Page 68 of School Spirits
“We all are,” Anderson muttered.
The four of us were sitting in my living room, Romy and Anderson huddled on the couch, me in the one recliner we had, and Dex at my feet, his arms wrapped around his knees, a blanket over his shoulders. He hadn’t said anything since we’d left the cave.
But now he looked at Romy, and a ghost of his old grin crossed his face. “Yeah, I was. Andstillbetterlooking than any of the other guys at Mary Evans High.” His voice wavered a little on the end, and he went back to chewing his thumbnail. I wanted to lay my hand on top of his head or pat his back. Something. Instead, I crossed my arms over my chest.
“So he was dead,” Romy reiterated, nodding at Dex. “And you”—she looked at me—“you’re some kind of awesome monster slayer.”
“I don’t feel so awesome right now,” I muttered. Maybe because no monsters had been slain. Sure, we’d stopped the hedge witch and brought an end to the hauntings, but this didn’t feel even a little bit like winning. Not when I looked at Dex’s shattered expression. His Nana hadn’t been evil. Just wrong. And to be honest, I wondered if she’d even been that. What would I have done to bring Finley back if I could’ve? Or my mom if something happened to her? When you don’t have much family left, you’ll do anything to protect what you have.
The front door opened and we all jumped, but it was just Maya.
Dex stood up as she came in. “You took care of her?” he asked. “You didn’t just…leave her there?”
Maya had stayed behind at the cave to, in her words, “put things to rights.” Now she patted Dexter’s arm, sympathy written all over her broad face. “I did. With respect. She was a sister, and we have ways of handling these things.”
Confused, Dex stared at her. “A sis—Oh, right, because you were both witches. Because that’s real. That’s a thing that really happens, and my Nana was one.”
He went back to sitting and chewing.
Letting him have a moment, I turned to Romy and Anderson. “So if it was Dex’s Nana accidentally raising ghosts, why was your charm in that cave?” I asked Romy.
Grimacing, she took another sip of the tea Maya had made. “I told you, I have no idea. I lost the stupid thing.”
From the other end of the couch, Anderson cleared his throat. “Um…I might actually know why. I took the charm.”
Romy’s blanket slipped off her shoulders as she sat up. “You what? Why?”
Anderson’s face was bright red, matching the plaid throw draped around him. “I saw this thing on the Internet about doing a…a love spell.” He mumbled the last words so much that it sounded like he said, “abubsmell.”
“You did a love spell on me?” Romy said, her “me” becoming a shriek.
“Yes!” Anderson said, tossing the blanket off and getting up to pace the living room. “And I know that’s awful, and I shouldn’t have, but…I liked you, and I thought it couldn’t hurt.” He hung his head a little. “So that’s why we kissed at the graveyard that night. I’m sorry.”
Huh. So Dex and I hadn’t been the only ones using our PMS field trip romantically.
Romy slugged Anderson on the shoulder. “You idiot,” she cried. “Did you do the love spell in eighth grade?”
“What? No. I did it, like, last month.”
“Well, eighth grade is when I started liking you,” Romy said, hitting him again. “So no, it wasn’t the love spell that made me kiss you in the graveyard. And it’s not the love spell making me kiss you now.”
With that, she grabbed the front of his shirt and yanked his mouth down to hers.
It had been an awful night. A night so full of bad, even Everton and Leslie would’ve shuddered, and they had once spent a night getting chased by a serial killer on a train. But seeing Romy and Anderson kiss, I smiled. They were safe and happy, and that had to be worth something.
Looking over at Dex, I saw that he was smiling, too. Our eyes met, and I wondered if he was thinking the same thing.
The four of us, plus Maya, sat there for another hour or so before Romy and Anderson decided they should head home. As they walked to the door, I stopped Romy. “Look, I’m sorry about—”
She pulled me into a hug before I had time to finish. “I’m sorry, too.”
I wrapped my arms tight around her, hugging her back, and when she pulled away, I hoped she wouldn’t see the tears in my eyes. “I’m probably going to take tomorrow off from school,” she said. “And you should, too. Maybe you could come over? See if Leslie survives that polar bear attack?”
My throat tightened, but I made myself nod. “Sure. I’d like that.”
Once they were gone, Maya went into the kitchen, ostensibly to make some more tea, but really to give me and Dex some alone time, I think.
I counted sixteen of my own heartbeats before he said, “She won’t see you tomorrow, will she?”
