Rodney's face clouded over. "Shit."

"I'm so sorry."

He rubbed his eyes. "...We apologize to each other a lot, huh?"

"Mmh."

"It's my dad. He's an alcoholic."

"Yeah. I figured. I never saw him physically, but I could tell from a distance." Shelly cocked her head sideways. "...You really think I can help him?"

"You're going to think it's stupid."

"Can't be any worse than my current approach, honestly."

"I just figured, when I realized it was you... I've tried everything I can think of to get my dad to stop drinking, but... maybe I just need to focus on keeping him away from Anthony."

"Ahh. So you do want me to haunt someone." Rodney groaned, but she didn't have to think about it long before she made up her mind. "Okay. Deal."

"...Really?"

"At least I'd be scaring someone who actually deserved it." She shrugged. "But what about your brother? Wouldn't he still be scared of me too?"

"Oh. Well, he can be in on it. Don't worry about it. We can tell him you're... a friendly ghost. Like Casper."

She snorted. "Uh huh."

"He likes that movie! The animated version."

"Your brother has terrible taste."

"Ha! Try telling him that!"

"Maybe I will! He's what, nine? I should show him the Candyman trilogy."

"Oh, please don't."

"I'm joking, jeez!"

Shelly didn't expect to be hugged at that moment, but when it happened she welcomed it.

"I'm sorry I asked if you were a ghost."

"I'm sorry I scared your brother."

"I'm really glad you agreed to help us. I owe you big."

"You're helping me." They separated. "You have no idea."

"So, do you want to meet up here after school? Or will you come through my TV?"

She smirked. "I'll walk, if it's all the same to you."

"Okay, sure, I just figured—"

"Yeah, yeah." The bell rang as she spoke. "I'll see you in sixth period though, right?"

"Right." Rodney handed Shelly back her diary. "Can I see more of this later?"

"Oh! Um... sure."

"Cool. See you, Shelly."

"See you, Rodney."

They walked across the football field at opposite angles to reach their respective classes. Shelly had purposefully had her lunch at the far side of the field because the electrical fields in the school were annoying to experience for long periods of time. At some point before she'd moved to this town, a transformer in front of the school had blown, and the replacement hadn't been installed properly. The school had brownouts at least once a day.

Just before coming into the range of where she would notice the electrical disturbance, however, she sensed two girls standing by the back stairwell of the school. The twins from second period. They were pointing and staring, first at Rodney (who had found yet another toothpick to put between his teeth), then at her. She resisted the urge to snap her head up to look at them, or do anything else "freakish" that might attract their attention.

For a moment.

But then she paused. Two ideas occurred to her, almost simultaneously. One: she felt pretty confident that, just by being around her, Rodney might become a target for other people's bullying as well. And she very much did not want that to happen.

Two: if she was going to start "haunting" his dad... shouldn't she try to get some practice first?

She had already stopped walking. Her head was down. The two were openly staring at her now, leaving Rodney free to enter the other back entrance without notice. Another cloud was passing in front of the sun, and the field was darkening again. She almost laughed. The perfect setup had just dropped into her lap.

Rachel's phone buzzed. She shivered.

"What?" Leah asked.

"Nothing. It's just my phone." Another vibration. "Dammit."

Shelly kept buzzing the phone as Rachel dug for it in her purse. It was difficult to target, and she wasn't sure if she was getting the rhythm right, but Rachel seemed not to notice. Regardless, she'd have to make a note of it for later. Anyway, the next part would presumably be easier.

"Why isn't she moving?" Leah muttered.

"What?" Rachel found her phone, and turned the screen up toward her as she lifted it out. One of her fingers slipped and brushed against the "Answer call" button.

Shit. Shelly had hoped to "pick up" the call herself. It was too early. She tried to tune onto a nice, subtle "radio static" for the incoming line, but overshot and landed firmly on "ear-piercing mic feedback" instead. Rachel screamed and flung her phone at Leah's feet.

"Fuck! Rachel, what—" The screen was facing up, and Leah saw a jumble of letters and symbols where the caller id should have been. She choked. "O-oh, shit. Is that—"

"Shut up."

"Is that her?"

"Shut up!" Rachel's eyes were clenched shut.

It took all Shelly's effort not to break character as she turned the sound down. She managed to slide into the static she'd originally wanted, and held the line on that frequency while she thought out her next move. But surprisingly, before she had a chance to decide, Leah spoke first.

"We're sorry!"

"LEAH!" Rachel hissed.

"You have to apologize too!"

"I'm not going to apologize to that freak—"

"Don't call her that! You'll just make it worse!"

This was even better than Shelly had expected. She felt giddy, almost lightheaded. The next step was obvious now. She tuned up the pitch about an octave higher, but turned down the volume slightly as well.

"Fine." Rachel's breathing was labored. "I'm sorry. Happy now?"

Wait for it...

And then, through the phone's speakers, in her best, creepiest "demonic-little-girl" voice:

"Promise you'll be good?"

Rachel let out a sob, but Leah immediately scrambled for the phone. Don't laugh, don't laugh, don't laugh...

"Yes! Yes, we promise! WE PROMISE!"

Shelly smiled. She was tempted to say something else to underline the point, but opted not to. The best horror stories were the ones that didn't overplay their hand. She ended the call, and after another second, began walking toward the doors again.

Rachel and Leah were absent the rest of the week. That suited Shelly just fine.

It feels good to be back.

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