Haunted

by Alexandra Inger

  And she proved me right when she came running breathlessly back into the stables in her school uniform twenty minutes later. Although I was glad to learn that she wasn’t like Cheryl, it made me sad that I was beginning to think that everyone was like Cheryl.

  “Catherine! I’m sorry! I didn’t realize the time! You go and get ready for school, I’ll finish up here! See you tomorrow!”

  I had finished Athena’s stall and was halfway through Sugar’s when she grabbed the pitchfork away from me and told me to run.

  “Thanks!” I called out as I dashed back to the dorm.

  I wouldn’t have time to shower now, but no matter. I couldn’t possibly be that dirty, I had only just showered late yesterday afternoon. I quickly changed into a clean uniform and smoothed my hair out a bit.

  First class was English. I was looking forward to getting back my short answer questions on Jane Eyre. I was little bit worried about Cheryl, but I figured we’d had our confrontation and now it was a matter of just trying to ignore her silliness.

  I took my usual seat at the back of the class. Cheryl took her usual seat on my right, but instead of sitting in front of her, Janice took the empty seat on my left. I sighed inwardly, wondering what they were up to.

  There was still a minute or two before class commenced when Janice made a big show of sniffing and saying across me to Cheryl very loudly, “Ewwwww! Does something smell of horse?”

  Cheryl sniffed dramatically as well and replied, “No. I think you mean whores.”

  They both broke up laughing at themselves and a few people around them who couldn’t help but overhear were chuckling as well.

  I felt my face heat up with anger, but I clenched my jaw and ignored them. Did I actually smell horsey? I was self-conscious because I hadn’t had time to shower, but it did seem like they had planned that joke in advance. I wondered how Cheryl had found out that I had been riding with Andrea. Was she stalking and spying on me now, like she did Chad? But I was also tormented by the thought that I might indeed smell of horses. Now I was going to spend the rest of the day paranoid about smelling.

  Class began and the teacher came around passing back the graded homework from last week. Except that she didn’t pass mine back. Or Cheryl’s. And then she came over and told us both that she wanted to talk to us after class.

  Bewildered, I looked over at Cheryl to see the smuggest smile I had ever seen on anyone’s face looking back at me.

  “What did you do?” I hissed at her.

  She just kept on smiling and shrugged and turned away while Janice on the other side of me was convulsing in a fit of silent giggles.

  My guts started churning with anxiety. What could she have done? I had printed my assignment off myself and I had handed it in myself. She never even saw it. How could she have possibly interfered with it?

  The next hour was possibly the longest in my life. I watched the clock’s second hand make its long, laborious journey around the circle. Each minute seemed like an eternity, and all the while my body was pumping adrenaline into my stomach and making me edgier than a nervous cat. Every once in a while Cheryl would turn and flash a great big ominously fake grin at me and my adrenals would surge even more.

  Finally the bell rang. I gathered my things and stood up on wobbling legs. I felt like I was walking through waist deep water as I approached the front of the classroom to Ms. Tyrol’s desk.

  Cheryl, on the other hand, practically skipped up.

  “Ladies,” Ms. Tyrol began sternly, “I find it very interesting that you both handed in the exact same responses to last week’s short answer question assignment.”

  I stood there dumbly while I tried to work out what she was saying.

  “Catherine?” she looked at me as she placed our assignments side by side on her desk. “Can you explain?”

  I looked down at the two pieces of paper and saw that Cheryl had deleted my name and typed her own on the assignment I had done for me, printed it and handed it in as her own. I had no idea what to say, knowing that this had occurred because I had helped Cheryl to cheat in the first place. Even though what she was doing to me now was wrong, I still felt somehow complicit in cheating and I had nothing to say in my own defense.

  “Ms. Tyrol,” Cheryl began in her soft, childlike voice, “I think I can explain what happened. This is my assignment. I typed it up myself on my computer. I can show you,” she said as she began to pull her laptop out of her bag. “My roommate Lisa told me that Catherine came to our room while I wasn’t there and insisted on using my computer and my printer to print something even though Lisa told her not to. She must have stolen my assignment at that time. I can get Lisa to vouch for it.”

  She had widened her eyes to appear all doe-like and innocent while I grew hotter and hotter and tears rose in my eyes.

  “Catherine, is this true?” Ms. Tyrol turned to me.

  My throat had constricted so much that I didn’t know if I tried to speak if any sound would come out. My mouth had an acrid taste in it that I thought I might choke on.

  “Catherine? I’m waiting,” Ms. Tyrol prodded.

  “No!” I said finally. “No it’s not true!” My voice was barely a croak and it was all I could do not to cry.

  “Then how do you care to explain this?” she demanded.

  Cheryl stood there with a faint, angelic smile on her face. I wanted to tear her eyeballs out of their sockets. I knew I wouldn’t be able to speak anymore without letting the dam break and the tears flow and so I just stood there shaking my head.

  Ms. Tyrol sighed. “Thank you, Cheryl. You can go to your next class now.”

  “But Miss Tyrol – “ Cheryl started.

  “You are dismissed!”

  Cheryl turned and left, but not without shooting a look of cruel triumph at me first.

  “I can see you’re very emotional and finding it difficult to speak,” Ms. Tyrol’s voice softened towards me. “I’ve had Cheryl in my class before and I doubt she could have come up with answers as insightful and as well-written as these. She’s never demonstrated an aptitude for literature before. So tell me.” She regarded me expectantly.

  I let out a long shuddery sigh and said, “I did cheat. I did. But these are my answers. I wrote different ones for Cheryl that weren’t as good. I wrote both assignments on her computer and then we had a falling out and I guess she decided to hand my answers in to get back at me.”

  My nose was running and the tears were flowing now.

  Ms. Tyrol looked at me long and hard.

  “Catherine. Plagiarism is a very serious offence. You could face suspension and it would go on your permanent record. You realize that, don’t you?”

  “I do!” I sobbed. “I’m sorry! It just…it just didn’t seem like that big of a deal at the time. I’m new, and I have no friends here and I know Jane Eyre like the back of my hand so it was easy for me…”

  I wasn’t sure if I was making any sense, but I was completely overwrought.

  Ms. Tyrol didn’t say anything for a moment. Then she went around her desk and retrieved a box of tissues from a drawer and handed them to me.

  “Can you assure me that nothing like this will ever happen again?” She was looking at me deadly seriously straight in the eye.

  “Never! I swear!” I said.

  “Very well. I think you’ve learned your lesson. I’m not going to report this to the principal, however I can’t let you go completely unpunished. You will both receive an incomplete for this assignment.”

  I nodded my head as my swiped at my nose with the tissue.

  “Now get to your next class,” she ordered me. “And Catherine,” she called out as I was nearly through the door. “You might want to use a little more discretion when choosing your friends. Don’t just let them choose you.”

  “Thank you,” I whispered.

  “You would have gotten an A+,” she added. “It’s a shame – I can tell you really love the novel.” She gave me the tiniest little smile of encou
ragement and I gave a grateful yet embarrassed smile back and I scurried away down the hall to my next class.

  I had math in the next period. It was my least favorite subject and one I had a very hard time concentrating on under the best of circumstances, so after what had just had happened I had no chance. Fortunately I was able to spend the entire hour with my head down at the back of the class focusing on my breathing and pulling myself together.

  The humiliation! Not only of being caught doing something I knew perfectly well I shouldn’t have done, but then of breaking down and sobbing like a little girl. And it was a shame that the assignment wasn’t going to count for me now – I had so enjoyed writing about one of my favorite sections in the book and I felt very proud of my work. So how ironic that something that I had taken such pride in had turned on me and caused me such embarrassment.

  Once I had recovered myself, my shame and sadness transformed into rage. I had never done one bad thing to Cheryl, and in fact I had tried to be a good friend despite all the little traps she had set for me. I had tried to apologize for something that wasn’t my fault and I even tried to help her with her school work and she repaid me for it all with this horrible betrayal that could have gotten me suspended from school. I suppose in some way I deserved it, I thought ruefully. Right from day one I had made myself so subservient to Cheryl that it shouldn’t come as a surprise now that she would try to see just how far she could push me.

  She couldn’t help it. It was her nature.

  But now I had to figure out how I was going to respond, or if I would even respond at all. I was dying to talk to Margie to see if she had any advice for me. At lunch, I ran to the dining hall to see if I could find her there. I doubted it, but I figured I would look there first and then check to see if by chance she had gone back to our room at all.

  My mission was intercepted by Chad.

  I burst into the dining hall and stood there like a general about to lead his troops into battle while I surveyed the room looking for her. I couldn’t pick her out of the crowd, but Chad came bounding up to me waving something he had in his hand.

  “Catherine! I’m glad you’re here!” he was grinning at me like a mad thing. “The paper came out today! Check out your column!”

  “Oh, that’s wonderful!” I tried to sound enthusiastic, but I failed miserably. I was completely exasperated that this should happen at this particular moment. Something I should have been very excited and happy about became a nuisance and a distraction from what I really had on my mind. But Chad looked so delighted about it that I felt obligated to humor him and I took the paper from him and began examining it with feigned interest.

  “Are you alright?” he asked me as I leafed through the pages.

  “Yes, of course,” I answered untruthfully. The event had been ruined for me; I didn’t want to ruin it for him too.

  “Catherine, you’re not even looking. You skipped right past your own column,” he noted.

  “Oh I did? I didn’t see it. Where is it?” I asked as I handed the paper back to him.

  He found the page and then opened the paper right up and folded it back so that I wouldn’t be able to miss it.

  “Right there,” he said as he handed it back to me. “I wrote an introduction.”

  But I hardly heard him.

  “Chad, I’m so sorry. I have something that I have to deal with right now. Can I take this and look at it later?”

  “Something is wrong. What’s happened?” His brow furrowed with concern.

  Now Chad was probably the best person to discuss my trouble with Cheryl with. Better than Margie even. But I was about to open my mouth to speak, and I looked at him and saw how much concern he had for me, and I thought of how much he respected me and admired my intelligence, and I just couldn’t bear to tell him of my humiliation. The entire situation with Cheryl was so petty and childish and I was suddenly overwhelmed at how pathetic I must have been to have still tried to be her friend after how she had treated me that first night. I suppose it was all a by-product of my depression, but in that moment I would rather have died than have Chad know how stupid and lonely and desperate I was.

  “I’m sorry,” I said finally, “I have to find Margie.”

  And I turned on my heel and headed toward our room.

  She wasn’t there either. I sent her a text.

  Need to talk to you.

  Where are you?

  I sat down heavily on my bed hoping for a speedy response. None came.

  Damn! I realized my nerves were stretched out to breaking point and that I might snap at any moment. I had to calm myself down, but I had so much excess adrenaline circulating around in me that I didn’t know if it were possible. I began to pace back and forth to try to work off some of my excess energy.

  “My darling, you are quite out of sorts,” Stefano’s voice came from behind me.

  I jumped around.

  “Oh god, it’s you! Thank god it’s you!” I cried as I practically threw myself onto his form.

  “What’s happened?” he demanded and his eyes were a mixture of fear and anger and concern and love and I couldn’t help but spill out the whole story to him.

  “Thank god Ms. Tyrol took pity on me!” I exclaimed. “I could have been suspended!”

  “Shhh, shhh, come here my love,” he tightened his embrace around me and I felt the intensity of his energy tingling through me like an electrical current.

  “What do I do? What do I do? I’m furious! I want to kill her!” I railed.

  “No, don’t talk like that,” he soothed. “Let us look at what actually transpired. A girl who is known to be mean and nasty tried to pull a rotten trick on you. Now, you feel the fool for letting her get the best of you all this time, but you have to know that it is because you are a good and kind and person that she was able to do that and that it is much better in life to the be the person in your position than to be the person in her position. You wouldn’t trade places with her now, would you?”

  “No! She’s horrible!” I balked.

  “Precisely. So if given the choice between being a decent human being who is taken advantage of by selfish, rotten people, you choose to be decent. It is the honorable choice, so there is no more feeling foolish for it, you understand?” he bore his eyes into my soul as he made sure his point had been understood and absorbed.

  “Now you know she is not capable of being your friend, so you must sever the relationship. You already have.”

  “Yes, but she lives just there and I have to see her everyday!” I protested.

  He put his finger to his lips to quiet me.

  “Very well. But let us look at what took place this morning. Even your teacher knew your character well enough, and her character well enough, that her lies and falsehoods were completely transparent. Your teacher complimented you on your intelligence, offered you some very sage advice, and let you off with a very light punishment. Do you know why she did that?” he questioned.

  I sighed and shrugged in desolation.

  “Because she sees the truth of the situation. Everybody will see the truth of the situation. And it’s over now and you don’t need to retaliate or seek revenge…because it won’t do you any good and will only inspire her to try and do you even more harm. So see the good in it – that you are a fundamentally good person and your teacher knows it and the consequences weren’t all that terrible, considering. You’ve learned a valuable lesson and now move on. You have other friends here and other things to occupy your time and your mind and you can leave that girl to her own devices. Rest assured she’ll hang by her own rope eventually. I’d wager on it.” He looked at me knowingly.

  I sighed. “But, god! I was humiliated!”

  “It’s much more humiliating to be a simpleton who can’t appreciate great literature,” he smirked and I actually managed something approaching a chuckle for the first time that day.

  “Thank you so much. I don’t know what I’d do without you,” I murmured into his c
hest as he held me close. “I really don’t.”

  Just then my phone beeped. It was Margie, responding to my text at last.

  On my way to class.

  Everything ok?

  “Oh no – I lost track of time. I have to get to class. Look, if Margie’s here tonight can you meet me in the rose garden? I can’t wait until the weekend to see you properly,” I entreated him.

  “Anything you wish, my love,” he whispered.

  I smiled at him and then turned and rushed to get to class on time.

  CHAPTER 24

  I ducked into Italian just as the bell rang. Chad was already seated and had placed his jacket over the chair next to him to save it for me. He whooshed his jacket away as I slid into the desk and I smiled gratefully at him.

  “Did you find Margie?” he whispered furtively.

  I shook my head ‘no.’

  “But it’s fine. Everything’s okay now,” I assured him.

  “If you’re sure,” he said, but I could tell from his face that he had his doubts.

  I was dreading the end of class, because I knew he’d want to talk to me about it and I was a terrible liar.

  Sure enough, he was hot on my heels as I exited the classroom.

  “So what was it? You looked really distressed and you weren’t even interested in seeing your own work published.” He nudged me with his elbow.

  “I know, I’m sorry. That was really rude of me,” I cringed.

  “Is Margie okay?” he asked.

  “Oh yeah, Margie’s fine,” I said truthfully.

  “And I can see that you’re okay. Did something happen to someone in your family? Or Margie’s family?” he pressed.