“I’m not sure.”
“Of course, you’re sure,” I said. “We discussed it. You went crazy trying to find out where it was coming from.”
“You’re really exaggerating this, Logan. It was someone with a radio.”
“When was the last time a Baylor song was played on any radio station?” I turned to Jaffa, who was the one taking rapid notes now. “We couldn’t find where it was coming from, and while it may not have been a Baylor’s ghost, it was weird.”
“So you two were out there together?” Vanessa’s cheeks were now almost as red as her sweater.
“Yes.” I smiled at her. I couldn’t help it. “I heard the music after I started back toward the dorms.”
“So, you were on a date?” Her expression was pretty scary. “That’s why you weren’t at the pizza party?”
I remembered that it wasn’t a good idea to tangle with an Aries, especially over a love object, which Jeremy apparently was, to her, at least.
“We ran into each other out there, that’s all. I headed back to the dorms, and before I got there, the music started. Jeremy heard me scream, and we walked back to Dirk’s car together.”
She shot Dirk a look and then focused on Jaffa again. “So how is that possible, Henry? If Logan is telling the truth, she and Jeremy heard Sean Baylor’s song about the same time that all of us at the restaurant did.”
“I’m not sure how that works,” he said. “It’s my understanding that spirits are trapped souls. Thus, it doesn’t seem that they could appear in more than one location at the same time.”
“All I know is that it was that song we heard at the restaurant.” I looked over at Jeremy then back at him.
“Where did you go after that?” Vanessa asked, which made me both blush and want to smack her.
Jaffa seemed to sense it. “Actually, Logan should be asking the questions,” he said. “After the break, Tatiyana will interview you, Vanessa. Then you will all write your versions of the interview. Are you ready, Logan?”
“ Yes.”
“Jeremy?”
He shrugged and walked to the front of the room. I did the same. He hadn’t even taken off his jacket, as if ready to bolt at any moment. The look he shot me was far from friendly.
I ignored it and focused on the first rule of interviewing; bond with the subject. Right.
“Hi, Jeremy. Now, that I’ve been studying Sean Baylor, I can see why you’re so involved in him.”
“Why’s that?”
Who elected him interviewer?“Well, as a musician yourself, you no doubt have an appreciation of his musical abilities. When did you first become interested in him?”
“I always have been.”
“You’ve made it clear that you don’t think Sean Baylor’s spirit is in Monterey. Why is that?”
“Because it isn’t.”
“What do you think you and I heard last night?”
“A radio,” he said. “With all the ghost talk, maybe the stations dug up some of his music. Or maybe you did.”
I heard a titter that could only have come from Vanessa. That did it. Forget his arm around me. Forget how close I felt to him. He was making me look bad in front of Jaffa.
“Last night, after I screamed and you caught up with me, you said it wasn’t real. What did you mean by that?”
“You know what I meant.” He shoved his hands into the pocket of his jacket. “That it wasn’t a ghost.”
“Are you saying a ghost is real?”
“No.” His eyes were blazing, but his voice was cool and in control. “I meant that someone was playing Baylor’s music. That’s why I ran off to see where it was coming from.”
“What did you find?”
“Nothing,” he said. “Which makes me wonder. I mean, you were the only person around. And all of a sudden, there’s his song, right where you happen to be walking.”
I could not believe what he was implying. He couldn’t possibly. I needed every ounce of my Aquarian cool.
“And how do you explain the music at the restaurant?” I asked.
“I don’t know.” He glanced at Tati and held her gaze for a moment. “If someone wanted to stage Baylor sightings, I guess they would need an accomplice to fake-haunt the other place. I would start by looking at whoever wasn’t at the pizza party.”
“For what possible reason?” I could barely keep it together now. I glanced up and saw, to my horror, that even Critter was staring at me with open curiosity. No time to ponder. “Why would anyone, with or without an accomplice, want to fake something like that?”
“You got me there.” Those eyes I’d once thought sexy grew even more pale and clearly hostile. “But then I’m not the one who brought up the topic.”
NOTES TO SELF
Jeremy hates me. Whatever I thought was happening out there on the beach between us was killed when I told Jaffa the truth about hearing Baylor’s music. Jeremy forced me to be tough; I didn’t have any choice. Now, he’s suggesting that I—and maybe Tati and I—faked the music. What a rotten interviewer I am. Jaffa is going to think I’m the biggest loser on the planet. How am I going to be able to walk back in that room after the break?
12
EVERY CAPRICORN WANTS TO BE THE BEST AT SOME-
THING, EVEN SOMETHING AS MINOR AS MOWING THE
GRASS. EVERY SIGN WANTS TO SUCCEED. THERE’S A
DIFFERENCE, THOUGH. THE EARTH SIGNS, ESPECIALLY
CAPRICORN, ARE MORE PRACTICAL. UNEVOLVED
EARTH SIGNS, HOWEVER, THINK BY STAYING BUSY,
PUTTING IN LONG HOURS, AND MAKING DETAILED
LISTS ARE THE WAY TO GET THERE. UNEVOLVED FIRE
SIGNS TRY TO TAKE SHORTCUTS, OR THEY WORK FOR
THE LIMELIGHT ALONE. AND, OF COURSE, THE AIR
SIGNS WILL TALK ABOUT SUCCESS, AS IF IT IS THEIR
NEW BEST FRIEND, AS THE WATER SIGNS HOPE FOR IT
AND THEN SAY IT REALLY DOESN’T MATTER.
—Fearless Astrology
Don’t let Jeremy get to you.” I realized that Tati had followed me out on the patio. “He was a real ass in there. Can you imagine what everyone else must be thinking about us?”
“It makes me sick. You know they’re all talking about it.” How could I go back in that room and face the kids who were going to write their versions of that so-called interview?
“The good news is that I get to interview Vanessa after the break.” The Capricorn grinned as if waiting for me to say something.
“Meaning?”
“Meaning that you must have some trash on that chick.”
“Nothing that you don’t already have.”
“Come on. She’s probably the reason your guy turned against you. Tell me whatever you know, and I’ll use it when I interview her.”
“You are going to be a great investigative reporter, Tati.”
Clearly, that wasn’t what she had expected me to say. “How’s that?”
“Jaffa told us in the first class meeting. The best way for an investigative reporter to get information is to find an angry person.”
“That wasn’t what I was trying to do.” The wind kicked up. The purple streak in her hair didn’t move. “Did it work?”
“Maybe. Just ask her what they were doing upstairs in the restaurant when they heard Sean Baylor’s music.”
“Oh, really?” She giggled. “That girl is terrible.”
“With you doing the interviewing, everyone just might find out how terrible,” I said. “Then, maybe we won’t look so guilty by comparison.”
Once we were back in the classroom, we all spread around the room watching Vanessa, who had already bounced up to the podium. She’d pulled that dark hair up into a ponytail, which made her look both innocent and sexy. Did the self-involved Aries think Jaffa was going to film this interview?
Tati joined them in front, and I sat down in back.
“Are you ready?” Jaffa asked from the head of the table.
“Ready,” Vanessa said.
She joined Vanessa, and the rest of us got ready to take notes. “All right,” she said. “Thanks for speaking with me today, Vanessa.”
Another rule: Be gracious to the source. And Capricorn follows the rules.
“Yeah, right.”
And yet another: Aries doesn’t always follow the rules.
Tati glanced at Jaffa, who nodded.
“It’s fine,” he said. “You may indeed encounter hostile sources. That’s part of being a strong interviewer, getting the source to open up.”
“Well, then,” Tati said, but I could see that she was shaken by Vanessa’s nastiness. “What do you remember about the night that we heard Sean Baylor’s music? You seemed pretty certain that he was in the restaurant.”
“How can you even ask questions about that night?” she snapped. “You were passed out like a drunk in an alley.”
Tati gasped and went speechless.
“Well I wasn’t passed out,” I said, “and Tati is right. You were extremely vocal about Baylor’s spirit being there.”
“Isn’t this cheating, Henry?” Vanessa’s confidence seemed to fading right along with her lip gloss. “Logan’s trying to bail her out.”
“Not at all,” he said. “As writers, you’ll all encounter many situations where you may need to work with another reporter. Logan, why don’t you join Tatiyana?”
“No,” Vanessa and I replied almost in unison.
All I had done was try to help out Tati, and now I was going to have to face the class where Jeremy had humiliated me twenty minutes earlier. I walked to the front of the room like an unwilling robot.
Tati flashed me a look of camaraderie. The little outburst I had created had given her time to regroup.
“My first question is about Baylor’s ghost,” she said. “When did you first sense it, Vanessa?”
“Last weekend, our first night here. On the bus.” She sneaked a look at Jaffa. “That’s when I first knew that Sean Baylor’s spirit was trapped in that restaurant, and that . . .”
“I think Tatiyana is asking when you were first aware of it on Wednesday,” I said.
“Right.” Tati glanced down at her notebook. It probably looked professional to everyone else, but I knew that she was trying to keep from laughing.
“I was aware the minute we walked in the door,” Vanessa said.
“Was that when you first heard the music?” I asked her.
“Of course not. The music didn’t start until later.”
“Where were you then?”
“You know where.”
“She might, but I don’t.” Tati gave her a strictly business Capricorn smile.
“I was upstairs with Jeremy and Logan.”
“Is that so?” Tati glanced back down at her notebook as if trying to figure it out. “Weren’t you and Jeremy in the room alone before the music started?”
“Not that I recall.” Her eyes darted to Jaffa.
“Logan?” Tati asked.
“As I recall . . .” I couldn’t help mimicking Vanessa. “. . . Vanessa and Jeremy were alone in the room. I turned on the light, and not long after that, we heard the music.”
The class murmured. I had made my point.
Tati flashed me a victorious grin. “What makes you think the ghost was Sean Baylor’s?”
Vanessa’s cheeks blazed. “I already told you. It was the music and the fact that I sensed his spirit earlier.” She stood. “I’ve had about enough of this. Why is it all of a sudden such a big deal that I got lost and ended up alone?”
“Alone with Jeremy,” Tati said.
I could feel his glare burning into my back, and I didn’t dare turn around.
Jaffa didn’t look all that happy. Perhaps he categorized students making out during class trips the same way he did cell phones and tardiness.
“Class,” he said, “this is still part of the interview, so please continue to take notes and quotes, the way you would with any other source.”
“I said I’ve had enough, Henry.”
“This is my class.” Although he spoke in a soft, friendly voice, I could see that both of them were ready to go head-to-head.
“In case you don’t know, Logan,” she said. “The reason I got lost is because I saw something in the hall. It looked like a man.”
“Wow,” Critter said. The sound of whispering grew loud enough to get a threatening stare from Jaffa. Then the room fell silent again.
“Why didn’t you say so at the time?” I asked.
“I forgot.”
“You forgot,” I repeated, in case anyone had missed it. “What did this ghost man look like?”
“Like Sean Baylor.”
“Oh, really? In what way?”
“The guitar. Yes, it kind of looked like he was carrying a guitar.”
“Could you see his features?”
“No. It was too dark.” She shot me a defiant look. “But I know it was Baylor. If you hadn’t been passed out, Tatiyana, you might have seen him too.”
“Wait just a minute,” I said, ready to point out the difference between passing out and making out.
“Time’s up,” Jaffa said. “Excellent interview. Thank you Tatiyana, Vanessa, and Logan. Class, I hope you’ve all taken good notes today. Assignments are due on Monday. Enjoy your weekend off.”
Candice, Tati, and I took our time leaving. Once we stepped out of the classroom, I realized that Vanessa was waiting at the door.
She had let her dark hair down, and the wind whipped it against her face.
“You made a big mistake today, Logan.” Her smile was manic. “And, in case you didn’t notice, you made an enemy.”
“If you’re speaking about yourself, that’s nothing new.”
“I’m talking about him.”
“I can speak for myself.” There he was, just steps from me.
“Oh, Jeremy,” Vanessa began. “I didn’t . . .”
“I want to talk to Logan.” He didn’t need to add alone. His voice made it clear.
“Fine.” She shot me a triumphant smile and walked off behind Tati and Candice.
“Did you hear what she said?” I asked him. “About you being my enemy?”
“Did you hear what I said?” His voice was so angry that he might as well have been shouting. “About being able to speak for myself? That was a cheap shot you took in there, and I know you and Tatiyana had it planned.”
“What about you, Jeremy? You tried to make everyone think that I had played that music out there on the beach.”
“Maybe you did.”
“Think whatever you like.” I started to move down the path, toward the dorms. “At least I didn’t try to make them believe that you were playing the music.” Now there was a thought.
“Wait a minute. I told you why Vanessa and I were in that room at the restaurant. You tried to turn it into something else to discredit me in front of Jaffa.”
“All I did was tell what I saw. Your little Aries friend is the one who lied. And if you believe she was really lost and scared, you need to read up on Fire signs.”
“I am so sick of you trying to make points with that phony astro stuff.”
Now the Bull was raging. Time for this Aquarius to leave.
“If you think I am trying to make points with you, you are very wrong.” I kept my voice calm. “I’ll be researching Sean Baylor this weekend. See you on Monday.”
“You don’t even care about Sean Baylor.” He grabbed my arm.
“Let go of me.”
“Take your hands off of her, you jerk.” All of a sudden, there was Chili, my best friend from home—all attitude, wild highlights flashing in her dark hair. She flung herself against us and broke his hold.
“She’s all yours.” Jeremy stepped back and looked at both of us with disgust.
I no longer cared.
“Chili,” I gasped. “You’re really here.”
&
nbsp; “I sure am. Paige and I got away early. I’m so glad we did. What’s going on?”
“Everything.” Then I saw Paige running down the path. She was wearing one of her wild designs, and her long, pale hair flew behind her.
“Logan.” She looked into my eyes, and I remembered that I could never hide anything from her. “What’s wrong, Logan? You’re not crying?”
“No.” I hugged her, hugged Chili, and held my breath waiting for them to start chattering. Within seconds, they did.
“I missed you so much,” Chili said. “My mom sent food.”
“I missed you, too. Who’s the guy?”
“Quiet, Paige,” Chili whispered. “Wait until we’re out of here.”
Finally, we were inside Chili’s silver Spyder—me beside Chili, and Paige in the back—just like always. The car hummed to life. Soon, we’d be home, where maybe I could just hang out and think about everything that had happened this week. Maybe I could even find out what my dad remembered about Sean Baylor.
“That guy could have hurt you,” Chili said. “He must be on something.”
“No, he’s not.” I realized that I was trying to defend Jeremy, but couldn’t help myself. “It’s just that we’re both trying to write about the same topic, and he’s pretty competitive.”
“I’d stay away from him.” Chili reached over and squeezed my shoulder. “He looks like trouble.”
I patted her hand and tried to think of a topic guaranteed to distract a Gemini. “Enough about him,” I said. “Now, tell me about you and Trevor.”
Then, finally, I dared to glance out the car window. Jeremy was still there, all right, glaring back at me. And even at that safe distance, the darkness in his eyes was frightening.
NOTES TO SELF
I am thrilled to be with my very best friends again. It’s get-real time for me, and as much as I love Jaffa’s workshop, no one there, not even Candice and Tati, measures up to Paige and Chili. We talked nonstop during the ride home. Chili wanted me to understand that the breakup with Trevor isn’t her fault. She just couldn’t stand that secretive Scorpio. Paige is still happy with Hunter, her hard-working Aries boyfriend.
And what about me? they asked. Was I still interested in my old boyfriend Nathan? Not after the way he lied to me. Had I met anyone?
Taurus Eyes Page 8
