Sweet 16

by Kate Brian

  "Teagan, you shouldn't have wasted so much time on these superficial relationships," the woman answered with a sorrowful shake of her head. "On these people who didn't really care for you. Especially when there were people out there who did." She reached for Teagan's hand. "We need to go."

  Teagan didn't like this. She didn't like all this use of the

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  past tense. She held both hands against the congealed stain on her dress and trembled so hard she felt like her body was going to fall apart. "Where?" she asked again.

  "You'll see," the woman said.

  Teagan glanced at the two people making out next to her. They were still alive. Warm and happy and alive. She was dead in a basement and they were making out like their lives depended on it. It wasn't fair. Nothing was fair.

  "I'm scared," Teagan said without thinking.

  "I know. But I'll be with you," the woman said, finally taking Teagan's hand in hers. "Trust me. It's going to be okay. Eventually."

  Instantly Teagan felt a warm whoosh of air blow her skirt up Marilyn Monroe style and just like that, she faded to nothing.

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  GOSSIP PAGE

  Weekly Poll

  By Laura Wood, Senior Writer

  In case you haven't heard (yeah, right), Teagan Phillips's sweet sixteen will be held a week from this Saturday at the Upper Sheridan Country Club. Now, we all know that the bigger the party, the better the chance it will degenerate into total mayhem. So for this week's poll, we thought we'd ask the obvious. How, exactly, do you think this night of nights will end? Here's how you, our faithful readers, answered:

  In an orgy: 76%

  In a DEA raid: 10%

  With several select members of the senior class being hauled off to jail: 9%

  With the country club burned to the ground: 3%

  Peacefully: 0%

  Other: 2%

  Our favorite other vote: With Teagan Phillips lying facedown in a pool of her own vomit.

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  "Okay, what the hell was that?" Teagan asked, yanking herself away from the ghost. Her skin sizzled. Every millimeter of her body was buzzing and she felt like her very cells were bouncing around inside her, reorganizing themselves. Teagan had never felt anything so disturbing. If her cells were reorganizing, didn't that mean that they had temporarily been disorganized? "Just a very efficient way to travel," the ghost said with a shrug.

  "Travel where?" Teagan asked, happy to note that there was no fire and brimstone. She adjusted the strap of her bag on her shoulder and looked around the very familiar if small entryway. "Wait a minute, I know this house," she said with a rush of nostalgia. "This is Emily's house, right?"

  Laughter erupted from the living room off to Teagan's left and her pulse accelerated. "What the hell are we doing here?" she asked.

  "Go check it out," the ghost said, lifting her bandaged chin.

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  Teagan turned and stepped tentatively over the threshold and into the small dining room. She had spent so much time in this house when she was little that she knew every nook and cranny, even though she hadn't been there in a couple of years. This place had been like her second home, but now that she was back, she felt like a complete outsider. Life had clearly gone on here without her.

  The table in the dining room was set with paper plates. Streamers hung from the ceiling. There were colorful balloons everywhere. It looked just like a kindergartner's birthday party was taking place, but there were no five-year-olds in sight. Gathered on the couch and chairs in the living room just behind the dining area were Emily and a bunch of her friends. Emily looked a lot like she had the last time Teagan had seen her, at the end of eighth grade --just a touch older. Her blond hair fell in waves over the shoulders of her light pink T-shirt. Her face was makeup free, but her cheeks were flushed and her blue eyes bright. She had always been one of the most naturally pretty people Teagan had known.

  Strung behind the couch over Emily's head was a glittering pink sign that read Happy Birthday, Sweet Sixteen!

  Teagan's jaw dropped. "This is Emily's sweet sixteen?" she asked, scrunching up her nose. "I feel so bad for her."

  "Yeah. You go with that," the ghost said sarcastically.

  "This is weird," Teagan said, passing in front of a pair of girls who were chowing down on chips and salsa. They didn't so much as blink as she brushed by two inches away. It was kind of cool, actually, being able to move among people like this unseen. Teagan would have much preferred not to be dead, of course, but if she had to be dead, this was definitely turning out to be a perk.

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  "I know, right?" the ghost said. "Let's stand over here."

  They took a spot near the wall. Teagan hugged herself, wondering what the hell they were doing at Emily's birthday party. Was this what people did when they died? Dropped in on old friends? That was all well and good, but if she was going to be at someone's sweet sixteen, she would much rather be at her own. She might be dead --still getting used to that--in the basement, but she had worked long and hard on her party. The least this ghost could give her was the chance to see how it all turned out.

  Plus this new invisibility thing could work in her favor. She could spy on people and find out what they really thought. By now they had to be talking about how much cooler her bash was than Shari Marx's.

  "You want to go back to the country club, don't you?" the ghost asked.

  Teagan balked. "How did you know that?"

  "Why don't you just try to focus, okay? You're here for a reason," the ghost said impatiently.

  "You're not gonna bother telling me what that reason is, though, right?" Teagan asked sarcastically

  The ghost rolled her eyes. "Let's get this straight right now. Your little party? It doesn't matter anymore."

  "Hey, I may be dead, but I still worked my butt off on that thing! Why can't we just--was

  "Shut it!" the ghost said, motioning to zip her lip. Teagan's mouth snapped shut and she slumped against the wall, petulant.

  I just died, for freak's sake, she thought. How about a little sympathy?

  "Here! Open this one! Me and Meredith chipped in for it!"

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  An African-American girl with a long ponytail handed Emily a wrapped gift. Emily's friends watched eagerly as Emily tore into the package. Piled up on the floor at her feet were the presents she had already opened. A white sweater. A couple of books. Some jewelry boxes from Macy's and Claire's. A Phillies baseball cap. Nothing Teagan would ever touch, let alone wear.

  A little boy in blue jeans and a SpongeBob T-shirt ran around the room, waving some kind of dragon toy in the air and weaving around people's legs. A totally gorgeous older guy with wide shoulders and pecs that were visible even through his cotton sweater reached down and caught the kid around the waist, tickling him until he screamed.

  "Damn! Is that Gary?" Teagan asked, shocked. "Somebody's been working out!"

  The last time she had laid eyes on Emily's older brother-- the boy who had followed her around like a puppy dog her entire young life--his skin had been starting to break out and he was on his way from scrawny to pudgy. This Gary was a major improvement. Yum-mee.

  "Gary, could you take Ricky upstairs and show him your new video games?" Emily's mother asked from her spot in the doorway.

  "Sure, Mom," Gary said, placing the kid back on the floor. "Come on, Ricky. Wanna play some Madden?"

  "Yeah!"

  "Who the heck is Ricky? Did Emily's parents have another kid?" Teagan asked.

  "No. He's a cousin," the ghost replied.

  "How do you know?" Teagan asked.

  The ghost shrugged. "I know lots of things."

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  Emily ripped open the paper on her gift and revealed a black box from The Limited. "Oh my gosh! You guys didn't!"

  "They chipped in for something from The Limited?" Teagan asked, confused. "What kind of budget do their parents put them on?"

>   The girl who had handed her the gift shared a grin with Meredith Griffin across the way. Teagan remembered Meredith from grade school. She was pretty and had totally grown into her once too-tall frame.

  Emily lifted out a flowered sundress and squealed with delight. "You guys! Thank you so much!" she said, getting up to hug Meredith and her friend. "It's too much! You didn't have to do that!"

  "It's your sweet sixteen!" Meredith exclaimed.

  "Yeah! It was worth the extra shift," the other girl said.

  "Well, thank you," Emily said. "I've been coveting this dress for a month."

  "Hold it up!" her father called out, wielding his camera.

  Emily held the dress against her body and struck a pose. Everyone clapped and Emily blushed. When she sat back down again, the cute boy sitting next to her wrapped his arm around her shoulders.

  you should wear that on our date tomorrow night," he said.

  "Totally," Emily replied, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek.

  "Whooo!" a few of the girls catcalled, laughing.

  "None of that now! There are parents present!" Emily's mom joked.

  Emily smiled and got back to the gift opening.

  "Huh. Emily's got a boyfriend," Teagan said, checking him out. He was wearing a rugby shirt and baggy jeans and

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  sporting a way too short crew cut. But he had warm brown eyes and a nice smile. Plus he couldn't seem to take his eyes off his girlfriend, unlike some boys Teagan knew. "Not too shabby."

  "Hey, Em! Whatever happened to that girl you used to share your parties with?" a red-haired girl asked. She looked vaguely familiar, but Teagan didn't know her name. Must have been one of Emily's friends from soccer whom she always used to invite to their parties.

  "What was her name again? Tanya . . . ?was

  "Ew! Tanya!?" Teagan said with a grimace.

  "Teagan," Emily said, lifting a gift bag onto her lap. "Actually, she's having some huge party over at the country club tonight."

  "Ooh-ooh," a couple of the girls said facetiously. Teagan saw Jennifer Robbins, a former classmate and friend, actually push her own nose into the air, earning laughs from the guys around her.

  "She was such a snob," Meredith said. "I'm glad she ended up at Rosewood."

  "Hey!" Teagan said, standing up straight.

  "She's not that bad," Emily said.

  "Please! She almost ran over my mom's dog with her little convertible last week and she didn't even stop," Elena Christiansen said. "My mom almost had a heart attack."

  "That was her mom? They were definitely not in the crosswalk," Teagan said. "And I checked the rearview mirror to make sure they were okay!"

  "She was probably late for her lip wax," someone joked, earning serious laughter.

  Teagan blushed furiously. "It was a bikini wax," she said under her breath.

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  "Come on, you guys. Be nice," Emily said. "I think she's just really lonely. Her mom died when we were little and I don't think she has a lot of real friends."

  "Cry me a river," Jennifer said, rolling her eyes.

  "Bite me," Teagan grumbled.

  "I don't know. I feel bad for her," Emily said, though she was smiling at the jokes.

  "You feel bad for me!?" Teagan blurted, shaking. "I have a world-renowned chef cooking dinner for me right now! I have fifty waiters catering to my guests! I have three hundred people at my party! What do you have?"

  "Um, Teagan? She can't hear you," the ghost said.

  "Well, where does she get off?" Teagan cried, whirling on the ghost.

  "Actually, you may have more people at your party, but so far, not one of them has come to look for you and you've been down in that basement for . . . almost an hour," she said, consulting her gold watch.

  Teagan's heart sank. "Oh, that's nice," she said. "Kick the dead girl while she's down."

  "Just stating the truth," the ghost told her.

  "Well, how do you know that no one's come looking for me?"

  "Like I said, I just know things."

  "You're kind of obnoxious, you know that?" Teagan said sarcastically.

  "I forget, are you the pot or the kettle right now?" the ghost shot back.

  Teagan narrowed her eyes. Hell was starting to look like a viable option.

  "I don't get what we're doing here," Teagan snapped.

  "You will," the ghost replied.

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  "You know ... we may actually get all the swank details about Teagan's party later," Emily told her friends with a mischievous smile. "My aunt is working it right now."

  As she said these last words, a woman stepped into the room and everyone looked up. "Not anymore!" the new arrival announced.

  Teagan's heart hit the floor and her hand went to the dried stain on her dress. Standing in the doorway to Emily's living room was the evil waitress. The waitress George Lowell had fired on her behalf.

  "Aunt Catherine? What are you doing here?" Emily asked.

  "Your little friend got me fired," Aunt Catherine said, ripping off her soaked jacket.

  Oh. My. God.

  No wonder she had looked so familiar to Teagan. She could see it now, bright as day. The resemblance between Emily's mother and aunt was unmistakable. The aunt was a little rougher around the edges and was twenty pounds heavier-- plus she was sporting a bad dye job --but other than that, they could have been twins.

  "I got Emily's aunt fired," Teagan said quietly, disbelievingly.

  "What?" Mrs. Zeller said.

  "Yeah! She slammed into me and dumped my tray and I get fired!" Catherine cried.

  "No way!" Teagan shouted. "That was not my fault."

  "Actually, it kind of was," the ghost replied matter-of-factly.

  "And I was supposed to talk to my boss about that promotion tonight," Catherine ranted, shoving her hand through her bangs. "I was going to see about getting an apartment and getting me and Ricky out of your hair, but now . . .was

  Emily's mother reached out to rub her sister's arm. "Don't

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  worry, Cat," she said. "We'll figure something out. And you know we love having you and Ricky here. You don't have to worry about that."

  "Well, at least I got outta there with these," Catherine said, pulling a pair of Gucci sunglasses out of her purse. "We could probably sell 'em on eBay."

  Teagan felt a twinge of indignation but squelched it. She couldn't believe that the klutzy waitress was Emily's aunt. What were the chances?

  Catherine took a deep breath and looked around. She seemed to realize for the first time that there were other people in the room. Emily was ashen and all of her friends had fallen into an uncomfortable silence.

  "Oh, jeez. I'm sorry, Em," Catherine said, sniffling noisily. "I interrupted your party."

  "It's okay," Emily said, trying for bright but sounding meek.

  "No, you go ahead with your presents," Catherine said, waving her hands. "I'll be upstairs."

  She turned and rushed out of the party, her steps heavy on the carpeted stairs.

  "Still feel sorry for your old friend?" Meredith said.

  Unbelievable, Teagan thought. Was this why the ghost had brought her here? So she could listen to these people badmouth her? How was she supposed to know that the klutzy waitress was related to her former best friend? That she had a little kid at home?

  "I'd better go talk to Cat," Emily's mother said.

  "No. Let me go," Emily told her, standing. She handed her unopened gift to her boyfriend. "I'll be right back."

  Emily looked numb and dumbfounded as she picked her way over balls of crumpled wrapping paper and plastic plates

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  of pizza crust. All Emily's friends watched her go. Teagan was the only one of them able to follow.

  On the way to Emily's room at the back of the second floor, Emily paused at the door to Gary's bedroom. Inside, Ricky sat on Gary's lap on the end of the twin bed, gripping a PlayStation controller. He continually ran his runnin
g back into the guys on the sidelines and laughed every time. There was a cot set up next to the bed with ill-fitting sheets. A teddy bear sat in the center. Clearly Ricky had been bunking with Gary.

  Emily sighed and moved on to her room. Catherine was sitting on the bottom bunk, her head in her hands. An open suitcase sat against the wall, all the clothes inside twisted and clumped. Teagan stood back while Emily entered quietly. The room was small enough when only one person was living in it. Now there was no space for anything. Emily sat on a pile of laundry at her aunt's feet.

  "Hey," Catherine said, sniffling and trying to stop her tears.

  Emily stretched up and pulled a tissue box off the edge of her desk. She handed it to her aunt.

  "You'll find another job," she said.

  "It's not that easy," her aunt replied, bringing a tissue to her red nose. "And I was already moving up at this one. To start all over someplace else . . .was

  "Don't worry about it," Emily said. you'll be fine."

  "Yeah, and in the meantime the creditor bastards are gonna start calling again and Ricky and I are gonna have to keep imposing on you guys," Catherine said, her eyes drooping.

  "It's okay," Emily said, reaching out and touching her aunt's leg. "We love having you guys here."

  'Yeah, right," the woman said with a scoff.

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  "We do!" Emily said.

  Teagan could practically feel the desperation coming off Emily. Like she had to say the right thing and convince this woman to keep freeloading. She was acting like the parent, not the teenage niece. What was going on here?

  "Aunt Catherine, it's not your fault Uncle Johnny died," Emily said, her eyes imploring. "It's not your fault you have all those bills."

  "I should have had a real job when it happened," Catherine answered, shaking her head and staring down at the tissue. "I should have had insurance."

  "But you didn't and now you're stuck and we're helping you," Emily said. "That's what we're here for. There's no point in looking back." Catherine sucked in a shaky breath and a few more tears squeezed out. "Come on! What happened to Miss Positive? Miss Turning Over a New Leaf?"

  Catherine grabbed the black faux leather purse from the floor. "She got fired," she said. She opened the huge sack and started rifling through it violently. Finally she found what she was looking for. A lighter and a pack of cigarettes.