mismatched glory, she gained some odd looks, but she mostly ignored them. What did they know? She was just happy her friend wasn't mad at her! She had said some rather tactless things, when she should have kept her mouth shut.

Mother's words of wisdom. Close your mouth and the world will go a lot easier.

She never did listen.

First period, after stopping at the library to drop off some books, was up the stairs to English - where she laughed at the absurdity of what they were learning about. Ghosts of all things. Ghost and ghost stories.

She was listening to the teacher go on and on, doodling little swirls on her paper with her purple pen - stolen happily from the teacher's desk of all places - when a note slid across her own desk.

Blinking, she raised her head enough to see her friend, Karen Christianson, give her a little wink from a few rows over, waving her little fuzzy topped pen, as she pretended to take notes.

Smiling, she quickly unfolded it, spending a moment to wonder why you would fold them up so small...when it made so much more noise to open them that way, instead of just folding it once.

Smoothing out the paper, wincing every time it made a crinkling sound, she finally managed to get it open all the way, without alerting the lecturing teacher that anything out of the ordinary was going on.

...And immediately had to stifle the chuckle that rose upon seeing the first line.

'This lady has no idea what she's talkin bout. By the way... Our ghost needs to learn some fashion. You look like a reject from the Howdy Doody show.'

Looking down at herself, and trying not to admit her friend was right, she hurriedly scribbled back a reply and casually sent it back. It returned not a minute later, sliding suicidally towards the edge.

Managing to save the note from a dreadful demise, she flipped it open and grinned. 'Don't take that tone with me, missy. I'll come over and give Race a talkin to if I have to. Honestly...You're wearing a bright PINK vest. I didn't know you owned a bright pink vest.'

All the while, the teacher was going on and on about manifestations in the real world, completely ignoring the note passing behind her back. Karen found it immensely hilarious when Elizabeth confessed to not knowing quite what was in her own closet, and Elizabeth, in turn, found it quite funny when Karen was caught in a question she couldn't answer.

All in all...English class went by pretty fast.

After that, it was down the hall and around the corner to Math, bane of her existence. Her teacher wasn't that bad, per se. In fact, he was really nice, offering to help her out whenever she needed it. But honestly, it just wasn't her strong point.

So, she hunkered down in her seat, three rows over and three back, nipping at the end of her pencil and wishing she knew why there were so many stupid letters in her math problem. Groaning, she hung her head and wished something would brighten her math period, or else...maybe God would make her a genius so she could get through the next thirty minutes.

Well, there was no miracle.

But a god DID walk through the door.

5'10, dark brown hair that looked like he had either woken up or had recently run his fingers through it, and a pair of sexy, chocolate eyes that seemed to smirk as he stood in the doorway, a bag thrown carelessly over one shoulder.

"Ah, you must be our new student!" Mr. Warren laid his chalk in its tray and dusted his hands off. "Little late to class, aren't you? Well, never mind that small detail. Your name..?"

"Ryan Gallagher." The soft Irish burr sent every female in the class swooning. "The front office told me to tell you they're sorry about the hold up, but my paperwork took a while getting here from Brooklyn." The wry tone to his voice clearly implied the school had already gotten a low rating in his book.

And the teacher picked up on it easily. Clearing his throat a little, he made himself busy with finding this Ryan Gallagher a seat. Running up and down the rows, he bit his lip and randomly chose one.

"Fourth row, second seat, if you would."

"Thank you."

Elizabeth stifled a snicker as he moved from the door to the row next to hers. There was so much sarcasm in those two words then any she had heard before, and it made Mr. Warren flush a little.

"Now...um...Where were you in your math class in Brooklyn? Were you-"

"Way past this." He interrupted smoothly, looking onto a neighbor's paper. He said something so complex it had Elizabeth's head spinning, and Mr. Warren blinking at him.

"Well, are you sure they put you in the right class, young man?"

Folding his arms on the old desk top, Ryan looked straight at the teacher, "Sir, this is the only class available to me, because I am sure you are aware of the large population this school currently has. I was told to sit here and act like I was working, but the rest of your class seems to be in the middle of writing notes, so please, don't ignore them to play 20 questions with me."

'Oh yah.' Elizabeth grinned down at her paper, for once not caring she didn't understand anything she had written down. Because her math class had just gotten a heck of a lot more interesting. 'I think I might like this Ryan Gallagher.'

Mr. Warren, ignoring Ryan completely, turned back to the board, picking his chalk back up with enough force to almost crack it. He had been called, and he knew it. It was harsh to be shown your place, especially by a student.

"Ms. Miller!" He all but snapped. "Number thirteen. Explain to me the principles of the problem and how you would solve it." At her blank stare, he tapped the board. "Before the ice age, if you please."

Well dang.

...She hated Ryan Gallagher.

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Here ya go! -sings-

a new chapter for Friday the 13th!

With a few added 13s to make it interesting. And a new cute charrie! Im interested to know what you all think of Ryan so far. Hee.