Ghost Betweens (22 page)

"Doubts about me?" He smiled, but was sort of afraid of the answer.

"None at all. I'm just curious. Are our feelings so intense tonight because we just had a fight, or are we always going to feel like this?"

"I felt like this since the moment I first saw you," he said.

She smiled her shy, lip-biting smile that turned him on so much. "Yeah, me, too." She stood up and hugged him, resting her head on his chest. "I just need to know."

As they waited for the reply, she looked up at him.

"What?"

"I just remembered something about earlier today."

"And?"

"Remember when we were walking to Mr. Baxter's room? You were behind me, and you started laughing. What were you laughing at?"

He frowned, not sure what she was talking about. He thought back, and when he remembered, he let out a chuckle. "Oh, that? How did you even hear me? I didn't think I was very loud."

She bit her bottom lip. "I don't know. I think I sensed it more than heard it. Is that even possible?"

He thought back to Sunday. A few times waves of anger or sadness washed over him that felt like Whisper. He chalked it up to being afraid of losing her, but maybe it had been more than that. He relayed these thoughts to her.

"So we can't read each others thoughts all the time, but we can sometimes feel each other's emotions?"

"Seems like it," he said.

She nodded. "I guess we'll have to see how that goes. But anyway, why did you laugh? It made me so mad that you weren't devastated when I didn't acknowledge you."

"I was devastated."

"So why the laugh?"

"I figured when this was over, you'd never want to see me again."

"So you laughed?"

"This is really bugging you, isn't it."

She rolled her eyes. "Yes, now tell me."

"Fine. I was having all these unhappy thoughts, but then I watched you walk, how you wiggled in all the right ways, and I sort of lost my train of thoughts and enjoyed the view."

She blushed but giggled. "You were looking at my butt?"

It was his turn to blush. "Yeah. It's hot. You're hot."

She giggled some more and hugged him, bringing her lips up to his. This time as they kissed, his hands dropped down to her perfect behind and caressed it. He waited for her to pull away and tell him to stop, but instead she pushed harder against him, so he took it as a sign to continue. He listened for the door to open, this time sure it would. It didn't, and after a minute, she dropped her lips and kissed his neck before they reluctantly parted.

Whisper glanced at the door, and then at him. "We probably shouldn't press our luck."

He nodded. "I was sure they were going to open the door that time."

"Me, too. Should we start on some homework while we wait for Mr. Baxter's reply?"

"Yeah, good idea. Hopefully homework will still matter after tomorrow."

She squeezed his hand and smiled, though her nerves shone through. "It will. We have to win, right?"

"I hope so."

They scattered their math homework out over her bed and jumped into the problems. Both made plenty of careless mistakes as they spent more time concentrating on each other rather than the equations. Luckily they were working together so they could catch the errors. They'd almost finished when the email dinged.

Before they read Mr. Baxter's reply, Whisper turned to him and gave him another passionate kiss. When they broke apart, she smiled up at him. "No matter what he says, even if this is all because of us being Ghost Betweens, this is real to us. I love you."

"I love you, too," Josh said. His voice cracked a bit when he said it, and she smiled at that. He bent down and they shared another quick kiss before turning back to the computer.

"Ms. Douglas, I'm glad to hear you and Mr. Hart have made amends. It will make tomorrow night's task that much easier. As for your question, Ghost Betweens are always close. Sometimes this manifests itself as friendship, but more often as romantic love. It seems you two have the latter. Your bond is exceptionally strong, which mirrors your power as Ghost Betweens. If you two were just good friends, or mildly attracted to one another, your training could have taken weeks. Instead, you learned everything almost immediately. Most Ghost Betweens land somewhere in between those extremes. Basically what I'm saying is that the feelings you have for each other are going to do nothing but grow stronger. Learn to enjoy the same things because this is forever.

"As for the mind reading, you will be able to hear each others thoughts when you are talking with ghosts, like you've already discovered. Another thing to get used to. In fact, though I'm hesitant to bring this up, when you two become physically intimate, this telepathy will likely come easier, and you won't need ghosts to do it. Don't rush into anything, though. It will only work if you are both 100 percent emotionally ready."

Whisper blushed and looked back at him after they read that, and he felt his face heat up as well. She bit her bottom lip and looked worried.

"What?" he asked.

"Remember at the farm when we saw Kendra and Zach with the demon?"

"Yeah."

"When I said I wasn't ready for . . . what they were doing, it wasn't because I was mad at you. I'm really not ready for that."

He gave her a hug and kissed the top of her head. "It's okay. I want to, but I'm probably not ready either. We have plenty of time for that, anyway."

She smiled up at him, and they shared a tender kiss before turning back to finish the email.

"I hope this answers your questions, Ms. Douglas. I'm sure it's a bit frightening for both of you to realize you found your perfect match at such a young age, but it's also a wonderful thing. You are both terrific people, so you should be very happy together. Once again, good luck tomorrow, and let me know what happens as soon as you can."

When they finished reading, she looked up at him, a small smile on her lips. Neither said anything, and Josh didn't have to wonder what she was thinking because he was thinking the exact same thing. Neither felt the fear Mr. Baxter thought they might, just joy that they had their entire lives to devote to each other. And that was the best thing in the world. He could read it in her mind, and he was sure she could do the same.

Before anything else could happen, a knock came to her door. Her dad's voice called through. "Dinner's about ready."

"You can open the door, Daddy. We're on the computer."

"It's okay. I trust you guys. Go wash up."

They laughed as she shut her computer down into sleep mode. They walked as close as they could get to each other without tripping to her door. One last kiss, the most tender yet, and then they parted and headed for the bathroom to wash their hands.

With his turtleneck gone, Josh moved them back to the normal lunch spot on the planter. Whisper sat so close she was almost on his lap, and he certainly wasn't complaining about that. He ate the sandwich she brought him--chunky peanut butter with smooth apple butter. Her favorite, and he could honestly say he could see this in his top five sandwiches in short order. And not just because she made it for him. It was good.

She smiled up at him with every grunt of pleasure he made. "Am I good cook or what?" she said.

"If you consider this cooking, I see we're in the same culinary boat. But, yeah, this is way tasty. I've never had apple butter."

She giggled. "Way tasty. I like that. I could live on those sandwiches." A mischievous glint shone in her eyes. "You have some on your lower lip."

He moved his hand to wipe it away, but before he could, her mouth was on his, nibbling at his lower lip before focusing her energy on a full kiss.

"Jeez, get a room."

They jumped, untangled, and whirled around. Bill Johnson stood in front of them, fighting hard to keep a straight face.
 

"Hey, Bill. Didn't see you there."

This time he couldn't hold back a grin. "Gee, I wonder why. You know, it's bad enough you stole the new girl before any of the rest of us had a shot, but now you have to show off?"

"I'm sitting right here, Bill," Whisper said, a look of mock-annoyance on her face.

He laughed. "I'm teasing, I'm teasing. But if you ever get tired of this guy, you know where to find me."

Josh gave him a light punch to the shoulder. "Like you need any help in the ladies department. Why don't you go sit with your cheerleader girlfriends?"

"On my way, Hart, don't worry about me." His face turned serious. "But watch your back."

"What are you talking about?"

Bill looked all around before looking back at them. "I saw Riley sneaking around earlier, and he looks messed up. I mean, in the head. I don't know what he might do. So watch your back. I'm watching mine."

Whisper drew in a deep breath, and Josh nodded and gave Bill a fist bump. "Thanks, man. I don't think he'll go after you, but, yeah, be careful."

Bill nodded. Before he turned to leave, the smile came back to his face. "And quit making out on campus. It's disgusting to watch."

"Yeah, like you and Vanessa Wilkins every day last year."

"That was different," Bill said with a shrug. "It was me, so I couldn't see it."

All three of them laughed, and Bill walked off. As soon as he was gone, they stood up and scanned the area for Zach and Kendra. Everyone else on campus, Bill included, was safe; he and Whisper were the targets.

Zach and Kendra ditched school again today, though it wasn't a surprise. Once this was all over, what would it do to their permanent records? Hopefully they could overcome this, though it wouldn't be easy. How much were they, the real them, aware of what was going on?

Josh was glad he'd finished the sandwich because he wasn't hungry anymore. Whisper looked a bit pale. He put his arm around her shoulder. "Don't worry. I'm not going to let them hurt you." He punctuated it with a kiss to her forehead.

She smiled up at him, but then turned serious. "What if they bring a gun or knife after us? The demon might want us dead and out of the way."

He gave a start. That was something he hadn't thought about. But he shook his head. "No, the demon had her chance to kill us, and she didn't. She let us go. I don't know what that means. Maybe she has plans for us after she escapes tonight, but I think we're safe until then."

As soon as he finished saying it, Zach and Kendra rounded the corner of the math building and headed straight for them. Both wore smiles and waved as they approached. Josh felt Whisper stiffen next to him, and he mumbled to play it cool. Maybe they just had a message.

"Josh and Whisper, the dynamic duo," Zach said, and Kendra let out a barking laugh that sounded nothing like her. Before Josh could say anything in return, Zach punched him in the cheek and kicked him in the ribs as he fell. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Kendra grab Whisper by her hair and fling her to the concrete. Zach jumped on top of him and cocked his fist, but Josh bucked him off and went to help Whisper. Kendra reached back to slap Whisper, but he grabbed her wrist before she could. Zach tackled him from behind, and they landed in the planter. Zach hit him with a few punches to his back, stinging him, but before much damage could be inflicted, a shrill whistle sounded, and the pummeling stopped.

He turned around, and Zach and Kendra bolted. Two campus security guards chased after them. Mr. Brisco, head of security for the school, stood over him. He offered Josh his hand and pulled him to his feet. "Are you okay?"

Josh nodded and looked to Whisper. She looked stunned but otherwise okay. She gave him a shrug and her voice entered his head. "I'm fine."

"I saw the whole thing," Mr. Brisco said. "I know you didn't do anything, but you need to go to the office. Okay? Get your stuff."

As they followed Mr. Brisco, Josh kept glancing over at Whisper. She did appear to be fine, but he had to make sure. He'd promised she wouldn't get hurt, and he might have broken it seconds after he'd said it. He asked her, and found their special telepathy still worked. "Seriously, I'm alright. She wasn't strong enough to put anything behind the slaps. I'm more worried about you. He hit you pretty hard. You already have a bruise forming." He could tell she wanted to stop and make sure he felt better, but Mr. Brisco wouldn't let them slow their pace.

Once in the office, a nurse hurried over with an ice pack for his cheek. In his worries about Whisper, he must not have noticed Mr. Brisco calling on his walkie-talkie ordering it up ahead of time. He wondered if it was before or after Whisper mentioned the bruise, which he could feel blooming. He tried asking Whisper if she'd noticed, but their telepathy didn't work anymore.

Once they were seated, Mr. Brisco started in on the questions. "Why'd they come after you two?"

"I don't know," Josh said. "They're my two best friends, but they haven't been themselves lately. I don't know what's going on." It was a lie, but not too much of one. He could live with it.

"Drugs, maybe?"

"Not that I've seen," Josh said. There, that wasn't a lie at all.

"Hopefully my guys will catch them. If not, they'll be back to school sometime, and we'll get them then." He frowned. "Make sure you're both aware of your surroundings at all times, both here and off campus. We'll do our best to keep them from roaming around, but there's not much we can do after school hours. Okay?"

The both nodded.

"Don't worry. They don't look the type to do anything drastic. You'll be fine as long as you're careful."

"Yeah," Josh said. "Thanks, Mr. Brisco."

"Okay. I have to call your parents to let them know what happened. Don't worry. I'll tell them you didn't do anything wrong. Now get out of here. The bell's about to ring."

They nodded and thanked him again before leaving for fifth period.

*****

Josh held Whisper's hand on the drive home. That was a nice part of having an automatic transmission; he had a free hand if he needed it. And this afternoon, he needed it. She did, too.

"Do you want to stay here until we go?" she asked when he parked at the curb in front of her house. "We can check Mr. Baxter's email." He'd texted them to check their computers.