CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT
I took a deep breath and tried to control the butterflies that were fluttering around in my stomach. For all my troubles, the doctors had awarded me only three days off school, and now I was wasting the last one knocking on the door of a dead teenager's house and lying to her mother.
At least for once I had human company whilst I was on a ghostly errand. I glanced at Alan, and he smiled back supportively. His angelic face shone with health and energy. He was also wasting a day off school to help me out, but the doctors had awarded him more time off than me. So unfair. Just because he'd died of a drug overdose, and had to have his heart jolted back to life by the ambulance men Shane had called.
The intelligent and confident young man next to me was so different from the drugged-out weakling I'd been trying to save for the past few weeks. I suppose I shouldn't begrudge his extra time off. After all, at least he hadn't ratted me out to the police.
The opaque vision standing with us was growing impatient.
'Hurry up and get it over with, guys,' Ella insisted. She shoved Alan and me out of the way and knocked loudly on the door.
Alan shivered. 'Wow, I don't know if I'll ever get used to being touched by such cold hands,' he said.
I laughed. It was weird having another person who could see and touch ghosts. Somehow between dying and coming back to life Alan had acquired supernatural skills like mine. I suppose crossing over to the other side and coming back does that to you. A few nights ago, while Shane, Carly and I were being treated for smoke inhalation, Ella had been able to explain everything that had happened to the newly gifted Alan. For some reason, Alan hadn't seemed surprised by the news of his ghost-brother's terror campaign.
By the time I woke up, Alan had taken the credit for all of Chris' evil handiwork. Alan had told the police that he'd seen Sharelle and Shane being intimate and had been so distraught that he'd taken a drug overdose and lit a fire, before calling me and confessing. Carly and I had rushed over and put out the fire before passing out. Alan's dad was too distracted by the revelation that his wife was cheating on him with a teenager to worry about punishing Alan for his misdemeanour.
So all in all, things had turned out pretty well for me. Shane's career as a gigolo had been outed, and I was a hero. It's a shame I had to share the credit with Carly. Now I just had to resolve Nicole's unfinished earthly business and I'd be free from ghost troubles, hopefully forever.
The front door swung open. Involuntarily, I gasped.
Nicole's mother looked so much like Nicole. She had the same pale, mousey hair; the same haunted blue-grey eyes, and Nicole's soft, almost chinless jaw. It was only the fine wrinkles around her eyes and mouth, and the slight sag of her skin that betrayed Nicole's mother to be an older model of the ghost who'd tried to drown me. That, and the fact that she wasn't translucent.
I swallowed nervously. I didn't know where to begin. Nicole's mother stared at me through bloodshot eyes before they suddenly swam with tears.
'I'm sorry,' she apologised. 'I had a daughter your age. You remind me so much of her,' her voice cracked, painfully.
Wow, and I'd thought it might be difficult to bring up the topic of Nicole.
Trying to ignore the sobs of sympathy that threatened to well up and overwhelm me, I stepped forward and touched her arm gently.
'I'm so sorry for your loss,' I spoke from the heart. Nicole's mother nodded as tears silently cascaded down her face. I continued.
'I'm Fiona, and this is my friend Alan. I'm a friend of Nicole. There's something really important that I need to tell you about her.'
Nicole's mother nodded again, and waited wordlessly for me to continue.
'The day that Nicole died, she told me that she'd had a terrible fight with you the week before,' I lied. I'd never even met Nicole until the day she'd tried to drown me, but I could hardly tell her the truth about how I knew all of this.
'Nicole was really upset about it,' I continued. 'She wanted to tell you she was sorry. She was planning to tell you after school, but she never made it home that day.'
Tragically, Nicole had been hit by a bus at the end of term last year on her way home from school, before she'd had a chance to sort things out with her mum. I felt guilty about reminding Nicole's mother of her grief, but I had to push on.
'Nicole accidently left her diary at my house,' I continued. 'It says how sorry she was for everything, and I think she would want you to have it.'
Nicole's mother stared at me with disbelieving, blood-shot eyes. She stared aghast at the journal before opening it. Silent tears cascaded down her face as she recognised Nicole's scrawling script. I was quiet as she read. I hadn't actually read the journal myself—surely the dead deserved some privacy—but I'd taken Ella's word that its contents would clear everything up between Nicole and her mum.
Nicole's mother got the gist after reading a few pages. She looked up from the scrawl, her face soaked with tears, her mouth quivering into a smile.
'Thank you so much,' she whispered appreciatively. She launched herself at me with a big, wet, quivering hug. I suppressed an unwelcome flashback of Nicole bear-hugging me to death in the water at Bateman's Bay, and patted her gently on the shoulder.
I'd done my duty, now we could get out of there. I was about to say my goodbyes and wrap things up, when Nicole's mum disappeared. A second later she popped out of a nearby room carrying a tiny, expensive-looking laptop.
At the appearance of the laptop, Ella gasped. 'That's the laptop Shane was trying to get off Nicole, as an exchange for fulfilling her last earthly wish,' she exclaimed.
Oblivious to Ella's outburst, Nicole's mother shoved the slim laptop into my arms.
'I want you to have Nicole's laptop, to thank you for what you've done. I have no use for it, and I feel there could be no better person to take it than Nicole's close friend.'
My mouth gaped open guiltily. I couldn't accept this. Surely one of Nicole's real friends—you know, the ones she knew when she was alive—deserved to have this. Then again, I really could do with a laptop. Mum's clunky, slow old desktop really wasn't cutting it for my Facebook stalking needs. And Nicole had tried to drown me…
Resolved, I closed my gaping mouth, smiled appreciatively, and accepted the laptop. Maybe I was more like Shane than I wanted to admit.
After saying goodbye, Alan, Ella and I walked slowly towards Alan's house. Fulfilling Nicole's unfinished business had been almost too easy. For the first time since I could remember, I was ghost-free. Apart from Ella that is. She was still hanging around, as always.
'Hey,' I turned to Ella as a thought hit me. 'Why are you still hanging around?'
Ella looked affronted. 'I thought you'd like some company after what you've been through!' she snapped.
I smiled conciliatorily. 'No, I mean, how come you haven't moved on yet? What's your unfinished business here?'
Ella took a deep breath and stopped walking. She turned to face me, looking deadly serious. Finally the confusing blur of my life would make sense.
'Fiona,' she began. 'You're amazing at what you do. Helping ghosts, fixing things. You're unnaturally good, and your powers are only growing stronger.'
'What are you talking about!' I cut in, confused. 'I don't have powers, all I can do is see ghosts. I—'
'She's right, Fiona. You're more powerful than you think,' Alan interrupted. Great, now I was getting advice from a guy who'd been seeing ghosts for less than three days. Oblivious to my incredulous look, Alan continued. 'Do you know, the whole time I was dying, and you were in the garage fighting Chris, you were transferring all your thoughts to me. It was like I was there too. You're telepathic when you want to be. And, by the way, thanks a lot for that. The fire was kind of painful.'
I spluttered in shock at this new information. So that's why he hadn't been surprised to hear about what his dead brother had been up to! Before I could say anything, Ella continued.
'Have you ever thought that maybe there's a reason for all of thi
s? That you might have a greater purpose than just helping out my friends? Maybe the question you need to be asking is why can you see me at all?'
I should have known Ella would never give me a straight answer. The confusing blur had now become a tornado of doubt.
'What do you mean?' I asked, baffled and, I'll admit, slightly annoyed. 'I can see you because we have a twin connection. The same reason that Shane can see ghosts. And I'm not gifted. I feel like a bumbling idiot most of the time!'
Ella shook her head, and chuckled quietly.
'Okay, whatever you say, Fiona. You'll work it out when you're ready. In fact, I have a bad feeling that you'll have to face this far too soon.'
I sighed loudly in exasperation, causing me to break into a rasping cough. Trying to get answers from a ghost was harder than understanding my trig homework.
Ella unhelpfully thumped me on the back until my coughing fit had subsided.
'You'd better go home and rest,' she said. 'I'll walk Alan home.'
I nodded my consent and left them to continue on to Alan's house. My existential questions would have to wait for another day. As I walked, my limbs ached from the other day's beating. I felt exhausted. By the time I got home, I was so tired I didn't even notice the tall, handsome, dark-haired boy who was sitting on my front step, until he stood up and called out to me.
'Fiona!' Jason's voice was raked with concern. 'Are you okay? You haven't been at school for three days! I tried to call when you didn't show up, but your parents answered your phone. They said you were asleep—that you'd been in a fire and we shouldn't disturb you for a few days. I've been so worried.' I felt a small stab of guilt that I hadn't answered my friends' text messages for a few days. I'd been feeling really overwhelmed and didn't know what to say. It was so good to see Jason again though. I felt an intense sense of happiness and relief. He rushed over to where I was hobbling, and put his strong arm around my shoulders for support.
Then, as quickly as it had come, the happiness was swept away by a dark wave of resentment as I remembered that Jason was secretly dating Megan now.
'What are you doing here Jason? Shouldn't you be with your girlfriend Megan at school?' I shook his arm away bitterly. I was surprised at how angry my voice sounded. Jason's face fell instantly. His mouth dropped open, and the colour drained from his face.
'What's wrong, Fiona?' he asked, with a pained expression. 'Are you okay? I was so worried about you that I skipped school to see if you are all right.'
Jason had gone a strange, pale colour and his eyes were looking slightly glassy. I felt another pang of guilt. Jason seemed genuinely hurt by my reaction. He'd come here to see how I was, and I was being nasty, just because he had a secret girlfriend.
And why should that matter to me anyway?
It didn't matter. I didn't really care that they were together. I mean, Jason would still be the same annoying boy—the same Jason who invented stupid games and talked about teacher battles, the same Jason who gave me whiplash with his jerky driving, the same Jason who bugged me with silly notes when I was trying to concentrate in English. He would still save me warm chips at parties, protect me from Lara's splashes at the beach, and be concerned when I almost drown.
Except that he wouldn't. Now Megan would be Jason's first priority. Megan would be the one Jason would run to first with his stories. She'd be the one getting lifts from him. She'd be the one telling him off for his games. She would be the one who would get to hug this funny, kind boy.
It would be Megan, not me.
I was jealous.
That couldn't be it. I didn't like Jason. He was immature and annoying. He rubbed me up the wrong way. There wasn't one day in the past two years when he hadn't ticked me off.
Then again, there wasn't one day in the past two years when Jason hadn't cracked me up. There wasn't one day when I hadn't smothered a laugh in class because Jason was being silly. There wasn't one day when I hadn't been touched by his kindness.
The stark reality of what I'd been denying to myself for a long time hit me with painful force.
I liked Jason.
Now I was the one who felt like I'd been kicked in the stomach. I liked Jason, and it was too late. He was with Megan now. My eyes welled up with tears of regret. While I'd been wasting time chasing after people who weren't even alive, Megan had swooped in and taken my best friend away. I felt like such an immature fool, a baby. Megan had a boyfriend, and I was still going on childish adventures with my dead sister.
I turned from Jason and began to walk away before he could realise I was crying. I would come up with some reasonable explanation for my reaction later. I just couldn't face him right now. It hurt too much.
'Fiona,' Jason called me back urgently.
'What?' I spun around, my voice cracking. If he wanted to confess his love for Megan, I didn't want to hear it.
Jason tentatively grabbed my hand and pulled me back. It felt weird. Jason never normally touched me like that. The extent of our physical contact was a surprise poke in the side or a jab from behind. My stomach fluttered.
Suddenly I was reminded of the strong attraction I'd felt towards Shane when he'd touched me. Jason's touch felt so different from the possessive way Shane had grabbed me. Jason's hand felt strong and manly, but it wasn't controlling or aggressive. Standing close to Jason made me want to lean in further, like I had with Shane—but I didn't feel scared or intimidated that Jason might use his strength against me. I knew Jason so well after all these years that I felt like I could trust him completely, whereas Shane had given me every reason not to trust him, from the first moment we met.
Jason watched my face, looking nervous. He was still holding my hand.
'Megan and I aren't going out, Fiona,' he stated flatly.
My stomach moved again, but this time, in relief. My spirits rose in hope. Maybe I hadn't lost my chance after all.
Then I remembered the evidence, and fresh tears poured down my face.
'But I saw you together behind the science block last week!' I sobbed. It was too late now to hide that I was upset. I'd have to pretend that my tears were a side effect of the smoke inhalation.
'And Lara saw you with Megan at a café over summer … and you kept talking about Megan when you walked me home from school … and your face always lights up when you tell me about her … and you were giggling with her at the café. Giggling! Megan doesn't giggle!' I blubbered, in a very undignified manner. It was no wonder Jason had chosen her over me.
Jason looked genuinely distressed by my tears.
'Is that why you're upset?' he asked hoarsely. I tried to turn away but he pulled me back gently. I sniffled and lifted my watery eyes up to look at him.
'Fiona, listen to me. Megan and I are not together, I promise you. The reason Megan and I have been spending so much time together, the reason we lied about Shane being gay, is because well …' Jason's voice faded as he began to look sheepish and unsure of himself, '…because …umm … because Megan's one of your best friends … and I …' Jason glanced at me in uncertainty. He took a breath and then finally blurted out what he was trying to say.
'I really like you, Fiona. I really want to go out with you, and Megan was trying to help me win you over!'
Suddenly I felt like I was floating with happiness. As if someone else was controlling my body, I felt a smile of joy break across my face, and I fell into Jason's chest.
I wrapped my arms around him and shut my eyes as I rested my head against his body. He drew his arms around me. They felt warm, comforting, and strong. There was something so right about this. As if it had always been meant to be this way, as if the world was now in equilibrium. Jason must have felt it too, because he was hugging me more firmly. It was so right, so comfortable. There was none of the aggression and dominance I'd felt being near Shane. There was no power struggle. It was just kindness, affection, and friendship.
All these years we'd been friends, and I'd never realised before how attracted I was to him.
His arms felt so good wrapped around me. I smiled up at his face. His chocolate brown eyes looked back happily. How had I not noticed how gorgeous they were before? Everything else felt insignificant. School, ghosts, Chris trying to murder me … none of it mattered now that I was in Jason's arms.
Jason and I reluctantly broke away from each other. I couldn't wait to spend more time with him. All those years we'd wasted not realising our feelings for each other… We had to make up for them.
Unselfconsciously, I took Jason's hand and we walked inside the house. It felt like nothing had changed and everything had changed at the same time.
I was right about that. Nothing had changed.
My blissful thoughts were slammed violently out of my head by a shove from behind.
Ella was back. She obviously wasn't too concerned about my healing skin.
'Nice boyfriend!' she said. 'I want to hear all about him! But first, there's someone I want you to meet.'
'Sorry,' I apologised to Jason, who actually looked kind of pleased that I'd ploughed into him. This could work well for us. I continued walking into the kitchen, steadfastly ignoring Ella.
My progress was hampered by the shimmering male who suddenly appeared in front of me. I gave a start. There was only one way to describe this guy…
Hot.
'John needs your help,' Ella pleaded.
I gave an internal shudder. This was going to be a very long year.
The next book of the Dusk Duo Series
The Deadly School Camp
Read on for the first chapter of the next book of the Dusk Duo Series