Krysta's Curse (2 page)

“So was I.” Punching his fist in the air, Ed
started yelling. “But them people started poking around my restin’
place. They tore down that old oak tree. That tree been there
before I was buried.”

An involuntary chill raced up my spine as
the air around me grew colder.

“Don’t mind him.” Gertrude rolled her eyes,
making another futile poke in his ribcage. “He’s been a grumpy old
goat for over a hundred years.”

Ed wagged his finger at me. “You’d be hotter
than a poker stick if they turned your tombstone to rubble.”

“Shush now, Ed.” Gertrude swatted him, only
to have her hand swoosh through his chest. “You’re scarin’ the
girl.”

“I’m not scared. I’ve seen plenty of dead
people.” I sat up, pulling the threadbare comforter over my
midsection and hugging my knees for warmth. I kept my gaze fixed on
the unwelcome guests. “Now what do you want?”

Ed’s shoulders fell, the bottom portion of
his face turning down. “We want our graveyard back.”

Unbelievable! What did they expect from me?
Go to a graveyard in the middle of the night and fix their
tombstones? “What am I supposed to do about it?”

Clasping both hands together, Gertrude’s
eyes twinkled with an unnatural glow. “We thought you’d never
ask.”

****

Closed Facebook Group/Some ungodly hour of the
morning

Just call me your average, everyday fashion
goddess who knows how to accessorize any outfit or summon a
poltergeist.

You heard me correctly.

I don’t know why dead people want to talk to
me, but they do. It’s not like I can help them. Dead people don’t
know a thing about fashion and they’re really not interested in the
latest trends. Too bad. That would make my life so much easier.

Why, you ask?

Because a couple of ancients visited my
bedroom last night and asked me to do the unthinkable! I mean,
they’re already dead, so why do they have to ruin my life, too?
It’s bad enough they’re always spooking me when I’m trying to
sleep, but now they want me to stop the new mall project and save
their sacred burial site. Come on! I’m just fourteen. Why don’t
they go bother the mayor or something?

I don’t have time to fix the lives of the
deceased. I’ve got a lot going on right now. Bryon Thomas, my new
lab partner in science, is a total hottie. He’s coming over
tomorrow night so we can work on a project. What if they show up?
He’ll freak. And worse, he could tell the whole school. My social
life would be, excuse the pun, dead.

Besides, they really don’t understand how
badly I want that mall. Only five minutes from my apartment. How
cool is that?

No, I can’t do it. I won’t.

The mall is expected to open when I turn
sixteen, just when I’m old enough to get a real job. I heard
employees get a thirty percent discount at most of the stores. No
more traveling to the outlet mall forty-five miles out of town.
Besides, don’t they realize what stopping this mall would do to my
reputation? I mean, I know I’m barely five-feet-two, but I still
have time to grow. One day, I’m going to be on the cover of
Cosmo
. But
if these ghosts keep driving me crazy, I’ll be the poster child for
Weirdo
.

“Hey, Krysta,
missed you on the bus.” Sophie Sinora, my best friend of six years,
sat at the far corner cafeteria table. Her bright green eyes
sparkling with amusement, she flipped her smooth chestnut hair over
her shoulder before pointing a fry in my direction.

“Slept in. My dad had to drive me to
school.” I sat down with my usual lunch, diet soda and a side
salad.

“Did you get my text?” she asked.

I sighed while shaking my head. “My dad’s
late paying the phone bill.”

No surprise there. My dad was usually late
paying every bill. Losing electricity or phone for a few days was
something that happened all the time in my household.

“Well, I got the scoop on some fashion news.
In fact, I doubt you even know about it.” Sophie flashed me a smile
before shoving a fry into her mouth.

Impossible. No one heard fashion news before
me, especially not Sophie. That girl just lost all her baby fat and
I still couldn’t get her to try on low-rise jeans.

“What is it?”

“My mom found out from another realtor that
the new name of the mall is supposed to be The Crossover.”

“Sounds right,” I shrugged, “considering
where they’re building it.”

Sophie’s eyes widened. “What do you
mean?”

“I mean the mall is on an old burial
ground.” I sighed, trying to brush back a piece of hair frizz that
slipped out of my headband, making a mental note to go gel it
before lunch ended. “Didn’t you read my entry last night?”

Even though I had a huge Facebook account
with more friends than anyone I know, I also had a private account,
just for Sophie and AJ. Sophie was called Mind Whispers, AJ was
Dream Whispers and they called me Ghost Whispers. Instead of
pictures of our faces, we use the backs of our heads. That was
Sophie’s idea, just in case one day Facebook did something weird
and made all private groups public. One could never be too
careful.

“What time did you post it?” “About
two.”

“In the morning?” Sophie rolled her eyes.
“Some of us actually sleep, Krysta.”

“Just tell us already.” AJ Dawson, my other
best friend, came up behind us, wearing her softball jersey, old
jeans and scuffed shoes.

Out of all my friends, AJ really had the
worst fashion sense, but there was nothing I could do. She was a
stubborn jock. I’d tried putting makeup on her a few times, but she
washed it off within minutes. Lucky for AJ, she was a natural
beauty, tall with pale blonde hair and flawless, tanned skin.

Some people like me had to work at it,
wearing uncomfortable, high heels and spending a small fortune on
hair gels.

After tossing her barfy burger on the table,
AJ wadded up her wrapper and shot it into a garbage can. “Did you
have company last night?”

“More like uninvited pests,” I huffed. They
ruined my sleep, causing me to use a lot more concealer to cover up
the dark circles under my eyes. How could I go on like this? They
said they’d be back to see if I had any ideas. I didn’t know when,
but I knew I wouldn’t get much sleep while waiting for them to
return.

If it wasn’t for my two best friends, I
don’t know how I would have kept my sanity. They were the only
“living” people who knew of my gift, if that’s what you’d call it.
Most times, my gift felt more like a curse. After the time I saw a
ghost in Sophie’s house, no one believed me except Sophie and AJ.
They knew I was telling the truth. Maybe because they also had
freakish gifts. Sometimes, people’s thoughts just popped into
Sophie’s head. And whenever AJ had a dream, it always came
true.

“Let me guess,” AJ laughed, narrowing her
crystal blue eyes, “they’re going to crash with you for a while
until they find a new cemetery?”

Well, at least someone thought this was
funny. AJ acted the tough jock, but I knew her wise cracks were
just a way to avoid dealing with real feelings.

“No.” I shook my head. “They’re still at
that cemetery. The mall developers just moved the tombstones and
left the bodies.”

“Gross. I’m not eating at
that
food-court.” Sophie stuck
out her tongue.

I wondered if she knew she had just shown
the world her French fry residue.

“What?” AJ jabbed Sophie in the shoulder.
“Are you afraid you’ll find an old finger in your French
fries?”

“Hey, Krysta.”

My drink froze midway to my mouth at the
sound of that familiar voice. The commanding way he said my name
was almost like he was making me take notice, but I didn’t need any
prodding to notice Bryon Thomas. The boy was gorgeous. He had short
blond hair, spiked with the perfect amount of gel. And those clear
blue eyes. I just wanted to die every time I looked at him. And he
was my new lab partner!

“Hey, Bryon.” I casually turned in his
direction. He was standing just a few feet behind me munching on a
cookie while he selected a coke out of the vending machine.

“How do you know Bryon?” Sophie leaned over
and whispered behind a frozen smile.

I shifted in my seat, trying not to act too
excited. “He’s my new lab partner.”

AJ wagged her eyebrows. “He’s a hottie.”

“We know what kind of chemistry you’ll be
working on.” Sophie snickered.

Hoping Bryon couldn’t hear my shameless
friends, I knew I must have been turning ten shades of red. Just as
I was giving them the “shut up or die” stare, I felt his familiar
heat behind me. I turned back around. His gorgeous tanned arms were
folded across his chest while he clutched an unopened soda.

“Tonight at seven, right?”

Feeling quite awkward that my face was level
with his belt buckle, I craned my neck to look up at him.

A few cookie crumbs were pasted to the right
side of his mouth. It took all my willpower not to reach up and
wipe them off. I had imagined myself caressing his lips for way too
long and I’d make a complete fool of myself if I stared much
longer.

“Yeah, about tonight.” I shifted again,
trying to shake loose the nerves that shot cold heat through my
veins whenever Bryon was near. “I was wondering if we could study
at your house.”

“No. My dad’s got some clients coming over
and wants me out of his hair.”

“I understand.” Biting my bottom lip, I had
to come up with a plan. What if
they
showed up when we were studying?
“Maybe we could go to a café or something.”

Bryon sat next to me and I nearly jumped out
of my skin. Unfortunately, only my hair was doing the jumping. That
invisible light socket attached to my head zapped a piece of frizz
out of place and I tucked it behind my headband with shaky
fingers.

“Those places are always too noisy. What’s
wrong with your house?” Bryon popped the lid on his drink and took
a swallow, but not before shooting me a heated glance with his icy
eyes.

He was so close to me, I could almost inhale
the fizz from his soda. He smelled so sweet, kind of like a fresh
batch of cookies. The warmth radiating from his body turned my
brain to mush. Every nerve ending in my body was doing back flips
and my tongue felt like a dead-weight in my mouth.

“Nothing, it’s just…”

“Great, I’ll see you tonight.” Bryon
squeezed my arm before getting up and walking away.

Looking at the fading imprint of Bryon’s
fingers on my skin, I felt as if I was melting.

I mean, yeah, expecting a hottie like Bryon
to like a short, frizzy-haired girl was a long shot, but I had a
right to dream. Besides, we had a lot in common. He had good taste
in clothes, and I heard he lived with his dad, just like me.

“What if your friends show up while you’re
studying?”

AJ’s question brought me back to reality.
What if they did show up? If I told them to go away, Bryon would
think I was insane for talking to myself. So what if I told him the
truth? He’d think I was insane for having ghost friends. Either
way, I was screwed.

“Holy crap!”
Nearly jumping off the toilet, I threw down my
Cosmo
at the sight of the two
dead people hovering above me. “Can’t a girl get a little
privacy?”

Ed nudged Gertrude before pointing at me.
“This one’s got a mouth on her.”

Gertrude planted hands on her hips, her eyes
taking on a supernatural glow. “Nothin’ a good bar of lye soap
won’t fix.”

“It’s not my fault you scared me.” Hastily
wiping, I jerked up my pants.

Snickering, Ed shook his head. “You said
youz used ta dead folk.”

Feeling the heat rising in my cheeks, I
flipped my hair behind my shoulder, trying to forget my total
embarrassment. “Not when I’m on the toilet.”

“Sorry, miss.” Ed’s smile quickly faded.
“But this couldn’t wait.”

“Yep.” Gertrude moaned. “We got some
terrible news.”

“Look.” I blew out a breath, mentally
counting to three. How could I put it nicely that I really didn’t
care? I had my own problems. “Tonight’s kind of bad. You see, I’ve
got this hot guy coming over and—”

“A parking lot.” Ed’s deep voice bellowed,
rattling the cosmetics I’d laid out on the sink. Creepy. The action
reminded me of how ghosts could make things fly across the room,
even though their spirits weren’t solid.

An eerie tremor shot through my insides and
that familiar chill raced up my spine. “What?” I choked out through
a shiver.

“You know.” Ed threw up his arms. “Where you
pen those motor cars.”

How could I be creeped out by this guy? He
was too dorky. “Look,” I sighed, “I know what a parking lot
is.”

“Did ya know that’s what they’re puttin’ on
us?” He shot his fist in the air. “Right next ta that big tradin’
post.”

I bit my lip to keep from laughing. “It’s
called a mall.”

“I don’t give a damn what you call it.” Ed
fumed. “They got no right tearin’ up my tombstone.”

Once again, his voice shook the room. Only
this time, my eye shadow shattered on the floor.

“Now, Ed, don’t go breakin’ all her face
paints.” Gertrude scolded.

I bent over, scraping up what was left of
the makeup that cost me two weeks babysitting money. My turn to get
mad! “I’m really sorry, but this isn’t my problem,” I spat.

“Ain’t your problem!” Ed’s scream rattled
the walls so hard the medicine cabinet on the wall flew open,
spilling the contents into the sink.

“I can’t stop that mall. I’m only fourteen,”
I raged. Was this lunatic determined to break everything in my
bathroom?

“Hogwash!” Ed thrust a fist into the
air.

“I was already married when I was your age.”
Gertrude laughed.

“Well, things have changed, thank God, so
could you please leave? My study partner is coming over and I
really don’t want him to know I talk to dead people.”