What Ghost? (Complete)

Chapter Twenty-Five: Reversing the Energy

Becky sat with John  on the floor outside the last of the senior boys' rooms. "This is ridiculous. Exactly how are we supposed to cheer these guys up?" she said, looking at John in frustration. "Seriously, I've never met anyone as miserable as Eric. That guy has some huge anger issues."

John shrugged. "I get the feeling he wasn't in a real good state of mind when he arrived here, but he's definitely going downhill fast. Are you sure there isn't another way to get rid of the poltergeist?"

"The Archangels said we need to reverse the negative energy...so somehow we need to make this miserable bunch of sad-sacks happy. Hey, what about a party? From what I've seen, people tend to cheer up pretty quick at those..."

"But we'd need to get permission for that. And even if we did, I doubt they'd let the girls in as well. Besides Lance, Billy and Kate would have to agree to try and convince the principal..."

But Becky wasn't listening anymore. She had a plan. A party would be the perfect solution. All that positivity so close to where the poltergeist was should blow the thing out of the water. She jumped up and grabbed John's hand.

"We need to speak to the others about this before bedtime. So...I'll go see if Billy and Kate are still out the back. Can you please find Lance and ask him to come join us?" She kissed him on the cheek and flitted off down the hallway before John could utter a word.

Billy and Kate were still sitting under the trees where they'd left them. Becky smiled, and was just about to approach them when she realised they were actually sitting a lot closer than they'd been before. Her eyes widened and her jaw dropped as she watched Billy wrap Kate in his arms and kiss her. She sighed and hung back for a minute.

She wondered why she'd taken such an instant dislike to Kate the first time she'd seen her. Was it because she'd seen the way Billy was looking at the other girl? Damn, that was it. She'd felt threatened, scared Kate would take Billy away from her. But since John had made her see the big picture, she understood that someone would eventually come into Billy's life, whether she liked it or not. She could do a lot worse than having that someone be Kate.

She chuckled. Good thing they'd let Kate in on their secret. Seeing them together like this, she realised it would only have been a matter of time before Billy accidently spilled the beans anyway! And she had to admit, Kate was definitely growing on her.

"Hey you two...time to come up for air. We have business to attend to!" she called out as she floated towards them slowly, giving them time to recover themselves. They were both blushing furiously by the time she reached them.

"Sorry guys, but we don't have much time left before the 'go to your dorms' announcement."

Billy groaned, his arm still around Kate. "Yes Beck, we were aware of that." He turned to Kate. "Welcome to my world!"

"Hey, at least I didn't pop up in the middle of the two of you. I was trying to be tactful..."

"And you did a great job of it Becky...we appreciate the advance warning." Kate grinned, and snuggled closer to Billy.

Becky jumped as John popped up beside, and blushed. No wonder Billy had always complained when she did it. She had to admit it was a tad disconcerting having someone appear out of nowhere. Not that she was complaining of course. She could definitely get used to John's arm sliding around her waist whenever he popped up beside her.

She smiled at the sound of Lance's wolf whistle as he approached. "Well, well, well...someone's been busy." He slapped Billy on the shoulder and grinned at Kate. "Guess this means I'm definitely not in the running anymore then?"

"Sorry Lance, not sure you ever really were..."

"Ouch! Arrow straight to the heart."

Lance gave a dramatic sighed and they all laughed. "Okay, so what's the big news?" he said. "It better be important; I was on level sixteen of my game and had to die to come here."

Becky gave John a pleading look, hinting that he should be the one to suggest the party. Somehow she just knew everyone would take the suggestion more seriously if it came from John.

John cleared his throat and nodded, planting a kiss on top of her head. "Right. Well we just visited the last of the senior guys' rooms, and they are all totally miserable. Eric is the worst...he seriously looks like he could turn into an axe murderer any minute. So...we were thinking maybe a party in the senior common room? That way the party atmosphere would be close to the source.  Maybe just for the kids in years ten, eleven and twelve? But you guys would have to do the grovelling to the principal to get permission...Oh, and we'd need the girls to be there too."

Billy, Kate and Lance looked stunned for a second, and then all spoke at once.

"There's no way he'll agree..."

"Girls in the boys' dorms? No way..."

"How would we explain why..."

Becky put her hand up and chuckled. "Okay, I get that it won't be easy. But Lance said the principal and the supervisors are all aware there's a problem with the senior boys. Surely you could convince Mr Howt a party would be good for morale?"

Lance rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "She's right about that part anyway. Maybe we could talk to Mr Ballou and get him on side first?"

Billy shrugged. "You'd know more about it than us, Lance. Do you reckon Ballou would go for it?"

"Yaknow, he just might. He's been tearing his hair out trying to think of a way to pull them out of their slump. Seriously, some of these guys have done a complete Jekyll and Hyde since they moved to the senior dorm. And it's happened every year since I've been here. To be honest, I was dreading moving up there next year. The whole atmosphere sucks."

John shifted uncomfortably. "Actually, it's been happening for at least five years. Apparently I'm partly responsible for its existence."

Billy looked at Becky and frowned. "Sorry? What's he talking about? Why would John think he's responsible?"

"Ummm...I didn't exactly tell you guys everything the Archangels said. I wanted to talk to John about it first. Apparently the poltergeist's continuing existence is the main reason John is still here. He has to help destroy it so he can...m-move on."

John put his arm around Becky and pulled her close. "Neither of which I have any intention of doing. So sorry guys, but I need to stay right out of the actual process of getting rid of this thing. I have no intention of moving on. I'm staying right where I am, thank you." He kissed the top of Becky's head and looked at the others, the determination evident in his eyes.

Billy nodded. "Fair enough man. I'm completely on your side...Becky is so much easier to be around since you came along."

"Excuse me? Are you suggesting I used to be an annoying pain in the butt?" Becky adopted a hurt expression, and then grinned. "Oh wait...that must also mean you're saying I'm not one anymore! Nice!"