Disclaimer: All characters are property of Meg Cabot. Not mine. Don't sue.
A/N: Please note that this story has been entirely redone. If you read it before, things have changed. The writing has matured as well, thankfully.
ALSO, For the sake of this story Twilight did NOT happen. This is post-Haunted.
Father D looked at where I had been staring then glanced back at me. He smiled. What the hell was going on here? I just wanted to go to class before my head exploded from this migraine. I wanted to be out of here pronto.
"I see that you are a fellow mediator," Father Dominic said once I was seated.
Huh? What the heck was a...
"Mediator? What are you talking about Father Dominic? Just a normal high school senior, over here." I noted. Confusion was written all over my face. But I had to keep my poker face. I was not going to be a freak. There was no way in hell.
He chuckled.
"Do you see anything on the couch?" he asked.
Trick question. No way was I going to answer that. Of course I saw the dude on the couch. But I wasn't going to tell my new high school principal that I could see a ghost on his couch, who mind you had been haunting me as long as I could remember and was the source of my headache right now.
"Just a couch, nothing out of the ordinary," I squeaked. Of course my voice would give my lie away.
"Glad we had this conversation, Father Dom—," I said as I grabbed my bag hoping to get out of here quick.
"Zohra, it's ok. I can see him too," Father Dominic interrupted me as I was almost to the door.
That made me stop in my tracks.
I mean it made sense as to why I'd heard voices when I'd first entered into the office.
"You can see him, too?" I asked with shock and relief evident in my voice.
Couch-guy was chuckling now as Father Dominic gave me a sincere smile.
"Yes, I can."
And with Father Dominic's confession, I slowly sat back down in my chair.
"This" Father Dominic waved his hand towards the couch "is Jesse."
"Jesse de Silva" couch-guy said as he came up to shake my hand.
I hesitated. I was not about to touch a ghost. I didn't even think that was possible.
"I don't bite, I promise," said Jesse.
I haphazardly put out my hand. "Promise?" I questioned with a hint of mischieviousness.
He chuckled, "promise," as we shook.
Well. That wasn't too bad.
"Zohra, while I would like to talk more about this, we need to get you to homeroom before it's over," Father Dominic said.
"Here is a pass to come back during fifth period," he said as he scribbled away the note, "Just give this to your teacher at the beginning of class and then come back."
"Uh, ok. Sure, Father Dominic," I managed to get out. This was entirely different. The only person I had met with my similar abilities was Dawson, and that is an entirely different story.
"Oh, uh, nice meeting you Jesse!" I waved to Jesse, who returned with a smile and nod. And I was out of that office.
I hurriedly said bye to the secretary on my way out to homeroom.
I couldn't believe what all had just happened. But thankfully, I could deal with that later. I had to deal with homeroom right now.
I walked in and handed my note to the teacher.
"Glad you could join us Ms…"
"Samnani. Zohra Samnani, Mr. Walden."
"Well grab a seat, Zohra. We're just about to start with history," said Mr. Walden as a few groans erupted throughout the classroom.
"Hey! Cut it out, or you'll all be writing papers tonight," he threatened as I made my way back to only empty chair in the classroom. All the way in the back of the classroom, in front of this brunette who had the most gorgeous blue eyes. I could deal with this.
What can I say? I'm a sucker for blue eyes. Just ask Dawson.
There was something peculiar about that corner. I don't know what it was, but it sure did help that the empty seat was right there.
I grabbed myself the chair, and got to work. Well, work as in staring at the chalkboard since I was not going to get anything done anyways what with everything that had just happened in Father Dominic's office.
"Okay, groups of four. No moving around so, Suze, CeeCee, Paul, and Zohra, you're one group. Figure out the rest." Mr. Walden said as he went back to his desk. Everybody turned their desks to meet their groups.
The second I turned around, I saw that the brunette clearly had an issue with Paul by the look of disgust she gave him.
"Hey, so I'm Suze, and this is CeeCee," she introduced herself and her extremely blond-haired friend.
"Ouch, Suze," Paul said feigning hurt.
"Get over yourself," and turning back to me "What was your name again?" she asked, clearly not caring about him.
"Zohra. Like Zorro, but with an 'a'" I said as I did my usual spiel about my name.
"Cool. Nice to meet you! You from around here," Suze asked.
We were clearly not going to get any work done.
"I'm originally from Los Angeles, but most recently Dallas, Texas," I explained as we launched into conversation with Paul still irking Suze the remainder of the class period.
The rest of the classes went great and I ended up having lunch with Suze and CeeCee and if I hadn't known any better, CeeCee's boyfriend Adam. But Suze cleared that up for me.
But as the day went on, life became normal again until 5th period. I'd forgotten that I had to go visit Father Dominic again. I'd really hoped he had forgotten too. But, no such luck.
Jesse ended up appearing about 5 minutes into class. I was just working on some workbook the Spanish teacher had given me since the rest of the class had to take a test today. I was bored working on the information in the workbook, simply because Spanish came easy to me. I'd picked it up quickly my first year in junior high. Maybe it had to do with the Sanders.
Jesse came up to my desk and said "Father Dominic has been waiting for you."
I couldn't respond without giving away my freakish secret so I simply wrote OK in the corner of my workbook for Jesse to see before I quickly erased it. I finished the last page of the section with Jesse overlooking and went up to give my pass to Mr. Sanchez.
"Lo siento, Señor Sanchez. Yo olvidé!" I whispered while the remainder of the class continued their exams, some looking curiously to see what the new girl was doing.
(A/N: "I'm sorry, Mr. Sanchez. I forgot!")
"No problema, puedes terminar la tarea mas tarde" Sr. Sanchez noted as he signed off on my hall pass.
(A/N: No problem, you can finish the work later")
"Uh, ya lo terminó," I blushed as I handed the workbook to him.
(A/N: Uh, I've already finished it.")
I saw his eyebrows raise just a little as he looked over my work. It was getting awkward standing up there as some of my classmates were staring at me. I know it wasn't because I looked hideous, because I'd worn my Anthropologie shirtdress with flats—I was not going to look slutty my first day. "Muy bien! Pues hasta mañana," he finally exclaimed as quietly as possibly so as to not disturb his students who were still supposed to be taking the exam instead of staring at me, thank you very much.
(A/N: "Very good! So I will see you tomorrow!")
"Gracias Señor Sanchez! Hasta mañana!" I said as I hurriedly grabbed my things and got out of there.
(A/N: Thanks Mr. Sanchez! See you tomorrow!)
I hated being late so I tried to get to Father Dominic's office quickly except Jesse was apparently still following me.
"Jesus. Scare the shit out of a girl, will you?" I hissed.
I don't think he seemed to like the fact that I used profanity. Probably had to do with his century. But I was trying to be as friendly as possible, here. I mean this was somebody who has been haunting me in my dreams for as long as I can remember. I still can't seem to understand why I see him in those dreams. I have never been able to figure them out. Dawson tells me that I'll figure it out sooner or later. I hate it when he's cryptic and he's not even a ghost.
"Sorry." I said a bit sheepishly.
"It's alright," he said with his features softening. "You know you've got a pretty good accent there," he said after a pause.
"Huh? Oh yeah, well Spanish comes easily to me," I mumbled offhandedly. I did not want to be around Jesse. He seemed sweet and all, but the headaches and heart wrenching pain that I get when I wake up every morning after the dreams? Yeah, they seemed to come up whenever Jesse was around.
"Really? ¿Se habla español?" Jesse asked almost with excitement it seemed. He must not meet many Spanish speakers. Odd.
(A/N: You speak Spanish?)
"Sí, pero un puquito. Todavía estoy aprendiendo," I responded.
(A/N: "Yes, but only a little. I am still learning.")
"Ah," he said almost it seemed with dejection. It was kind of sad, in a sweet way.
"Thanks for coming to get me. It had completely slipped my mind," I said. I felt bad for leaving the conversation on a bad note. Even though the pain was getting more pronounced, I had this urge that I felt safe with this guy around and that was rare nowadays.
"Padre thought you might have gotten lost," he admitted with a smile.
"Oh. I actually know my way around now thanks to some of my new friends now. They showed me around at lunch," I smiled at the new memory.
Suze and CeeCee had wanted to know about the heart necklace that I kept toying around with during lunch thinking I was nervous about the school and showed me around because of it I later informed them it was a gift from my boyfriend and I just missed him. Which lead me to filling them in about the details I usually shared about Dawson and I's relationship.
We had reached our destination, finally. Thank the Lord; otherwise this awkward chitchat would have never stopped.
"Well, thanks," I said as I opened the door to the office.
I handed my pass to the secretary again as I saw blue shimmering out of the corner of my eye.