Let's continue. Thanks for reviewing, Al Drin Hoshizora. Oh, and the song Sammy begins singing is "Loser Like Me", one of the original songs from Glee. I don't watch the show, but I heard the song on YouTube.

The voice burst out laughing. "A ghost? Seriously? Do you really believe in ghosts?"

"Um, not really." I snapped. "But if I'm not hearing things, why can't I see you?"

"I'm invisible." the boy answered. "But I'll prove it. I'm standing behind you right now." I felt two warm hands on my shoulders, thumbs carefully working and massaging. "You're so tense. Relax."

"Can you explain a few more things?" I snapped.

"Sure." the person said. "Just...can I put the window up?"

"No, it's too cold." I snapped. That's when it occurred to me. "So you're the one who keeps putting the window up?"

"It's so hot in here." the boy said. "That's why." He had cleaned up the mess on the floor, and was now starting on the desk. I joined in.

"So I'm assuming what happened to my room is your fault too?"

"I'm sorry." the boy said softly. "I was just really hungry. Look, Sammy, the reason I'm here is...well, I'm on my own. And then I saw you, and, well...I really want you to be my girlfriend."

I stopped. "Girlfriend? I'm only twelve!"

"So am I." the boy said. "Thing is, I don't have any friends. I've been invisible, like, forever, and it's really hard to make friends. And my parents just dumped me here. All I know is that my name is Brent Green, and I'm twelve. I'm just like you – only invisible. And a boy, obviously."

I still wasn't completely buying that this conversation wasn't in my head. But there wasn't much I could do except talk back. Maybe I should see the school counsellor tomorrow.

At that moment, the door opened and Simon looked in. "Oh, wow." he muttered. "No wonder Mom got mad." He looked at me. "I heard another voice in here. Who else is here?"

"Uh...no one." I lied. "You must've heard me singing to myself." I wasn't going to tell Simon about someone when I wasn't even sure if that person was real. He wouldn't believe me, anyway.

Simon frowned. "Singing? You don't sing."

"Oh yeah?" I challenged. "What about this?" I began singing. "Just go ahead and hate on me and-"

"Stop it!" Simon cried. "You know I hate Glee. You're nuts, Sammy." He looked around the room. "I know Mom calmed down a bit from before, but she's still furious. How could you do this? And now Mom is convinced that you actually think you didn't do this and that you're crazy."

I shrugged. "So? What's she gonna do, take me to a psychiatrist? Well, good. Maybe I need one."

"I'll say." Simon muttered, going to sit in my desk chair.

"Wait, I haven't cleaned that-" I began, but it was too late.

Just as Simon tried to sit down, the chair drew out from under him.

"Ow!" Simon began whining. Even though I wasn't anywhere near the chair, he glared at me. "That was mean, Sammy. I'm telling!"

"But I didn't pull the chair out!" I argued. "I wasn't near enough! You must've missed it or something!" But Simon didn't listen. And the moment the door closed, I heard the truth.

"The look on his face!" I could hear Brent laughing. "That was great, wasn't it, Sammy?"

"No, it wasn't." I snapped. "Simon is a major tattletale, and no matter what I say, Mom and Dad will believe I did it. And you're probably not real, so I probably did do it and I just think you did it."

"I am real!" Brent protested. "Haven't we gone through this? I'm just invisible."

"Which is why I'm convinced I'm imagining all this." I said. "Invisible kids don't exist. Anyway, I'm going to keep cleaning up."

Just as I finished, there was a knock on my door, and Roxanne burst in. "Hey, Sam! I've got tons of info, and if you want to take me up on my offer to help you with math, I've brought my books."

"Forget the math." I said impatiently. "Tell me about the haunted house. Oh, wait – first, can I talk to you about something? But we need to keep it secret?"

Roxanne shrugged. "Sure."

"I think I'm going insane, Roxy." I whispered. "Mom thinks I am, too. My room was trashed earlier today. I didn't do it, but everyone thinks I did. And then I heard a voice, saying they were an invisible guy called Brent who wants me to be his girlfriend."

Roxanne looked around, and suddenly gave a squeal. "What do you mean, invisible? I can see him!"

"What? Where?"

"Right there!" Roxanne pointed.
I looked. I couldn't see anything.

Roxanne burst out laughing. "Gotcha, Sam. You are so weird."

"Roxy, stop!" I scolded. "I'm serious! Something's seriously wrong. I'm seeing things, hearing voices. You're my friend, Roxy, you're supposed to support me. As opposed to making stupid jokes to make me think I'm crazier than I really am."

Roxanne shrugged. "Whatever. Anyway, you wanna hear about the haunted house? It's called Hedge House, and it's supposed to be really spooky, even without the ghosts."

I gave a sigh. "You might as well do your project on me. The girl who went insane. Now that would be interesting."

Roxanne glared at me. "Listen!" She picked up one of the books she'd brought. "It talks about Hedge House, with the Stilson family that moved in around the nineteenth century. The thing was, it was called Hedge House, because there were dark, almost black hedges that grew high around it. Everyone said it was the will of the ghosts. Anyway, the ghost used to visit ten-year-old Jeffrey Stilson, every night since the family moved in. But his parents didn't believe him..." I tuned out, letting her ramble on about some ghost of a young man who had a secret about the house or whatever. "And weird things happen there, even now." Roxanne finished.

I paid attention again. "Like what?"

"Well, the doors open and close by themselves." At that moment, my door did the same thing. I blinked.

"And the books float off the bookshelves." Roxanne added. Three of my old Animorphs books floated off the shelf and started being juggled. I tried to ignore it, looking straight ahead.

"Sam?" Roxanne nudged me. "Are you listening?"

"Go on." I said.

"I'm really serious about this." Roxanne said. "I don't think you're taking it seriously enough, but we need to get this done well. I want it to be the best. And you need to do a great film to prove the ghost really exists!"

My camcorder floated up and aimed itself at Roxanne, and I couldn't stop my giggles there.

"Sam, what is wrong with you?" Roxanne demanded. "Why are you laughing?"

"I told you something's wrong!" I insisted. "I...really think...I'm imagining things."

Roxanne scowled. "Stop it, Sam. I'm sick of your jokes." She paused. "Oh. Oh, I get it now."

"What?"
"If you don't want to come to the haunted house with me, just tell me!" she said. "You don't need to make up dumb stories about seeing things." She headed for the door. "Look, Sam, I'm not stupid. I can tell when you're trying to get out of something. We'll talk later, okay?" And then she stormed out.

We'll pick up again next chapter. Hope you liked this one.