Jeremy

I realized that my buddy Graham had been asking me a question for about a minute now, and I hadn't been paying attention. I'd kept glancing over at a lunch table a few feet from ours. That strange Alice girl who'd come up to me yesterday was sitting all by herself, reading a book. I couldn't forget that story she'd told me about Ghostbusters or whatever it was.

"So, can I?"

I shook my head slightly. "Uh...can you what?"

"Have your cookie. Can I?"

"Uh, yeah, whatever." I passed over the oatmeal and raisin.

Graham bit into the dessert. He's this big, black guy, super buff thanks to all the ROTC training. But he's real handy on the baseball diamond. "So why do you keep checking that girl out?" he asked.

I rolled my eyes. "I'm not checking her out. I was just looking at her. That a crime?"

Graham scrutinized Alice. "She's kinda cute," he mentioned casually.

"I, uh, didn't notice," I said, quickly biting into my sandwich. Ugh, tunafish. Mom had forgotten again. I guess she'd been too busy making her precious Oscar the budding violinist his favorite. Just because they both play instruments, she favors him over me. I'm glad he's off to college next year.

Graham gave me a look. "Yeah, uh-huh...listen. Your parents ever have guests over that you don't know?"

I shrugged. "Not really. How come?"

"Well, these people came over to our house last night. I guess they were friends of my dad or something, I don't know. They were saying weird stuff...and they mentioned your name."

"My name?" I asked incredulously. "Why would they be talking about me?"

Graham thought for a second. He's the kinda the strong silent type, always thinking about something. "I guess they weren't necessarily talking about you. They just said 'Venkman.' Maybe they know your dad or something."

I shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine."

Graham paused. "There's something else, too. One of them said something about 'once a Ghostbuster, always a Ghostbuster."

I choked on my sandwich and started coughing. "Dude, you alright?" Graham asked anxiously.

I nodded and waved my hand. "Did you just say 'Ghostbuster'?" I gasped.

"Yeah." He gave me a funny look. "You know something I don't?"

I turned my head back to Alice. I wonder...

Alice

I had been deep into my book when I heard an ahem. I looked up.

Jeremy Venkman was standing over me with a tall, broad-shouldered black guy in an ROTC uniform. "Hi," said Jeremy.

"Uh...hi," I said nervously. "What's going on?"

Jeremy sat down next to me. My heart skipped a beat. "Listen," he said slowly. "We need to talk."

"Okay." I turned my eyes to the tall black guy. "Um, who is this?"

"Oh yeah," said Jeremy, as if he'd forgotten the guy was standing there. "
This is Graham Zeddemore."

I froze. "Wait...as in Winston Zeddemore?"

"That's my father," said Graham in a deep voice. "How'd you know that?"

I looked back at Jeremy. "You're right; we do need to talk. But first, there's someone else needs to know what's going on."

"Who?" asked Jeremy.

"His name's Eddie. Eddie Stantz," I explained. "He's another kid of a Ghostbuster, Ray Stantz. He's in my advanced physics class. As a matter of fact," I pointed over to a table in the corner where a slightly pudgy boy with unkempt sandy blonde hair was sitting all alone, "he's right over there."

"Oh, I know him," Graham spoke up. "He's in my English class."

"Well let's go talk to him," said Jeremy. "I want to know what the hell is going on."

Eddie was doodling on a piece of paper. "Um, excuse me," I said tentatively.

Eddie looked up. "Oh, hi. Hey, don't I know you guys?"

I nodded. "Yes, you do. I'm Alice Wilcox, and this is Jeremy Venkman and Graham Zeddemore."

"What's up?" asked Jeremy.

"Nice to meet you," said Graham, nodding his head solemnly.

"Listen, Eddie," I said. "Have you ever heard of Ghostbusters?"

"Sure I have," replied Eddie. "My dad told me all about it."

"Really?" I asked surprisedly. "Because none of our parents told us about it until a couple of days ago."

"I still don't know what this is all about," said Graham. "What the hell is Ghostbusters?"

"I'll explain it in a minute," I told him and looked back at Eddie. "Look, my mom's name is Jennifer Colby. Does that mean anything to you?"

Eddie nodded. "Yeah. My dad said your mom was one of his best friends. And you guys," he turned to Jeremy and Graham, "must be Peter and Winston's kids, huh?"

"You got it," said Jeremy. He looked at me. "Okay, now tell Graham here about the business, I think he's gonna wet his pants."

So I told Graham the same thing I'd told Jeremy the previous day, with Eddie contributing some. "Jesus, it sounds like my dad was a real dud," grumbled Graham. "Wasn't he worth something to the team?"

"So you believe us?" I asked.

Graham shrugged. "Well yeah, I guess so. If Jeremy believes you, why shouldn't I?"

"Oh." I blinked. I couldn't believe it had been that easy. "Well anyway, so my mom came to your house?"

"Yeah, and so did Ray and that Igor guy," replied Graham.

"You mean Egon," I corrected.

"Yeah, that. So how come they were meeting up if they weren't supposed to be?"

"I don't know," I said slowly. "This could mean something bad."

"I'm fuzzy on the whole good-bad thing," said Jeremy. "What do you mean by bad?"

"Try to imagine our parents being locked away in a government facility for the rest of their lives."

"Alright, that's bad," Jeremy stated. "So the question is, what are they up to...and why didn't my dad show up?"

The bell suddenly rang. "Crap," I muttered. I snatched Eddie's piece of paper and quickly wrote down my address three times. Then I tore the piece of paper into three parts and handed them each a piece. "Look, after school today, let's meet up at my house and talk some more about all this, okay?"

They nodded. Eddie grabbed his backpack and said to all of us, '"Nice meeting you guys!" and rushed off.

"Odd kid, eh?" Jeremy whispered.

Graham walked back to his table to get his stuff. So it was just Jeremy and me. Gulp.

Jeremy rubbed the back of his neck. "So since we're both going to History...can I walk you to class?"

I felt my cheeks get warm. "Um...okay. I'd like that."

We started walking to History. "So, Alice," Jeremy said to me. "Why do you suppose they all met up? And why didn't my father go?"

"Well, I don't know about your father," I replied slowly. "But personally, I think there's been some kind of psychokinetic crisis which heralded the assistance of our parents."

"Whoa, whoa. Dumb it down for me, you know I'm stupid," Jeremy said.

"You're much better than you realize," I blurted.

Jeremy smiled a little. "You know, I get the feeling that we're in for the ride of our lives."

I sighed. "You said it, Venkman."

Oh my God! It's time for chapter 7-I can't wait!