What Ghost? (Complete)

Chapter Twenty: Kate the Believer

Billy raised his eyebrows and chuckled. Becky had always loved making dramatic exits. And from the looks on John and Lance's faces, she'd succeeded yet again. "So I guess now we wait."

He groaned as a totally new thought entered his head. "Bloody hell, I can't believe we have school tomorrow. I feel like I've been here forever already, and I haven't even had my first day at school. Man...I really hate starting..."

He jumped as his phone vibrated in his pocket. Feeling like an idiot for being so easily spooked, he fished out his phone and felt a goofy grin spreading across his face. It was a text message from Kate. She wanted him to meet her in the computer room. He tried to hide his disappointment that she'd invited Lance as well. Was he ever gonna get to spend some time alone with her?

"Kate wants to know if we wanna meet her in the computer room? This should be interesting. The last time I saw her she was almost running for the dorms after our brush with the 'pollyguy'." Billy chuckled.

Lance shrugged. "Might as well, nothing else to do while we're waiting for dinner. You coming John?"

John looked up, a surprised look on his face. "Sure...I'd love to, if you guys don't mind. It's gonna be pretty boring around here 'till Becky gets back."

"Enjoy the peace and quiet while you can. Trust me; these opportunities are few and far between." Billy laughed as they headed out the door. He'd almost gone to slap John on the back. Lance was right. Sometimes it was easy to forget they weren't 'real'.

* * *

To say he was gobsmacked would have been the understatement of the century. Billy just stared at Kate, waiting for her head to start spinning around and green bile to come flying out of her mouth. She had to be possessed...right? "I'm sorry...could you say that again? I don't think I heard you right."

Kate grinned and punched him in the shoulder. "I said, after what happened today I think there might actually be a ghost at the school."

Billy shook his head. "So what happened to 'everybody knows there's no such thing as ghosts'? You were adamant about it yesterday!"

"Come on Billy...no-one could have seen and heard what we did today without at least questioning the possibility they exist."

"Hey, I'm not saying whether I believe or don't believe; I'm just blown away by the sudden change of heart. You're the last person I ever expected to say you believe in ghosts. For all we know, Brad could have had someone planted behind that door. And if he did, they'd have been rolling around laughing at our reaction."

"Excuse me? Did you not see Brad's face when we got back to the basketball court? He was just as terrified as we were."

Billy sighed. "Okay, okay, you're right. Everything points to there being some kind of ghostly whatever behind that door. And Brad was pretty phased by the whole thing, he actually asked me to keep quiet about it until he sorts out where he wants to go from here."

Kate grinned. "See, as if he would have said that if the whole thing was a hoax? He'd have wanted us running around telling people so he could make us look like total idiots!"

Lance raised his hand and pretended to blow a whistle. "Hey, guys, time out. Look whether the whole 'ghost-behind-the-door' experience was real or not, I think the best thing we can all do is move on and forget about it. Don't you agree?"

Kate turned on Lance, hands on hips and brow furrowed. "Are you serious? We can't just forget about it and walk away. We need to convince Brad to use those other gadgets he's got and get rid of this thing."

Okay, now they were really in trouble. Who'd have thought Kate would want to go on a crusade against all things ghostly? His stomach churned as he thought about Becky's reaction to this latest turn of events. Bloody women...they'd be the death of him.

As if he'd been reading Billy's thoughts, John groaned from the other side of the room. "Becky is not gonna like this..."

But Billy's eyes were glued to Kate. "Kate, you can't be serious? Why would you even care? Didn't you tell Brad you wanted out earlier?"

Kate chewed on her lip. "Yeah, I know I did. But I've had time to think since then. And I Googled angry ghosts and came up with a thing called a poltergeist. I reckon that's what's behind that door, and someone needs to deal with it before something terrible happens!"

Billy suddenly had an overwhelming desire to burst out laughing. Kate was so much like Becky it was frightening. He couldn't help thinking what a shame it was that they'd never meet...the two of them would have gotten along like a house on fire.

Biting back his desire to laugh, he assumed a serious expression. "I'll tell you what. How about you show us this page you found on the 'net and we'll go from there." John flitted over a bit closer, obviously wanting to see what the article said about poltergeists too. "Mind you, this could all be a complete waste of time anyway. I wouldn't be surprised if Brad decides the whole ghost-chasing business is way too scary and gets rid of all his stuff. He was totally freaked out by the whole thing."

He couldn't stand the look of disappointment on Kate's face. She needed something in her life to distract her from thoughts about that dysfunctional family of hers. He sighed and pasted an encouraging smile on his face. "But I guess it wouldn't hurt to know a bit more about what we might be dealing with."

The radiant smile she turned on him made him go weak in the knees. Damn she was gorgeous. The warm, fuzzy feeling in his stomach outweighed his worry that Becky would be furious with him for encouraging her. It was about time he put what he wanted first. And Becky would just have to deal with it.