by Wende Dikec
“Oh, no.” I’d completely forgotten I was in public. I turned around and my worst fears were realized. Ms. Petties stood directly behind, me, hands on her hips.
“Child, you need to come into my office. Now.”
Minutes later, I sat in the chair in front of Mrs. Petties desk, and she stared at me over the top of her glasses. She called Jess and Maura into the office too. Not a casual meeting. This was an all-out intervention.
Nick stood next to me, leaning against her desk, and there for moral support. Blobby floated around the room, occasionally stopping to bounce on someone’s head. I don’t know why Blobby had showed up. Perhaps just for entertainment.
“I’m fine.” I looked directly at Mrs. Petties when I said it, and then at Maura and at Jess. “I really am.”
“Girl, I just saw you in the parking lot, laughing and giggling and talking to yourself about slow dancing. Does that sound fine to you?” Ms. Petties picked up a pen and started taking notes.
“You’ve been acting strangely lately, Lily.” Jess looked uncomfortable, but Ms. Petties and Maura nodded encouragingly. “You hardly spend time with us at all, and you never text or call.”
“I’ve been busy.” I shook my head in disbelief.
“You’ve been weird.” Maura, ready to rumble, didn’t need any encouragement. “And you’ve been hanging out with Goth Girl. What’s up with that?”
“Zoe? She’s my friend.”
“Since when?” Maura looked like she could go on all day. I wasn’t in the mood.
“Look, are you all forgetting I sort of died only a few weeks ago? Also, has it occurred to you that Sunday is nine years to the day that my sister died?”
Maura, Jess, and even Mrs. Petties had the decency to look chagrined. I noticed Mrs. Petties’ cell phone on her desk and had a burst of lying inspiration. I stood up and dug into my purse for my Bluetooth. My parents had insisted I get one after the accident, but half the time I forgot to use it. I pulled it out triumphantly. “And maybe I wasn’t talking to myself.”
Ms. Petties leaned back in her chair. “You were on the phone?” Her dark eyes bored into me, but I refused to waver.
“With my mother. You can call her and check if you don’t believe me.” I shoved the Bluetooth back into my bag. “We talked about prom. So if you will all excuse me, I have other things to do.”
I stomped out into the hallway, followed by Maura and Jess. “Stop.” Jess pulled on my arm. “Please tell us what is going on. For real this time.” Her blue eyes filled with tears, and Maura looked upset too.
I sighed. They hadn’t fallen for it. Not a surprise. They knew very well I’d never wear my Bluetooth with a headband. It clashed and made my whole outfit look tacky. “We have twenty minutes before homeroom. If you can be quiet and not judge, I’ll tell you everything.”
Ten minutes later, Maura and Jess stared at me in stunned silence. We sat on a bench in a corner of the school courtyard.
“So, you think you are psychic?” Jess gave Maura a worried glance.
Maura whispered “Craaaaazy,” under her breath.
I swatted her lightly. “Not crazy.” I turned to Jess. “And not psychic. This all happened because of those five minutes when I died.”
“But you’re seeing ghosts?” Maura didn’t say “crazy” again, but I knew she thought it.
I looked up at Blobby floating just above my head. “Well, just one ghost now.”
“And you are in a relationship with Nick, who no one else can see but you?” Jess watched my face patiently, waiting for me to come to my senses.
“No one else can see him because isn’t dead.”
Nick winked. “Thank you for that.”
I smiled at him. “You’re welcome.”
“Are you ill? Maura felt my head. “Maybe you’re delirious. Jess, call 911.”
“Stop it. I’m fine.”
Jess held her phone, ready to call emergency services as she studied my face. Something she saw there made her slip her phone back in her purse. “You do realize how this sounds, don’t you?” she asked.
I sighed. “You know me. Have I ever done anything even remotely like this before?”
Maura and Jess both shook their heads, and Jess raised a finger in the air. “But you never died before.”
“And why is Goth Girl helping you? You should have come to us.” Maura folded her arms across her chest. I knew that pose. Jealousy. She found it hard enough to share me with Jess—now she had to share me with Nick, Zoe, Josh, and a little blobby ghost. She didn’t like it one bit.
I glanced at my watch. We were running out of time. “What if I could prove it to you?”
I told them to write a word down on a piece of paper while I turned my back to them. Then I asked Nick to tell me the word. After about twenty words, they started to wonder if maybe I wasn’t crazy.
“How did you do that?” Maura asked for the twentieth time. They needed just a little more proof. I made them go into the school, whisper one word each, and then come back. Nick dutifully followed them into the school, and came back with a grin on his face.
“You have some interesting friends, princess. They both chose a rather crude word for the male anatomy.” When Nick told me the words, I looked at Maura and Jess in shock.
“You guys—I can’t believe you said that.” When I repeated the words to them, blushing the entire time, Nick laughed his head off. Maura’s mouth dropped open in shock.
“It is true,” she said, and Jess nodded in agreement. They enveloped me into a very big group hug just before the bell rang.
At lunch, I sat with Zoe. She didn’t look thrilled to see me, but I had to talk to her. I made Nick wait outside. I got too distracted with him right next to me.
“I saw the soul reaper last night.”
Zoe’s eyes grew huge in her face. “What did it look like?”
I frowned, thinking about it. “It looked a little like the other blobs, but different.” I explained to her what had happened the night before. I remembered the terror I felt and shuddered. “Pure...evil. Have you ever felt something like that?”
Zoe shook her head slowly. “Never. That must have been awful, Lily.”
I fingered my necklace. “I’m not taking this off again. Mrs. Chang said it would protect me.”
“Where was Nick when this was happening?”
I looked up at Zoe in surprise. “Right next to me. Or at least he was when the soul reaper left. I can’t remember.” Zoe stared at me, and I shook my head, knowing exactly what she was thinking. “No. Nick has nothing to do with this.”
She shrugged. “If you say so, Ginge.”
“Mr. Wan’s assistant read my tea leaves. She said Nick isn’t dead, but he isn’t alive either, which wasn’t very helpful. She also said I’m going to end up with someone named Mr. Lucky.” I shook my head. “We’re getting nowhere.”
Just then, Maura and Jess approached our table. Zoe looked up, her expression both surprised and horrified. Blobby plopped down on the table next to her.
“Please don’t tell me you all want to be my friends, now.”
I grinned, knowing Zoe well enough to find this whole situation vastly amusing. “Look, Zoe. We have helpers.”
I pointed to Maura and Jess. They waved and sat down. Zoe began banging her head against the cafeteria table, her black hair hanging down. I think she may have been moaning.
“Yes,” said Maura. “And we’re going to go to The Zone with you guys Friday night to help you figure out what happened to Nick.”
Zoe looked up in shock. “And how do you propose to do that?”
Maura stuck out her ample chest a bit for emphasis, and Jess fluffed her blonde hair and fluttered her eyelashes. “Because boys like to talk to us.”
“I’m sure they do.” Zoe groaned again. “So this is ‘Barbie and Friends Go to a Bar?’ Okay. I can deal with that. But you’ll have to blend in, and you’ll have to do things my way.”
“What does tha
t mean?” Jess still fluttered her eyelashes, a habit at this point, and an annoying one at that.
Zoe looked at the blinking Jess with her blonde surfer good looks, then and at Maura with her beautiful dark curls and skin, and finally at me. I tugged on my red hair self-consciously and she grinned. “You’ll see.”
“When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be.”
Lao Tzu, Sixth Century BC
Chapter Twelve
“I cannot wear a black leather bustier. And I refuse to put on those trousers.”
I couldn’t believe Zoe asked me to do this. As we stood in my bedroom, Zoe showed me the clothes she’d brought for me to wear to The Zone. I was not pleased, but she remained adamant.
“Trousers?” Zoe started to laugh. “What are you, eighty years old? These are very sexy, very tight, very skinny black leather pants. And that is not just a black leather bustier; it’s an awesome black leather bustier. You’ll look great it in.”
I gave her a skeptical look. I doubted I would look great, but Zoe certainly did. She wore a little black dress with a long black jacket—not a bustier in sight. The dress crisscrossed her body with dark, sheer fabric, showing peeks of her pale skin and highlighting her legs. She had amazing legs. I’d never seen them before since she always wore long skirts.
“Well, you look cute.”
Zoe rolled her eyes. “Cute wasn’t what I was going for, but thanks, cupcake.”
“I bet Josh will like your dress.” I pretended to be busy looking at the bustier. Zoe wasn’t fooled.
“What plot are you hatching?”
I shrugged. “I just noticed that you two kind of hit it off the other night.”
Zoe’s jaw dropped. “Me and the Ken doll? That is not going to happen. He’s like a golden retriever, but with muscles.”
I giggled. “My friends and I call him ‘Lifesaver Candy.’ He saved me and he’s total eye candy, but why not Josh? He’s a nice boy.”
“That is exactly ‘why not.’ I don’t date nice boys.” Zoe started messing with the makeup supplies she’d brought with her. She seemed flustered. “And aren’t you two going to prom together?”
I shook my head. “I haven’t told Josh yet, but I can’t go with him.”
Zoe paused. “Because of Nick?”
I nodded, and sat down on the edge of the bed. Suddenly I had a lump in my throat. “Josh and I are just friends, but I can’t go out with anyone else. Nick is...”
“The one you want. I understand, but be careful, Ginge.” Zoe sat down next to me and surprised me by putting an arm around my shoulders. “I know how you feel about him, but I’m not convinced Nick’s telling us everything he knows. Also, there is that little problem of him not exactly being in solid form.”
I knew Zoe worried for me. When she’d hinted around about Nick possibly being responsible for the scary episode I’d had the night before, it had made me examine what I knew about him. Not a lot, but what I did know, with my whole heart, was that Nick would never hurt me.
“I believe him, Zoe, even if I don’t have any proof. And I know Nick is the one for me, although Josh is the type of boy I always thought I would date. My parents would love him.”
Zoe snorted. “Mine would too. They’re dentists. Have you seen Josh’s teeth? Perfection.”
I looked at her in surprise. “Your parents are dentists?”
Zoe nodded. “I know. Life is cruel. I should have been born to gypsies, or artists, or rock stars. Instead, my parents get Dentists’ Weekly and talk about plaque during dinner. ”
I started to laugh, but then realized how hard “normal” must be for someone with Zoe’s gifts. I’d only been seeing ghosts for a few weeks, and I’d changed already. A lifetime of this could make anyone...odd.
“I’m sure people have judged you without knowing you as a person, and I’m sure you didn’t appreciate it. Don’t do the same thing. Give him a chance. He’s special. I bet it isn’t every day you meet a clairvoyant as hot as Josh.”
Zoe chuckled. “That is true. Lifesaver Candy, huh?” She shook her head. “I’ll think about it, okay? Now get dressed, please.”
I’ve never worn a bustier or leather pants before, but I had to admit that the combination empowered me. I looked at my reflection in the mirror as Zoe stood behind me, admiring her handiwork.
“I look like Sandy from Grease, but at the end of the movie.”
“Yeah. When she finally became cool.” Zoe grinned at me.
“I liked her better in poodle skirts.” I tried to pull the bustier up a little higher, but failed. “Nick is not going to believe this.”
Zoe turned me around to face her. “Nick is going to love this. Now sit down and let me do your hair.”
I sat at my vanity. Maura, Jess, and Josh were due to arrive soon, but Zoe had come early to help me get ready. She didn’t trust me to pull together the right look. Nick sat in my dad’s den watching ESPN.
Zoe brushed my hair, and I studied her face in the mirror. “Thanks, Zoe. I could never have done this without you.”
Zoe had bobby pins in her mouth. “What? Your hair?” she asked, her voice muffled. She frowned at me, not understanding.
I reached for her hand and held it as our eyes locked in the mirror. “All of it. You helped me when you had no reason to at all, and you became my friend just when I needed it most.”
Zoe shrugged and started brushing my hair again. “Well, you aren’t completely awful.”
I understood Zoe now. All the irritation and crabbiness masked a very tender soul, as sensitive to people as she was to ghosts. I let her do my hair in a high ponytail, add a leather choker to my neck, and even do my makeup. The effect was catlike green eyes outlined in miles of black kohl and fire engine red lips. She even painted my nails black. I looked very different. I looked very sexy.
“Do you think the eyeliner is too much?” I asked. The necklace from Mrs. Chang, nestled in my bosom, felt strangely cool against my bare skin.
Zoe winked at me. “They’ll be so busy looking at your boobs, they won’t notice the eyeliner, honey.”
I glanced down at the bustier. My boobs were popping out. I had what I thought seemed like a normal size chest, but I looked positively voluptuous in this bustier.
“I think I need a cardigan.”
Zoe narrowed her eyebrows. “No, but I do have a leather jacket that would look super cute.”
I glared at her, but she ignored me. Zoe, on a mission to make me cooler, had become ruthless about it.
After she finished, I barely recognized myself. I turned around in front of the mirror. There was a fine line between sexy and trampy, and I think I may have been teetering on the edge of it in a pair of stiletto heels, but Zoe refused to listen to my protests. She pushed me out the door of my room and made me pause at the top of the steps.
“Wait. You need to make an entrance.”
I tried to pull the bustier up, but there was far too much bust in the bustier. Zoe slapped my hands away, and then yelled over the railing, “Nick. Come out, come out, wherever you are.”
She grinned at me as she bounded down the steps, so proud of her handiwork. I felt a little less enthusiastic, and couldn’t move as quickly as she did due to the five-inch heels and a lot of very tight leather. I made my way slowly down the steps, clinging to the railing and watching my feet. I finally looked up when I reached the bottom step and saw Nick. He stared at me with his mouth open in surprise.
“Lily?” His eyes trailed up and down my body, lingering just a little too long on my chest. I tried to fold my arms across my breasts, but that made them pop out even more. I blushed from head to toe, and I think Nick blushed too.
Zoe didn’t blush. She grinned, enjoying this far too much. She liked pushing me out of my comfort zone, especially if that meant pushing me into a black leather bustier.
“So, what does he think?”
Nick struggled to speak, but nothing came out.
“I don’t know. He has
n’t said anything yet.”
Zoe smiled even more. “A good sign.”
Nick scowled at her, and then scowled at me. “No way. You aren’t seriously going to wear that, are you?”
I looked down at my black leather ensemble, unlike anything I’d ever worn in my life. It wasn’t that bad. I kind of liked the way the black contrasted with my pale skin, and the outfit did nicely emphasize my figure.
“What’s wrong with it?”
Nick’s reaction hurt. I’d wanted him to smile and flatter me. Instead, he seemed almost angry.
Nick ran a hand through his hair. “The Zone isn’t like a country club, Lil. There are some...undesirables there. If they see you dressed like this, they may try something, and I won’t be able to protect you.”
“Oh.”
Nick came closer to me. “And you’re far too sexy for your own good, even in those little dresses you like with the bows in your hair.”
“Oh.” I’d found it hard enough to breathe in the skin-tight leather pants and the bustier. Now it was even harder.
Zoe tapped her foot impatiently. “So, what is he saying?”
I looked at Nick and bit my lip. “I think Nick wants me to wear a sweater too. I have the sweetest little cardigan upstairs...” I turned to go back to my room, but Zoe grabbed my arm.
“No way, princess.” She pulled a black leather jacket out of the bag of supplies she’d brought with her, and handed it to me. I slipped it on, zipping it up to my chin. Zoe rolled her eyes.
“I’m sorry, Zoe, but I don’t show this much skin to my doctor. Why do I have to look like a member of a motorcycle gang?”
Zoe raised one narrow, dark eyebrow at me. “Because you’re the one who has to ask the questions, since you’re the only one who can communicate with Nick. You’ll get a lot more answers dressed like this.”
I looked at Nick. “I guess she has a point.”
Nick shrugged, unconvinced. “I still don’t think it’s a good idea.”
“Nick’s worried. What if someone bothers me?” Feeling a bit warm, I unzipped the leather jacket just a bit. Sweating in leather was not something I wanted to experience.
