by Megan Atwood
She looked around for a sign of Jackson, but he still hadn’t answered her calls. She was starting to get worried, and getting worried about other people was something Jinx tried hard not to do. So, on top of everything else, she was cranky.
The first bell rang, and she ran to her locker, got out her English book, and groaned. Sitting behind Haley Richards in English was the worst part of her day. Could the girl be any more like something from a bad eighties teen movie? Perfect strawberry-blonde hair, big green eyes, cheerleader...basically, the anti-Jinx. And it seemed Haley felt the same way about her. Jinx ran through her zingers on the off chance Haley said something to her.
Girls. No wonder her best friend was a boy.
Jinx drummed her fingers in her history class. The clock was broken; it had to be. No way could time move that slowly. More than once her teacher had asked her to quit fidgeting, but Jinx was pretty sure he’d done something to the clock. Finally, the minute hand clicked to the ten place and the bell rang. Finally. 11:50.
Jinx had to run to her locker to put her things away and to grab her camera. Then she would meet this Brian guy and make him pay.
She still hadn’t seen Jackson all day, but they shared sixth period study hall, so she’d quiz him then. She wished they had lunch together so he could watch the showdown in action, but then thought better of it. Jackson was the kind of guy who did things more quietly. He probably wouldn’t approve.
Grabbing her camera and her lunch, she raced down the stairs to the cafeteria, hoping to get to the picnic table first. To her surprise, a group of students already huddled around the table, a kid talking in the middle. Jinx could see his huge gestures from where she stood. She was pretty sure it was Brian, but she wanted to be positive. Moving casually in a wide arc around the group of students, she went and stood by some bushes that allowed her to stay in the shadows. She felt a few pricklies here and there, but she could hear everything. She snapped a couple of photos just in case it was indeed the Paranormalator.
“...knives flying everywhere! So my dad comes down and says, off-camera of course, that if the ghost was such a culinary whizz, why couldn’t it be throwing steak tartar?”
The crowd laughed, and Jinx snorted—was he serious with this crap? She took a good look at him. Skinny, kind of short, black T-shirt, dark hair, black Chucks. Nothing unusual about him except that was he was able to get everyone’s attention. Seven kids stood around the table. Narrowing her eyes, Jinx realized they were all freshmen.
Well, that made more sense. No respectable sophomore, junior, or senior would listen to this junk.
Brian continued. “Yeah, so anyway, I’m meeting a client here. It’s my fifteenth case, so I’m pretty sure I can help her.”
As if on cue, a freshman girl piped up, “What will you help her with?”
He shrugged. “Probably the usual. An evil spirit or a bad haunting. Banishing the unclean from the house. I’ve done it so many times it’s like riding a bike.”
She’d had enough. She’d show him unclean. It was time to let the little creep and everyone else know she was on to him.
Jinx had just stepped out of the bushes and opened her mouth to speak when a hand clamped over her mouth and dragged her backwards to the other side of the bushes, out of sight of the picnic table. She stepped down hard on her attacker’s foot and bit at a finger. A familiar voice yelled, “Ow! Jinx!”
“Jackson? What are you doing?”
Jackson hopped on one foot and shook his hand.
“Well what do you expect?” she said. “You do some weird kidnap move and you don’t think I’m going to fight back?”
Jackson eyed her warily, then examined the bite mark on his finger. “I can’t believe you didn’t draw blood.”
Jinx shrugged. “Yeah, well, you’re lucky. And anyway, what are you doing? And where the hell have you been?” She threw her hands on her hips and stared hard at him.
“I’m stopping you from crushing that poor kid over there.”
Jinx stamped her foot. “Poor kid?! You mean the one who’s been copying everything we do? Who’s been making up lies about how he and his family are on the set of Ghost Hunters?” Jackson raised his eyebrows. “Yeah, I did some research,” Jinx continued. “He’s lying about the whole thing. His dad is a psychologist, and his mom is a psych professor at the U. Last name’s Waters. He’s lying about everything, Jackson.”
Jackson sighed and got the look on his face that Jinx hated.
“Don’t you even—” she started.
Jackson interrupted her. “J, there’s probably a reason this kid feels like he needs to lie. Think of how miserable you must have to be to make up a whole new life.” He looked over at Brian with sympathetic eyes.
Something stung Jinx, but she shrugged it off and let the outrage wash over her again. “But Jackson, we worked hard on that site. This is my thing, and he’s trying to take over!”
Jackson turned his sympathetic eyes on her. “You know you matter with or without our website, right?” He put his hand on her shoulder.
Jinx knocked his hand off and stepped back. “It’s not about that.” She stepped back another half a foot. Blood rushed to her face. “Of course I know that. But it still doesn’t make it right!”
She flipped around and stumbled on a root, then walked as fast as she could through the cafeteria doors. As she passed Brian, she glared at him, and a look of recognition came over his face. He went white. Jinx would find a way to get him, but right then she just needed to get away from Jackson and his insight. Or at least what he thought was his insight. What did he know?
Jinx sighed to herself as she realized he’d been exactly right. It wasn’t until after school had let out that she realized Jackson never mentioned where he’d been the day before.
A
voiding Jinx for a whole day had been nearly impossible. And how he’d managed to escape her question about why he’d ignored her calls and texts, he didn’t know. But he had. And he felt relieved.
Then irritation traveled through him. He could have other friends besides Jinx!
Although a friendship with Haley would be a little complicated, he thought, because she was Jinx’s enemy. Even so, Haley had the potential to be a bit more than a friend.
He shook his head to get rid of the thought. Jinx would kill him if she knew that he and Haley had plans to hang out. If he was dating her? He didn’t know if the world could hold Jinx’s anger.
Yet he’d been thrilled all day. At one point during school, Jackson saw Haley in the hallway and they shared a secret look. It made Jackson shiver. Not only was she beautiful, she also had a depth to her that he could now see. Behind that cheerleader outfit and the fake laugh (which Jinx had imitated more than once, and even Jackson had to laugh at) was a person with some soul.
Not to mention, she was seriously pretty.
He tried to concentrate the rest of the day at school, but all that kept running through his mind were the numbers eleven and forty-five. Finally, the bell rang and Jackson headed home. All he had to do was wait seven more hours.
Jackson’s pants caught on a rough patch of bark, but he pulled his leg up to the next limb.
Haley poked her head out of a nearby window. “You’re almost there,” she whispered. “I can grab the bag now if you want.”
Jackson nodded and arced the bag over and up so that Haley could reach it. She caught it on the first grab. She grinned down at him, her long, strawberry-blonde hair swinging below her chin. Thoughts of Rapunzel flashed through Jackson’s mind, but the reality of his precarious position in the tree made him quickly shuffle the rest of the way up. Haley backed away from the window as Jackson swung his legs over the sill and stood up.
Haley’s room had changed since seventh grade. Where a canopy bed filled with stuffed animals had once stood lay a chic bed with a dark wooden frame and a Moroccan-style headboard. The room was no longer drowned in pink—teals and browns, rusty reds and mustard yellows had replaced th
e old shades. In short, the room had grown up. Looking at Haley, Jackson thought she had too.
Candles burned in every corner of the room. On the floor, in the center, was a circle made of scarves. Two candles burned inside the circle.
Haley seemed shy, and Jackson felt the same way. They stared at each for a minute before Haley cleared her throat and put the bag with the Ouija board on the bed. She opened it and took the board out.
Handing the package to Jackson, she said, “Do you want to do the honors? It’s officially yours.”
Jackson smiled and said, “Sure.”
He opened the package while Haley moved closer to him, peeking at the board.
A sun and moon decorated the two upper corners. Below that were the words yes and no. The alphabet and numbers were below that, right underneath the words Good Bye. Jackson felt Haley shiver just a little, and he fought the urge to put his arm around her. He was suddenly aware of how good she smelled. Her hair brushed his arm softly, and he felt goose bumps rise on his arms.
“Wow,” Haley said.
All Jackson could do was nod. He took out the planchette, a triangular pointer with a magnifying glass in the middle. He turned it around in his hands.
“Are we supposed to see where this points or look through the glass?” he asked Haley.
She shrugged. “I have no idea. I guess we can do both and see if any of it makes sense.”
“Yeah, that sounds good,” Jackson said. “Do you have a pad and paper? Let’s take down everything that happens.”
Haley nodded and grabbed a pink pad of notepaper and a pink pen. So not everything has completely changed with her, Jackson thought. They looked at each other, and Jackson said, “Well, here goes nothing.”
Haley and Jackson sat opposite each other in the circle. They put the board down in the middle and moved the candles to either side of it. Haley looked beautiful in the candlelight, Jackson thought, her already luminous eyes bigger and sparkly.
“Do you want to start?” Haley whispered.
Jackson swallowed and whispered back, “Sure. I mean, if you don’t want to.”
She smiled and shook her head. He had no idea why they were whispering, but it seemed like the right thing to do.
Jackson placed the planchette in the middle of the board. He’d done some research on how to use the board, but all he really took away was that he needed to talk to the room, asking for the spirit to come, while he and whoever else put their hands on the planchette. Evidently the spirit would spell out what it wanted to say.
He swallowed. For some reason he felt too vulnerable to ask for his dad. “Should we do a test run tonight?” Jackson asked. “Just see if we can summon any spirits?”
Haley’s eyes widened. “That’s a really good idea. I don’t think I’m quite ready...” Jackson nodded. He understood completely. If it didn’t work, the hope would be gone again.
“OK,” he said and took a deep breath. Feeling silly, he said aloud, “If there are any spirits in the room, will you make your presence known?”
Haley and Jackson both looked at their fingers on the planchette. He could feel the heat from them, they were so close. And she smelled so good...He waited for a minute, but nothing happened.
Jackson looked at Haley’s clock. It was midnight—the shopkeeper had said that was the best time to do this sort of thing.
He cleared his throat and said again, “If there are any spirits who wish to talk to us, please use this board to communicate.”
Haley added, louder, “We want to hear from you.”
The planchette under their fingers trembled, and Jackson and Haley looked wild-eyed at each other.
Then they both burst out laughing as they realized it had been moved by a truck rumbling along the road outside. They quieted their laughs so her parents wouldn’t hear them.
“Looks like a truckload of spirits want to talk to us,” Jackson said, his fingers still on the planchette.
Haley giggled more. “They just keep trucking along.”
“I’m thinking this board isn’t going to give us anything tonight,” Jackson added.
Haley moved her fingers until they were touching Jackson’s. “Well, maybe just not what we expected.”
Jackson looked into her eyes, felt the heat of her hands, saw her hair glint in the light, and then couldn’t seem to stop staring at her lips. He leaned forward slowly, without thinking. Haley did the same.
When their lips finally met, before the last thought had run from Jackson’s mind, it dawned on him that the board was worth every penny.
A
fter her run-in with Jackson, Jinx had gone home and sulked on her bed. She just couldn’t let the imposter get away unpunished. Let Jackson be the nice one. She never said she was.
She sat up and touched her Pixies poster for guidance.
Flipping open her laptop, she punched in the password to get her to her website. Taking a deep breath, she uploaded the pictures of Brian.
If he wanted to play, she’d play.
Under his pictures, she wrote, FRAUD. THIS BOY IS NOT WHO HE SAYS HE IS. AND I HAVE PROOF.
Then she wrote the address of the Paranormalator’s site and the phone number too, even though it didn’t work.
She hesitated to save it for a full two minutes. Taking out a Twizzler and chewing on it, she finally pressed post.
There. Now Brian the poser would have to face the music.
Jinx knew it was coming. Still, she was surprised to find herself nervous about the whole thing.
At lunch the next day, Brian came storming up to her picnic table, freshman minions following close behind. So this is what angry munchkins look like, thought Jinx. Brian’s face was contorted in anger, and his hair flopped in front of his eyes. Jinx took a bite of her peanut butter sandwich and smiled sweetly.
“Yes?” she asked, eyebrows high. “Can I help you?”
“You!” Brian wagged his finger at her. “You lied on your site! You called me a fraud, when you’re the fraud!” He ended his tirade with a flourish of his arms, then looked to his minions for agreement.
Still acting as innocent as possible, Jinx asked, “Why were you on my website? Don’t you have your own?”
Brian sputtered. Out of the corner of her eye, Jinx saw Jackson in the hallway that led out to the courtyard, talking to Haley Richards. She grimaced. Jackson worked in the counseling office this period—her lunch period—so he got to roam the halls pretty much free. But what was he doing with Haley Richards? Were they laughing?
Jinx’s attention snapped back to Brian. “I was checking out the competition!” he finally said. “I demand you take that down!”
Jinx started to grow tired of the game. Other people had gathered around the table to see the fight. Jinx could hear whispers and anticipation hung in the air.
Standing up, she crossed her arms and put on her meanest look. She stepped toward Brian, and he took a small step back but held her gaze.
“I did a little research, Bri-an. And it turns out that your dad does not, in fact, work for Ghost Hunters. You do not travel with the crew. Your parents are both psychologists, and one of them is a professor at the U. You copied every single thing on your website from mine. And you’ve been lying to everyone since you got here.”
Brian’s face had turned beet-red. He laughed a little too high. “That’s ridiculous! You copied me! And how would you know about my family?”
Jinx was prepared for that too. She whipped out copies she’d made of his mom’s bio from the university website, complete with a picture of her and her family—Brian included.
He took a copy, and his eyes bugged out. Across the crowd that had gathered, small giggles had started to break out. Brian’s freshman minions stared at him in betrayal and shock. Jinx felt the urge to laugh herself.
She stepped closer to Brian, who was still holding the piece of paper in front of him like he couldn’t believe his eyes. “Now that’s how you conduct an investigation,” she sai
d softly.
Then she flipped around and reached in her bag for business cards. Throwing them in the air over the crowd, she said, “Here’s the real deal!”
Cards rained from the air, and people grabbed them, laughing and bumping into each other.
A pretty good day, Jinx thought to herself.
W
hen Jackson glanced out the windows of the cafeteria and saw the crowd with Jinx in the middle, his heart sank.
He turned to Haley. “I think I need to check this out.”
She flipped her hair and looked outside. “Yeah, that doesn’t look good.” Then she smiled up at him, and he couldn’t help but smile back.
He squeezed her arm. Just her touch sent a tingle up his spine. “I’ll call you later on tonight,” he said.
Haley smiled and nodded, then leaned in quick to give him a peck on the cheek. She walked away so fast Jackson couldn’t respond.
He rubbed his cheek for a second, smelling the perfume she left behind. Then movement caught his eye. Outside, Jinx had just flipped a ton of business cards in the air. She stood atop the picnic table as kids scrambled to get them. Jackson had to laugh.
But then he saw the Brian kid.
Red-faced and shaking, Brian stormed away in the middle of the clamor. Nobody noticed him go.
Jackson’s heart sank. He was sure Jinx had just confronted Brian. And probably in a really public and humiliating way. For a moment, irritation swept over Jackson. He was always putting people together after Jinx had torn them apart. Then he saw Brian head around a corner, and he took off after the kid before he lost his trail.
Jackson didn’t have to go far. On the other side of the bushes, a crying Brian sat shaking only feet away from the picnic table. But hardly anyone turned that corner in the courtyard, so really, he was a world away.
Brian looked up in surprise at Jackson and sniffled hurriedly. “Allergies. Wanted to get away from that crowd before I sneezed on everyone.”
Jackson sighed, then sat down next to him. “Dude,” was all he said.
Brian nodded and hung his head. He pulled up his knees and started crying again. After a minute, Jackson asked, “You want to talk about it?”