Teen Ghost at Dead Lake

by R. Barri Flowers

"Maybe you should take that as a hint and leave us alone," Tabitha spoke up. "Or has Scott already dumped you and you're oh-so-bored that you don't know what to do with yourself except pick on others?"

  Amber glared at her, then Bonnie, before storming off.

  "I didn't know you had that in you," Bonnie marveled.

  "Neither did I," Tabitha admitted. "Guess a person can only be pushed so far by the Ambers of the world."

  "Yeah, tell me about it." Bonnie took her hand. "Don't let her get to you."

  "I won't if you won't."

  "Deal." Bonnie smiled. "Oh, there's Paige—"

  Tabitha frowned. "What about our other friends?"

  "We'll just say hello to her and Drew, and go see them afterwards."

  Tabitha smiled. "Okay."

  * * *

  Paige and Drew entered the gym as others exited. It was pretty packed for a school dance.

  "Guess not much else is happening tonight," remarked Drew.

  Paige smiled, while taking a sweeping glance at the crowd of mostly students and some teachers. "At least everyone seems to be having a good time," she said.

  "I know I am," he said. "After all, I'm here with the hottest girl in school."

  She blushed, wondering if he fed the same line to his last girlfriend. Not to say that she was his girlfriend right now. But she was certainly open to the possibility, considering there was no future for her with Noah. She was pretty sure Noah was here, probably wishing he was still alive and able to participate in the real world.

  "If you say so," she told Drew.

  "Trust me on this one," he insisted.

  She smiled, soaking in the compliment.

  "Hey, you two," Bonnie said walking up to them as she held Tabitha's hand.

  "Hey," Paige said.

  "What's up?" Drew asked.

  "We're good," Tabitha said.

  "Same here," he said.

  "You guys know anyone in the band?" Paige asked, looking up them. She recognized the drummer as a guy from her American Lit class.

  "They're all friends," Bonnie said.

  "The one playing guitar is my cousin, Mitt," Tabitha said.

  Paige smiled. "Cool."

  "I'm trying to learn to play from him," she said, "but I still have a ways to go."

  "I used to take piano lessons," Paige said. "Maybe I'll start again someday."

  "That would be great," Drew told her. "My mom plays. I'm sure I could talk her into giving you some lessons if you want."

  "We'll see." She didn't want to commit to anything yet, as she already had a pretty full schedule these days.

  After Bonnie and Tabitha went to hang out with other friends, Paige said to Drew, "I love this song. Do you want to dance?"

  He lifted a brow. "I'm not much of a dancer."

  "Neither am I," she admitted. "But I'm willing to try. Are you?"

  Drew smiled. "Yeah, with you, I am."

  Paige took his hand and led him to the area where other couples were already dancing. She looked around for Noah, but saw no sign of him. Had he changed his mind about coming?

  "You're not a bad dancer," Paige told him.

  He grinned. "Neither are you."

  She smiled back; glad that he had invited her to what was officially her first dance since moving to Dead Lake.

  As the music slowed down, they moved closer together for a slow dance. Paige had learned to dance this way from her ex-boyfriend. She pictured herself slow dancing with Noah. Feeling guilty about such thoughts while dancing with Drew, she cleared her mind.

  Paige had not been prepared when Drew gazed down at her and suddenly tilted his head and kissed her. She kissed him back and enjoyed it, but couldn't help but think about kissing Noah, causing her to pull back abruptly.

  Drew frowned. "Did I do something wrong?"

  "No," she said.

  "Didn't you kiss me first the last time?"

  "Yes," she acknowledged, "but—"

  He met her eyes. "I'm starting to have feelings for you."

  She warmed at the thought and admitted, "I'm feeling the same about you..."

  When she hesitated, he asked, "Is there someone else I don't know about?"

  Yes, but I don't think I could explain it to you and be believed, Paige thought, so she said: "No. I just want to take things slowly."

  Drew took a breath. "Okay."

  The music stopped and couples started to walk away.

  "Do you want to get us something to drink?" Paige asked.

  Drew looked at her suspiciously. "You won't do a disappearing act on me like you did at Amber's party—looking for Noah, who isn't really Noah?"

  She grinned. "No. I'll just be talking to some of my friends."

  "Okay."

  She watched as Drew walked away. Now that she was alone, Paige felt this might be her one chance to summon Noah. Or did it work that way when dealing with a ghost?

  "Noah... Are you there?" she kept her voice down. "Noah—"

  "Miss me?" Noah asked, smiling as he materialized before her very eyes.

  "You wish," Paige said, even if she had missed him.

  He chuckled. "Where's Drew?"

  "He went to get us drinks."

  "Trying to get you drunk, is he?"

  "No," she assured him. "I wanted some alone time to talk to you."

  "Well, here I am," he said.

  "Have you remembered anything?" she asked anxiously.

  "Actually, I have—"

  * * *

  Noah would have given anything to be with Paige at the dance as a couple who was dating. But he couldn't change the way things were. He was basically dead and she was alive. There could be no them in the true sense of the word. He would have to accept that.

  "What do you remember?" she asked him. "Do you know who pushed you off the cliff?"

  He paused, meeting her eyes. "No, I don't know who, if anyone, was behind that," he said with regret. "But I have some suspects..."

  Paige regarded him intently. "Who?"

  Noah turned and watched as Jeffrey Harper moved briskly across the floor. "Do you know him?" he asked.

  "Not personally, but I've seen him around," she said. "Who is he?"

  "He's a drug dealer and first class jerk!"

  Paige lifted a brow. "Why would he want to harm you?"

  "I threatened to expose his operation," Noah said. "He wasn't very happy about that. I wouldn't put anything past him to do whatever it took to keep selling drugs to students."

  "Wow." She sucked in a deep breath. "I should go to the police."

  "Not a good idea. For one, they may not believe you. Another is that it might put a target on your back as the one who ratted him out as a drug pusher and possible killer."

  "So what should I do?"

  "I'm thinking about it," he told her, before facing another suspect, who was chatting with a female student. "He shouldn't be here..."

  Paige followed his gaze. "You mean Mr. Dixon?"

  "Yeah. Aren't you in his Civics class?"

  She nodded. "What does he have against you?"

  "He's banging his students," Noah said bluntly. "At least one I know for sure and probably other girls as well."

  "How do you know this?"

  "I saw a student coming out of his apartment and getting out of his car at odd hours. I called him out on it..."

  * * *

  Noah followed Vince Dixon to his car in the faculty parking lot, deciding he had to say what needed to be said. The teacher swirled around when he heard him coming.

  "Noah..." he said. "How can I help you?"

  "I'm not the one who needs help. You do..."

  "I'm not sure I follow you."

  Noah narrowed his eyes courageously. "Let me spell it out for you... It's not cool to be sleeping with your students."

  "I don't know who you've been talking to, but—"

  "Don't waste time denying it," Noah said firmly. "We both know you're guilty. If I were you, I'd put a stop to it right now—
or say goodbye to your career, and maybe your freedom too."

  He gave the stunned teacher a moment to take that in before walking away, hoping that Mr. Dixon got the message loud and clear.

  * * *

  Noah returned to the present after finishing his story. "I basically backed him into a corner," he told Paige. "Maybe he came up with a way to take me out of the picture and continue to sleep with his students at the same time."

  "Would he kill you over that?" she questioned.

  "He's a sexual predator—why not? Desperate people can do desperate things."

  "Uh oh—he's coming this way," Paige said. "What should I do?"

  "See what he has to say and don't tip your hand for obvious reasons...."

  Paige nodded and gathered herself.

  "Hello, Paige," Vince Dixon said.

  "Hi, Mr. Dixon."

  "You're here all by yourself?"

  "No, I'm with Drew Lombard."

  "Ahh, Drew. Great swimmer."

  Noah wrinkled his nose more at the teacher than his onetime competitor.

  "Yes, he is," agreed Paige.

  "So have you heard anything more from this Noah impersonator?"

  Paige sighed and glared at the teacher. "I know what you've been doing."

  He cocked a brow. "Excuse me?"

  "Maybe you shouldn't go there," Noah warned her.

  "I have to," she responded.

  "Have to what?" Vince asked, mystified.

  Paige cast her eyes on him. "I know you're having sex with Monica Blake, and maybe other students."

  "I never mentioned any names," Noah said.

  "You didn't have to," she told him. "I've seen how she looks at him and vice versa. It doesn't take much to put two and two together."

  "What is going on here?" the teacher demanded. "Did Monica put you up to this?"

  "No, she didn't," Paige replied tightly.

  "Then who...?"

  "Noah," she said.

  Vince gazed at her. "Noah Snyder?"

  "Yeah, that Noah."

  "Not sure this is a good idea," Noah told her.

  "I think it's a great idea," Paige countered.

  Vince narrowed his eyes. "What's a great idea? Look, whatever stunt you think you're pulling here..."

  "It's no stunt, Mr. Dixon," she told him. "Noah really is here and he told me all about what you've been up to and what you might have done to him."

  "This is crazy," the teacher said.

  "We'll see about that," Paige said. "Noah wanted me to pass along a message from the other side. He wants you to leave Monica and any other girl at Dead Lake High alone...or else..."

  She walked away on that note and Noah followed, utterly amazed at her poise under fire, while leaving Mr. Dixon in dire straits.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  "Sorry I didn't get back sooner," Drew told Paige, handing her a cup with punch in it. "I ran into one of my friends on the swim team and he doesn't know when to stop talking."

  She smiled while noting that Noah had disappeared. "No problem," she said, sipping the drink.

  "I saw you talking to Mr. Dixon," Drew said.

  "I was asking him about a class assignment." She had no choice but to lie, since she didn't want to get him involved in what could turn out to be a teacher-student sex scandal. And there surely was no way she could tell him that Noah's ghost was around, feeding her information as they tried to hone in on the person who might have pushed him off the cliff to his death.

  "Oh. Classes are the last thing I want to think about on a Friday night," Drew told her.

  "Same here," she told him honestly. "But since he approached me to ask if I came alone, after I told him I was with you, I took the opportunity to clarify something."

  Drew frowned. "He wasn't actually trying to hit on you, was he?"

  "No." Paige gazed at him while hoping that Noah wasn't too peeved that she had used him to confront Mr. Dixon and practically accuse him of killing Noah. She couldn't help herself, knowing he would never believe she was really talking to Noah's ghost. But at least she had put some fear in him that he shouldn't exploit girls at school. Or expect to get away with murder, if he was guilty.

  She hadn't given much thought about him coming after her, but believed he was already in enough hot water that he wouldn't add another possible murder to his resume.

  "Why, have you heard something?" she asked Drew casually.

  "There have been some rumors about him and students, but nothing that's stuck," he said.

  Paige tasted her drink. "If the rumors are true, I'm sure he'll get what's coming to him."

  Drew nodded. "Yeah."

  She noticed Jeffrey Harper walk by. He locked eyes with her, but said nothing. Could he have pushed Noah off the cliff?

  Paige waited until they were further away from Jeffrey before she asked, "What do you know about him?"

  "Not much," Drew said, "only that he's creepy. Why?"

  "No reason..." she lied, not wanting to involve him in something that could be dangerous.

  Drew studied her. "There must have been some reason you asked about Jeffrey."

  "Okay." Paige decided she needed to give some excuse, short of the truth. "He's been eyeing me ever since we got here. I just wondered what he wanted."

  "I can go talk to him and find out."

  "Just forget it," she said. "I'm sure it's nothing."

  Amber and Scott walked up to them, arms wrapped around each other's waist.

  "Hey," Amber said, smiling.

  "Hey," Paige said, with the guys following suit.

  "Having fun?" asked Amber.

  Paige smiled. "Yeah, you?"

  "Of course."

  "We always have fun hanging out with each other," Scott said, grinning.

  Paige thought about him and Amber carrying on behind Noah's back when he was dating her. She wondered how Amber could do that to Noah. Or even Scott, who was supposed to be his friend.

  "I'm sure it was fun when you guys were hanging out with Noah, too," she told them, surprising herself.

  Scott glanced at Amber and back. "Yeah, it was. He was a cool guy."

  "And a cool boyfriend when we were together," added Amber.

  "Was that before or after you cheated on him?" Paige had to ask.

  Amber's thin brows knitted. "Both. Not that this is any of your business, whoever you've been talking to."

  "So you admit it?"

  "Paige..." Drew warned with a frown.

  "Yes," Amber said tersely. "And maybe he was cheating on me, too. I told you we had problems in our relationship. So what. Everyone does. That doesn't mean either of us wanted to see him dead."

  "I never said you did," Paige stated, even as she wondered if she was only hearing part of the story about Amber and Noah's love life.

  "I heard that you've been asking people if someone might have pushed Noah off the cliff," Scott said stiffly.

  "You have—?" Drew looked at her in surprise.

  "I was just asking out of curiosity," she said quickly. "I never accused anyone of anything."

  "Everyone knows Noah committed suicide," Scott said. "Maybe you should go to the police if you think otherwise instead of trying to turn his friends against each other."

  "I wasn't trying to do that," Paige insisted.

  "Then what did you hope to accomplish by planting the idea in people's minds?" Amber challenged her. "Or did you think it was just fun and frolic to play Nancy Drew?"

  Paige sucked in a deep breath with all eyes on her. The last thing she wanted was to have everyone against her. But she couldn't run away from what Noah believed was more than likely the truth—that he didn't take his own life, in spite of the official conclusion to the contrary.

  "Look, I live in a house that was lived in by a teenager who died," she told them. "So I was a little freaked and read about it, that's all. If Noah did kill himself, then no one has anything to worry about." She paused. "Why don't we just forget this whole thing?"

&
nbsp; "Yeah, maybe we should," Drew said.

  Scott's hard features softened. "Probably a good idea."

  "I agree," Amber said. "I think Noah's death hit everyone hard who knew him. And I'm glad someone moved into his empty house so we can put that chapter behind us once and for all—"

  "You want to dance?" Scott asked her.

  Amber smiled, nodding. "Lead the way..."

  Paige watched them walk away thoughtfully and then turned to Drew, who gave her an odd look. "What—?"

  "I'm just surprised, that's all," he said.

  "About what?" she asked, as if she didn't know.

  "That you're still floating around this Noah stuff."

  "Maybe I have good reason," she told him.

  "What would that be?"

  "Ever since talking to Noah's mom, something hasn't seemed right about his death," Paige said, which was partially true.

  Drew cocked a brow. "So what, now you're going from Noah's ghost to him being the victim of foul play?"

  "Is that so hard to believe?" she asked.

  "Which one?"

  "Either?"

  "Yeah, both are," Drew told her. "You don't live in a haunted house with a ghost and Noah wasn't pushed off the cliff. He chose to jump off it."

  "How can you be so sure?" Paige challenged him.

  "How can you not be?"

  I can't tell him that—not now, if ever, she mused. "All I've heard is how competitive Noah was—especially as a swimmer. He just doesn't sound like the type of guy who would kill himself."

  "You didn't know him," Drew said.

  "But you did," she countered. "I'm only saying maybe you should keep an open mind."

  He frowned. "What happened to you forgetting all about Noah and how he died?"

  She pursed her lips. "Did I say that?"

  "Uh, yeah, you did."

  "So maybe I'm reconsidering..." Paige sensed his disappointment, but he didn't know the full story. She could only hope he would be patient. She saw Monica walking by. "Can you excuse me for a moment? I see someone I need to talk to."

  "Okay." Drew sighed. "When you finish, look for me."

  "I will," she promised, and followed Monica, who was headed toward the refreshments table. She caught up to her. "Monica—"

  She turned around. "Hey."

  "Can I talk to you for a minute?" Paige asked uneasily.

  Monica looked at her. "About what?"

  "Mr. Dixon..."

  Monica swallowed. "What about him?"