CHAPTER TWENTY
Chocolate mousse and soft-serve ice cream, smothered in hot fudge sauce…
Yep, an all-you-can-eat dessert buffet was exactly what I needed after my ordeal. It had been an exhausting day. Near-death experiences are physically draining. Not to mention the mental strain of answering Jason's relentless questions about why I'd almost drowned. It's not easy to invent convincing lies on the spur of the moment, so you can maybe understand why I'd needed a chocolate fix.
After our memorable icy swim, we'd spent the day wandering around town to defrost. I'd made sure to keep a watchful eye on Jason and Megan, but hadn't noticed anything untoward. Luckily, Jason had been too distracted by my evasive answers about why I'd been coughing and spluttering and flailing about in the water to flirt with Megan. This meant I'd been able to suppress that weird, painful feeling I got in my stomach whenever I thought about them as a couple. It was the one silver lining to the whole awful experience.
So I was pretty happy when Dad announced he was going to celebrate the success of his new kayak by taking us all out to a popular local Italian buffet place.
The comforting smell of baking pizzas greeted me as I pushed open the door of the restaurant. I was going to eat like it was the last day of my life … because it almost had been.
Without waiting to be seated, I headed straight for the pizza bar to see what they were cooking tonight. I'd already planned my strategy. I was going to start with a slice of cheese pizza, then I'd have some creamy carbonara, followed by garlic bread … then I'd move on to pepperoni…
Megan's horrified voice cut through my soon-to-be-realised daydreams.
'Nooo … way! What are they doing here?'
I dragged my gaze up from the pizza. My jaw almost hit the sneeze guard. Of all the people to be eating at the Batemans Bay Italian Buffet, three hours away from Canberra … of all the annoying bimbo-bullies in the world … it had to be them.
It was Carly, Hannah, and Georgia, plus their closest cronies from school. Amongst their crowd, I recognised Tom Drew, the boy from year eleven who Hannah had flirted with to get a seat on the senior lawn, as well as the boy from the stairwell who'd practically sucked her face off during Carly's pool party. I wondered if they'd worked out yet that they were sharing Hannah's attentions.
I felt a burst of rage. We'd travelled for three hours to forget about high school, and here they were ruining our weekend. It was going to be difficult to enjoy our buffet with them constantly sneering at us and making snide remarks. I wouldn't put it past Georgia to cough on all the pizza after they'd finished just to spite us.
I should have spared my rage for the next thing that happened. A familiar face walked out of the men's toilets. He strode confidently over to Carly's table and slid in beside her, putting an arm around her shoulders and kissing her neck. My face blanched.
Shane.
They still hadn't seen us. Maybe I could convince Dad to change restaurants before they realised we were here.
Too late.
'Oh my god,' I heard Georgia say. 'I thought we left the freak show behind in Canberra.' She stared directly at Megan and me. There was no question about it. She was referring to us. The rest of Georgia's table stopped talking and looked up to see what she was staring at.
Carly and Hannah's eyes narrowed in annoyance. Good. I was pleased to see that they were just as bothered by our presence as we were by theirs. The year-eleven boys looked blankly at us, jerked their heads in vague recognition, then continued eating, indifferent. Except Shane, whose face visibly contorted in surprise to see me there, followed by something else that I couldn't read. Guilt? Confusion? Annoyance? Was it … happiness? No, I had to be mistaken.
Regardless, the arm that was around Carly's shoulders slipped down, self-consciously. He looked like a little boy who had been caught with his hand in the lolly jar. Not that he had been caught. I mean, he could do what he wanted because we weren't dating and he meant nothing to me.
That feeling of being punched in the stomach … that was just hunger.
Determined to act cool about the whole thing, I gave a wry smile and waved sarcastically at them.
'Hi, guys, this is a surprise,' I said.
Carly didn't return my wave. She glared at me, her eyes narrowing even further, if that was possible. I rolled my eyes, in what I hoped looked like mature indifference, when really I wanted to kick her.
'Ugh,' Megan said in disgust. 'Let's get a seat.' she grabbed my arm and led me away.
We joined the others at a table. Clearly, they had already noticed Carly's group. Matt was staring longingly at Hannah whilst simultaneously sliding down in his seat so that she wouldn't see him.
'I can't believe those idiots are here,' I said.
'I know,' Brooke replied gloomily.
'Just ignore those bimbos,' Lara said firmly. 'We're not going to let them ruin our weekend.'
Dad, a little slow to catch on, finally realised we were talking about the group of girls glaring at us from the other table. He obviously felt it was time to give some fatherly advice to us confused adolescents.
'Only you can give someone permission to make yourself feel bad. So don't give them permission. You are all wonderful young adults, and you should never forget that.'
I cringed. 'Da-ad!' I groaned in embarrassment. But Brooke, Lara and Megan looked pleased by Dad's compliment. My friends were weird sometimes.
We began our marathon of buffet eating. I focused on my plan of eating like it was the last day of my life and tried to ignore Carly's group. Three pieces of pizza, some pasta and garlic bread later, I was feeling stuffed. And I still hadn't hit the dessert bar. I wandered over, delirious from all the digesting I was doing.
My first course of dessert would be perfection: a spoonful of chocolate mousse, a dollop of soft serve, a chocolate brownie, and three squirts of chocolate fudge sauce. I was focused on landing squirt number three on my brownie, which had so far avoided being smothered by squirt numbers one and two, when I felt a strong hand on my arm, accompanied by a jolt of electricity in my stomach. It could only be Shane.
'We need to talk,' he said. His blue eyes were almost unnaturally bright as they stared at me intensely.
'I've got nothing to say to you,' I whispered angrily. I glanced over at my friends. I didn't want anyone to see me talking to Shane, especially not Jason, who seemed to look annoyed every time Shane's name was mentioned.
'Let go of me! You're messing up my dessert!' I shook my arm out of his grip. My soft serve almost tipped out of the bowl. I was really angry now. No one gets in the way of me and my dessert!
Shane smirked. 'You can have dessert later.' His face was deadly serious. 'Come outside. We need to talk.' He was really insistent. I glanced over at our table again. Jason was making fangs with his garlic pizza sticks, effectively distracting the rest of the table. They hadn't seen me talking to Shane, but it would be only a few seconds before Jason's 'fangs' fell out and everyone tired of looking at him.
'Fine,' I sighed in exasperation and quickly walked outside.
We stood near the wall, away from the windows.
'What do you want?' I asked coldly. 'My ice cream is melting.'
Shane took my hand. I shook it away. 'I don't think Carly would like you doing that.' My voice sounded jealous and needy to my own ears. I'd been aiming for cool and reproachful.
Shane's eyes flashed with annoyance. I was getting used to seeing that look from him. Surely he was getting used to me rejecting his advances.
'Fine,' he said coldly. 'Let's get down to business. Did you enjoy your long underwater swim today?'
I gasped. He couldn't know about my near-drowning experience! Not even my friends realised what had happened, and they were there.
I tried to keep my voice steady. 'What are you talking about?'
Shane gave a sinister smile.
'Do I have to spell it out for you? How did you enjoy drowning this morning?' His voice was like cold death. I shivered and tried
not to let my confusion register on my face. It was impossible for him to know about that.
The sinister smile still hadn't faded. 'Do ghosts normally try to kill you? Or is it just when I tell them to?' he sneered.
I felt like I was drowning again. I couldn't breathe. Had I just heard correctly? I stumbled back against the wall as the blood rushed out of my head in shock. Shane was the one who had instructed the ghost girl to kill me? He was the one who had been trying to test my power to summon Ella?
'You can … see them?' I whispered haltingly. This was too much. I could barely take it in. I felt like I was in a dream. For all these years, I'd thought I was the only one who could see ghosts. Now I was finding out that the biggest womaniser on the planet could see them too.
Shane's eyes narrowed. 'You think you're so special, don't you? Think you're too good for me, too superior with your little gift, too precious to go out with me. Well, prissy princess, you missed the chance of your life. Imagine the team we could have made. Controlling the ghosts together, we could have done anything.'
My mouth gaped open. I didn't know what to say. Shane snickered, taking obvious pleasure in my shock.
'It's almost a shame that you passed my little test today. It would have almost been funny to think that a ghost had killed you under the instruction of the one person in the world who is your equal, but who you stupidly rejected.' Shane laughed coldly.
The implications of what Shane was saying started to hit me. Shane had tried to have me killed. I was really scared now. He was looking at me with such malice. His blue eyes were devoid of warmth. I tried to take a deep breath, but my intake was shallow and raspy.
'How did you know I can see ghosts?' I spoke slowly and deliberately and, to my relief, my voice hid the fear that was consuming me.
'Oh, you haven't worked it out? You're not really so clever are you?' Shane sneered. 'You thought your secret was so safe, but I saw you that day in class. Waving to your ghost friend. Strange. She looked just like you. What is she, your sister or something? Only she looked a lot more fun than you. Less of an uptight, frigid, prude. I would have laughed when I saw her blocking your view of the whiteboard, only I was so shocked to realise that you can see ghosts too.
'I already thought you were hot, you know,' Shane's voice softened slightly. 'That night I came over for dinner. Brett's a good mate, and I thought you'd probably be fun too. But when I realised we share a common bond, something so special and so powerful…' Shane's voice trailed off wistfully. For a moment he seemed to have forgotten his aggression towards me. Then his face hardened again, and the ice-cold eyes fixed on me.
'I was willing to work with you. And I'm not exactly a team player. But you just spat it back in my face! I mean, I thought you were interested for a while. That car trip home, the date at the café. But you were just snooping! Did you think I didn't see you when I went up to get cake? Did you think I was fooled by your riffling through my glove box? But still I forgave you. Still I thought we had something special. I tried to seduce you, and you rejected me. You were using me. Me! Do you know how many girls would have died to have taken your place? I'm the one who uses girls. Not the other way around.'
Shane had stepped in closer towards me. I was paralysed with fear. I'd never seen anyone so angry. Even when I was five and I'd smeared Mum's lipstick all over her favourite bedspread, she hadn't been this angry. I pressed backwards against the wall, but the bricks were not going to budge, no matter how much I willed them to. Shane slowly shook his head, and chuckled mirthlessly.
'I was almost surprised to hear you survived today. I didn't expect you'd get Nicole to stay around for a chat. I'll make sure she's punished for that little misdemeanour. I'm strict with my ghostlings. Do what I say or no fulfilment of last earthly wishes. That's the rule.'
That was it. Suddenly my paralysing fear transformed into anger. Shane had tried to drown me and he was using that poor ghost girl. It wasn't enough that they were dead. He had to use them too! I angrily shoved Shane in the chest.
'Why did you use that poor girl? You could have just talked to me!'
Shane barely moved from my shoving. He grabbed my wrists.
'Feisty,' he taunted. I shook my arms violently but his grip was iron tight. I'd only succeeded in repeatedly pressing myself into his chest—something I did not want to do. His touch repulsed me.
Shane laughed again. 'Why did I use her? Because she was there. Because I've got something she needs. Because I can. Don't act so superior. As if you haven't used your gift before.'
Confused, I stopped struggling.
'What do you mean? How could I use it?'
Shane's grip weakened slightly.
'You mean you perform your services for ghosts for free? Ha! I can't believe I thought you were worthy of me! You're more stupid than I imagined. I wondered why you insist on slogging away at the pool for money when you could get the ghosts to steal you anything you want. You don't have to keep tramping around in your cheap, no-name clothes, you know.'
I felt like I'd been slapped in the face. I mean, sure it was a shock when I realised Shane had tried to drown me, but hey, he was a jerk. To insult my clothing, just because I don't wear stuck-up brands? That was really below the belt!
'How. Dare. You.' I said, my voice pitched low in barely controlled rage. 'Those ghosts are trying to move on. How dare you abuse your gift!' I crescendoed into yelling, then realised that people inside might hear us so dropped my voice again.
Shane's eyes flashed.
'There you go again! Thinking you're too good for me. Thinking you're better than me. You judgemental freak! Well, you're not too good for me. You should be thankful for my attentions.'
With those words, still grabbing me tightly, he pulled me off the wall. He forced my arms behind my back and crossed them, then pulled my body in tight so that it was pressing into him. His chest was heaving with rage. I was in serious trouble here. He'd already tried to drown me today. I had to calm Shane down before he hurt me. I had to distract him.
'So I guess you've seen your rugby buddy Chris around then,' I said.
Shane's eyes narrowed.
'You've been talking to Chris?' Shane's voice dripped with malice. I was too scared to answer. I didn't know what he was going to do next. So much for trying to calm him down. Shane looked like he'd lost all control.
'I know you're a disobedient little twerp, but you listen to me, and listen carefully. Stay away from Chris. That boy is poison. Lies from the inside to the outside. He'll only cause you trouble.'
I knew it was foolish. I knew I shouldn't provoke Shane when he was clearly unstable; but I did it anyway.
'Like I'm going to believe anything you say! I'm helping Chris. And what's more, I know what you're up to with his stepmum. I know that you're both drugging Alan. So you'd better stop it, and leave that poor family alone, or I'll … I'll … set my sister and Chris on you when you're asleep! Maybe you'd like to try suffocating? Huh? See how it feels!'
I cringed, waiting for Shane to explode, to throw me against the wall or hit me. But I was wrong. It wasn't until later that I realised maybe his reaction was the worst of all.
It was like I didn't exist anymore. Shane released me, and his cold blue eyes were staring right past me, into some thought I wasn't privy to; but his voice, as if it had been spoken straight from hell, I could hear.
'You know too much. It's time to finish him off.'
With that, Shane walked away from me into the car park, and didn't look back.