Aftermath (10 page)

I heard him coming from
behind me and I turned to face him. “I’ll just be on my way…”
I pointed my thumb over my shoulder towards the exit.

“Why did you say
‘Christine?'”

“Did I?”

“Yes, you did. You
called out her name just before I spoke to you.” His shoulders were
squared and he was not buying my feigned innocence.

“I—“ I really
didn’t know how to answer that.
I thought I felt the presence of
a ghost so I called out the name of the murdered actress who brought
me here in my dream. Oh and I can see the future in my dreams.
Probably should come up with another explanation. “This theatre was
on the ghost tour map and I was just curious about why.”

He nodded, like he
determined I was harmless. “So you’re a tourist looking to catch
a glimpse of Christine, the infamous matron that haunts our theatre?”

“That’s right,” I
agreed.

“Well then you’ll
know this isn’t where you’re likely to see her.”

I smoothed my fingers
through my hair. “I’m afraid I’m not really familiar with the
tale. Maybe that’s why I came?”

“Are you a
journalist? You look awfully young.”

I let out a
good-hearted laugh. “No, just curious.”

He looked at me
pointedly. “Well, I’d hate to take business away from any of
those tour places but how ‘bout I tell you the story as I walk you
out?”

I nodded curtly. “All
right.” I found it a little amusing he didn’t trust me to let
myself out.

As he walked me out, he
painted a much grimmer picture than Christine had. Christine
had
landed the lead role in the play that year, but never made it to
perform. Right before opening night, she was found dead in the
courtyard from having fallen to her death. An understudy reported
that he and Christine were drinking and doing—ahem— other things,
when she lost her footing and tumbled from the third story balcony.
She was still dressed in her costume from that day’s rehearsal,
which explained the wedding dress she wore in my dream. Okay, so she
wasn’t a jilted bride.

“So, it was an
accident?” I asked as another thought occurred to me, when
Christine had said she was murdered.

“Of course. Like I
said, drinking was involved and she never could have survived the
impact on the flagstone courtyard. Why do you ask?” He was back to
his previous suspicious self as he opened the front door to let me
out.

“No, reason.” I
stepped out into the sunlight. “Thanks for the information.”

He gave me a pensive
smile. “Sure.” The door shut and I heard the click of the lock as
soon as I turned toward my car.

“Stephanie, what
are you doing here?” I was shocked and a little disgusted to come
home and see Stephanie sitting on
our
leather couch. She
looked more dressed up than what I was used to and her silky hair was
perfectly straight.

“Oh, hello Ana.”
She smiled almost sincerely.
Ha
, I knew better than that. I
thought over all the possibilities as to what could have brought her
to our house.

“Are you selling
cookies?” I added with some sarcasm. It was better than asking her
what the heck she was doing in my house.

“Ana? What are you
doing here?” Luke entered the living room from the kitchen, two
glasses full of sweet tea in his hands.

“Um, I live here?”

“I know but I wasn’t
expecting you back so soon.”

“What is going on?”
I looked between the two of them as he sat down on the couch next to
Stephanie, handing her a glass of sweet tea in my favorite Turvis
tumbler. They started talking, laughing even, and appearing as if
they were picking up conversation on which they'd previously left
off. “Hello?”

“Oh, I am sorry,
Ana,” he stood up as if to make introductions. “You remember
Stephanie? She is in my grade?”

“Of course.” I gave
her a short smile. “Um, Luke? Can I talk to you for a second?”

“Sure, what’s up?”

“In the kitchen
please?”

He set his tea on the
coffee table. “Be right back.” He smiled sweetly at Stephanie.

He followed my lead to
the kitchen and when I thought we were out of earshot of Stephanie, I
turned around to face him. “What is
she
doing here?”

“Why do you care?”

I opened my mouth to
speak but realized I couldn’t answer that. Why did I care? Maybe
because it was Stephanie, the very epitome of a snob.

“I am free to do
whatever I want, Ana. I live here, too. I don’t mind when you bring
your hyper friend what’s-her-name and the other quiet one that
always stops breathing when I am around.”

“That’s different…”

“How is that
different? Because Stephanie is interested in me? It’s not like
you’re my girlfriend. You chose Hayden, remember? I will be around
for eternity, might as well have fun with the girls who
are
available.”

“Is that why you
brought her here? To make me jealous? C’mon Luke, what are we in,
2nd grade?”

“Why,
are
you
jealous Ana?” He had a devilish smile.

“That’s
ridiculous!” I felt my cheeks starting to get hot and knew I had to
change the subject. “And what’s with the ‘I didn’t expect you
back so soon?’ I get home at the same time every day after diving,
don’t play dumb.”

He struggled to find
his words, “I guess I was just having such a good time with
Stephanie that I lost track of time.”

I shook my head in
disbelief. We stared at each other for another minute or so.

“Now, if you’ll
excuse me, I have to get back to my date.”

“Date?” I asked to
his back.

“Why do you care,
Ana?” he reminded me as he exited the room.

“Rrg.” I grunted at
his impossibility when I heard Luke and Stephanie pick up their
conversation again. But he was right. Why did I care? In one way or
another I had chosen Hayden. I loved Hayden. He was more than I could
ever dream up. But why was I so bothered with Luke going out with
Stephanie? I thought back to all that I knew about Stephanie, from
the years of high school we had together. And then every memory of
her cruel acts surfaced: her spreading rumors about girls I knew and
liked, the name-calling, the fights, the boyfriend-stealing and so
much more. Yes, Stephanie was not right for him at all. Anybody else
would have been fine, but her? Why
her
?

I left the house and
called Hayden to tell him we would be going out that night. The
reason: there were pests in the house. He took me seriously for a
moment, vowing to call an exterminator. I laughed at the thought.

I didn't know what time
Stephanie had left my house that night, I was just relieved they were
both gone by the time we returned.

When we got to school
the next morning, I had hoped that Luke, maybe even Stephanie, if
that’s who he was with, wouldn’t show up to class again. Hayden
left me at my locker, saying he had to go take care of something and
I knew that ‘something’ was talking to Luke. I shut my locker,
turning the dial to reset it and walked up to Nikki and Marie talking
in the hall.

“This is going to be
so fun, I’m glad they decided to still do it this year.”

“What’s going to be
fun?” I asked, dreading what kind of event they’d drag me to
next.

“The Mardi Gras
Parade and Masquerade Ball,” Marie replied as Nikki dragged me a
few lockers down to look at the poster on the wall.

“Like you don’t
know.” Nikki could always fake looking offended.

I glanced over the
poster that was bright with the purple, green and gold Mardi Gras
colors. Every spring, Ecole had their version of a spring homecoming,
complete with royalty that got to ride on the float during the Mardi
Gras parade and a masquerade ball the following night.

“So, what are you so
excited about? We didn’t do the ball last year. What, are you
running for Queen?” I joked with her.

“I know, but it’s
different this year,” Nikki was totally serious. “And as a matter
of fact we were just talking about who should be Queen.”

“Who
is
going
to be queen or who
should
be queen? Because
Stephanie
and
anyone else
are two different things.”

Marie laughed but Nikki
wasn’t giving in. “No, but really, we think you should run.”

“You’re kidding.”

“Uh, no we're not.
You should definitely do it.”

I turned away from the
poster and shook my head. “You know I’m not into those sorts of
things…”

“Why not? This is
Mardi Gras were talkin’ here. Put your animosity for organized
school events aside and think about the true meaning of this. You
stayed positive even when I wasn’t. Look at all the things you’ve
done, like your volunteering and helping clean up. You never lost
hope in New Orleans.”

“You really are the
heart of New Orleans,” Marie nodded. I looked at her in surprise
and thanks.

“See? If Marie says
it, then it’s true. You have to run for Queen.”

“Who’s running for
Queen?” Stephanie and her entourage stopped in front of us.

“None of your
business,” Nikki belted.

“Oh ‘hi’ to you,
too, Nikki.” Stephanie batted her eyelashes. “Ana…” she
looked at me, gloating in the fact that she had been with Luke. In my
house.

“Hi, Marie. Well,
look at you. Did you lose weight?”

“No...?”

“I know,“ she
frowned fakely. “I can tell.”

“Okay, that’s it—”
Nikki raised her fist and I held her back.

“Come on Nikki, let’s
just go.” If anyone was going to hit Stephanie, it was going to be
me. But words can sometimes wound better than violence.

“Oh, and Stephanie?”
I turned back as Marie and I were pulling Nikki away, “Me.”

“You? What are you
talking about?” Stephanie’s lips curled in disgust.

“
I
am running
for Queen.”

The three of us walked
away, laughing while we heard gasps from Stephanie and her friends
who always stood by idly. Priceless was seeing the look on
Stephanie’s face.

Shortly after,
Stephanie had recovered. In English, she had no reservations about
hiding her dislike of me. In fact, she took it out on all those
around her. She really did look like a girl possessed. She was
announcing to everyone her running for Queen and confirming that
they, of course, would all be voting for her. I tried to lose myself
in Hayden, but Stephanie’s gaze kept flicking towards us.

“What’s going on?”
Hayden asked quietly. I was glad that Hayden could sense Stephanie’s
hostility. At least he had sense, not like Luke.

“It seems I am
running for Queen.”

Mr. Atkins interrupted
our conversation with the announcement of a pop quiz. Everyone but
Stephanie stopped talking.

“I’ll pass out the
test once I see everything is off your desk and you’ve stopped
talking,” Mr. Atkins announced the last part loudly, looking at
Stephanie. “You have fifteen minutes to take the quiz. Good luck.”

I looked around the
room. Everyone seemed to be dreading and worrying simultaneously.
Everyone except Hayden. Of course, he would do well. He probably knew
the material better than Mr. Atkins. I tried to push aside the worry
that came over me from this realization.

“
Stephanie
,”
I heard someone whisper. I looked up to see who would be whispering
to her for help. It wasn’t one of Stephanie’s usual clones. I had
seen her trying to be a part of Stephanie’s circle before but
something told me they weren’t the welcoming type. “
Stephanie
,”
the girl whispered again, a little louder. Stephanie looked at Mr.
Atkins who read the newspaper at his desk then back at the girl,
irritated.

“Yeah?” she hissed.

“I forgot my pencil
case. Could I borrow one?”

Stephanie and her
friends fought giggles. “Guess you won’t be getting an
A
this time.” Stephanie turned around in time for Mr. Atkins to look
up and shush the girl. I hadn’t started my quiz yet, in shock at
what I saw in front of me. How could Stephanie treat someone like
that? Someone who, despite all Stephanie’s internal ugliness,
wanted to be her friend?

I dug through my bag to
find a pen, then quietly stood up on the other side of my desk and
leaned forward enough to drop the pen on the girl’s desk. She
turned around to see who had done it; I just gave her a quick smile,
sat back down and started taking the quiz. I didn’t need a thank
you. It was what any normal human being would do.

I could feel Hayden
radiating beside me. Despite my best efforts to hide what I had done,
nothing went unnoticed with him. I looked at the girl again. She was
smiling, my pen moving wildly about as she was hard at work on her
quiz. She looked so innocent. Funny how there were people as good as
her in the world and those as evil as Stephanie. They almost balanced
each other out. Almost how Hunters balanced the Underworld against
evil. Except in this world, those like Stephanie ruled it. And those
like that girl, wanted to be like her. How backwards things could be.