Haunted

by Alexandra Inger

  “I didn’t make him drive me home. He offered,” I stated.

  “But you could have said no! You knew the whole reason we had gone there that night was so that I could see him!” she shrieked.

  I sighed.

  “It didn’t matter if I had said no or not. Once he saw your car and realized that you were there, he changed his mind about going in and he texted Trevor and told him not to come,” I admitted to her.

  She looked as though I had just slapped her across the face.

  “It’s the truth, Cheryl. Him deciding not to go in the bar had nothing to do with me.”

  She took a breath and regained herself. “Well you still shouldn’t have gone with him. It was a betrayal.”

  “I was freezing! And it was dark! And I was in a strange place loitering about on the street not knowing how long you were going to be! And I had just met you that day! I was supposed to choose freezing to death, or being murdered, or god-knows-what out of loyalty to a girl I had met less than twelve hours beforehand?!” I sallied back at her.

  “Yes! That’s what I would have done!” she spat at me.

  I realized that I was trying to talk rationally to a completely irrational person. A person so consumed by her own narcissism that she expected everyone in the world to happily sacrifice themselves on her behalf. She would never see my side of it or be able to walk in my shoes. So I did the only thing I could do: I admitted defeat.

  “Alright. I’m sorry. I apologize. I made a mistake.”

  The atmosphere was so tense you could have cut it with a knife. I felt like every particle of the air was magnetizing and swirling all around me at the same time all the blood in my body was rushing to my head.

  Finally she spoke.

  “So?” she shrugged, and slammed the door in my face.

  That was not the outcome I had hoped for.

  I slunk back to my room and fell down on the bed.

  Shit, I thought, what was I supposed to do now?

  My phone beeped for the first time since I had activated it. The noise was so startling it set off a squirt of adrenaline in my gut and I nearly jumped a mile out of my skin.

  I was heartened to see that it was a text from Chad. It said:

  Are you busy this aft?

  Would you like to do Italian today

  instead of tomorrow?

  I texted back right away.

  Not busy.

  Would be happy to work

  on Italian today.

  Oh darn. Had I texted back too soon? I was always under the impression that you should wait a while before responding to a text so as to not look as though you had nothing better to do than respond to texts right away. I actually felt a flush of embarrassment even though I was all by myself!

  But then he texted me back right away!

  Great! Do you want to go into town

  and have lunch? Meet in half an hour

  outside between dorms.

  I was redeemed! I replied:

  See you then!

  I freshened myself up and ran a brush through my hair, gathered my Italian books and went down to meet Chad. I heard laughter emanating from Cheryl and Lisa’s room as I slipped past and I felt my gut twist with anxiety.

  I checked the time on my new phone as I exited the building. I was five minutes early. Should I go back? I’d look like a geek if I was standing there waiting for him. But as I slipped my phone back in my bag I looked up and saw Chad already waiting for me.

  “Hey!” I called out as I approached.

  “Oh hey! I didn’t expect you for a few minutes. I thought I was early,” he said.

  “You are early! I am, too,” I grinned at him.

  “I couldn’t wait: I’m starving,” he explained. “I hope you are, too. There’s a little Italian place I thought we’d go – fitting since we’re studying Italian – and the best thing about it is that practically everything on the menu is made from bread, cheese, or pasta, so the chances of running into the Ugly Stepsisters there is virtually nil!”

  I gasped at his use of Margie’s nickname for them. “The Ugly Stepsisters?” I laughed. “Where on earth did you get that from?”

  “Oh that’s been going around for a while,” he grinned at me. “You hadn’t heard it before?”

  “I had – I just didn’t realize it had spread!” I smiled.

  Part of me did feel a teensy bit bad about cutting up Cheryl and Lisa behind their backs, but another part of me really needed to feel like I had an ally.

  We reached Chad’s car and he opened the passenger door for me to get in first. As I climbed in I looked up and happened to catch a glimpse of Cheryl’s scowling face peering down at us from her window. I turned my head quickly and ducked inside the car.

  “Don’t look now, but she saw us,” I said to Chad through gritted teeth - as if she could read my lips at such a distance!

  “I know. I don’t even have to bother to look anymore. I’m spied on wherever I go. I don’t know what makes her think that anyone would find that endearing. You see what I’ve had to put up with?” he said matter of factly.

  “It’s like she’s obsessed with you!” I exclaimed.

  “Yep. That’s one word for it,” he agreed as we pulled out of the parking lot.

  After a few beats I asked, “Do you think she’s actually dangerous?”

  He thought for a minute.

  “Not to me. I don’t think she’d ever do anything to hurt me. But in the back of my head I always wonder if she’d hurt herself for dramatic effect. You know, like take an overdose of pills or something, but call for help at the last minute. I don’t think she’d intentionally hurt herself for real, but I think she could risk doing damage to herself in some sort of attention-seeking stunt.”

  Neither of us said anything for a few moments, then he continued, “That’s maybe a part of the reason why I’ve tried to stay kind of on good terms with her and go along with her idea of having that party…” he shook his head. “But maybe that’s made it worse. Maybe I should have made a clean break. But then there was you…” he trailed off.

  “Me? What do you mean?”

  “Well, what you said a few weeks ago, about trying to get along,” he explained.

  “Oh right. Well now I’m not so sure about that. It seems that if someone doesn’t want to “get along” then there’s nothing you can do to make them,” I sighed.

  “Why do you say that? Did something happen?” Chad asked me with concern in his voice.

  “Well, after the dance I expected there to be some sort of confrontation, but there wasn’t. She was being nice and I figured it was because she needed me for her English homework, but then I realized she was trying to pull a fast one on me. She let me use her laptop and then I think she planned on deleting all my work without printing it out for me,” I began to explain.

  “She did?” Chad was astonished.

  “Well she wanted to, but I figured out her little game and got my stuff printed off and handed in. I think that pissed her off, so when I saw her in the dining hall at lunch she was making spiteful comments about me loud enough to wake the dead,” I said.

  “What did you do? Did you respond?” he asked.

  “No. Not at all. My roommate was there and she responded on my behalf, though! I went to try to talk to Cheryl just before you texted me to see if we could work it out – I even apologized to her and admitted that the whole situation was my fault, but she slammed the door in my face. So now I don’t know what other pleasantries I can expect to be subjected to by her,” I sighed heavily again.

  “Oh my god, she’s unbelievable. What is she, twelve?” Chad was shaking his head again.

  “So…” I was hesitant to ask, lest I make myself look paranoid, “she wouldn’t hurt you, but do you think she’s capable of hurting me?”

  “Are you worried that she will?” he asked me.

  “Well everyone, including you, keeps telling me to watch my back with her. So I don’t know what to e
xpect. She wouldn’t try to like, do anything to me, like physically, do you think?”

  “I never even thought of that. No, I don’t think so. I do think she’ll make snide comments and talk about you behind your back and all of that kind of stuff, but I don’t think she’d actually physically harm you,” he said.

  “I don’t know,” I said honestly. “I really don’t know her very well. And I’ve never been in this kind of situation before. Up until now I spent my whole life on the same street with the same kids I went to school with and we’ve all known each other since kindergarten. Sure, people had spats and arguments and stuff, but uh, this is unfamiliar territory to me. It’s different than just a fight. It’s like a feud.”

  “Do you want me to talk to her?” Chad asked immediately.

  “Well,” I hesitated, “I think that might just make it worse.”

  “Well. Let me know. I know what she can be like – don’t forget that. So don’t be shy about telling me if she’s getting to you, alright?” He turned his head from the road and looked at me seriously.

  “Thanks,” I said, “I appreciate it.”

  The restaurant Chad took me to was very cute. It had red and white checked table cloths and every table had an empty bottle of wine with a candle stuck in it. We sat down and the waitress immediately brought us a basket of warm bread with whipped butter. I found it completely delightful!

  But I suppose Chad was used to the finer things in life because he immediately began apologizing to me for it.

  “I know the décor is a little cliché,” he started to say.

  “What? No! Don’t say that! It’s charming!” I exclaimed.

  “It’s not the only thing,” he mumbled.

  I looked at him questioningly.

  “I mean, the food is not bad. It’s infinitely better than the dining hall, even if it isn’t quite four-star,” he continued.

  “I love it already!” I said as I helped myself to a piece of warm, chewy bread dripping with butter.

  He was watching me tear into the bread with a little half smile on his face. I suddenly became horrified; I must have looked like a glutton.

  “I’m sorry! I couldn’t wait! I was up early this morning to go riding with Andrea and I haven’t had chance to eat yet! You must think I’m terribly rude!” I blushed.

  He said nothing but kept the half smile on. Then as if he had been in a trance, he snapped out of it and said, “What? Oh – you went riding? Really? That’s great!”

  “It is great!” I enthused. “I really love it. I’m going to make it the focus of my next column. It’s so amazing to be up early and out in the woods with a horse. There are so many songbirds out there and the air is so clean and fresh! And to have that level of trust and respect with an animal as enormous and powerful as a horse! It’s amazing! Anyway, that’s why I’m so ravenous. Forgive me.”

  I realized I had been talking too much and too fast and I smiled shyly.

  “You’re forgiven,” he chuckled. “I’ve told you before, I like a girl with a good appetite. Here, take a look at the menu,” he said as he passed one over to me and took a lump of bread for himself.

  We both ate heartily and hardly even spoke as we stuffed our faces with plates of pasta and then dessert. Afterwards Chad suggested we have coffee.

  “Yes – that’s a great idea. We’ll have coffee while we practice!” I said as I leant over to retrieve my books from my bag.

  “Ah!” Chad cried out mock-dramatically. “I’m too full! I can’t work on Italian now!”

  “Nope!” I laughed. “You won’t wiggle out of this! We came here to practice Italian and that is just what we will do!”

  “No, I’m serious,” he said as he put his hand on my forearm as I reached for the book. “I’m really full. That was an excellent meal, we were having an excellent conversation, let’s just sit back and let it digest. We’ll sit back and relax and enjoy our coffee and not think about school,” he insisted.

  “Oh alright,” I agreed. “It does actually sound like a nice idea!”

  “And we can still get together tomorrow and work on Italian?” he asked sheepishly.

  I took a big deep breath. “I don’t know…..” I kidded him. “You seem to think I have nothing better to do than help you with your homework! I have horses to ride, I have columns to write, I have my own homework to do, I have mean girls to fight with…I’m a very busy girl!” I smiled sweetly at him.

  “Oh well,” he countered, “Your next column isn’t due for a while yet, and I know that because I’m friends with your editor, and I can fight the mean girls for you, so really that doesn’t leave you with much to do. In fact, I think I’m kind of doing you a favor by letting you help me.”

  “Ah!” I gasped in mock outrage. “Well! You’re very lucky that I’ve decided to take on charity cases such as yourself and I will help you tomorrow, despite your questionable attitude!”

  We both laughed.

  The waitress came and brought us our coffees and we sat back, happily full, and didn’t really feel the need to talk too much. And when the bill came, Chad insisted upon paying it again.

  “No! Absolutely not!” I protested.

  “Catherine! I lured you out here with the pretense of working on our stuff, and then we didn’t and now I’m going to take up your time again tomorrow! It’s the least I can do,” he said.

  “Oh please! It’s not like I had a horrible time!” I snorted.

  “Catherine. I’m a gentleman. Let me pay the bill,” he said in such a calm, commanding voice that I could think of no argument.

  “Well, thank you. Thank you very much. I really enjoyed that,” I said humbly.

  “My pleasure,” he smiled at me.

  We drove back to school and Chad dropped me off in front of my dorm and I spent the rest of the afternoon practicing my Italian for real with a real Italian.

  CHAPTER 23

  Stefano was putting up a good front, but I could see he was still melancholy from his attack of “existential angst” last night. I made extra effort to display how happy I was to be with him, and made games out of mispronouncing Italian words to make him laugh, but I could tell the world was weighing heavy on him still.

  Then the next day I met up with Chad and we practiced that week’s assigned dialogue together. Even though we stayed in the dining hall, we managed not to be seen by Cheryl for once. (I had initially objected to meeting in such a highly visible place, but he rightly pointed out that it didn’t matter where we went – Cheryl was likely to see us.)

  On Monday morning I awoke at an ungodly hour! Only the thought of getting to ride Athena all by myself kept me from groaning and going back to sleep! I had worked out an ingenious way of waking myself up without disturbing Margie: I set the alarm on my cell phone and slept with it under my pillow. The volume wasn’t enough to wake her, but the vibrations scared me half to death and ensured that I’d be roused from sleep!

  This time Andrea had beaten me to the stables. She was just finishing tacking up another girl’s horse named Sugar when I entered.

  “Ah! Good morning!” she greeted me. “Athena is all yours this morning! You can bring her out and get her all ready to go!”

  “But you’ll supervise, I hope!” I smiled worriedly.

  “Of course! But I think you’ll be fine,” she assured me.

  The only accommodation to my inexperience was that we took Athena outside so that I could mount her from the little platform again. It was easier for me, and kinder to her until I had more practice! Then we rode out into the woods with Andrea on a beautiful roan leading the way.

  I was ecstatically happy! The morning sunshine on my face and the sound of the birds singing and the fresh air and the breeze lightly lifting my hair, but mostly the feeling like I was one with the horse was an absolutely divine experience! We reached a little clearing and Andrea stopped to ask me if I felt comfortable increasing our speed to a little trot.

  “It’s more difficult than it s
ounds,” she cautioned me. “You have to be an active party. You have to figure out how to move your body up and down in rhythm with her, or you’ll wake up tomorrow with a very sore bum!”

  I laughed.

  “I think I’m ready,” I said.

  “Alright. Yell really loud if it’s too much and you want to stop. Or just pull on her reins – you know what to do,” she told me.

  And she gave Sugar a little kick and off the four of us went!

  She was right! Trotting was hard work and a great workout for the legs, to be sure! But I did get smacked with the saddle more than a few times before I found the rhythm and it was not pleasant! Andrea would stop periodically and ask me if I was alright. I was! And I wanted to go faster!

  “The faster a horse’s gait, the smoother the ride,” she explained to me. “But there’s not enough room here to get up to a canter, even. Tomorrow we’ll ride towards the big field and you can really stretch her legs!”

  “Oh – that would be amazing!” I said. I wanted to go right there and then, but of course: school.

  Andrea let me take the lead on Athena back to the stables. Again, this horse knew the route and if anybody was in charge here it was her.

  We left the horses outside in the enclosure and walked back inside.

  “Would you mind mucking out Sugar’s stall as well? I told my friend Hannah that you would in exchange,” Andrea gave me a half-apologetic smile.

  “Oh,” I said. It wasn’t that I minded at all, it was just that I wish she hadn’t sprung it on me like this. There wasn’t a lot of time left before school started.

  “Yes, sure. Of course.”

  What else could I say?

  “Great. I’m going to run back and shower and get changed. I’ll come back to help you put them away,” she said as she left me there alone.

  Damn! I’d have to work fast. Why hadn’t I told her no? That I’d like to, but that there wasn’t time? I stabbed furiously at the straw with the pitchfork. Normally I took my time and tried to make sure that I got every last shred of soiled straw out of there, but I simply couldn’t afford to take such pains today. And I wondered, had Andrea done this to me on purpose? She didn’t seem like the type of girl to be so mean for no reason. She had just let me ride her beloved horse, so why would she then turn around and pull a trick like this on me? I decided that she hadn’t done it deliberately, but rather she had just lost track of time.