VooDoo Follies (9 page)

I got out of my bed and walked to the closet
to grab something to wear for the day. I couldn't get that
conversation out of my head though. Little things kept replaying
themselves and I found myself wondering what exactly I thought
Auntie Perrine would be able to do for Stephen. I thought about
laying him down to rest as I had done for Adrianna and the zombies.
The selfish part of me couldn't bare for that to be the case. I
liked Stephen. I felt as though I had a friend with him around. I
also felt as though I could easily fall for him, if only... I cut
the thought off by jumping under the still cold water of the
shower. The icy chill did enough to kill all thoughts of Stephen
and I together. As the water began to warm up I tried to think of
anything else. My plans for the day were to go to school, come
home, and give Auntie Perrine a call. She had to know something by
now.

As I stepped out of the shower and toweled off
I heard my cell phone vibrate on the dresser. in my room. "Speak of
the devil," I said as I went to it and picked it up to see a text
from my aunt. She wanted me to call her after school today. "Great
minds think alike," I typed back and hit send.

I felt Stephen's eyes on me as I walked into
the kitchen. "So, are you coming to school with me
today?"

"What was that?" Roger asked, poking his head
around the corner.

"Oh, um, I didn't know you were still here."
Stephen was laughing at me now as he walked into the kitchen too.
It suddenly felt very crowded in the little space. I watched Roger
shake visibly.

"Your mom told me about the ghost boy." He
shook his head back and forth in that 'I don't believe what I'm
saying' motion that people do. "I have to admit, I am struggling
with it a bit. I mean, I know you believe in all that voodoo
hoodoo, but it's just not my cup of tea. Now, we have a ghost boy
in the house too?" His head was shaking again. Stephen stepped a
little closer to Roger and I watched as the gooseflesh rose across
his arms. "Ok, ok, I get it. You exist." Roger threw his hands up
in the air as if he were surrendering and Stephen had an amazing
look of triumph spread across his face. I couldn't help but laugh
at him as I watched. Roger, on the other hand, had been watching my
reaction. "So, he's reveling in my defeat?" I nodded in
affirmation.

"I think there was a semi-modest fist-pump
mixed with the world's biggest grin."

"Oh, no." Roger laughed along, good-naturedly.
"Not a fist pump. Tell him he just lost my respect and I no longer
surrender."

"He can hear you and, oh never mind." I was
about to tell my step-dad that my ghost friend was flipping him
off, but I figured it was best left unsaid.

"And?" Roger was questioning.

"And..." I looked at my wrist, the one I
forgot to put the watch on this morning after my shower, "and, look
at the time. I have to get to school."

Roger, who never seemed to miss a beat yelled
after me, "good call, and maybe later you can teach me how to tell
time with my freckles too."

Stephen's howling laughter followed me out the
door. "Yeah, yeah, it's all fun and games to ghosts."

"I'm not a ghost, I'm an Unknown." He tipped
his hair back out of his face, "it adds to my mystique,
remember?"

I rolled my eyes at Stephen as we started
walking to school. Despite the fact that it was obvious that the
boy I had in my room was only a ghost, my mom hadn't seen fit to
give my car keys back.

"Your step-dad doesn't seem like a bad
guy."

"No, he's not." I shrugged at Stephen and the
thought. "I just got so tired of caring about these guys who didn't
want to hang around for very long, you know? I'm still waiting for
Roger to pack a bag and hit the road any day now, but he's growing
on me."

"I don't think he's going anywhere, Seraphine.
He seems genuinely in love with your mom. I mean, a guy would have
to be wouldn't he?"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Think about it. If your wife came with a
voodoo priestess step-daughter whose ghost-boy friend was always
giving you the chills... he must love her to stick around that kind
of madness."

"My ghost boyfriend?" If ghosts could blush, I
imagine Stephen would have been beet-red. He immediately made a
motion that caused his hair to flop down over his face
again.

"I just meant..."

"It's okay, I know what you meant. What kind
of living-girl friend would I be if I didn't bust your chops about
it though?" This is the point I would have bumped into him or
popped him on the shoulder to prove I was playing, but the rules
were a little different with ghost-boys. I couldn't touch him.
"Hey, Stephen, does it hurt you if things go through you?" My
question, at least, got his attention.

"What do you mean?"

"You know, like if I were to try to touch you,
would it hurt you?"

"No," he shook his head at me. "It feels a
little like I am moving through water when things pass through me.
You know kind of weighty instead of just breezing through the air
or something. It would feel uncomfortable for you though. I mean,
Roger shakes like a leaf when I stick near him too
long."

"Have you been stalking Roger too?" I giggled,
but now that I said it, I was curious.

Stephen laughed, "nah, I was trying to read
the paper over his shoulder yesterday. He kept shaking and went to
get a blanket."

"Ha! Poor Roger." I was laughing inside about
that, but then something occurred to me. "Wait, I never feel cold
around you."

"I noticed. It's why I didn't think twice
about leaning in so close to Roger. I didn't think I was affecting
people with my nearness, because you didn't act like it bothered
you."

"It doesn't. I get the chills once in a while,
before I realize you're there. That's more like the 'someone's
watching you' feeling though. Can I try?"

"Try what?"

"Touching you." Stephens eyes grew into large
saucers and I realized how that must have sounded. "Ugg! Boys!
Seriously, not like that." His laughter danced around me for quite
a while and then he held his hand out to me. I moved my hand until
it was hovering over Stephen's. I felt a warm tingling sensation.
The closer I got to his hand, the more prominent the feeling
became. "It's like pins and needles when your feet or hands fall
asleep, only different. Kind of warm and fuzzy instead of painful
and annoying."

"Hmmm" Stephen was looking at me with an odd
intensity. " I touched my mom's cheek when she was looking over my
body one day. She shook so violently, like I had just frozen her. I
thought it would be the same for everyone."

"Well, I guess I'm special."

"Yeah, you are." He hid from me again with
those words. His hair fell in a veil across his eyes. I wanted to
push it back and make him look at me. It was just Stephen though,
so I let it go. "Do you think we would have ever been friends, you
know, if I had lived?"

"I don't know. Maybe if you had ever gotten
the courage to talk to me in class." I laughed at him.

"Maybe if you weren't such a social outcast!"
He laughed back and then looked up at the school we used to attend
together. "Well, here you are, at the knowledge depot. Go, stuff
some interesting factoids in thine brain!"

"Thine brain?" I questioned while stifling a
laugh.

"You know, Shakesperian English and what
not."

"Yeah, maybe you should have stuffed more
knowledge in thine brain before..." I wanted to stick my foot in my
own mouth, better yet, I wanted to kick my own ass for being
stupid.

"yeah, I know, I had the audacity to kick off
before we had to study Hamlet!" He mimicked a death scene and
continued on, "half the class will be joining me before long, mark
my words! Boredom will have its way with them. "

"Are you coming in today?"

Stephen looked around at other kids who were
starting to get dropped off. "Nah, I think I'm gonna go poke around
here and there while you stuff more learnin’ in your noggin,
besides, people are starting to notice you talking to
yourself."

Now it was my turn to blush. "Damn," I
muttered under my breath.

"See ya later, Sera." I waved a couple fingers
at him nonchalantly as I walked into the building. As if being seen
talking to myself outside the school wasn't bad enough, I was so
caught up in the thought that I ran straight into the hard body
that had stopped short just beyond the doorway. "Ugg, gah! What
the..." I looked up to see Trevor smiling down at me. He helped me
out of the way of everyone else trying to get through the door and
then grinned at me from his lofty height.

"You're a walking disaster, LaLande." He was
smiling, so I immediately forgave the comment. "Maybe I should
stick with you all day, for your own safety." Trevor looked around
at everyone else now congregating in the hallways. "And maybe for
everyone else's safety too."

"Ha, ha." Inside I was mush. This guy was
gorgeous. That smile alone was captivating and here he was, still
holding me up. I snatched away a little when I realized that. "I'm
capable of walking without hurting myself or others." It came off a
bit indignant, but I was suddenly feeling rather embarrassed. I was
never this accident prone. I screwed up, a lot, but usually where
no one could see.

"Alright," he was looking at me with that
smile plastered across his face still. "The offer is open, " he
plucked a rogue curl from my face and gently laid it back out of
the way, "if you get tired of picking yourself up I’ll be there to
do it." He turned and walked off in the opposite direction of where
I needed to be.

"Who was that?" Stephen was suddenly beside me
and he did not look very happy.

"Oh, that's Trevor." I had to stop myself from
staring after him, and then I had to remind myself to mumble a bit
more to Stephen because I didn't want anyone else to think I was
talking to myself. My school life was beginning to be a bit more
complicated than I usually liked. "He showed up as a new student
yesterday, and since I ran into the Principal, literally, I was
given the task of showing him around. At least, until I had to go
to the nurses station for an ice pack."

"An ice pack?" Stephen’s look changed to more
concerned now than irritated. "What happened?"

"It was nothing, just a little round of 'my
head versus the open locker door' when I tried to stand up. Guess
who won?" I smiled and he laughed as we walked down the hall. I
noticed several other students shiver a bit as Stephen passed by
which left me wondering why he felt warm and fuzzy to me, but cold
to everyone else. "Hey, I thought you were going to people-watch
somewhere or something?"

"Yeah, I was, but then I saw you run into
someone. I wanted to check on you. Might as well stay for the show
now. It looks like you could use a seeing-eye dog to get by these
days." He bowed down before me, "at your service!"

"Great, but I'm all out of dog treats!" He had
the sense to laugh and just ignore my jab. I settled myself into my
desk while Stephen took a seat on the windowsill.

I was getting settled in for another boring
lecture on The Scarlett Letter when the class was interrupted. I
looked up in time to see Trevor standing in the doorway. He flashed
that brilliant smile over at me and handed his schedule to the
teacher. "Alright, take a seat," Mr. Maybach said to him then
reached over to his desk, "and you'll be needing this too. Mrs.
Lalande, since you're nearest the only open seat, how about you try
to catch the new guy up." Just like that Trevor was siting behind
me in the back corner of the class and we now had permission to
talk. "I thought you might need a body guard, you know to keep you
safe from yourself."

"Ha! What is it with..." I almost said you
guys, but realized I couldn't explain Stephen saying almost the
same thing to me earlier. I looked up at Stephen in the windowsill
and felt bad momentarily for forgetting he was there. He was hiding
behind his hair again, but it was obvious he was bothered by
Trevor.

"With what?" Trevor was
questioning.

"Yeah, with what," I heard Stephen mumble.
"It's hard to explain me saying the same thing huh?"

My head was spinning, "Oh, nothing," I said to
Trevor, "you know, what's with guys wanting to save the clumsy
girl? Doesn't anyone believe in survival of the fittest anymore?
Darwin would be ashamed."

Trevor laughed a little too loudly and caught
the attention of Mr. Maybach.

"I don't remember The Scarlett Letter being a
comedy, Mrs. LaLande, would you like to share what's so
funny?"

Damn, this day couldn't possibly get any worse
could it? I hadn't even read the book. I couldn't get past the
horrid prologue, preamble, or whatever it was called. I had planned
on Spark-noting it and watching the movies.

"Seraphine was just telling me in plain
English about the women commenting on Hester's wearing of her
letter with a sense of pride."

"And how could that be funny?"

"Because, she was all like, 'look at that
harlot!'" Trevor was mimicking a catty girl's voice, "I think she
likes the attention it brings her."