The Girl and the Ghost

by Ebony McKenna

  Rubbing her eyes, Morgan shrugged. ‘No big deal, they’ll just give me a warning.’

  ‘I’m not talking about school. We’re rolling cameras in ten minutes.’

  Bong! A bell went off in Morgan’s head. She grabbed her uniform and dashed into her bathroom. Half way through washing her face she remembered the ghost. No time to see if he was still around. Or if Mum had seen him either. She mustn’t have, because otherwise she’d be screaming, surely?

  Morgan sprayed her hair with product to disguise the oiliness. A bit of teasing and a few clips later, it looked like a deliberate messy hairstyle rather than a cover up. She coated herself with body spray, the thick cloud of propellant had her coughing so much her eyes watered.

  As she charged out, she cast a quick glance about her room. No sign of George. Had that really happened or was he a product of paint fumes and an overactive imagination?

  Wait, no chandelier. So that part had been real.

  She’d have to deal with him later, because she had to have breakfast and be out of the kitchen before the cameras started. The only thing guaranteed to freak her out more than a ghost in her bedroom was a stranger’s camera in her face.

  Chemistry class was something Morgan usually enjoyed, but today she couldn’t stop yawning. Their teacher, Miss Khan, fixed her wide brown eyes on her. ‘What’s that Morgan, am I keeping you up?’

  The rest of the class giggled, a few of them yawned as well, because teenagers.

  Sitting between her friends Olivia and Kaz in the back row, Morgan’s face burned in embarrassment. ‘No Miss. Sorry Miss.’

  ‘Good. Everyone should know what this chemical formula is.’ She wrote the letters NaCl on the white board. ‘I’m sure you’ve all been studying the periodic table and common compounds, as per your course guide, so you will know the ‘Na’ is . . .’ she pointed to Morgan to answer.

  ‘Sodium, Miss.’

  ‘Very good, and the ‘Cl’ is?’ Still looking at Morgan to answer it.

  ‘Chlorine.’

  ‘And we know this formula more commonly as?’

  A field of hands went up, but Miss Khan ignored them and kept waiting for Morgan to answer.

  ‘Is it salt, Miss?’

  ‘Correct.’ Miss Khan set about writing chemical formulae for everyday items on the white board and asking the students to guess what they might be.

  Morgan’s phone vibrated in her pocket. She tapped it to keep it quiet – teachers had ears like bats – and read the screen. It was from Kaz, sitting beside her.

  Tell me ghost stories

  Morgan turned her phone off and shook her head. When she’d sent that picture of her sketch to Kaz last night, it had been in the heat of the moment. Since then she’d gotten to know George. In the cold light of day she felt protective of him.

  On top of that, getting sprung by the teacher texting in class was a sure way to get suspension. Or worse, the teacher would confiscate the phone. They may as well cut out her tongue!

  Sitting on her other side, Olivia leaned over and whispered, ‘Kaz tells me you have a ghost. Is he cute or is his face all melted off from the horrible accident that killed him?’

  Morgan snorted before she could stop herself.

  Miss Khan put down her whiteboard pen. A very bad sign. ‘Everyone stop what you’re doing, I’m re-organising the class. Front row, grab your things and stand beside my desk.’

  The sounds of scraping chairs and closing laptops filled the room.

  ‘Good. Everyone in the fourth row, move forward to the front row please.’

  More noisy scraping chairs ensued, along with books and laptops slapping together, plus the odd ‘what?’ from confused students.

  ‘Now, row three, move back by one, and row two do the same, and students who were in the first row can move into the second.’

  Confused looks passed between Morgan, Kaz and Olivia as they stacked their things. Was this Morgan’s fault? You could never tell with Miss Khan.

  ‘Brilliant.’ Miss Khan looked upon her newly-arranged seating with a smile that filled Morgan with dread. ‘You may think this is arbitrary. And on some level it is. I fully expect you to go home and complain to your parents about what I’ve done and how I’ve denied you some kind of natural justice. But this is science, not law class.’ Her eyes rested on Kaz at that point. ‘What I have done is help all of you to learn. I want you to concentrate on the lessons, not on where you’re sitting and whether you think I won’t notice you. I notice all of you.’ Her eyes roved the class before resting on Morgan.

  Had somebody drawn a target on her forehead?

  ‘What I have done is agitate the room, the same way molecules become agitated under heat. For the purposes of this exercise, you may consider me a Bunsen burner.’

  The students groaned. Miss Khan had the worst jokes.

  ‘At random intervals, I will reseat the class. Don’t get comfortable, don’t get complacent. While you’re in my class you will pay attention, and keep up.’

  When class was finally over, Morgan grabbed her things extra fast and made for the exit. She’d nearly reached the door when Miss Khan called her back.

  ‘Do you have a tutor? Is that why you’re coasting through?’ Miss Khan asked.

  ‘No Miss, I don’t have one.’ The moment the words left Morgan’s lips she mentally calculated how many students at school might have tutors. At least half of them. If she asked her parents, she’d definitely get one. They’d probably hire the best professor in Melbourne and refurbish a guest room into a fully equipped study. Better not be pink.

  Miss Khan tilted her head. ‘You might resent me because you get more pocket money in a week than I earn in a year, but you’re a smart girl and the reason I go harder on you is because you’re one of the good ones.’

  ‘Sorry?’

  ‘I single you out, because a good mind is a terrible thing to waste. Be honest. Is this too easy? Is that why you don’t pay attention?’

  ‘Is there a right way to answer that?’

  Miss Khan crossed her arms over her chest and raised one eyebrow. The Eyebrow of Truth! No student was immune to its power.

  ‘I guess it’s easy in some ways. But I do concentrate. It just looks like I’m not. I’m multi-tasking, see, and I do all the homework the night before, so it’s fresh in my head.’

  Miss Khan smirked. ‘You don’t want to admit it’s easy because you know I’ll assign you harder work.’

  Morgan looked at her shoes and gave the smallest nod.

  ‘At last we are honest with each other. I won’t make you change classes to the accelerated group because you have friends in here and I don’t think it’s a good idea to split friendship groups. However, if Olivia’s grades don’t improve, I will move her.’

  Morgan’s head shot up so fast she got whiplash.

  ‘You might be a natural at this, but Olivia is not. She’s the one who needs to pay attention. Texting you during class times is not helping.’

  Heat roared up Morgan’s neck in indignation. ‘You can’t punish me because of what someone else is doing.’ Anyway, it was Kaz doing the texting, not Olivia.

  Miss Khan gave an elegant smile. ‘It’s not punishment dear, it’s motivation.’

  At lunch, Morgan, Kaz, Olivia and Emma sat at their usual spot in the cafeteria. Emma was in a different science elective, so Kaz filled her in on the seat-shuffle drama.

  Olivia picked up her chopsticks and gabbed a chunk of salmon. ‘I also have some bad news.’

  ‘Oh,’ the three of them said together.

  ‘It’s about Morgan.’

  ‘What about me?’ Morgan’s stomach dropped to the floor.

  Milking the moment, Olivia mixed her wasabi and soy sauce together, then dipped the fish in before bringing it to her mouth.

  Come on, spit it out.

  ‘Mrs Edgars said you have to do better in Humanities or she’ll split us up. All of us. She said she’s going to sit each of us in a corner so we can�
�t talk to each other.’

  Morgan choked on her sports water.

  ‘We can still text,’ Kaz said.

  ‘Nope.’ Olivia shook her head. ‘Very reliable source told me they’re going to ban all phones from classes as of next week.’

  ‘They can’t!’ Kaz said.

  Emma said, ‘Handmaid’s Tale here we come. Next they’ll hack off our thumbs.’

  Morgan’s forehead creased.

  Emma sighed, ‘If you were doing English Lit you’d get that reference.’

  No thanks, Morgan thought. ‘I couldn’t deal after the first episode.’

  Kaz leapt straight to peak indignation. ‘Our phones are our private property!’

  Her parents were lawyers and had threatened to sue the school. That was over Kaz being allowed to chew dentist-approved gum after lunch to help clean her teeth. In return the school’s lawyers, on advice from the very best dentists, said she was welcome to pack a toothbrush and paste in her lunch box. As a concession she could use the bathroom next to the sickbay for privacy.

  Morgan mentally cleared her head. ‘Hang on, when did Mrs Edgars tell you this?’

  ‘Just now. You’d already left the room, she called me back and asked me what we were texting about and I showed her the pic of the ghost Kaz sent me.’

  ‘You showed the teacher and not me?’ Emma cried out.

  ‘I had to get it from Kaz,’ Olivia said, sounding hurt. ‘If Morgan had just sent it to me when I asked then none of this would have happened.’

  ‘Hang on, wait,’ Morgan made a shushing motion with her hands so she could think. ‘Mrs Edgars must be tag-teaming with Miss Khan. Because Miss Khan told me after chemistry that if your grades didn’t improve, then she’d move you too.’

  Olivia’s already large blue eyes virtually doubled in size.

  ‘She can’t do that!’ Kaz said.

  Olivia overlapped Kaz in her eagerness to complain. ‘That’s so mean.’

  ‘What a horrible –’

  ‘This is how they get their thrills.’

  ‘– cow.’

  ‘Calm down,’ Emma said. ‘Morgan’s got a point. Either this is a huge coincidence, or Edgars and Khan are in this together. Which means they knew we’d share this news and come up with a plan.’

  Kaz, Olivia and Morgan all stared at Emma.

  ‘Help each other with homework of course!’ Emma said with a dramatic roll of her eyes.

  ‘Oh!’ Morgan and Olivia said together.

  ‘Morgan, you’re a whiz at chem, and Olivia can do history in her sleep. Put your heads together and work it out.’

  Kaz laughed. ‘Emma, you are so going to be a psychologist when you grow up!’

  Olivia turned to Morgan. ‘Why don’t I come over tonight? You can help me with science and I can meet your ghost.’

  And see all that pink! Morgan cringed. No way would she let her friends over until they’d nixed the hideous colour. ‘Well, um, it’s just that . . .’

  ‘What’s with the stalling?’ Emma’s eyes squinted with accusation. ‘The ghost is real, isn’t he?’

  ‘Of course he is.’ Morgan said.

  ‘Then what’s the problem?’ Emma asked. ‘I’m coming over.’

  ‘Maybe tonight isn’t such a good idea.’ Cold heaviness dragged her down at the thought of them seeing her pinkety-pink room.

  And laughing.

  At her.

  Quick, think of something. ‘We’re still renovating. Tradesmen everywhere.’ Brilliant!

  ‘You are making him up!’ Emma accused.

  ‘No I’m not!’

  ‘Then let us come over and see him,’ Emma shot back.

  Cornered, Morgan found herself nodding and saying, ‘All right then.’ Dave might make a batch of his famous banana and chocolate chunk cupcakes to keep them distracted in the kitchen.

  ‘Great,’ Emma said. ‘I’ll be over at five.’

  ‘I should come straight home with you, so we can get a head start on our homework,’ Olivia said, her face glowing with excitement.

  The thought, ‘Oh no you’re not’ almost made its way from Morgan’s brain to her mouth when Kaz jumped in with, ‘I’m not missing out. I’m coming with you and ‘Liv’.

  ‘Don’t call me ‘Liv’, Casuarina,’ Olivia said.

  ‘In that case, I may as well come with you straight from school as well,’ Emma said.

  Morgan wished the ground would open up and swallow her.

  4

  Dave Makes Things Worse

  ‘Hey girls. You’ve come to see the ghost have you?’ Dave said as they walked through the mud-room and dumped their school bags on the floor.

  Morgan tried to get in first. ‘Wait a sec –’

  ‘Is he here?’ Kaz rushed ahead of Morgan to look around the kitchen.

  Dave said, ‘Came pre-installed with the house.’

  Morgan wished everyone would shut up so she could think straight. Number one priority was to keep her friends down here in the kitchen and out of her bedroom.

  ‘Maybe we have to wait until it’s darker?’ Emma asked.

  ‘Something smells good,’ Olivia said.

  Morgan agreed. ‘Let’s do our homework down here then.’

  Kaz didn’t want that. ‘Ghost first, then homework.’

  The girls talked over each other in their excitement.

  ‘Has anyone got a bible?’

  ‘Do we need holy water?’

  ‘What about garlic?’

  ‘That’s for vampires.’

  ‘How about a crucifix?’

  ‘– wooden stake?’

  ‘Vampires again.’

  It had been like that on the tram all the way here. Yap, yap, yap, ghost, yap, yap, yap, giggle, yap, yap, yap.

  Dave mentioning the ghost straight away made it impossible for them to settle into homework first.

  Typical Dave. He always did this kind of thing when she brought friends over – teased her and made dad-level jokes. Her friends lapped it up. Perhaps it was because her father worked such long hours, Dave felt the need to play the part of a clueless father?

  ‘All right! Everyone be quiet!’ To Morgan’s relief her call-out worked. Only, now they were quiet, she didn’t have a clue what to say.

  ‘Ooh look at you!’ Kaz teased.

  Morgan swallowed and tried to ignore the irritation spreading through her body. ‘Everyone’s texted their parents to let them know they’re here doing homework, right?’

  They nodded as one.

  ‘Then I think we should actually, you know, do our homework. Otherwise Miss Khan will drop Olivia into . . . you know.’

  Kaz said, ‘The veggie class.’

  ‘Shut it.’ Olivia snapped.

  ‘Veggie,’ Kaz said again.

  ‘Cass-you-reena!’

  Emma said, ‘Why don’t we study in your room then? We can get work done and meet the ghost at the same time.’

  Heaving sickness rioted inside Morgan as she rummaged through her brain to find a reason not to. ‘But . . . we can fit around the table down here.’

  This was the table where Morgan usually did her homework anyway. Some mornings, her father joined them for breakfast and spread his devices out, each screen with a different newspaper app open. ‘The wi-fi is good in here.’

  Kaz put her hands on her hips and glared at Morgan. ‘There is no ghost, is there? I can’t believe I fell for it! You even recruited Dave into your scheme. Shame on you Dave!’

  Dave held his palms up in mock surrender.

  Olivia said, ‘I don’t need chemistry anyway, I’m going to be a historian and write novels.’

  Dave took a tray of cupcakes from the oven. Delicious warm buttery smells filled the kitchen and Morgan’s tummy rumbled. Maybe food would distract them?

  ‘There really is a ghost,’ Dave said.

  Dave had joined the family soon after Morgan’s twin brothers started school and Gareth was still in nappies. According to her mother, they’d had a se
ries of nannies before by that stage, but none of them had coped with rambunctious boys. Old photos from the time showed Dave had arrived sporting a head full of long, spiky black hair and boundless energy. Hair that was barely there now.

  Morgan’s friends (she now used the term loosely) all looked to Dave for information.

  ‘It broke the chandelier in Morgan’s room and all,’ Dave said.

  ‘Chandelier?’ Kaz said with one raised eyebrow. ‘In your bedroom?’

  ‘Not a real one, obviously.’ Morgan tried to brush it off.

  ‘This I have to see.’ Kaz turned and charged down the hall.

  Panic shot through Morgan, quickly followed by relief as she realised Kaz was heading in the –

  ‘Wrong way!’ Dave shouted, then laughed out loud.

  ‘Dave!’ Morgan glared at him with cold fury as Kaz came charging back down the hall and found the bottom of the stairs. Stairs that lead to Morgan’s room.

  Olivia shot off in the direction of Kaz’s noisy feet.

  ‘No wait!’ Morgan took off after her. ‘Wait! Seriously! You can’t go up there!’ Anything else she wanted to say would have to wait. It took all her energy and breath to scale the stairs, two at a time. Her mouth turned dry and her chest cramped in protest.

  In the past, her mother had accused Morgan of being able to talk underwater with a mouth full of marbles. Not now. She tried her best to catch up to Olivia. Kaz was already way out of reach.

  ‘Here ghosty ghosty ghosty!’ Kaz’s voice carried down the stairs. Then she drew an enormous breath and screamed.

  George must have turned up and terrified her.

  Kaz screamed again. It sounded like she was crying. Olivia and Morgan charged up the last few steps and ran into her room, gasping for breath. Only to find Kaz half bent over, laughing like a Muppet.

  Between heaving breaths from climbing the stairs, Olivia too snorted with sarcasm. ‘It’s so pweeety!’

  Twenty flavours of emotion dumped on Morgan. Relief that George hadn’t gone head-spinningly poltergeisty on her friends. Confusion about the noise, and a reprieve that Kaz wasn’t screaming and was in fact laughing. Then plain old outrage took over because Kaz and Olivia were in her room, making fun of the colour. Exactly the reason she’d tried to stop them coming up here in the first place. And they were supposed to be her friends!