The Ghostly Grammar Boy

by Sandra Thompson

  * * *

  An hour later, we were settled into our sleeping bags, and I was beginning to think that there wasn't going to be any trouble from Megan and Jason tonight. Dad had insisted the sliding door between the two rooms be closed. I could hear the baritone of the boys' voices in the room next door and wondered if their conversation was anything like the one happening in the girls room right now.

  'Truth or dare?' Megan whispered to Brooke.

  'Truth,' Brooke replied. Megan's eyes glinted with glee. She was having a field day. Normally, she had to coax the truth from Brooke, but tonight she had a legitimate excuse for prying. Well, I had a few questions for Megan that might wipe the grin off her face.

  'Do you like anyone right now?' Megan asked.

  Brooke blushed sheepishly.

  'Yes,' she whispered, so softly that I could barely hear her.

  Lara, enjoying the game almost as much as Megan, responded with relish.

  'Can you say that again? I didn't hear you!'

  'Okay, Fiona's turn!' Brooke giggled, diverting attention from herself. Like I was going to let that happen.

  'Who do you like?' I demanded.

  'I'm not telling!' Brooke replied defiantly. 'The rule of truth is that you get one question, and I already answered that I like someone. Now it's your turn.'

  Lara grinned evilly.

  'I agree, let's move on to Fiona. We don't really need to waste more time on Brooke, since we all know she's obsessed with your brother.'

  Brooke and I both jumped in surprise.

  'What!' I instinctively reacted.

  'I am not!' Brooke squealed defensively. However, the tightness in her voice was a dead giveaway of her guilt.

  Strangely, I didn't feel as grossed out by this, as I normally do when I see girls cracking onto Brett, but I wouldn't be a good friend if I didn't inform Brooke of the many fatal character flaws that Brett possesses.

  'Before you have his babies, there's something you should know…' I began knowledgeably.

  'Shut up!' Brooke whined, distressed.

  'Brett has a few hygiene issues. Like, this one time, I went into the bathroom after he had just got back from rugby practice and I found—'

  'So, Fiona, you still haven't told us about your date with Shane,' Brooke interrupted me again in a last-ditch attempt to change the topic. Unfortunately for me (and fortunately for Brett), it worked.

  Megan gasped in shock, 'Fiona! You went on a date with Shane? You didn't tell me that! I thought you hated him. What happened? How did it go?'

  Uh oh. I didn't know how I was supposed to explain this. Yeah, I hate him but he's having an affair with the stepmum of my dead brother-in-law so I thought I'd better go out with him. Oh, yeah, and did I mention that after I found out he's probably a murderer, I accidentally got distracted and he almost got his hand up my shirt? No way. Now was not the time for truth.

  Just then, the partitioning door slid open with a loud rattle. Matt's skinny frame slipped through.

  'Shhh! Mr Travis will hear!' Megan hissed. Of course she didn't want Dad to know the boys were in our room. That would ruin her chances of make-outs with Jason.

  'What are we talking about?' Jason slipped through the door behind Matt and jokingly planted himself in the middle of our huddle.

  'Fiona was just telling us about her date with Shane,' Lara blabbed.

  'What!' Jason exclaimed in horror. 'I thought you hated him!'

  'There's a fine line between love and hate,' Lara commented wisely, 'especially when the person you hate is as hot as Shane.' She finished with a snort.

  Lara had obviously drunk too much soft drink at our pit stop on the drive over, judging by the hysterics she was having over her own un-funny joke. Strangely, Jason didn't break into his usual carefree laugh. He looked unsettled. He was probably jealous that he wasn't the only one with a love life. Not that I had a love life, but everyone foolishly seemed to think I did.

  Megan spoke over Lara's giggles with a serious voice. 'Fiona, we all know Shane is seriously hot, but there's something I think you should know about him before things go any farther,' she began.

  Despite my discomfort over the public discussion of my personal life (I don't know how celebrities handle it), I was eager to hear what Megan knew about Shane. She might be able to shed some more light on what was going on with Chris.

  'What?' I asked.

  Megan reached over and gave me a motherly pat on the leg.

  'Shane's gay,' she said, then grimaced in anticipation of my reaction.

  There was a collective gasp around the room, followed by silence as everyone waited for my response.

  'Ha, ha, ha, very funny Megan. You're hilarious, but I happen to know that's not true,' I responded in annoyance. She'd really disappointed me with her fake information.

  But Megan wasn't laughing.

  'I'm serious,' she said, looking at me without a smile. 'Jason and I saw him kissing a boy the other day.'

  I shook my head in dismissal of her ludicrous story. Gay. Yeah, right. That's why he kissed me and tried to feel me up in the car. Geez, give me a break.

  Megan was still not laughing.

  'Tell her, Jason!' Megan insisted. She turned to Jason and gave him an encouraging shove. Any chance she could get to touch him. Jason stared back into Megan's eyes, speechless with what I presumed was love. Wow, they could at least make their stolen glances a bit more subtle.

  'Tell her,' Megan coaxed Jason and touched him again. Jason looked down at her hand then seemed to collect himself. I didn't think I could take much more of this. They couldn't even play a joke on me without getting turned on.

  Jason took a deep breath then said, 'It's true, Fiona. Shane bats for the other team. Megan and I saw him making out with a boy from the Grammar School the other day. Honestly.'

  I looked from Megan to Jason. They still weren't laughing.

  I was confused. They couldn't be telling the truth. I'd kissed Shane. Twice. And I didn't think I'd imagined his attraction to me. But what would I really know? I mean, Shane was the first boy who had got within a half-metre radius of my lips. Had I imagined the whole thing? What if Shane was trying to use me to prove he wasn't gay? Maybe he didn't even like me at all. That would explain why he'd done the impossible for a red-blooded boy—chosen me over Carly. Come to think of it, I was more masculine than Carly. She had bigger boobs, longer hair, and a fake bimbo laugh. Let's face it, if I was a gay man determined to have a girlfriend, I'd probably choose me over Carly too.

  Thoughts were rushing around my head, but the biggest thing that made me doubt Shane's straightness was not Carly, nor my lack of experience with guys—it was the fact that Megan and Jason still weren't laughing. Normally Jason couldn't play a joke without wetting himself at his own cleverness within the first five seconds.

  Either way, everyone was still staring at me, and I didn't want them to think that I was rattled.

  'No way, guys. I don't believe you.' I said in a voice that was hopefully more convincing than I felt.

  To my surprise, both Jason and Megan looked offended at my lack of trust.

  And they still weren't laughing.

  Matt broke the silence.

  'What I want to know is, how do you know for sure, Fiona? How far did you go with Shane on your hot date?'

  Uh oh, I hadn't realised I'd exposed my hand when I'd said that I knew for sure. I needed to do some quick damage control, because I did not want the others knowing just how far things had gone.

  Unfortunately, Lara and Brooke, caught on quickly to where Matt was going with this. Brooke, keen to get revenge for the grilling she'd received before, started the teasing.

  'Did he take off your shirt?'

  Damage control wasn't going to be easy. My mind wasn't working, I was so embarrassed.

  Meanwhile, Megan and Jason were still staring at me in hurt disbelief.