Is She for Real? (3 page)

Nate and Lissa had an old, ongoing joke with their parents about that sentence. They'd repeat it to fit whatever situation they were faced with. If Lissa had a cold, for instance, Nate would say, “Come to Old Warwick and meet new friends at the Warwick Inn. Who knows … maybe you'll even meet a stuffy-nosed, cranky kid!”

Or, when their parents were hanging wallpaper to perfectly match the original Yankee kitchen style, Lissa would say, “Who knows … maybe you'll even meet two obsessive amateur historians!”

But the website must have said something right because the Warwick Inn was awfully popular. The
NO VACANCY
sign was constantly up in front of the house, and guests really seemed to enjoy themselves. Nate and Lissa's parents always made guests feel at home, with special touches like homemade cookies in their room upon arrival.

They were also happy to give full tours of the place and explain exactly how each part of the house had been restored. They'd even pull books off the shelf about the town history and show the guests how homes looked way back when, and how the inn matched the descriptions. And they'd walk with them through the overgrown-with-weeds graveyard to show them Lord and Lady Warwick's gravestones, which were kind of hard to find if you didn't know where they were.

Corny as she thought the whole legend of Lady Warwick was, Lissa mostly avoided the cemetery. The few times she'd entered the graveyard, she felt totally
creeped out. Something about Lord and Lady Warwick's gravestones made her feel really nervous and scared. But she'd never admitted that to Nate. She knew he would never let her live it down.

As they stepped off the bus, Lissa saw Olivia's purple backpack right away. Practically everything Olivia owned was purple. It was an interesting look, given Olivia's bright red hair.

They waved to each other and walked to their lockers. Nate was already off with his friends, and the girls still had some time before homeroom, which they had with their friend Lily. Nate was in a different homeroom. The school separated twins as much as possible as a matter of policy, though Lissa wouldn't have minded having classes with Nate. She was pretty much used to being side by side with him in every other way.

“We're on for Friday night,” Lissa reminded Olivia. “Sleepover. My house. Cookie dough. Totally raw.”

Olivia smiled to reveal the purple rubber bands around the tiny metal squares of her braces. “Excellent,” she said. “Lily is psyched too.”

“And my mom is obsessed with her new scone recipes,” Lissa added. “Who knows, maybe we'll even eat something that's cooked.” They spun the locks to their lockers and opened them, putting books in and taking books out. The inside of Olivia's locker was full of purple stickers and ribbons, plus photos of her, Olivia, and Lily doing fun stuff together: burying one another in sand at the beach, dressed up on Halloween, on the Ferris wheel at the town fair, and on a class trip to New York City, atop the Empire State Building. Lissa had some of the very same photos inside her own locker.

As they walked to homeroom, Lissa thought about what a great year it had been with her friends. She'd never been part of a gang of three before, and she loved it. That old phrase “two's company, three's a crowd” never seemed to apply to them. Instead they were like a chemistry experiment in which all three chemicals reacted perfectly with one another to create some bubbling, colorful potion.

The homeroom routine was always the same. The kids
sat in a circle with their homeroom teacher, Ms. Lang, who asked them how things were going, what was happening in their classes, what issues were coming up with schoolwork and friends, and so on. If there were problems, the group tried to come up with solutions. When they got to the circle, only Ms. Lang and a new girl were sitting there.

“Hi, girls,” Ms. Lang said to Lissa and Olivia. Just then Lily entered, her straight black hair halfway down her back. They all sat down, along with a few other kids who had entered the room at the same time.

“Everyone, we have a new student in our school today,” Ms. Lang said, gesturing toward the girl next to her, who had long, curly blond hair. “This is Bethany Warren, and she's just moved here from New York City. Welcome, Bethany. Let's all introduce ourselves and offer one thing we can do to help her first day go smoothly.”

Bethany seemed totally relaxed, and not at all nervous to be meeting a room full of kids for the first time. She smiled and made eye contact with each of the other students.

“Lily, why don't you start,” Ms. Lang said.

“Okay,” Lily said. “I'm Lily, and, um, I can help you
with your class schedule. It can look kind of confusing at first because every day is different.”

“Thanks, Lily,” Ms. Lang said. “Great idea. Olivia?”

“I'm Olivia, and I can help you with your locker,” Olivia said. “In case you can't open it or something. And if you want, I can help you decorate the inside. Most kids put some stuff up inside to sort of personalize it. Like, everything in mine is purple.”

Now it was Lissa's turn. “I'm Lissa, and I can help you find the right bus to go home on today,” she said.

“Oh, thanks, but that's easy,” Bethany said. “My bus is bus number two. It goes right by the graveyard. My new house is right next to the graveyard.”

“I know!” Lissa said enthusiastically. “I live on the other side of the graveyard. My brother told me about you. You're my new neighbor!”

Ms. Lang smiled. “You two should finish this conversation after we've gone all the way around the circle. But it's great that you're neighbors. Kier?”

“I'm Kier, and I can help you with the lunch line,” Kier said. “The food is pretty gross, and I can help you choose the good stuff.” Everyone laughed, and Lissa and Bethany smiled at each other.

After everyone finished going around the circle, homeroom was soon over, and everyone went their own ways to class. Lissa had math with Olivia, Lily went off to English, and Bethany had history. Lissa and Olivia pointed her in the right direction.

The history teacher, Mr. Parmalee, was one of the seventh graders' favorite teachers. He was young and cool, and made the subject interesting even to kids who claimed to hate it. They did projects like researching their own family trees, exploring the history of their own house and neighborhood, and interviewing senior citizens about historical events like the Great Depression and World War II. Like Lissa and Nate's parents, he was extremely interested in local history.

Mr. Parmalee saw Bethany and gave her a friendly hello and showed her where to sit. It happened to be right next to Nate, who was also in this class. Bethany gave Nate a sidelong glance. He was shaking his hair out of his eyes in a really cool way.

“Hey,” Bethany said to him. She got a better look at him and noticed his dimples.
He's just as cute as he was on
my porch!
she thought. But what she said instead was, “I just met your sister. Let me guess, you're twins?”

“Ding, ding, ding!” Nate said, as if Bethany had just gotten an answer correct on a game show, and they both laughed.

“We're the two and only,” he added. Nate was pleased he'd said something sort of clever, to make up for his awkwardness yesterday.
She's even prettier than I realized
, he thought, trying hard not to stare.

“Okay, everyone, the unit of study you've all been waiting for,” Mr. Parmalee said. “The history of your own hometown, Old Warwick.”

Everyone was ready for this. Mr. Parmalee was famous for this unit, which explored the history of their town from its very beginning to the present. It included a field trip to the Old Warwick Historical Society and the graveyard next to Nate and Lissa's. The kids always made rubbings of the gravestones, which was more fun than it sounded.

“I could teach this unit for you if you like,” Nate joked. Everyone, especially Mr. Parmalee, knew where Nate lived and what his parents did.

“Well, your parents certainly could,” Mr. Parmalee
said. “Perhaps we should have them in as guest speakers.” Nate looked like a deer in headlights.

“Kidding! I'm kidding,” Mr. Parmalee reassured him. “But if it wasn't such a horrifying idea for you, I'd be tempted to include your home in the field trip. I hear your parents have done an amazing job with the historical restoration.”

“Stop! Just stop!” Nate had his head down on his desk. Everyone laughed.

Mr. Parmalee passed out reading and activity packets to begin the unit. “Now, what do you already know about Old Warwick?”

“It's named for Lord and Lady Warwick, the original founders,” someone said.

“Righto,” Mr. Parmalee said. “And where did they come here from?”

“England,” someone else said.

“Right again,” said Mr. Parmalee. “Who remembers when?”

“The 1600s,” someone else said.

“And why did they leave and come here?” Mr. Parmalee probed.

“The Puritans were fleeing religious persecution in
England,” Bethany said. She already knew this from history class at her old school.

“Good,” Mr. Parmalee said. “You guys already know the basics. What else do you know?”

“Nate's house is right next to a graveyard haunted by Lady Warwick,” someone else said, and everyone laughed again.

“Um, well, the same could be said for me, if that were true,” Bethany said. “What's up with that?”

“Ah, the legend of Lady Warwick.” Mr. Parmalee sighed. “You guys know that's just a ghost story, right? But I'm sure you want to have a quick recap for fun. Who wants to share it with our newcomer?” A few kids raised their hands.

“We might as well hear it from the expert,” Mr. Parmalee said, gesturing to Nate. A few kids laughed, and Nate grinned.

“Okay, here's how it goes,” Nate began. “Lady and Lord Warwick moved here, and soon after, Lady Warwick died after some mysterious illness. Lord Warwick buried her in their yard. But when he moved, he wanted her grave moved too, so they dug her up. When they opened the coffin, the inside was full of scratch marks. Because
she had been accidentally buried alive. And there was no skeleton there.” He paused for effect. He had heard this story many times before, of course.

“And now, they say when you hear the windows rattling or branches scratching at your window, it's Lady Warwick trying to get back in, trying to reunite with her beloved Lord Warwick. And also, she's crazy and heartbroken. She's been roaming the woods all this time.”

“I know it's just a story, but the end always gives me shivers,” one girl said.

“A ghost story can be fun,” Mr. Parmalee said. “But everyone remember it's just a local legend, told and retold over the years to scare people.”

“Especially the guests at my parents' B and B,” Nate said sarcastically. “That story is framed above our staircase.”

Bethany flashed a smile. “Maybe I should get a copy for our house too. No wonder that graveyard is so quiet and overgrown. Everyone's scared to go in.” She couldn't help but notice Nate was staring at her.

Next up was math, which Bethany and Nate also had together. It was easy for Bethany; she'd already covered
the material in her previous school in New York City. When it was time to work on problems with partners, she even helped Nate. Again, she felt his eyes on her the whole time. He struggled to pay attention to what she was saying, so he could finish the problems himself, but it was difficult. She was so pretty and easy to talk to. Nate had never met a girl like her before.