The Academy In My Head

Just Ghost Enough....

Sang walked up to Victor. "I need hand sanitizer." She said, her hands held upright much like Sean did when he washed his hands before putting on gloves.

"It's right over there." He pointed to the dispenser attached to the wall. He reached for her hand.

"No." she shook her head and stepped back. "Don't touch my hands, I haven't washed yet because I need to get sanitizer."

He scratched his head. "You didn't wash your hands while you were in the bathroom?"

Sang huffed a sigh and shook her head.

"Why not, princess?"

She sighed again, looking longingly at the hand sanitizer dispenser. "They have motion sensors in the sinks, you know?"

He tilted his head and studied her before nodding his head towards the dispenser on the wall and moved towards it as she fell in step with him. "Of course. Sinks, soap and even the paper towel dispensers in almost every bathroom are all motion activated." He agreed. "It's actually kind of cool if you think about it. Even the actual toilets..." He trailed off as Sang turned pink and he arched an eyebrow at her. "Princess, what aren't you telling me?"

She shrugged. "Nothing activates for me." She mumbled.

"Pardon?" Victor didn't quite catch what she'd said.

She pressed her lips together and glanced up, meeting his gaze for a long moment before she sighed. "Nothing activates." She finally said, clearer in tone but the blush of color on her cheeks turned a brighter shade of pink.

A lovely shade of pink on her, in Victor's mind but still, he had to think for a really long moment to actually understand what she meant. "Wait. Nothing?" He questioned. She shook her head. "Not the toilets... sinks... nothing?"

She wrinkled her nose at him. "Yeah. I guess I should just be Sang, who no matter what she wants to do in a bathroom, can't do it right..." she shrugged.

"So...." He frowned.

"Honestly, Victor. This shouldn't be so hard to understand." She scowled at him. "I have to press the button on the top of the mechanism every time to flush them. I can't get soap or water because for some reason, no matter how much I wave at them, they don't activate. Which also means that paper towels don't magically appear and let's not even talk about motion operated hand dryers because they don't work either."

"So you just hand sanitizer it when you absolutely have to." He said.

"Yes. Except usually I can manage to find an actual pump or manually operated dispenser. I'm going to need your help with this one." She gave the dispenser on the wall a critical look as if telling it she was disappointed that it also was now part of the rogue alliance of motion sensor dispensers she'd encountered today.

He smothered a laugh. "Can you just show me that it doesn't work? I mean, I believe you when you're saying they don't work. But Princess, there's just so many things about you that end up being unique to you and the others will never believe us if we don't show them."

"Mr. Blackbourne would believe us." She countered.

"True. But you know Nathan won't." He said softly. "So let's just take a little video."

"Just for us, not for posting." She warned. "You know what Mr. Blackbourne says about online for everyone things when it comes to me. Ghost bird and all that."

"I know, Princess." Victor smiled and got his phone out, filming her for several minutes as she put her hands in front of the dispenser and under, motioning to try and activate it. They both laughed when he finally moved up next to her and stuck his hand under the dispenser. They laughed harder when it immediately squirted out a generous portion of hand sanitizer. "Now we know." He said before turning off his phone and immediately offering her the sanitizer. "For you, Princess."

"Thank you, Victor." She said with an impish grin as she finally was able to sanitize her hands. "You always give me the most thoughtful gifts." She teased.

He rolled his eyes at her, snagging her hand when she was done as they went to wander the rest of the mall before meeting up with Luke and Gabriel to finish up some spring wardrobe shopping. "I'm sorry that I didn't right out believe you."

"It's okay. I guess I'm just so much of a ghost that nothing acknowledges my presence."

He pulled her close and kissed her temple. "You know you're so much more than that to us. And that will never change." She nodded slightly. "And I'll start carrying hand sanitizer in my pocket for you, we all will." He teased, making her laugh.

(Fade...)