Phantoms of Fall (The Haunting Ruby Series Book 2)

by Joy Elbel

  “Why not Halloween weekend?” That’s the perfect time to have one! There was always a big Halloween dance back in my old school in Trinity—not that I ever went to it, of course. Why don’t you guys have one here?”

  “Some girl killed herself at the Halloween dance like twenty years ago. There hasn’t been one since.” “Oh. Too bad. Halloween’s my favorite holiday.” So maybe I wasn’t normal for liking Halloween more than Christmas, but so be it. Abnormal was normal for me and I learned to just embrace it.

  “I know—I love Halloween too! There’s nothing more fun than picking out costumes. Too bad we couldn’t find somewhere else to have a party.”

  “Yeah, too bad.” I was only half listening to her. The fact that Zach was still missing worried me. How much trouble was he in?

  When there was still no sign of him as the bell for first period rang, I forgot all about my other problems. Misty, Creepy Girl, and everything else faded into the background— all I could think about was Zach. I felt at least partially responsible for the trouble he was in. Maybe if I hadn’t fought with him, he wouldn’t have done what he did. Maybe if I’d answered his calls, we could have settled things last night instead of letting it carry over into this morning. But no, instead, I chose to ignore him and fester over something instead of talking to him like an adult.

  When I stopped at my locker on the way to lunch, I found a note inside. It was from Zach.

  Ruby, I’m sorry about everything from last night and this morning. I love you and I hate it when we fight. Lascher gave me detention for the rest of the week and I’m probably going to be in a lot of trouble when my mom and dad find out. You’ll have to find a ride home tonight—I’m sorry. Please let me make this up to you. I don’t want to lose you.

  Love, Zach

  P.S. MWAH! I felt absolutely horrible inside. I didn’t like it when we fought either so I wrote an apology of my own and slipped it into his locker. At least when I saw him in math class, the awkwardness of our fight would be gone.

  The stress of arguing gave me a seriously upset stomach so I didn’t even buy lunch. I sat at the table reading and rereading the note he left for me. I loved him so much but our relationship was so screwed up right now. He was all I could think about. But at least it helped take my mind off of one thing.

  Creepy Girl decided to start humming an eerie tune while she stared at me now—like something out of a low budget Japanese horror flick. She didn’t even freak me out anymore—she simply irritated me. If her intention was to scare me, it wasn’t working. Misty would have to try a whole lot harder if she wanted to see me lose it in front of the entire school.

  When I finally got to see Zach in math class, he looked pathetic—so pathetic, in fact, that I felt even worse about our fight. All I needed was to be alone with him so I could tell him how sorry I was. I finally came to the decision that I needed to have “the talk” with him. We had to discuss the whole sex thing or we were going to continue to have senseless fights. But time alone together was something we weren’t going to have any time soon.

  “The school called Mom and told her about my detention. Boy was she pissed—sent me a nasty text. I’m grounded, Ruby—nothing for me but school and the shelter for the next two weeks. I’m sorry, but I’m going to have to cancel our date this weekend.” He gave me a sad puppy dog look and said, “I hate it when I do something stupid to disappoint you.”

  Two weeks. The last time we were separated for two weeks I was almost killed by a vengeful ghost but at least I didn’t have to worry about that this time around. And it was a good sign that he realized what he did was stupid, wasn’t it?

  In light of that admission, I decided to go easy on him. “That’s okay. I mean, we’ll still see each other in school and we can call each other every night, right?”

  “Wrong—grounded means no phone, either. As soon as I get home, I have to give it to her. I’m sorry. I swear I’ll make it up to you when my sentence is lifted.” He gently placed his hand on mine and said, “We’ll do something really special together—something we’ve never done before. I’ll make it a night to remember—I promise.”

  Something special. He said those exact words before but it never turned out to be what I was wanting. Maybe this time would be different, maybe this time he was thinking the same thing I was.

  “Okay, Zach. I’ll be looking forward to it.” More than he could even imagine. At the end of class, he snuck me a kiss before heading to detention. I texted Shelly earlier for a ride home, but I didn’t tell her why I needed one because I was afraid of what she would say about Zach’s behavior. Stupid me, I forgot that she and Diane Mason were friends so of course, she knew everything by the time she came to get me.

  “Is everything okay between you and Zach?” She barely waited until I opened up the car door to fire that question at me. I glanced around quickly to see if anyone was listening before I got in and answered her.

  “Well, we had a fight last night. It was nothing major but when he tried to call me afterward, I wouldn’t answer my phone. He was still mad at me this morning and ended up almost getting into a fight with some boy I don’t know. Now he’s grounded and I’ll barely see or talk to him for two whole weeks.” There was a time when I never would have talked to Shelly about Zach like that—or about anything for that matter. I was sure glad those days were over. Right about now, I needed all the support I could get.

  “I’m sorry, honey. But you guys made up, right?” “Yeah, but I feel really bad about everything. I never should have gotten mad at him in the first place—the whole thing’s my fault.”

  “No, it’s not. Zach chose to start that fight. It’s his fault he got grounded—not yours. I just hope he learned his lesson.”

  Me, too. I didn’t like seeing him that way—all jealous and overprotective. He had no reason to be insecure about our relationship—none whatsoever. It’s not like I ever flirted with anyone else or anything even remotely close to it. If either of us had any reason to be insecure, it was me.

  When we got home, I crammed in a quick sandwich then wallowed alone in my room with Coco all night. I still didn’t have any real homework yet, so I buried myself in one of the books from my reading list until it was time for bed. Just before I shut out the light, my phone buzzed. A text from Rachel.

  “Mwah!” I smiled, knowing that Zach probably went out of his way to get that message to me. I sent the same sentiment back and turned my phone off for the night.

  11. Now What?

  I figured that the next two weeks would be pretty boring, and Thursday proved that by crawling by at the speed of a snail. So by the time Friday came, I was already dreading the weekend. There was some serious shopping required if I wanted to look extra hot for our “special” date the second he wasn’t grounded anymore, but that was the only thing on my social calendar. Thanks to cheerleading, dates with Boone, and working with Shelly; Rachel had zero free time. So I went out on a limb and asked Chloe if she would want to go shopping with me on Sunday. She was all for the idea and we agreed to meet at the Chicken Shack at noon. Now that I had two female friends, I kind of felt popular.

  So when I got to phys ed, I was feeling fairly positive about the whole situation. I should have known better. The second things start to improve, something always has to go wrong. And this time, it went really wrong.

  My first problem was Misty. When Coach Hunter split us up into two teams, I prayed that Misty wouldn’t be on mine so of course she was—along with her snotty little friend Jordyn. Great. Two bitches for the price of one. I didn’t totally suck at volleyball, but I wasn’t the greatest and with both of them staring at me and whispering, any skills I did have went out the window.

  When a ball sailed right to me, I got distracted and missed it entirely giving the other team the winning point. That’s when I heard it. The comment that started it all.

  “If that’s how she handles all balls, no wonder Zach’s such a raging mass of testosterone,” Misty said sm
irking at me.

  Rage rippled like flames up the sides of my face. How dare she? She didn’t know the first thing about our relationship. I wanted to rip her face off with my bare hands but what she said struck a raw nerve. Was sexual frustration the reason Zach was getting into so many fights? And if so, why wasn’t he doing anything about it? Which was worse— her nasty comment or the fact that she just might be right? I walked into the locker room with a chip on my shoulder the size of…the size of…something large, something very, very large. So when I started to undress and Creepy Girl sat down right beside me, I blew a gasket.

  “Stop freaking staring at me! And for real, stop following me around.” I blasted out without even turning to look at her.

  “I wasn’t staring at you and I’m sure as hell not following you, you freak.” The voice that answered me wasn’t the voice I was expecting. It wasn’t Creepy Girl that responded—it was Misty. I turned to see who was sitting next to me. It was the same strange blond girl who dogged me all week long. But one second she was there staring at me with a hollow expression and the next she vanished right before my eyes. It was only then that I saw Misty standing directly behind where the girl had been sitting.

  My heart fell into the pit of my stomach. She was a ghost. My mystery stalker wasn’t Misty’s apprentice, she was dead. She followed me around all week and I didn’t even have the slightest clue that she wasn’t flesh and blood until now. I panicked. Rita was right about my near death experience which opened up a whole new set of problems not to mention what I’d just done. As much as I despised her, I didn’t mean to start a fight with Misty but that was exactly what I just did. I couldn’t believe it—I couldn’t even make it through the first week of school without everything spiraling out of control.

  It was a no-win situation. It’s not like I could look at Misty and say, “Sorry, I wasn’t talking to you—I was talking to the ghost that was sitting beside me. My apologies.” The only alternative was to pretend like I was talking to her and just hightail it out of there so that’s what I did. I got dressed so fast I wasn’t even sure everything was on right. I ran out of the locker room and snuck into the restroom. I hid in a stall and cried until the first bell rang.

  Drying my eyes as best as I could, I walked to math class with a heavy heart. Zach. What was I going to do about Zach? Our relationship was toxic for him. Being with me seemed to make his jealousy explode. He got angry and started fights because of me. And now that I knew Rita was right, things were only going to get worse for him. He loved me with his whole heart, but how could I expect him to stay with me when I would never be normal? I was going to see things—horrific things—maybe for the rest of my life. I wanted him to have a good life, a normal life. But that life would never be with me. Did I have the strength to let him go?

  I thought I did. Until I walked into that classroom and saw the smile spread across his face the instant he saw me. So beautiful, so innocent. He had no idea that I was as good as poison to him. My heart weakened. I had to find a way to be with him—at all costs. Nothing in this world was more important to me than him. There was nothing I wouldn’t do to be with him. I just needed to sort things out in my head, devise some sort of plan. Rita was the key and with Zach being grounded I would have plenty of time to talk to her about my paranormal problems.

  As soon as I sat down, Zach turned around in his seat. “What’s wrong, sweetie? You’ve been crying.” Most guys would never notice anything was wrong. I took time to fix my makeup before leaving the rest room so that not a trace of my tears was visible. But Zach was no normal boyfriend—he knew me so well, I should have guessed that he wouldn’t be fooled. For once, though, I was quick with an excuse that wasn’t even really a lie.

  “Phys ed was rough. Misty and I exchanged a few words.” “I’m sorry, Ruby. I thought she would back off—really I did.” He looked as sad as I felt. “I wish I could take you out tonight to make up for it. I’m sorry I can’t be there for you when you need me the most.”

  Why did he have to be so irresistible, so sweet, so…perfect? When I walked into the room, my heart was made of steel and I was positive that I could let him go. But he was everything I ever wanted—how could I just walk away without even trying? If I told him the truth, though, he would never stop worrying about me. I had to handle this one on my own.

  “It’s okay—I’ll be fine,” I said trying to sound convincing. But he wasn’t buying it. “It’s not okay—you shouldn’t have to deal with this alone. Maybe if I talk to my mom—explain the situation— she’ll understand and at least let me have my phone so we can talk.”

  No. As much as I wanted to talk to him, I really needed time alone to figure this whole thing out. I shook my head, “I’ll be alright—I don’t want you to end up fighting with your mom, too.”

  “You’re too good to me. You really should still be mad at me—for a lot of things. I don’t know what I did to deserve you.”

  What did he do to deserve me? What did I do to deserve him?! I’d been nothing but trouble since the day he met me. I lied to him and let him think Lee was beating me. I didn’t tell him about the ghost and now I was hiding an even bigger secret from him. Not to mention all of the times he had to save me—even risking his own life for mine.

  “I’m pretty sure it’s the other way around, Zach.” Mrs. West walked in and gave me a stern look so I told Zach he needed to turn around. He said a quick “I love you” and settled into his seat. Class dragged on forever, mostly because he was so close to me but relatively untouchable. Only one good thing came out of today—Creepy Girl was nowhere to be seen after the incident in the locker room.

  I took a detour on the way home and stopped at Something Wick-ed. There was a lot I needed to say to Rita— starting with an apology. When I stormed out of the shop last week, I never thought I would be crawling back to say I was sorry. My only hope was that she would forgive me and agree to help me even though I really didn’t deserve it.

  There were only two customers in the store when I arrived and lucky for me they were already at the register and ready to check out. Rita spotted me instantly and waved happily as she handed the last lady her change. I never should have been so mean to her regardless of what she said to me. Sometimes I could be a total shitass.

  “Ruby,” she said as I approached the counter. “I’m really glad to see you. I want to apologize for what I said to you last week. I never should have jumped to that conclusion. You were right—I was projecting my own situation onto you.”

  “No, Rita—I’m the one who’s sorry. It’s starting again and I need your help.” When the tears started pouring down my face, she ran to the door and flipped the sign to say “closed”.

  We went to her office and with words barely recognizable through my sorrow, I told her everything that happened with Creepy Girl. “I just don’t know what to do— about Zach, about the ghost, about anything.”

  Rita sighed and ran her hand through her thick red hair. “I’m sorry, Ruby. I didn’t want to be right about this whole thing. And as far as Zach goes, I don’t know if I’m the right person to be giving you advice on your relationship. Breaking up with Kevin felt like the right thing to do at the time, but honestly, not a day goes by that I don’t regret doing it.”

  Great. I didn’t want to find myself in her situation twenty years from now wondering if I made the wrong decision. Could I live without him? But could I live with myself if I stayed with him and continued to hurt him? It was a lose-lose situation no matter how I looked at it.

  “So does this mean I’ll never be able to, well, you know.…” I hoped she knew what I meant by that. I didn’t exactly want to ask her if I would never be able to sleep with Zach—at least not in those exact words. Lucky for me, she knew where I was going with that vague comment.

  A brief glimpse of confusion soon followed with wide eyes of recognition. “Oh…no, no that rule doesn’t always apply. There are different types of ghosts—they don’t all feed off of your en
ergy like Scarlet did. This one seems to be more interested in the fact that you can see her. I think that’s why she’s following you around. She hasn’t hurt you at all, has she?”

  I shook my head no. Aside from making me look and feel completely unhinged, no, Creepy Girl hadn’t made any kind of attack on me. At least not yet. And as a matter of fact, she actually disappeared after I told her to stop following me. I didn’t see her at all for the rest of the day. Was that all it took to get rid of her? Maybe the situation wasn’t as dire as I made it out to be.

  “Well that’s a good sign. Unsettled spirits have so many different reasons for not moving on. They’re not always violent.”

  While that was definitely a plus, I would rather not have to worry about them at all. “So, does it get easier to deal with? Seeing dead people, I mean.”

  “It does…kind of. It’s like the older I get the easier it is for me to figure out what they want, what I can do to help them.”

  I had a brilliant idea. “So if I can figure out a way to get you into the school, you can tell me what Creepy Girl wants so we can get this thing over with?” The sooner she was out of my life, the sooner I could deal with my other problems. But like everything else in my life, there was no easy way out.

  “Sorry, Ruby—that’s not how it works. Ghosts aren’t always visible to everyone with our talent. What you can see won’t always be what I can see and vice versa. They appear to specific people for specific reasons. There’s a reason she revealed herself to you. If you want to get rid of her, you have to find out why she thinks you can help her.” Rita relaxed back in her chair. “Oh, and stop calling her Creepy Girl. It’s disrespectful. She has a name—find out what it is.”

  Geez, how many rules were there to this whole thing? My head was spinning circles. I didn’t just need a handbook on how to deal with boys—I needed one on how to deal with ghosts as well. “Where do you think I should start?”