Corrine gave a mock smile. “Thanks,” she said, and then closed the bathroom door.
Soon, she was out, and Eva went in next. She would shower in the morning, but now she needed to wash her face and brush her teeth. The bathroom had white-tiled walls, and a green rug to match the shamrock-patterned shower curtain. Even the taps to the sink had green shamrocks for handles. There was a small wooden table that had a green plastic tote on top with Eva’s name on it. Inside was everything she would need for the bathroom: shampoo, soap, razors, deodorant, feminine products, a toothbrush and tube of toothpaste, hairbrush, comb, barrettes, elastic bands, and even makeup. Given her time in the psychiatric hospital, she felt like she had won the lottery—if they were awarding toiletries for prizes.
She changed into her borrowed pajamas, and placed her own outfit that she’d worn that day in the green hamper with her name on it by the door. She washed her face with a gentle soap and brushed her teeth. As she looked at herself in the mirror, she decided to brush her hair with the new one provided, and as each set of bristles ran through her strands of hair, she felt renewed. She placed everything neatly back in her tote and left it in the bathroom.
When she walked out, Eva glanced at Corrine’s laptop that was now on her desk, and noticed it was ten o’clock. Apparently, the headmaster didn’t enforce “lights out.” She wondered what the Leprechauns were up to.
Smoking. Arm wrestling. Late night jam sessions.
Her thoughts focused on Lucas, beating wooden sticks against a set of drums, rocking out. Then Liam and Finn, their fingertips flying across the strings of their guitars, and finally Devin, at the microphone, playing along on his guitar, singing some cool song about life being cruel, but he fell in love with a girl, and now everything’s all right.
What was it about lead singers?
Eva rubbed her eyes to get rid of her thoughts of Devin, which did her no good, and placed what she needed for class tomorrow in her new academy satchel. She initiated the clock program on her laptop, remembering to turn it to her bed, and away from Bree’s eyes, lest her roommate freak out from the bright light.
She already knew she had to wear a uniform tomorrow, and would deal with how horrible she looked in it then. Next, she emptied the contents of her travel bag into her new dresser drawers. She laid the old hairbrush and the used tube of mauve lipstick next to the vanity mirror with nothing else. They seemed very sad by themselves, especially compared to Meg, Corrine, and Bree’s chaotic contents. But she knew that it was her first day, and after three more years, she would be just as messy.
As she sat on the floor, in front of her closet, about to put away the shoes her mother had packed for her, she found a white envelope at the bottom of her travel bag. Eva’s name was written on it, in her mom’s handwriting, and inside the envelope was a letter.
She thought that when they’d said their goodbyes at the hospital, her parents had expressed everything they’d wanted to say, but there was more.
They liked Mr. Quinn, describing him as “wonderful.” They knew Eva was in the best of care, even though they had no idea what she was going through, but at Green Clover Academy, she would get better, being with others like her. They had come to disagree with Dr. Lang, but felt that given his expertise, he could help her. They wrote how sorry they were, asking for her forgiveness. They would miss her dearly, being so far away, thinking of her all the time. The letter ended with a plea to call or write, even a quick email would be nice, and at very bottom of the note, they each wrote with a flourish, I love you.
Eva was so moved, she started sobbing. Immediately, Corrine and Meg jumped off their beds, and went to her. Even Bree got up, but rather slowly.
Meg sat on the floor with Eva, holding her. “Tell us what you saw. It’ll help,” she encouraged.
Corrine sat on the floor too, and held Eva’s other hand. Bree just stood there, but silent.
Eva shook her head. “No, it’s okay. I didn’t see anything.” She waved the letter at them. “Just a letter from my parents, that’s all.”
Eva expected Bree to huff and puff about the false alarm, but she just turned, and walked back to her bed. She put away her laptop, placed a pink-gelled sleeping mask over her eyes, and lay under the covers. The bath towel was still wrapped around her head, and Eva assumed that’s how she slept.
Meg rubbed Eva’s hand. “Oh? Was it bad news?”
Eva shook her head. She didn’t want to tell them everything, especially about Dr. Lang and the hospital, so she just said, “They wanted me to know they cared.”
“That’s what parents are supposed to do,” Corrine said, smiling.
Eva nodded. “Thanks, I—”
She was interrupted by Corrine, cowering, placing her head in her hands. Eva knew that gesture only too well. After Corrine’s vision was over, she spent the next thirty minutes crying, while all the girls, even Bree, consoled her. They all sat on the floor and held each other.
“What was it about?” Bree asked in a soft voice, still wearing her sleeping mask.
Eva was shocked at the transformation. Bitchy one minute, sweet the next. Despite her attitude, she really did care.
Corrine sniffed, wiping her tears away. “Um…this woman…I don’t really want to talk about it.”
“It helps,” Meg soothed. “Go on.”
Corrine nodded. “This woman was um…a man was on top of her. He…did stuff to her, and then…killed her.”
“Rape?” Eva asked.
Corrine nodded, and Eva massaged her back. She had never seen a vision where rape was present, and for a girl, it was the last thing she wanted to see.
“It’s okay,” Bree said softly. “That’s enough. Why don’t we all get some sleep now?”
The girls nodded. Eva was especially tired. She could’ve slept on the floor with Corrine and Meg in a tight embrace. Even Bree is she wanted to stay, but everyone separated, went to their beds, and rested under the covers.
“Sweet dreams everyone,” Meg said, and then shut off the overhead light switch next to her bed.
“Sweet dreams,” Eva, Corrine, and Bree responded.
Then Bree added, “And no lights!”
She was back to her usual self, and all Eva could do was smile in the semi-dark, as Corrine clicked her desk lamp off. Eva saw the bathroom light was still on, and went to jump up, but Meg beat her to it.
Finally, they were all settled. After a few minutes, she heard the sounds of sleep and peered through the darkness at her roommates. Amazingly, all were asleep, but she was frustratingly wide awake, as if she had drunk a whole pot of coffee. She wanted to sleep. She really did, but her worries consumed her:
Will I like my teachers? Will they like me? Will I do well in my studies? Will I have a crying spell during class? Will Lucas run to me if I called his name? Will Devin disappear again? Will he freak out if I confessed my weird, I-just-met-you love for him? Will I ever go to sleep?
Her rambling thoughts were interrupted by a faint light near the door. It was supposed to be closed, but Eva worried it had somehow opened, and the light from the hallway had entered. She got out of bed to hurriedly close it, not wanting the light to wake up Bree, and defy her dictatorship. But when she approached the door, slightly open, she saw a figure float by in the hallway.
She didn’t see a black fog, but worried that it could still be a Leprechaun, coming to see a girl out of bed in her scantily-clad nightgown. Could it be any Leprechaun? Lucas? Was he coming to see her, to hold her, and to kiss her in a nighttime tryst?
Or was it Devin?
She couldn’t take the suspense. Before heading out, she took a peek at light-sleeper Corrine, and noticed that she was fast asleep. Then Eva—in her less-than-sexy yellow crescent moon pajamas—stepped out, and closed the door. In the hallway, small glass chandeliers of dim yellow light dangled from the ceiling, but they didn’t illuminate anyone—solid or foggy black.
But she did sense something—a presence. She slowly turned arou
nd, and saw two young women, floating above the floor. One had blond hair, wearing a white gown, and the other had black hair, wearing a black gown. The one with the black hair looked remarkably like Eva, just a little older, but she was too pale, like the other. It was as if an opaque filter had been placed in front of them, but she could still see their womanly features. Both smiled at her, but not in a scary, maniacal sort of way, which didn’t alleviate Eva’s worries, since they were hovering about two feet above the floor.
The one with the black hair floated over to her slowly. “We’re ghosts. Don’t scream.”
Eva didn’t have a chance to scream, or even swallow her fear, and respond to the ghosts, because as soon as the one with the black hair spoke, she and the blond-haired ghost were gone in an instant.
She stood there for the longest time in the hallway, waiting for them to come back, but they didn’t. And now, along with Banshees and Leprechauns, there were ghosts, and she wondered if everyone knew. But she didn’t think so. Someone would have told her, right? Eva felt a connection to the ghosts, especially to the black-haired one, but she didn’t know why, except for that fact they could’ve been twin sisters. She heard people say that everyone has a twin out there in the world. Now Eva knew she had one—she was just a ghost, that’s all.
As she crept back to bed, and pulled the covers over her, she emitted a soft giggle. Not too long ago, she would’ve definitely screamed if she saw a ghost. But now? Well, now she knew there were people such as Banshees, who had visions of people dying. And Leprechauns, who could transform into a black fog, vanish, teleport, and reappear with the added, but creepy ability to enter people’s minds, and pick at their brains. So no, ghosts weren’t that unexpected. But what made her not be able to fall asleep until two hours later was why they’d wanted to talk to her? And why had they abruptly left?
10
Keeping Secrets
A buzzing sound woke Eva up only after a few hours sleep.
“Time to get up,” announced a cheerful Corrine, who was obviously a morning person, throwing open the green curtains, letting the morning sunlight in.
Bree groaned, still wearing the towel on her head, and the sleeping mask over her eyes, as she put the pillow over her head to block out the light. Meg yawned, stretching, and slowly got out of bed, trailing her feet against the carpet to the bathroom, then shut the door.
Eva rubbed her eyes, but remained in bed, just staring up at the ceiling. It seemed just a plain green before, but now she could see individually shaped shamrocks, overlapping each other, stretching along the way.
“It’s six-thirty. Get up,” Corrine said softly to Bree, daring to slide a pillow off her head.
Bree’s face was buried against the mattress. “Go away,” she said in muffled voice.
Corrine walked over to Eva and shook her head. “I have to do this every morning,” she explained, as if she were a parent, trying to take care of a petulant child. “We’re almost always late because we have to eat breakfast.”
Eva just smiled and decided to get up. After Meg got out, Corrine went in next, and then left after a few minutes.
“If you have to pee, do it now,” Eva said to Bree.
As if that were an alarm bell, Bree jumped off the bed, ran in the bathroom, and slammed the door. After ten minutes, she still wasn’t out, so Eva went to her closet, and selected her outfit: a white cap-sleeved shirt, a black pleated skirt, and a pair of black clogs. From her dresser drawer, she selected her underwear, and laid everything on her bed. Corrine and Meg were already undressing, not at all ashamed to stand in front of each other naked. Eva liked them, but they were still new to her, so she decided to change in the bathroom after her shower.
Bree finally left the bathroom, naked, with her towel-dried blond hair trailing down her back. Eva averted her eyes from Bree’s body, but got enough of a look to see a perfect hourglass figure. Her heart sunk at this knowledge. She just knew both Lucas and Devin had seen it, in all its glory. And Bree had seen them. She knew it was over between Bree and Lucas, but just the fact that they had been together made Eva feel like she was getting Bree’s leftovers. If Eva was with Devin, it’d be the same story. She tried not to think of Devin like that—as her boyfriend. She sort of had one now—Lucas.
But why couldn’t she just accept him? Why couldn’t she forget about Devin?
Bree snapped her fingers. “Hurry up, Eva,” she ordered, adjusting her pink bra straps.
“Oh…yeah…right,” she said, looking around at Meg and Corrine, who were just about dressed.
She rushed in the bathroom and got into the shower. The water was nice and hot, and she wanted to spend all day in there, but she couldn’t. After she bathed and successfully shaved without a bloody nick—it had been a year since she was allowed to use a razor—she rushed out in a towel, and grabbed her clothes from her bed.
Bree smirked. “Afraid for us to see you naked?” She was already dressed, now applying her makeup, staring at Eva from her vanity mirror.
“No, I just…feel like getting dressed in the bathroom.”
Bree shrugged. “That’s not going to stop one of the guys from popping in here.”
That wasn’t the reason why Eva wanted to dress in the bathroom, but now that Bree had mentioned the possibility, she got worried.
“They wouldn’t do that, would they?”
“They’re boys,” Meg said, grinning.
“And Leprechauns,” Corrine added, smiling shyly.
“Yeah, so you might as well drop your towel, and shake your ass about, because there’s no safe place around here to hide,” Bree said casually, and then started to apply her mascara.
Eva just shook her head and went inside the bathroom anyway, but dressed very quickly. She blow dried her hair, and then applied mascara, which took her awhile since she hadn’t done it in over a year. After she brushed her teeth, she smeared her lips with cherry lip gloss. She headed out and saw everyone was ready to leave.
“I’m starving,” Meg moaned, holding the strap of her academy satchel against her chest.
Eva noticed that they wore their green caps, even Bree, and she went to get hers from the closet.
“You look so cute,” Corrine said, clapping her hands at Eva’s quick efforts to get ready.
“You do,” Meg agreed, clapping too.
Eva secured the green cap over her thick black hair. “Thanks.”
When they left the room, Bree pointed at Eva’s left leg. “Missed a spot.”
“What?”
Eva looked down. All she saw was smooth skin below the hem of her skirt—pale skin, but smooth.
Bree grinned. “Gotcha!”
“Hilarious,” Meg said in a dull tone.
Bree just shrugged. “Well, I’m off to breakfast. Later, bitches.” She traveled down the hallway, as if she were parading along a catwalk.
Corrine waved her hand in the air. “Don’t worry about her. Her bark is worse than her bite.”
“Yeah, I think she’s a softie at heart, but she just hides it,” Meg agreed.
Eva wanted to believe that, considering Bree’s attention to Corrine’s mourning last night, but she just couldn’t help it—she hated Bree. She hated that she had dated Lucas and now wanted Devin. And she hated her golden hair, her Tahitian blue eyes, and her hourglass, model figure.
“At least she’s in none of our classes,” Corrine said, as if reading Eva’s thoughts. “She cheated so much off of me last year!”
When they arrived at the grand staircase, Meg said, “Well, there’s P.E., but there’s a hundred kids there and you stay busy, so you don’t have to worry”—she made a chomping motion with her hand—“about her motor mouth.”
That was the only consolation, but it wasn’t the greatest.
They arrived at the Commons Area, which was already filling up with students, traveling to the cafeteria.
“Hey, Eva!” Lucas shouted at her from afar, smiling and waving. He wore his black cap over his go
lden locks.
Finn and Liam were behind him, but hatless. Bree was there too, chatting and laughing with Devin. But he was silent, readjusting his cap over his black hair, fiddling with the strap of his satchel, yanking down on his tie, and just kept making little nervous movements. It made Eva’s blood boil to see them two together.
“See you inside,” Corrine said to Eva, pulling Meg away, who couldn’t stop giggling, watching Lucas approach.
Lucas wrapped his arms around her waist, and gave her a passionate kiss. He licked his lips. “Mmm…cherry.” His blue-gray eyes were veiled, desirous. “Well, good morning. You look cute today, but you were cute yesterday too,” he said, and then glanced longingly down at her bare legs.
She blushed, readjusting the green cap on her head that was slightly jolted by his forceful, but loving attack of affection.
“You don’t look so bad yourself,” she said, smiling.
But he wore the same thing he did yesterday, and still smelled of tobacco, which made her a little nauseated.
Desiring space and fresh air, she turned to greet Liam, Finn, and maybe even Devin, right in front of Bree. But when she caught Devin’s sparkling green eyes, he tensed up, and then turned away from her, quickly walking to the cafeteria with his academy satchel clutched in his hand. Bree ran across the Commons Area after him, with the heels of her clogs beating against the hardwood floor as she went.
Finn gave Eva a sweet smile. “How was your first night?”
“Interesting.” She wasn’t going to divulge her run-in with two ghosts.
“New girl!” Liam shouted again. He hugged her and sniffed her, again. “Ah! We’re gonna be in the same classes.” He grinned. “Doesn’t that just make your day?”
She smiled. “I couldn’t imagine my second year without you, Liam.”
He gasped, slapping his hand over his heart. Then he looked over at Lucas, raising his fists. “All right, man! Let’s throw down! I’ll fight you for Eva. C’mon!”
Prophecy Girl Page 9