Haunted Read online

  “The Ugly Stepsisters! Oh gawd! Poor you! And I wasn’t here to defend you!”

  I laughed. “Well I hung out with them yesterday. We went into town. Twice.”

  “Oh no! Please tell me the Ugly Stepsisters didn’t get their hooks into ya! They did! They did! I can see it on your face!” Margie was groaning and laughing at the same time and she threw herself down on her bed in mock despair.

  “Well listen to this! I bumped into them in the hallway in the morning and Cheryl was sooooo nice and friendly to me and she invited me to come to brunch with them in town.”

  “And let me guess, Lisa stood there behind Cheryl the whole time with a face like a sucked out lemon,” Margie interjected.

  I laughed at that! “Yes! She did! That’s so funny! So anyway, I agreed to go with them, because what else did I have to do? And they were okay at first, I thought Lisa was a little reserved, mind you – “

  “Reserved? She has a giant stick up her ass is more like it!” Margie interrupted.

  “Okay!” I was laughing partly because Margie was so funny and partly out of the relief I felt at being able to confide in someone who was on my level. “Well I was trying to give her the benefit of the doubt right off the bat. I thought maybe she’d warm up. I mean, I can be shy sometimes and I know that people interpret it as being stuck up, so I didn’t want to judge her.”

  “That’s okay, you’re very noble. I’ll do the judging for you – she has a stick up her ass and thinks her shit don’t stink!” Margie asserted.

  “It probably doesn’t, because from what I can tell she never eats anything!” I added gleefully. “She didn’t order anything except coffee and then she made a big deal because they didn’t have the artificial sweetener that she liked. Cheryl’s omelet came with toast and she freaked out and Lisa poured salt all over it. And then I ordered pancakes and they both looked at me like I had done something obscene.”

  “Oh for the sake of…” Margie rolled her eyes.

  “Oh but that’s nothing!” I continued, “I mean, that’s their own thing, right? If they have issues with food or whatever because they’re models, so be it.”

  Margie snorted in derision.

  “But they invited me to come out to the bar with them that night. I told them I wouldn’t be able to get in because I didn’t have a fake ID, but they insisted that I come anyway and that they’d be able to get me in. Well of course I couldn’t get in, and so they left me there standing outside the bar with no way to get home!”

  Margie’s mouth was agape. “Are you kidding me?! How unbelievably selfish and rude! Oh my god! So what did you do?”

  “Well, I didn’t know what to do. I was going to walk back to her car and wait for them and hope that I didn’t just freeze to death, but then I got lucky and someone I recognized from school here gave me a ride back.”

  I bit my lip. I didn’t like lying to Margie, but I had promised Chad that it would be our secret.

  “That was lucky,” she said. “You should have called me. I’d have come gotcha.”

  “I didn’t even think of it, til I got back here and saw your number written down on my desk!” I shrugged.

  “Hmm. You don’t have a phone, right? Maybe next weekend you could go into town and get one of those pay as you go things,” she suggested. “Just to have in case you ever get stuck like that again.”

  “I know – I was thinking that. Actually, that reminds me, I was going to call my mother from the payphone and tell her that I need a cell.”

  “Oh go – go do it. I need to sort through my laundry.”

  “Alright – be back in a few minutes,” I said and I headed out the door.

  I was torn by Margie’s unexpected return. I really did like her and trust her and enjoy her company, but her presence meant Stefano’s absence.

  I sat myself down in the big comfy armchair next to the payphone in the empty common room and called my mother. While I waited for the charges to be accepted I hoped and prayed that nobody would come along and invade my privacy.

  “Catherine! How are things?” I heard my mother’s voice for the first time since she left me here six days ago.

  “I’m okay. Not bad,” I minced.

  “What’s it like there? Have you made any friends yet?” she asked.

  “A few. Kind of.”

  “Well what are they like? Are they nice? Do you think you’re going to like it there?”

  “They’re fine. I don’t know. Listen, I’m calling you from a payphone in a common area and anybody could walk by and hear me.”

  “So?” she said.

  “So I don’t want have a big long, in-depth discussion with you about the people here or my feelings about anything because anybody could walk by at any moment.”

  “Oh Catherine. For heaven’s sake. Then what did you call for?” she sounded exasperated with me and I was a little offended at her tone. My mother had never been what you’d call maternal. All business, all the time.

  “Well I’d like to get a cell phone,” I started. “All the other kids here have one, and it would come in handy in case of emergencies, and then also I’d be able to call home from my room and also you’d always be able to call me.”

  Had I sold her?

  She was silent for a moment while she thought. They were multimillionaires now, my parents, and she had to think about spending a hundred dollars on something.

  “Hmm. Well I don’t see why not,” she sighed. “I suppose we can afford it now. And you’re right – I’d be able to keep tabs on you all the time!”

  “Well, that might be classified as a use for which it was otherwise intended,” I snarked. But I was jumping for joy inside. I was gonna get one!

  “Fine, well let me speak to your father about it and we’ll get one sent up. I boxed up all of your bedding and sent it up, too. You should get it on Tuesday.”

  “Thank you so much! Thank you thank you!” I cried.

  And then who should come up the elevator and into the common room but Cheryl and Lisa?

  “Okay, Ma, I gotta go! There are some kids here who want to watch the television.” I hung up too abruptly and felt bad, but I couldn’t abide the thought of having to go through all the good-bye stuff with my mother while those two watched me.

  “Who were you talking to?” Cheryl asked me in her sweet-as-saccharine voice.

  “Just my mother. She’s going to get me a cell phone,” I smiled happily.

  “Oh nice,” Lisa remarked. Had she just been genuinely un-bitchy to me?

  But then the two of them advanced upon me. It was as if I had been waiting alone inside the interrogation room and now the two meanest detectives had just walked in to put the screws to me. My stomach twisted into a knot and I was overcome by a sense of dread.

  “So last night,” Cheryl was still using her fake-sweet voice, “Do you remember who the people were who drove you home?”

  My mind raced. This was some sort of trap. Did she know it had been Chad that drove me home and was trying to find out if I’d lied to her? Or did she merely suspect that it had been and was fishing? I had a fraction of a second to decide what to do and my gut told me that Chad wouldn’t have told her. She must have been fishing.

  “I don’t remember their names, to be honest. Isn’t that terrible? But there were two girls and a guy. I think the guy might have been gay – they were hilarious – joking and laughing the whole way back.”

  “Really. What kind of car did they have?” she drilled me.

  “Oh my god, Cheryl! I have no idea! It was black! Why does it matter?”

  “Well. Janice just told me that she saw Chad last night leaving town – in his black car – with a dark haired girl.”

  They were both staring at me so intensely I felt like I had laser sights trained on me.

  “And you think it was me? Why wouldn’t I have told you if I got a ride back with Chad?”

  “Uh, because you knew I was waiting for him, and that I’d be majorly pissed i
f I found out you were the reason he didn’t show up.”

  Her anger was steadily rising.

  I was absolutely speechless. In the first place, it was she who had abandoned me in a strange place knowing that I had no phone and nowhere to go and no way to get back home. Secondly, it was because she was there that Chad had been dissuaded from going in. And thirdly, what did she think? That I had deliberately seduced her ex-boyfriend and lured him away from the bar so as to prevent her from seeing him?

  “Cheryl,” I tried to say sternly, but there was a quiver in my voice that gave away my weakness. “I saw Chad for all of two seconds yesterday as he walked past the window. I’m not sure I would even recognize him again if I saw him.”

  She and Lisa exchanged a glance at this.

  “Well don’t you think it’s strange that you got a ride home from people we’ve never heard of, that you had never met before, but Janice said she saw you in Chad’s car?” Lisa took a stab at me now.

  “She said she saw me? Or a dark haired girl? You told me she saw a dark haired girl. It could have been anyone.”

  I was struggling to maintain my composure. And the fact that I was lying made it all the more difficult for me even though I knew that I had done nothing wrong.

  “Look. Ask Chad. Ask Chad where he was last night and who he had in his car. It wasn’t me!” My voice cracked then and I knew I’d be able to say nothing more without crying.

  “I did. I just texted him before we came upstairs. He should be here any second.”

  I nodded as though I was glad he was coming up, but I was terrified. What would he say? Would I be caught in a lie? And if I was, how would I endure the punishment that Cheryl would inevitably devise for me? We all sat there in silence for what seemed like an absolute eternity.

  Finally the elevator pinged and the doors opened revealing Chad. He looked furious.

  “What the hell is going on, Cheryl? What stupid, crazy story are you making up in your head now?” he demanded as he strode over to three of us.

  “Well! I finally get a response from you! This is what it takes, is it?” she smiled sweet poison at him.

  “What’s going on? Right now, Cheryl. I don’t have time for your games.”

  “I think you already know the new girl, Catherine,” she gestured towards me.

  My heart stopped. What a brilliant trick! She was a conniver by nature, this one!

  “Catherine? Pleased to meet you. I’m Chad,” he said without missing a beat as he bent forward to offer me his hand.

  “Nice to meet you, too,” I said quietly as I shook it.

  “Oh! So you’re saying you didn’t drive off with her last night?” Cheryl was in full attack mode now. No more games, no more tricks, all cards on the table.

  “Drive off with her where, Cheryl? I didn’t even know she existed until just this minute,” Chad shot back.

  “Then who was the brunette Janice said she saw you with?” Cheryl demanded.

  “What business is that of yours? In the first place, Janice needs to get her eyes checked because I wasn’t with ANY brunette last night, or blonde, or redhead, and in the second place, if I was it certainly wouldn’t be any business of yours! Now are we done here?”

  He turned on his heel and strode back over to the elevator. Then while he was waiting for it to arrive he turned back and fired off a parting shot, “You know, you really could use some psychological help, Cheryl. You’re sick.”

  The elevator doors banged shut behind him and left us sitting there in stunned silence.

  After a few moments, Cheryl finally spoke.

  “Oh my god, I’m shaking. I’m going to cry,” she said.

  “Oh no, honey, it’s alright,” Lisa leapt up from her chair to put her arms around Cheryl and comfort her.

  “He’s just angry. Let him calm down…give him a few days and then talk to him. He didn’t mean it – he just lost his temper.”

  “No I feel sick!” Cheryl was actually crying and shaking now.

  “Are you okay? Do you want some water?” I found myself asking.

  Despite how horrible the scene that she herself had orchestrated had just been, I was feeling guilty for lying and so at least partially responsible for how upset she now was.

  “Let’s just go back to our room. I don’t want anyone to see my like this,” Cheryl was sobbing now. I felt awful.

  Lisa walked with one arm around Cheryl’s shoulders and the other around her waist. I followed behind them not certain if I was meant to accompany them or not. I was on eggshells here and it was not enjoyable.

  Lisa huddled Cheryl into their room and I lingered in the doorway not knowing what to do.

  “I hope you feel better, Cheryl,” I said as I turned to go.

  “Ummm, Where do you think you’re going? We have a few things to discuss, wouldn’t you agree?”

  Well I suppose it was heartening to see that she didn’t feel quite ill enough to take a break from bossing me about.

  I stepped into the room and shut the door behind me. “Cheryl. I don’t know what you want me to say. I’m sorry that you and Chad had a fight, but I feel like you’re blaming me and honestly I’ve done nothing wrong.”

  It was true: I had done nothing wrong. Even lying to her was the right thing to do - despite how guilty I might feel about it - because if this was even a little taste of how she would have handled the truth…I shuddered to think.

  “No, I know that now,” she sniffled. “But I still think it’s weird that three people we’ve never heard of gave you a ride home and you don’t even know their names.”

  “Do you actually know every single person that goes to this school?” I felt like I was defending my life here and my brain mercifully responded by dredging up a convincing argument to present. “What about all the freshmen who you haven’t even met yet? I’m shy around people I don’t know – they were all talking and laughing and joking in the car and I just sat in the back seat and didn’t really say much. I’m sure none of them would even be able to pick me out in a police line up. I didn’t bond with them or make friends with them. They just did me a favor and that was it.”

  “Okay but then who was Chad with?” she wailed. “I was actually hoping it had been you, because then at least I would know he didn’t have some beautiful new girlfriend!”

  Lisa tried to conceal a sly smile and she turned her head and looked at the wall.

  I let the insult roll off my back. “I don’t know. Maybe he was telling the truth. Maybe he wasn’t with anyone and Janice was mistaken.”

  “I know he went somewhere last night, “ she said clenching the tissue Lisa had given her in her fist. “His car was moved!”

  “Cheryl, I think you’re worrying about the wrong thing,” Lisa finally spoke up. “You just had a crazy screaming fight with Chad that ended with him telling you you were sick. I think that’s the thing you need to be worried about right now,” she reasoned.

  “Oh thanks for reminding me, Lisa,” Cheryl said angrily.

  “Look, I have to go. I left Margie waiting for me,” I said as I turned towards the door.

  “You’re gonna leave?” Cheryl was incredulous.

  I stood there bewildered. All I wanted at that moment was to extricate myself from all this negativity and drama. A few minutes ago she was hurling horrible accusations at me and had me on the brink of tears and now she was insisting I stay and hang out with her. But I was drained already!

  “You should go,” Lisa stood up to usher me out the door. “We’ll be fine. We’ll call you later if there’s anything.”

  “Okay,” I said, for once grateful for Lisa’s brusqueness. “See you later then.”

  And I escaped back to the safety of my own room.

  CHAPTER 10

  I told Margie the whole story of what had just happened, leaving out, of course, the part about me actually having gotten a ride home with Chad.

  “Those girls are crazy bitches. Stay. Away!” Margie admonished.
r />   “How can I? They live right there! Their room is right across from the showers and I have to pass by it just to get out of the building!” I fretted.

  “Well,” Margie said thoughtfully, “You could just never shower again – that would eliminate one problem!”

  “Ha ha! Great, well hopefully I’ll start to smell bad enough that they won’t want anything to do with me anyway!”

  “Don’t sweat it too much,” she said seriously. “School starts in a couple of days. Just lay low until then and then once classes start they won’t be around as much. You won’t be around as much and you’ll meet other people and you’ll only be coming back here to sleep. In the meantime, stick with me. If I’m with you they aren’t gonna invite you into their room – think of me as Ugly Step Sister Repellant!”

  I laughed at this. “Thanks,” I said. “I feel better now.”

  With Margie’s help I was able to keep a low profile for the rest of the weekend. We hung out together quite a bit and Margie showed me things like the gym and the pool and the library (which was finally open) and the computer lab (which was still closed). We got along remarkably well for two people who had never met each other before and came from such different backgrounds and had such different interests and tastes. I guess Margie was just a plain old nice person and that made all the difference.

  A few times I said I wanted to go to the library to look for books to read: Margie would escort me down the hallway to the elevator in case Cheryl and Lisa had their door open. We called it “Operation Stepsister Avert” and it cracked us up.

  Once I did actually go to the library, but more often than not I was on my way to the rose garden. I was delighted to find that it was on most occasions completely empty, but surprised because to me it was the most lovely spot on the campus and I couldn’t believe that everyone didn’t want to go there all the time like I did. And of course, I’d sit on my little stone bench, breathing deeply the scent of the flowers and feeling the sun on my face, waiting for Stefano to come.

  I told him all about the Chad/Cheryl intrigue, and it was a relief to actually talk it over with someone I could tell the whole truth to – or who knew the whole truth anyway whether I told him or not!