Page 41 of School Spirits
Then we reached for the same tiny mound of salt and our hands brushed. This time, Dex didn’t apologize, but as soon as his skin touched mine, I felt that little hum. That reminder that Dex wasn’t a normal boy. That I didn’t know what he was. And the more time I spent with him, the less sure I was that even he knew what he was.
Sobered, I stood up, backing away from him a little bit. “Okay,” I said, my voice unsteady. “That’s…that.”
“Excellent. So no more ghosts, no more science teachers getting brained, and lockers that open mysssteriooously,” Dex said, wiggling his fingers at me. I almost made that giggle sound again, but I stopped myself. Confusion flashed across Dex’s face, and he stuffed his hands into his pockets. “Well,” he said, but he didn’t add anything else.
Suddenly the silence between us wasn’t comfortable so much as awkward. I dusted my hands off on the back of my pants. “I better head home. Mom’ll be pissed if I’m out late.”
Dex twisted his wrist, glancing at his watch. “It’s not even eight. Are your parents Amish?”
“My mom is just…strict.”
“So is my Nana, but I get to stay out until at least nine. And I don’t know about you, but all this salting the earth has me craving fries. You wanna go grab something to eat?”
Eating food together. At night. I didn’t even need Everton and Leslie to tell me that was a date. Or had this been a date? We’d laughed and had fun and touched hands. That felt kind of…date-y even if it was on top of a grave.
But he was smiling at me again, and now that he mentioned it, I hadn’t eaten much dinner. “Can you get me home by nine?”
His grin widened. “Isolde, my friend, I can get you back by quarter ’til.” He held out his hand to help me to my feet. “Shall we?”
I only hesitated for a second before taking it, and this time, when a pulse shot through me, I wasn’t a hundred percent sure it was only magic I was feeling.
CHAPTER 20
Several minutes later, Dex and I were seated in a bright red vinyl booth at a place that called itself the Dairee Kween.
“What’s with the misspelling?” I’d asked when we’d pulled up.
“It used to be an actual Dairy Queen, but the corporate office made them close it down after a major rat outbreak in the kitchen. So the owners just reopened it, but changed the spelling to keep from getting sued.”
“That…does not make me want to eat here.”
Dex laughed. “The rat thing was like thirty years ago, according to my Nana. And it’s probably just a rumor anyway.”
He might have been right, but I made a note to skip the burgers. Besides, it’s not like I was ever going to eat here again. Mary Evans’s ghost was put to rest, and Mom and I would be moving on. Which was awesome and great and not at all sad-making.
“This is better than our regular PMS meetings,” Dex said once we had our food. “Those are sadly lacking in fries, I’ve found.” He reached past me for the ketchup. “And desecrating graves is a surprisingly fun bonding activity. I only defile the dead with my closest friends.”
“So we’re friends,” I said hesitantly, swirling a french fry in ketchup. Dex snagged a fry from my plate and popped it into his mouth.
“Yes,” he said, chewing. “And now that I’ve stolen food from you, it’s official. You and me, friends for life.”
“Good,” I said. “I…I like being friends with you.”
“Same.” He made my favorite grin, the one that was surprisingly goofy for such a handsome guy.
Wait a second. I’d known him for a few weeks. How did I have afavorite grinof his?
Our eyes met and held, and it was like there was this…pulse between us. For a second I thought it was just Dex’s magic or power or whatever it was that I was picking up on. But it didn’t feel like that. It felt—
Dex’s phone beeped, and as he looked down at it, the moment was lost. Which, to be honest, was kind of a relief. “My Nana,” he sighed. “Why oh why did I ever teach that woman to text?” As his thumbs moved over the keypad, I pretended to be super-interested in my fries. Really, I was studying him.
He certainly didn’t seem like a guy with anything to hide, but why had he been at Mary’s grave? It couldn’t just be a coincidence that he’d shown up when he did. Had he really followed me, or was there more to it than that? I needed to get closer to Dex.
The thought immediately sent a flutter through me, and I dropped my eyes back to my plate. Not close to him likethat. Close in the general Finding Out Information way. “There,” he said, sliding his phone into his bag. “Apparently my curfew has been lengthened by an hour since I’m with you.” He waggled his eyebrows. “I told her I was with a lady who is quite the good influence on me.”
“Youneeda good influence,” I told him, smiling a little.
Dex sat back in his chair, impressed. “Isolde Brannick. Are you flirting with me?”
