[Not Just Any Other] Ghost Story

Chapter 14

By Monday, news of the corpse in the wall had reached basically everyone in town.

"It was all people could talk about in church," Jane had said when she'd returned from Sunday service, so Sarah hoped her spazzing out at the bonfire would be all, but forgotten. Testing her theory was easiest by going to school, which she actually didn't mind. The thought of socializing in a normal setting with others her own age was surprisingly appealing, even for someone who usually preferred her own company.

The possibility of seeing Caleb was also a big plus.

Rolling up to New Bedford at the end of the lunch period (seven am wake-up calls still weren't her thing), she went to her first English Lit class and slogged through a pedantic analysis of Faulkner's The Turn of the Screw. Feeling smug about how none of the other students made the connection between the importance of the author's violation of the concept of Victorian childhood innocence in deference to an overarching focus on the literal interpretation of the evil presented, Sarah went to sixth period on a high.

Drama class was in the auditorium with a raised stage on one end and tiered, built-in seats on the other, the two separated by an orchestra pit. When the bell rang with less than ten kids there, Sarah leaned to the one sitting closest and whispered. "Where is everybody?"

The girl with cute Bantu knots looked up from her phone and twisted her head around. "Oh, it's just the dumb jocks who aren't here. It's okay. Coach must have called an extra football practice," she said with a shrug.

Realizing that one of those dumb jocks missing was Caleb, Sarah glanced back at the door, hoping that she had enough time to sneak out before the teacher arrived. But as the house lights dropped and the stage was illuminated with a spotlight, she knew it was too late.

"With Halloween around the corner, I thought we'd take a pause from our dramatic monologues and practice something that you might actually find useful," said a youngish woman in an oversized, patchwork cardigan to a chorus of snickers as she walked across the stage. "All right, all right. I got the point. But if you don't want to waste any time, I suggest you all break into groups of two and grab one of the kits up here. When you're ready, I'll guide one of you through applying a prosthetic and stage makeup to the other in a similar way that a special effects artist would."

"You want to be my partner?" asked the girl, turning to Sarah.

With so few of them in the class and everyone quickly pairing up around them, there really wasn't a choice. "Sure?" she croaked with little enthusiasm, wondering what she'd gotten herself into. "But I have to warn you, I have no idea what's going on."

The other girl smiled. "No worries. I got this."

Forty minutes later, Sarah left the auditorium with an oozing, bloody gash over her left eyebrow and headed toward the football field.

If she felt out of her element during drama class, then watching a few dozen boys in tight pants and bulky pads running with an oblong ball was even more confusing. The whistle was blown way too many times for reasons she couldn't guess, the positions of the players seemed to change randomly during each try, and the brutality of the hits resonated in her soul even from afar. After sitting on the damp grass and pretending to fool around with her phone for what felt like hours, Sarah hopped to her feet as soon as the team was dismissed.

Without anyone else around, Caleb had little chance of not seeing her. Carrying his helmet, he broke off from the pack heading back toward the building and jogged over.

Under the sweat-soaked hair and rosy cheeks, his expression was neutral. After the abrupt way she'd left him the other night, it was a better reception than Sarah had expected. She'd actually opened her mouth to deliver a well-rehearsed apology, when he beat her to the chance.