Me: Who's ready for chapter fiiiiive?
Danny: I am I am I am I am I am I am I am I am!
Me: Well, let's make this quick, I'm in the middle of the last episode of FullMetal Alchemist…
Danny: Hayden, anime is your biggest distraction *sighs* here are the replies people!
Nycorall: Here's the next one for you! Thanks for reviewing!
Aslan333: Thanks :)
Oak Leaf Ninja: Tomorrow is here! Enjoy ;)
Esbmusic42: Thanks for another lovely long review! Yeah, I'm sorry about that :( You see, I'm used to writing fics that are WAY longer than twelve chapters. So this was kind of a challenge for me. Therefore, I knew I had to put in some form of action in eventually, or someone else would start complaining. Can't please everybody, right? I hope this next chappie will do Paulina some form of justice though ;)
Ckittykatty: You're wondering about Shadow Ink? There's a notice on my profile about that :)
Inuyuke: Well, you're about to find out… *plays suspenseful music*
Christmas Present, Chapter 5
"Paulina!" I heard the familiar high, squeaky voice from the other end of the cafeteria. Just as I had expected, Star came rushing towards me, today's newspaper tucked under her arm and her lunch tray in her hands.
"Hey Star," I shuffled over to give her room to sit down.
"I heard – or read, actually – the news," she said, showing me the front page.
Just as I had been dreading, there it was. A picture of my mum in her best purple dress almost completely covered the front page, besides from the headline and the paper title, date and price. I knew what it was about, and I didn't want to read it.
"This sucks," I grumbled, picking at my sandwich.
"I feel sorry for you Paulina, I really do," Star's face was full of concern, but for some reason it sounded false to me.
"That's good then," I replied.
"So… what's gonna happen now? Are you gonna get all poor and stuff like Valerie? What's your dad's job?"
"I don't know what's going to happen Star, OK? Can we forget all this for a while, please?"
But I knew what I had just asked of her was impossible.
Looking up, I saw everyone in the room staring at me. The cheerleaders, the jocks, the nerds, the band geeks. Everyone. And when they found that I was looking back at them, they turned away and their loud, excited voices turned to hushed whispers. One or two of them glanced at me from time to time, but I stared at my food for the most part, too self-conscious to eat.
"Do you wanna go somewhere el-" Star faltered when she saw that I was already standing up.
"I will, but you just stay here, OK? I don't feel like talking right now, sorry," I said, moving away from the table and pushing past the crowd that had gathered around me. I had already put my sandwich back in my lunch bag.
I knew people were going to make a big deal out of this, and they did. Everything has to be expected when you're popular. People know everything about you, what you're doing, who you're with. Your whole life is in the public eye. And even more for Mum. Was that why she left Dad and me in the first place? Did she want to keep us away from all the reporters and journalists? Did she just leave to keep up safe?
My thoughts seemed brighter for a second. Did she still love Dad?
But you don't know that for certain, I told myself.
The hallway was empty apart from one or two people at their lockers. It was lunch on the last day of after all – everyone was having mini Christmas parties in free rooms or snowball fights outside. Why we only had one day of school this week though, I didn't know. Sometimes I felt the teachers just kept us in for their enjoyment.
I walked up to my own locker, unlocked it and it creaked open. Pictures of Inviso-bill pretty much filled every last piece of space. Some were taped to the inside walls of the locker, some were in bright pink photo frames and stood freely on top of my books.
I sighed. It had taken me ages to gather all of the memorabilia up, to decorate it and fit it into my locker. I had put my heart and soul into it. So why did it look so stupid and childish? I still admired the Ghost Boy – why did my locker look stupid to me now?
"Wow, I didn't know you liked Inviso-bill that much."
I turned round to see Danny behind me, hands in his pockets and staring at my locker.
"What are you doing here?" I asked, "Why aren't you having fun like everyone else? Mr Lancer says there's free food in room ten."
He shrugged. "I guess I just prefer sitting on the side-lines sometimes. I'm not that big on Christmas anyway."
"Really?" We were looking directly at each other now, "why not?"
"My parents always fight on Christmas," he explained, "about Santa usually." He chuckled, "it's a strange thing for adults to argue over."
I didn't get it. Why was Fenton telling me all this? I would understand it if he told that goth he liked, or the techno-geek. But me? Wasn't I the kind of person he hated?
When I didn't reply, he carried on speaking with a question, "how did your talk with your dad go last night?"
My eyes widened and I opened my mouth slightly. People asked those kind of thing to friends and family that they care about, not people that had manipulated them like I kind of did. But… how horrible was I to him in the first place? It was hard to tell when he seemed to have two personalities. One confident, cocky one that he started to show me when I was at his house and the nerdy, wimpy one that he puts on at school. Which one was the real him? Or was neither of them Danny? I didn't know him enough to be sure.
"He was asleep on the sofa when I got home," I laughed awkwardly, "I don't think he ever knew that I was gone, so I left it."
"Ironic," he said.
"Yeah," I agreed, then paused. What was I supposed to say next?
"Do you like Inviso-bill, Danny?" I asked him.
Idiot. What kind of a question was that?
I turned away, embarrassed. That was something you asked your best friend at a sleepover, not a boy you'd barely spoken to for the past year in fear of losing your A-list status.
"I think he does a good job protecting the town." He shrugged, "I can't really be open about my opinion on ghosts, though. Mum and Dad hate them. Oh, and that reminds me," he pulled something out of his pocket, his hand clenched into a fist so I couldn't see what it was.
"You dropped this on your way back to your house yesterday," he uncurled his fingers to reveal my pink charm bracelet, "I tried to get your attention, but you carried on walking. I didn't think it would be a good idea to approach you in the cafeteria – I know people like you don't like to be seen hanging around with people like me – so I went to come and look for you instead when I saw you leave."
"Sorry about that, Danny." I took the bracelet from him. There were five charms on it – one of Inviso-bill (which was probably what reminded him of it), a diamond, a glass slipper, a black cat and a tiny mirror. Mum had bought it for me when I was four, and then I added the Ghost Boy charm later on.
"Thanks," I said, blushing slightly.
"That's alright."
Danny turned to leave and took a few steps forward, then paused. I could tell he was about to say something, but then he stopped.
"What's wrong?" I asked, putting the bracelet around my wrist.
"Oh, nothing. Don't worry about it. It's fine," Danny carried on walking and after a while he turned a corner in the hall and then was gone from view.
I reached for the biggest photo of Inviso-bill in my locker and pulled it out.
He was cute, definitely. That was what I always said to everyone else. But I really did love him. His eyes especially. They were a deadly but stunning shade of green. Although, if they were blue…
"What's that you're looking at, my dear?" I felt an icy gloved hand on my shoulder and I froze, not really wanting to turn round. Although I was completely still, I could feel myself shaking.
The person behind me seemed to pick up on that too, "why are you shivering? You're not scared of me, are you?"
He put his other hand on my other shoulder and turned me to face him.
I suppressed a scream.
His eyes were bright red that seemed to light his face up and add a shine to his black hair. And judging by his pale blue face, he wasn't human. He was a ghost, and a tall one at that.
"Allow me to introduce myself, Miss Sanchez" it felt like the ghost was going to kiss my hand, he voice so polite and silky, "my name is Vladimir Plasmius."
Danny: Oh look! Here comes Vlad…
Me: Come on, we all love the Froot Loop, don't we?
Danny: … *to readers* just leave a review.
Me: What's got you all moody so quickly?
Danny: Vlad always steals my limelight whenever he's around :(
Me: Awww, sorry Danny. See you tomorrow, guys!
Danny: Bye…