“Dad’s not perfect,” Sydnee said, “but really? An investment broker? I don’t even know what that means.”
I never knew the guy, or their mom, frankly, but I had to admit, it surprised me. It shocked the whole town. Quite the scandal. “Well, thank you for this.” I clutched the necklace tighter and went back to the sink to spit before I started gagging.
They followed me. And Brooke followed them.
“There’s more,” Ash said, biting her lip as though uncertain.
Curious now, I rinsed, wiped my mouth, then looked at the clock on my phone. Even if we sprinted, we’d never make fifth hour before the tardy bell. It was too much to hope another fight would detain the teacher long enough for me to sneak in again. I gave the twins my full attention. “What’s up?”
“We also know
Brooklyn stilled beside me.
“Really?” I asked, a lighthearted laugh escaping me. “Besides a girl?”
“Yes,” Syd said. “And what Ash should have said is, we know what you can do.”
“Okay.”
Ash stepped closer again. “There’s something weird going on.”
Syd looked around, then lowered her voice. “Something strange.”
I stared cautiously as they closed the distance between us. “I’m getting that.”
Inching back to my side, Brooke asked, “What do you mean by strange?”
“A lot of the kids are behaving oddly,” Ash said. “Including Syd’s boyfriend, Isaac. That’s why we’re here. We thought you could maybe touch him.”
Isaac had been at the party that night. I remembered seeing him with a group of friends along the tree line, barely visible in the low light. One of the few people there I could’ve called friend, he’d smiled at me and waved.
“You’re dating Isaac Johnson?” Brooke asked, beaming with enthusiasm and suddenly tight with the
Southern Belles. “That is so sweet. I bet you guys make the cutest cou—”
“Really, Brooke?” I stopped her midstream. She could go on for days.
“I’m just saying.” She frowned at me, then did the phone sign to Syd and mouthed the words
Syd grinned at last, a shy smile that crept sweetly across her face.
I smiled too, then asked, “How do you know what I can do?”
They exchanged furtive glances; then Ash said, “It told us. The thing in our house. It told us what you are, what Cameron is, and what Jared is.” Her eyes rounded a little. “Please don’t tell him we know. We won’t tell anyone.”
“We swear.” Syd nodded, her eyes pleading.
“I promise I won’t tell him. But he’s a good guy. He won’t hurt you just for knowing what he is.” Their expressions were less than convinced, so I asked, “What is it exactly you’re worried about?”
“Isaac is acting strange. He’s been acting strange for a couple of days. I think,” Syd said, her voice lowering to a whisper, “I think something happened at the Clearing Friday night. I think he’s being bullied.”
Brooke and I both blinked and waited for the punch line. It never came.
“Wait,” Brooke said at last, “you can’t be serious.”
“Isaac Johnson?” I raised my brows, hoping to give them a clue. “The biggest defensive lineman ever to grace the halls of Riley High? That Isaac Johnson?”
“And he’s being bullied?”
They nodded in unison.
“We know how it sounds,” Syd said. “But he’s not the only one. There are more. Almost every member of the football team in OA is acting strange. Like they’re scared of someone.”
“Or something,” Ash added. “Ever since that night.”
To be in OA, or organized athletics, a student had to play at least one sport. Since football was over, the team still got together every day and worked out. And that wasn’t all they did. They still partied together. Half the team had to have been at that party. All I remembered was letter jacket after letter jacket.
“Has he said anything? Mentioned any names?” Brooke asked. “Talked about the party?”
“No. That’s the other strange part. He just said he doesn’t really remember the party. And now he won’t talk about it at all.”
Brooke and I eyed each other.
Syd wrapped her arms around her waist. “That’s why we thought you could touch him. You could do your thing.”
“Um, I don’t really have a thing.”
“That’s not what that ghost told us,” Ashlee said. “Not in words so much, but in images while we slept.”
Sydnee nodded. “It showed us things. About you. About Jared. We never dreamed it was possible until we saw the camera footage.”
That brought all thoughts to a screeching halt. “Camera footage?” I asked. As realization dawned on what she had to be referring to, my pulse quickened with a mixture of fear and denial.
“Don’t worry,” Syd said. “We told Dad the recorder malfunctioned.”
“But it didn’t.” A grin slid across Ashlee’s pretty face. “We saw everything. We saw what you did.”
“It was amazing.”
“Thanks.” I glanced at Brooke. She was still at the wide-eyed-denial stage. “Why didn’t you tell me sooner? That you knew? That was two months ago.”
Ash smirked. “We were waiting for the right moment.” She got an evil twinkle in her eyes. “Like now.”
My jaw fell open before I caught it. “So, this is blackmail.”
“Absolutely,” Syd said. “Or, well, technically it’s extortion. Same difference.”
Ash blinked her long lashes and gazed at me from behind a pout. “You did ruin my very favorite piano.”
“You just said…” When Ash’s face morphed into that same kind of evil, I gave in. “Fine, I’ll give it a shot, but my visions aren’t really that reliable. I may or may not get something.”
“That’s okay,” Syd said, taking what she could get. “We just want you to try.”
I set my jaw. “And I swear, if I come out of this suicidal, I’m coming back to haunt you.”
“Deal,” Ash said.
THE SOUTHERN BELLE
Brooke piled her plate high with salad for lunch while I went for a more modest version, and Glitch and
Cameron went for pizza. Shocker.
“You suck,” Cameron said to Glitch as he swiped at his pants. He sat next to Brooke with a scowl lining his face.
“No more than you,” Glitch said.
“What did you do?” Brooke let the suspicion in her expression filter into her voice. We knew Glitch too well.
“He spilled his water on me.”
Glitch chuckled. “Think you’ll survive?”
Clicking her tongue in disappointment, Brooke looked at me. “Boys are impossible.” She looked around. “Oh, the school paper’s out. I’m going to get us one.”
Everyone around us was reading the school newspaper, or at least looking at the pictures. While
Brooke went to get us each a copy, I munched on crunchy green stuff with dressing. It was really the dressing I was after. Bacon ranch. Pretty much anything with bacon in it would earn the Lorelei McAlister seal of approval.
“Thanks,” I said when Brooke handed me a paper.
