Talking to Dead (The Banshee Series Book 1) (6 page)

“Hey! That’s not true,” Lucas exclaimed denying that Anny was right. Anny chuckled and shook her head.

“Yeah, right. You’re just failing most of your classes ever since you started going out with her. Lucas you were a straight A student for most of your life and then, bam, Chelsea comes and you started slacking. We all know it,” Anny said glaring at her brother. Lucas huffed and then sat down at the table, admitting defeat.

Watching the siblings argue, Ruby and Azalea smiled a bit.
“So you’re here to talk to me?” Azalea asked Anny and Anny nodded.

“Yeah, I wanted to thank you again for saving me,” Anny said and Azalea smiled.
“I’m happy to help,” Azalea replied and Lucas groaned.

“Why am I here?” Lucas asked Anny, annoyed. Lucas didn’t like Ruby and her friend and they both annoyed him.

“Because I want you to be here and make some better friends than the crowd you’re hanging with,” Anny said and Lucas rolled his eyes.

“They’re your friends too,” Lucas said pointing at the popular crowd.
“They aren’t really my friends. I hang out with them because I’m your younger sister and I’m supposed to hang out with them. That doesn’t mean I actually like them and I don’t want them as real friends,” Anny explained angry with Lucas for making assumptions that were false.

Lucas noticed that his sister was serious about everything she said and suddenly he felt guilty. He had always been overprotective of her and wanted to have her around when they were at school. That’s why he introduced her to his crowd and forced her to make friends she didn’t like. Lucas saw she wanted to have real friends and he decided he would make it happen.

“You really feel this way?” Lucas asked Anny sadly and she nodded. “I’m really sorry about that; I wish you had told me before I forced you to hang out with them,” Lucas apologized and Anny shook her head smiling.

“It’s okay brother. I don’t mind it anymore. I just hope you won’t mind me hanging out with Ruby and Azalea. I would really like to be friends with them,” Anny said and it shocked both Ruby and Azalea that Anny wanted them to be friends.

“That’s okay, you should make friends on your own,” Lucas agreed and Anny grinned.
“Thank you!” she said and hugged him happily.

“Now can I go back to my friends?” Lucas asked and Anny nodded, frowning. She wasn’t happy about him going back to them. Chelsea was a bitch and no one could deny it even if they wanted to. But Anny could feel a change coming. It would happen to Lucas and it would be for the better.

There was a moment of silence before Ruby started babbling.
“So Anny, when did you come to school? I didn’t see you here till now,” Ruby asked and Anny grinned.

“I had a check-up in the morning so my mom dropped me off half an hour ago,” Anny explained.

“Oh…” Ruby sighed and just then the bell rang. “I guess we have to go back to class,” Ruby said and pulled Azalea with her. “See you later!” she yelled and waved. Anny grinned and waved back.

****

“I think it’s nice to have a new friend especially since it’s Anny,” Azalea said walking home with Ruby.

“Yeah, I guess. The only problem is her brother,” Ruby sighed.

“Why? Lucas agreed with Anny making new friends and he doesn’t mind.”

“That’s true but if I know anything about those two I know that Lucas can’t stay away from Anny for a long time and Anny’s the same. Lucas will probably start sitting at our lunch table and once he moves his crowd moves. That means that soon our table will be full of popular students and we’ll be the freaks of the table,” Ruby explained and Azalea rolled her eyes.

“Lucas can barely look at us without getting annoyed and I can assure you that he’ll leave us alone,” Azalea said reassuringly. Ruby snorted and shook her head.

“Just wait and see,” Ruby stated and entered her house saying goodbye to Azalea.

Chapter Thirteen – New Year’s Eve

The month passed by quickly and soon the Christmas holidays started. Ruby and Anny spent most of the time at Azalea’s place and Anny quickly became their best friend. Luckily Lucas wasn’t bothering them during lunch times and left them alone most of the time. Azalea liked to tease Ruby about it and Ruby hated to admit she was wrong.

It was a few days before New Year’s Eve and Azalea was thinking about inviting Ruby and Anny for a sleepover till New Year’s. At first her grandfather was against it but after some begging and pouting he finally agreed. She called Anny first and invited her and luckily her parents allowed her to go. But Ruby’s parents were a different story.

“I am very sorry Ruby but we can’t just let you go on a sleepover and have you miss a family evening and New Year’s Eve celebration. We always spend that evening together and we will be very disappointed if you miss it,” Ruby’s mother explained to her and Ruby frowned disappointed.

“Please mom,” Ruby pleaded and pouted. “Azalea and Anny are my first real friends and Anny’s allowed to go. It’s not fair you know. They’ll have fun on New Year’s Eve and I’ll be bored to death if I stay here with you,” Ruby continued setting a guilty trap and hoped her mom wouldn’t realize she’d just said she was boring.

But her mother was smarter than Ruby thought and scowled.
“You think I’m that stupid to let what you said pass? Oh no, young lady. I’m not feeling upset about it anymore but just so you know. You’re grounded till the end of this holiday,” Mrs. Singer said and shook her head.
“I’m very disappointed Ruby. I thought you were more respectful and well mannered.” With that the debate was finished and Mrs. Singer went back to her cooking.

Angry at her mother, Ruby went to her room and called Azalea to tell her she couldn’t come. Azalea was very disappointed but understood the situation. It wasn’t until Anny came to Azalea’s house that she realized how boring it would be without Ruby. Ruby was always the jokester and a big prankster and while Anny was more like Azalea – nerdy – Ruby was the one who entertained the trio. 

The first two days of the sleepover Anny and Azalea somehow coped without Ruby but on the day before New Year they were officially bored.

“We could always go to her house and secretly kidnap her from her room,” Anny suggested and Azalea actually thought about it and even agreed.

“That’s not a bad idea. We could sneak into her house through the garage door and help her sneak out with us,” Azalea said and for the next half an hour they planned the kidnap.

****

“Shh…” Azalea shushed Anny when Anny accidently tripped over the tools in Ruby’s garage.
“Sorry,” Anny apologized and they slowly tiptoed towards Ruby’s room. They didn’t tell anything about the plan to Ruby since they knew she couldn’t keep a secret from anyone. Ruby’s parents were downstairs cooking dinner so they had to be really quiet.

Opening the door of Ruby’s room they saw Ruby sleeping on her bed. Azalea sneaked towards the bed and from the jeans pocket pulled a bandana. While Anny lifted Ruby’s head Azalea knotted the bandana over Ruby’s mouth. Azalea knew for a fact that Ruby was a heavy sleeper that could sleep through any storm and that helped with their kidnapping.

Since Azalea had started taking martial arts and self - defence classes she’d developed some muscles and that helped moving Ruby to their car. They lifted Ruby and quietly but quickly moved around the house. Once they were in the car with Ruby still unconscious on the back seat they giggled quietly. They’d had a lot of luck since no one had caught them and Ruby hadn’t woken up. Azalea drove home and when they arrived they thought about waking Ruby up but decided against it.

They carried Ruby to Azalea’s room and laid her on Azalea’s bed. Franz and Leticia were just taking a walk and that meant no awkward explanations for their actions. Azalea untied the bandana and that’s when they woke her.

Confused and shocked Ruby yelped when she saw two faces staring at her but once she saw who they were she calmed down. Not a second had passed before Ruby got confused again. She didn’t even notice she wasn’t in her room anymore.
“What are you doing here?” she asked and Azalea chuckled.
“You mean in my own bedroom?” Azalea asked and that’s when Ruby looked around the room and noticed she wasn’t where she was before she fell asleep.

“How did I come to your room?” Ruby asked Azalea and Anny giggled.
“We kidnapped you!” she exclaimed and then giggled some more.

Confused Ruby looked at Azalea silently asking if it was true. Azalea nodded and chuckled.
“Your house has a crappy alarm system and your parents didn’t even notice us coming and going,” Azalea said laughing.

Realizing what they’d done and how they’d done it, Ruby laughed and soon Azalea and Anny joined. After they stopped laughing Ruby smiled thankfully.

“Thank you for doing this. I was bored to death these two days and I was trying to figure out how to escape but never did I think I’d get kidnapped,” Ruby said and then hugged both of them.

“So what now?” Ruby asked and Azalea just shrugged but smiled secretly.

****

“Ruby! Nice to see you here. When did you come? I thought you weren’t allowed to come?” Franz asked when he returned from the walk and saw the three girls sitting in front of the TV eating popcorn.

“Franz! Hi! I was kind of kidnapped by your granddaughter and now I’m here,” Ruby said and Azalea slapped her forehead.

“You were not supposed to tell him that!” Azalea whispered but Franz just grinned.

“I was expecting something like that,” Franz said and chuckled. “I’m glad to see you here. My granddaughter and her friend were getting bored without you.” Ruby laughed and nodded.

“I’m the one who usually entertains them,” Ruby said and smiled.  

“Have fun girls!” Franz said and left the room.

****

The night dragged on and at some point Lucas appeared at the front door. Everyone was surprised but they asked him in. Midnight rolled in and everyone held a Champagne glass when the counting began.

“Ten! Nine! Eight! Seven! Six! Five! Four! Three! Two! One! Happy New Year!” Everyone yelled and hugged. But what Lucas did surprised everyone. He pulled Azalea closer and suddenly his lips were on hers.

Gasps filled the room and Azalea finally realized what was going on. She quickly pulled away from the awkward kiss and looked at Lucas in confusion. Lucas also realized what he’d just done and stepped away from Azalea like he was disgusted with her. Azalea also noticed his reaction and expression and hardened her glare.

“Why did you do that?” She demanded from him and Lucas sniggered.
“I’m sorry I did it but it was kind of unintentional and on the spur of the moment,” He said with disgust clear in his voice. “I can assure you I won’t do it ever again,” he said rudely and looked away.

Since the room was full of people, everywhere he turned he saw a judging look on their faces. But his sister’s expression hurt him the most. She was glaring at him in anger and disappointment. Lucas always tried to look as good as he could in his sister’s eyes but now he’d failed big.

“What’s wrong with you Lucas?” Anny asked disappointed. Lucas tried to contain his poker face and just shrugged.

“Nothing,” he said rolling his eyes. “Like I said… It happened on the spur of the moment and it doesn’t mean anything.” Anny sighed and shook her head.

“I’m very disappointed in you Lucas. I thought you’re a good guy but clearly I was wrong,” Anny said and Lucas never felt more ashamed. He didn’t show it though. He just straightened himself a bit and smirked.

“It’s not like Azalea likes me, right Azalea?” He asked and Azalea nodded in agreement. “See? She doesn’t care I just kissed her without any meaning and she knows I don’t actually care about her. I actually can’t stand her.”

Those words didn’t just leave a mark on Azalea; they left a mark on Anny, Ruby and even Franz. Azalea felt hurt, Anny felt betrayed while Ruby and Franz felt angry and felt the need to protect Azalea.

 "Why don't you leave?" Anny said to Lucas and Franz agreed. He didin't want to look at Lucas's face knowing he had hurt Azalea. 

"Fine," Lucas huffed and quikly left the room. He was ashamed of his actions and even though he didn't show it he wished he hadn't done it. 

The door closed and everyone took a deep breath calming themselves.

“Well… That was interesting,” Ruby said and smiled cheerfully. Everyone looked at her strangely and Anny shook her head.

“How can you smile right now? Didn’t you see how my brother acted towards your best friend? Do you even care about Azalea’s feelings?” Anny asked Ruby. Ruby just shrugged and looked at Azalea.

“You’re not upset about what Lucas did, are you?” Ruby asked sarcastically and Azalea was getting seriously annoyed at her behaviour. She was acting like she didn’t even care how Azalea felt.