Preloved (6 page)

I turned back around and started walking away from him quickly.

“Hey, take a chill pill, right?”

Chill pill
? What was with the awful Eighties slang? The next thing I knew, he’d be cracking out a “grouse” and an “ace”. And Eighties dress-up day was supposed to be
over
– why was he still wearing the outfit he had on yesterday? Where was his school uniform?

“I believe you have something that isn’t yours,” he called out to me.

Was he accusing me of being a thief?

I spun around to face him. “Well,
I believe
you should stop following me – you stalker! Or I’m going to report you!”

“Look, you seem like a nice girl. Stop chucking a spack at me.”

Chucking a spack
? I hadn’t even heard
chucking a spack
before. Ever.

He took his time, strolling up to me with his hands in his pockets.

“That isn’t yours, is it?”

He pointed to the locket around my neck.

“Back off,” I said in a loud voice. “My friend Rebecca found it. I repeat,
found it
. And she didn’t want it, so she gave it to me. I didn’t steal anything.”

He was still intent on getting closer, so I took a step back. I mean, the nerve of him.

“Look, mister, if someone should be asking questions, it’s me. Who are you? Why were you in our backyard last night and why did you look into my bedroom window?”

I tried to disregard the fact I found him mildly attractive and maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if I stopped walking backwards and we came nose to nose.

“Fair dinkum, what is this – a police interrogation? I’m Logan. Nice to meet you too. I was in your backyard because I was playing with your dog. And I didn’t look in your window last night. I was actually standing behind you in your room.”

To say my mouth dropped open was an understatement. I think I shattered my entire lower jaw when it hit the pavement.

“Wha … what the hell?” I stuttered.

Luckily for me (or so I thought at the time), I could see Rebecca walking on the main street. With brand-new pink hair shining like a bubblegum beacon of hope.

I started jogging towards her. I could feel Logan following me.

“Bex!”

She stopped and stared at me. “What are you doing in the alleyway?”

I ran up to her and stopped for a second, to catch my breath.

“Him!” I said, pointing at Logan, who had stopped following and was now staring at Rebecca with the same look of rapture he’d had yesterday.

“Bex, he’s the stalker!”

“But … no,” said Rebecca, confusion in her expression. “It can’t be.”

“Yes,” I insisted. “I don’t know why you’re defending him, but I was there, okay?”

“Amy, listen to me.” Rebecca enunciated her words carefully, like I was a baby. She put her hands on my shoulders. “There is no stalker, because there’s no one there. You are pointing at nothing.”

“But … my mum let him in this morning.”

Then I realised that maybe Mum hadn’t let him in. She said she was letting in the fresh air. And she had stood behind the counter, maybe seeing nothing at all while an invisible stranger browsed through her shop.

It was my worst fear. For some reason scarier than any other part of this. I was the only one who could see him.

“You look ace,” Logan said to Rebecca, who didn’t react to his voice and turn towards him like I did. “A complete spaz with that hair, but ace.”

I groaned. Oh crap.

Chapter 4

“Are you
sure
there’s no one there?” I asked Rebecca, as I looked directly at Logan.

He looked back at me with a puzzled expression.

“Of course I’m sure; I’m not crazy,” replied Rebecca, craning her neck, looking around and through Logan.

I’m not crazy either
! I wanted to shout at her.

So … how was I going to explain my way out of this one?

“Maybe he’s run away,” suggested Rebecca, awkwardly.

“Why, of course! I swear he was just right behind me and … oh drats, he’s disappeared,” I replied, just as awkwardly. “I guess that’s why they call them stalkers.”

Logan kept staring at me with the same expression.

Mum was right. She’d warned me that if I didn’t listen to her, one day I was going to pick up a ghost.

“Hey, Rebecca, why don’t you go on ahead by yourself? I’m going to take a few minutes to sort things out.”

“You’re not going to try and find this stalker yourself, are you? Vigilantism is not a good idea. Didn’t you see that story in the paper about that girl from that rich school who –”

“I’m not going to kill anyone,” I scoffed and tried to laugh.
Not if the culprit is already dead
. I looked straight at Logan.

“See you at school. Bye!” I gave Rebecca a friendly shove, hitched my bag back up my shoulder and then jogged back down the alleyway.

I think Rebecca must have thought I was going mad when Logan suddenly stepped in front of me and I swerved sideways to avoid hitting him. Hitting him? If he really was a ghost, I should have shown him his place by running though him.

“Just avoiding that patch on the ground – it looked dangerous!” I shouted to Rebecca over my shoulder, and I ran until I was safely around the corner.

“Why are you acting so warped?” said Logan from behind me.

“Crap!” I jumped out of my skin and turned around. “Can you stop that?”

Oh God, maybe this was just all in my head. Maybe if I shut my eyes and just thought happy, calming thoughts, then this hallucination I was obviously having would go away.
Okay, Amy. Nice, calm thoughts
.

“Stop what? You know, closing your eyes and chanting isn’t going to make me go away.
Amy
.”

I opened my eyes. I was sure hallucinations were not supposed to be this interactive. Or know my name.

“Suddenly appearing like that. I totally get why people try to avoid ghosts now – they’re bloody inconsiderate.”

“Blimey. I’m not the one going ape,” said Logan. “Why are you going on about ghosts?”

“You,” I said. I almost went to stab him in the chest with my finger. “You appear to be a ghost. I have no idea where you came from or why you are following me, but isn’t there a white light or something you should be heading towards? Leave me alone. I’m going.”

“I’m going with you.”

“I’m going to
school
.”

“Well, I should be heading to school too, Miss Matey.”

“Why are you calling me that?”

“I call everyone Miss Matey,” replied Logan, as if it was perfectly normal. “Or Mr Matey.”

“What does that even mean?”

Logan sighed. “The ad – the bubble bath ad?
I want my clothes off! I want my Mr Matey! And now for girls – Miss Matey!
Do you not watch TV?”

I may not watch a lot of TV, but I think I’d remember if I saw an ad with someone threatening to take their clothes off.

“Don’t tell me – you’re one of those weirdo kids who aren’t allowed to? Fair dinkum, do you live under a rock? It’s 1988. Chill.”

Oh my God.

“I’m sorry, Logan, but we’re no longer in the Eighties.” I scrunched my face up. “If you’re hoping to party like it’s 1999 because Prince told you the world was going to end in 2000, then I’m sorry to disappoint you. We’re all still here.”

A group of shop assistants walked past, catching me while I was talking to Logan and throwing my arms up in the air.

Crap. I needed to improvise.

I started waving my arms in a rhythmic motion, moving my body into a dance and humming under my breath. I could be listening to my headphones. I mean, music players were so small these days you could hardly see them, right?

They all started walking past me faster.

“Fair go, don’t try and kid me,” said Logan, pausing to stare at me. I dropped the dance. “I was at school yesterday. Breakdancing, Michael Jackson and Madonna, girls in pink lycra. Not my scene, but that’s what popular right now, isn’t it?”

How could I explain Eighties ironic dress-up day? And would I upset him if he knew we were kinda making fun of his generation?

“Maybe it’s easier if I show you,” I said to him. “Fine. Come with me.”

“I was going to go anyway.” Logan threw his hands in the air. “Let’s hightail it outta here.”

I expected Logan to, I don’t know, disappear and then reappear at the front of the school. Or maybe to suddenly appear randomly again at the traffic light or when I was around a large group of pedestrians, just to freak me out on purpose. But he started walking next to me like a normal, human person.

That made a silly, cheesy grin appear on my face. If only Nancy Pants and the Minority Group could see me with Logan, the good-looking jock, right now. Oh, but that’s right, no one can see him.

It didn’t seem to faze Logan that no one noticed him. Not just the usual ignoring of the good-for-nothing-today’s-youth, but the close-to-walking-right-through-him sort of not noticing.

I forced myself to stop at the pedestrian crossing even though it was still blinking and I would normally run across. What would happen if a rogue car suddenly hooned around the corner and ran over him because the driver couldn’t see him? I know he couldn’t “die”. But would it still hurt?

Why did I care about him, anyway? It would be great if a car came along and pushed him out of my life. This was crazy. It was making me crazy. Or perhaps I already was and I just hadn’t realised it yet.

“I can’t wait to catch up properly with Stacey.”

“Who’s Stacey?”

“You were talking to her before. You know, Stacey. With the new pink hair.”

“Rebecca?”

“No, Stacey.”

“You think that Rebecca is someone you know called Stacey?”

“No, Stacey is the someone I know called Stacey. I don’t know who this Rebecca is you’re talking about, Amy. Stop being such a spaz.”

I wondered what a spaz was. Um, spaghetti … plus jazz?

“I know, the pink hair looks totally wacked-out – I almost didn’t recognise her at first either. But don’t worry, all the girls will be following her soon. She’s always doing the trends months before everyone else. I’m sure any moment it’ll be as popular as frosted tips or body perms or Choose Life T-shirts.”

I shook my head. The pedestrian crossing started beeping and the light turned green. Maybe I should have let him get run over after all.

Because I was now being haunted by the world’s most annoying ghost, I arrived half an hour after the first bell. And for the first time ever, I had to get a late notice.

“Look what you’ve done,” I hissed to Logan as Patty, at Admin started filling out a form for me.

“Sorry, what was that, love?” drawled Patty, without looking up.

“Um, I said, ‘I can’t believe what
I’ve
done.’”

“Reason, please?”

“I had to help my mum with … stuff. You know how it is these days – single parent, broken families.”

D’oh. I was trying to play the sympathy card. And not even well.

“Take a look around,” I whispered under my breath to Logan. “It’s no longer the Eighties.”

I watched Logan stare at Admin Patty. Okay, not a good example. Patty’s had that platinum perm since Bob Hawke made it popular in 1983. I watched as he looked at the shifty-looking latecomers all lined up after me.

“Your point is? The school uniform’s been like this since I was in Year 8.”

“Here you go.” Patty tore the pale blue slip out of the carbon copy book and passed it to me. “Next, please.”

Wow. Were these things that easy to get?
I clutched the slip like my golden ticket. I thought it would be like
The Breakfast Club
, and I would have to do detention after school with a bunch of misfits.

“I love
The Breakfast Club
; that movie cuts sick.”

“I like it too, but c’mon – the stereotypes? A rebel, a jock, a popular, a nerd and a social outcast getting thrown together?” I whispered back. “That would never cut it in today’s world. But of course, you come from a simpler time … hang on! How did you read my mind?”

“I didn’t. You said it out loud.”

“No, I didn’t. I only thought it, I swear. Logan, do we have some sort of … connection, or what?”

“Are you all right, Amy?” asked Patty.

I realised I’d raised my voice. Okay, maybe I was shouting a little bit.

Logan looked at me with his eyebrows raised.

“Maybe we do,” he replied.

“I’m fine,” I replied loudly so everyone could hear and I quickly headed for the door. I could hear the other latecomers snickering behind me. As if they had anything to laugh about.