Shadow of a Life (7 page)

Somehow her words weren’t all that
reassuring. We quickly organized the books so that we could return
to them later and I fell deeply into a much needed sleep as soon as
my head hit the pillow.

CHAPTER 6

I
felt like I had an extra spring in my step the next day. All
of a sudden my life had purpose and meaning. For the first time in
a long time I looked forward to summer break.

Camille immediately noticed the change
in me. “What’s with you today? You seem bouncy.”

“
I dunno. I guess I’m just
happy that we’re almost through with school.”

“
Yeah, but we have tests
today.”

“
Some of us have actually
been studying for the tests. I’m not concerned about any of
them.”

Camille rolled her eyes and slammed
her locker door shut. We walked side by side to our first period
class. She’d been particularly quiet on the bus that morning and I
guessed that she was still angry about being rejected on
Sunday.

First period was English and I handed
in the assignment I’d finished writing on Saturday. Thankfully I’d
finished it during the first part of the weekend. If I’d met Sophia
first, I don’t think I would have gotten around to it.

The rest of the day dragged on without
anything eventful happening. I found myself continuously looking
over my shoulder and peering into the middle of crowds, expecting
Sophia to pop up at any moment, but she stayed away. In fact, I
didn’t see her until Camille and I were heading out the school door
at the end of the day. We planned to ditch the school bus and grab
a ride on a city bus to Grandma’s Café so that I could make good on
my promise to hang out with her. Sophia suddenly appeared, carrying
a backpack and looking like any one of the other hundreds of kids
spilling out of the school.

“
Hey, you two. Where are you
headed this beautiful afternoon?” She wore the sunniest smile I’d
ever seen.

I could feel Camille tense next to me.
She said nothing and just kept walking.

I shrugged. “We’re heading over to
Grandma’s Café for some ice cream. Want to come?” I probably
shouldn’t have invited her, but I thought that if Camille got to
know Sophia it would help.

“
Sure, that sounds fun. You
don’t mind, do you, Camille?”

Camille turned to Sophia and
half-smiled, but the look in her eyes screamed,
‘
Go away’.

Apparently half the school decided
that ice cream sounded good because Grandma’s was packed when we
got there. We finally managed to snag a table made for two and an
extra chair from a nearby table. It wasn’t a secret that a lot of
the eyes in the room were on our little group—especially those
belonging to the opposite gender. I’m sure they were all wondering
who Sophia was and how they could possibly find out so they could
try to hit on her. Sophia acted oblivious to the attention we were
getting, but Camille kept flashing her own famous smile and tossing
her hair over her shoulder with a flip of her head. I wondered if I
should try the hair flip thing. With my luck I’d pull a neck muscle
and end up embarrassing myself horribly.

The three of us made small talk and I
kept looking at my watch. I wanted to get back to our research, but
I didn’t know how to nicely get rid of Camille. Sophia tried to
include her in the conversation as much as she could, but for the
most part Camille ignored her and spoke only to me.

Finally, unable to stand it any
longer, I pushed back from the table. “It’s getting really late. I
should probably go home.”Camille looked at her watch. “What are you
talking about? School’s only been out for forty-five
minutes.”

“
I have homework to do,” I
lied.

“
What homework?” Camille
quizzed. She didn’t believe me.

“
It’s for my math class.”
The answer seemed safe since it was the only class we didn’t have
together. I was in an advanced math class and Cam
wasn’t.

“
Whatever. Let’s go then,”
Camille said dejectedly.

The three of us barely spoke as we
walked home. When we got to my street, Sophia and I turned off
together. Camille stopped walking.

“
Are you following her
home?” she asked Sophia in an accusatory tone.

“
What? Oh, no. Well, sort
of. I left something at her house when I was over there yesterday
and I’m just going to grab it quickly,” Sophia answered.

Camille nodded slowly before quickly
turning and continuing toward her house. I’d gained a spring in my
step, but it seemed as if she’d lost one.

*****

The rest of the week actually flew by
and before I knew it, Friday was upon us. The last day of school
was always a half day and, in my opinion, a waste of time. It
wasn’t like we actually did any work. We spent time signing
yearbooks and goofing off. The teachers didn’t even try to quiet us
or discipline anyone because they were just as excited as we were
for the end of the year.

Sophia had gone to school with me
every day that week . . . sort of. She never actually came to any
classes, but she showed up between them and ate lunch with Cam and
I every day. I wondered what she carried around in her backpack. I
doubted it was textbooks. On Wednesday I asked her where she went
when she wasn’t with me. It turned out there’s a whole network of
ghosts that work together when needed. Who knew? Ghosts who were
adults when they died could easily get a home and a job if they
desired and live somewhere until people started to notice that they
weren’t aging, and then they would just move on. Teenagers and
children had it a little harder because the non-aging issue was a
lot more noticeable. So, the younger looking ghosts would adopt
friends who would claim to be parents when needed and sometimes
they would even stay together. That was Sophia’s case. When she got
to town, she met ghosts by the name of Jack and Rita and hung out
at their home most of the time she wasn’t with me. She offered to
introduce me to them, but I thought one ghost was enough for me to
deal with right then.

On my way to Mr. Hanover’s biology
class, Peter Ashby stopped and asked if I could sign his yearbook.
He was at least six inches taller than me with dirty blonde hair
and a skinny build. He was one of those guys that had no trouble
making friends and knew everyone. And I was madly in love with him.
Too bad he had no idea and I had no intention of ever telling him.
I signed his book with a shaky hand. Sophia started laughing before
he’d even walked away.

“
What?” I glared.

“
You like him.”

“
I do not. He’s just someone
from the neighborhood. I’m surprised he even knows my
name.”

“
Ha,” she guffawed. “In the
few weeks since I’ve been watching you, Peter has said ‘Hi’ six
times, talked to you twice, and smiled at you in the hall nine
times. Every single time you had contact with him you blushed, just
like you did when he asked you to sign his yearbook just now. You
didn’t blush with any others guys.”

Stunned, I didn’t know what to say. My
crush on Peter dated all the way back to the fourth grade when he
first moved to Marion, and no one—especially Peter—had ever picked
up on it. Even Camille, who knew me better than anyone, had never
caught on. When we were kids I thought we were destined to be
together because his first name was Peter and my last name was
Peters. The childhood fantasy had never faded.

“
Whatever.” It was the best
I could come up with in that short amount of time.

“
It’s true.” Camille
giggled. “I’ve wondered about it for years. You do blush every time
you talk to Peter.”

Of course,
now
she decides to side
with Sophia.

“
Can we
please
just go to class? I’d like to
end this school year so I can get on with my life.” I really hoped
no one in the hallway heard our conversation. I would be mortified
if someone told Peter that I liked him. I doubted I was his type
and he’d probably never consider asking me out. And I definitely
didn’t want him to do it out of pity.

At the end of the day, after much
cheering and rejoicing from the entire student body when the last
bell rang, Camille and I climbed on the bus. Jubilation filled the
air and everyone squirmed in their seats. Yearbooks passed up and
down the rows and paper airplanes flew through the air. I got
nailed in the head by the airplanes and a couple of books. The bus
driver ignored everyone and pulled his visor down farther so that
he didn’t have to look at us.

Camille glowed in her seat. “So, what
are we doing tomorrow for our first day of summer break? We could
go to the swimming pool, the beach, go on a picnic, or shop for
summer clothes at the mall, but please don’t suggest we go to the
library. I know. Maybe we could—”

“
Actually,” I cut her off,
“I promised Sophia that I’d take her to visit some historical sites
in Marion.”

Camille waited expectantly.
I knew she wanted an invitation to go along, but I just couldn’t
give it. That time I
really
felt bad. I didn’t want to hurt Camille, but I
couldn’t exactly bring her along without her questioning what we
were doing.

“
You know, just forget it. I
can see when I’m not wanted. You and Sophia have a spectacular
summer together and maybe I’ll see you around school next year . .
. or maybe not.” Camille spat the words out, jumped off the bus,
and quickly began walking down the road to her home.

“
Camille,” I called, trying
to push through the dispersing crowd to run after her, but she just
kept walking. I shook my head and stood on the sidewalk watching
her go. Surprisingly, it was the first time we’d ever had a fight
and I didn’t know how to react.

“
Everything
okay?”

Startled out of my thoughts I whipped
my head around to see Peter Ashby standing next to me. I could feel
the blush creep out immediately.

“
It’s fine. Just a little
disagreement.”

“
Wow. And all these years I
thought you two were attached at the hip. Who knew?” Peter
laughed.

I tried to fake a smile, but it wasn’t
very convincing.

“
So . . . what are your
plans for the summer?”

I shrugged.

“
I was thinking that it
might be fun if, you know, we umm . . . hung out sometime this
summer.” Peter stumbled over his words and stared at his
feet.

I was stunned. My throat felt as if it
was closing off, but I managed to blurt out, “I’d like that—text me
sometime,” before I turned and jogged the remaining block to my
house. It should have been one of the happiest moments of my life,
but the pain I felt from knowing that I might have just lost my
best friend ruined that.

*****

“
W
hat took you so long today, slow poke?” Sophia asked when I
arrived at my house. She sat on my front steps with her legs
stretched out in front of her. “Let’s get to work.”

I didn’t respond. I just
walked past her and unlocked my front door. On that afternoon’s
agenda was a trip to the site where Sophia’s family lived before
they all died. Her grandparents, Nathan and Sophia Briggs, built a
home in Marion long before she was born. They planted so many rose
bushes that it became known as Rose Cottage. Eventually Sophia’s
parents, Benjamin and Sarah Briggs, built their own little home
next to Rose Cottage. When they set sail on the
Mary Celeste,
Arthur stayed behind at
Rose Cottage with Grandma Briggs. Little did he know that his
family would never return for him. Grandma Briggs and her son James
sold the home not long after the incident with the
Mary Celeste,
probably to
escape the memories of the tragedy in their
lives
.

I put my things in the house and
grabbed a snack. I didn’t bother to offer Sophia anything. “So,” I
said finally, “how do you propose we get around this summer? I
can’t drive yet nor can I fly around or creep through walls like
you. I only have one bike and I’m sure as heck not pumping you
around all over town.”

“
Wow. You’re kind of touchy
today.”

I rolled my eyes.

“
Don’t worry about it. You
might not be old enough for a license, but I am.
Remember?”

I looked up to see Sophia
jingling a ring of keys in front of me. Attached to the ring was a
small ship keychain. I knew immediately that it was a replica of
the
Mary Celeste
.
It was the exact kind of keychain I’d seen in souvenir shops my
whole life. Tourists loved them.

“
What do you drive? Wait,
let me think . . . A little red, sporty, two-door something or
other?” I guessed.

“
Ha! I try to blend in,
remember?”

I peeked out my front window to see a
non-descript, white, four-door sedan parked across the street. It
was the kind of car you could walk right by after you got off the
school bus and not even notice.