Phantoms of Fall (The Haunting Ruby Series Book 2) (27 page)

“What is it? I don’t see anything weird—your locker’s
always this messy.”

My eyes opened and I peered around her shoulder.
The noose was gone. I checked the bottom of my locker to see
if it fell but there wasn’t anything there. How could I explain
my irrational behavior?

“Uh…,” I stammered, “I thought I saw a spider in there.
A big hairy one.”

There’s the scream I was waiting for. Rachel released
a shriek that nearly deafened me and sent the locker door
flying shut again.

“God, Ruby! Why didn’t you warn me? I
hate
spiders—you know that!” She backed up into the middle of
the hallway, brushing at her arms like an army of invisible
spiders was marching its way upward. “You really need to
clean that locker out!”

I felt bad lying to her, but her reaction was hilarious
and I laughed harder than I had since Zach and I…. Just when
my mind was off of him for five whole seconds, something
happened to remind me of him.
It always came back to Zach.
Why did it always come back to Zach?
Oh, I remember now.
Because he was the most amazing boy in the universe and I
had to give him up because of some stupid ghost. Life—or do
I mean death—is so unfair.
Whichever the case may be, I
returned to miserable almost instantly.

When I got to homeroom and saw his empty seat, I
wanted to cry. Then I saw Misty sitting there with the mother
of all smirks on her face and sorrow turned to rage. I had to
get even with her—maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow,
but someday when she least expected it. Maybe once Garnet
was under control I would have time to sit and hatch my evil
plans, but for now, I was forced to sit and watch her gloat.

Rachel slid back into the seat directly beside me. “I
can sit here until Zach comes back—that’s
if
he comes back.”
Her trademark smile faded from her lips.

I was such an idiot. I was so focused on how I felt and
how Zach must be feeling about this whole mess that I never
even gave Rachel’s feelings a second thought. Her brother’s
future at Charlotte’s Grove High School hung in the balance—
she had to be worried sick about the upcoming school board
meeting to determine his fate.

“Hey, if there’s anything I can do to help him get back
into school, let me know. I feel really bad about that.”

“Thanks, but unless you want to pay off the
administrators like Misty over there, I don’t think there’s
anything anyone
can
do. We just have to wait and hope for
the best.”

I nodded in agreement. Zach was in a lot of trouble
and there wasn’t anything I could do for him. I felt so
helpless. He was in this mess because of me and I should have
been the one to get him out of it. The best thing I could do for
him was leave him alone—I had to remember that. Enough
talk about Zach.
I buried my nose in a book and left it there
until the bell rang.

I needed a way to stay awake in World History class
so I thought about Garnet. Aside from the spectral noose in
my locker this morning, I hadn’t heard from her yet today.
But I knew it was coming. I’d been out of school for a week—
more than enough time for her to gather energy and a plan to
torture me. If I only knew more about her, maybe this would
be easier. She wasn’t a popular girl and with the exception of
the one friend who always seemed to be in every picture with
her, no one in her class would remember anything about her
except for the way she died. I sighed heavily as my eyelids
drifted slowly shut. If I died right this very second, the same
would be said about me.

Suddenly, a chill entered the room. It was cool outside
but the temperature inside Mr. Tucker’s room was always at
least ten degrees warmer than it needed to be.
Until now.
She
was
here somewhere—waiting, watching.
My
eyes
darted around the room in search of her but found nothing
out of the ordinary.
No one else even seemed to notice the
drop in temperature. I was just about to chalk it up to my
imagination when the chill I felt became more centralized. It
swirled around me—unseen but definitely sensed—until it
came to rest around my neck like a vaporous scarf. Then it
began to squeeze.

Immediately, I reached for my throat in a vain effort to
wrench it away. But there wasn’t anything to pry at—it was
like I was being strangled by the very air itself.
The chill
wound its way tightly, loop after loop, until my breathing was
nothing but a choking gasp. The room had been quiet except
for the soft drone of Mr. Tucker’s voice but not anymore. The
frantic sounds of my suffocation seemed amplified, resonating
through the room and catching everyone’s attention.

“Miss Matthews, are you okay?” There was no trace of
immediacy in Mr. Tucker’s voice. As my throat closed off and
death hovered over me, he stayed as calm and unhurried as
usual.

Speaking was impossible, so I vigorously shook my
head no. The invisible noose increased the force of its grip on
me. My lungs were next to exploding and my vision began to
fade into a haze of white. My lips felt cold and I slid sideways
out of my seat and onto the floor.
Just as I was about to lose
consciousness, the pressure ceased. As my vision returned to
normal, I looked up to find Garnet standing over me with the
noose from my locker in her hands.
Then the apparition
vanished and
the only one standing next to me was
Mr.
Tucker.

“Are you okay now, Miss Matthews?” Again, the threat
of my imminent demise was barely enough to raise his pulse a
beat.

“I’m fine,” I croaked, “I choked on my gum.”

“And that, my children, is the reason why we don’t
chew gum in this classroom. Detention this afternoon, Miss
Matthews.”

What? If it weren’t for bad luck, I would have no luck
at all! Punishment for almost strangling to death in his class.
If Garnet had
him
as a teacher, I could see why she would
want to kill herself!

Fortunately, the bell rang for second period and I fled
the room with relief. English was my favorite class and Mr.
Raspatello was my favorite teacher so next period held the
promise of better things. I walked into class with a smile on
my face unaware that things were about to get worse.
Much
worse.

23. Black Raven Revealed

“So class, today we’re going to take a break from our
reading
assignments
to
talk about something
important.
Budget cuts and how they affect the advanced placement
program.” Mr. Raspatello took off his blazer and wrote one
word on the blackboard. Ideas. He underlined it three times
with his chalk and then leaned against the front of his desk
facing the class.

“Unless we can generate some interest in AP English,
this could be the last year it’s offered. The school board
doesn’t want to spend money for the extra books we use in
this class if more students don’t sign up. Frankly, we’re losing
more students
each year than AP Chemistry
and AP Bio
combined. It’s up to us—to you—to come up with some fun
ways to make this class more appealing to future students.”

Suddenly,
the room
was
buzzing
with excitement.
Ideas shot out from every direction, every one of them good.
Mr. Raspatello suggested that we narrow down our choices to
two activities per month and two long term projects that we
could work on throughout the year.
Our first choice for
October was
Frankenstein
Friday,
celebrated on
the last
Friday of the month. We decided to all read Mary Shelley’s
famous novel and then discuss which dead novelist we would
most want to reanimate and why.

Our second selection was to read Bram Stoker’s
Dracula
and write a one page essay on why we would or
wouldn’t want to be a vampire. I loved English class to begin
with, but this just made it even better. And I had to admit,
mostly, it was because of Mr. Raspatello.
He was cool and
fun—definitely the best teacher I’d ever had. He was ultrasupportive of my extracurricular writing efforts so when I
raised my hand with a suggestion, I felt sure he would be
thrilled with my idea.

“What’s your idea, Ruby?” He gave me a warm and
encouraging smile.

“Well, I was thinking it would be cool if we started our
own book club. We could choose a book together and then
meet to discuss it afterward. I was thinking it would be cool if
we called it the Black Raven Society—you know, in honor of
Edgar Allen Poe.” I relaxed back in my seat waiting for him to
sing my praises for suggesting such an awesome idea.

His face turned from a smile to a sternly disapproving
look. “No. Next idea.”

I was stunned along with the rest of the class. Usually
I wouldn’t have pushed the envelope with a teacher, but I was
comfortable with him and didn’t think he would mind.

“But why?” I protested and several other students
murmured in agreement. “We wouldn’t have to meet outside
of school hours or anything like that. We could just….”

“You can just drop it now is what you can do.” He
flipped the notebook he held in his hands down onto the desk
angrily.

I should
have
quit
while I was
ahead
but I was
confused by his sudden change in mood. I raised my hand but
he refused to call on me. So I did the stupid thing and spoke
anyway.

“I don’t understand why you think it’s a bad idea. You
could choose the book list if you wanted.”

“That’s enough, Miss Matthews. You were told to drop
it and you didn’t. Since you love Edgar Allen Poe so much,” he
said with a sneer, “you can write me a ten page essay on one
of his works and how it affected future generations of writers
in the horror genre. I expect it by Friday.”

His words stung harder than if he’d smacked me
across the face.
He was my favorite teacher, why did my
suggestion make him so mad?
I never saw him treat anyone
that way before and I certainly didn’t expect to be the first. I
fixed my eyes to my desk and didn’t look up again until I was
on my way out of the room. With one sideways glance at him
when he wasn’t looking, I saw a strange expression on his
face. I knew that look well—it was the look of someone with
something to hide.

The rest of the day was boring compared to those first
two classes. Talk to no one?
Check. Eat lunch alone?
Check.
Throw up that lunch before I even made it to my next class?
Check. The only touch of drama came in physics when Chloe
sat down next to me.

“Hey,” she said with a nervous smile as she offered me
a piece of gum.

What?
and
figure it
Did she hear about my “incident” in history
would be
a good way to get rid of
her

competition permanently? I didn’t just ignore her—I turned
the other way in my seat so there would be no mistaking the
fact that I wanted nothing to do with her.
Apparently, she
didn’t get the hint.

“I know you’re mad at me, Ruby, but I don’t know
why. If we could just talk, I’m sure we could work this all
out.”

I faced her angrily. “You
know
why and no amount of
talking in the world will ‘work this all out’. He’s all yours—
take him.”

A look of pure shock washed over her face. “If this is
about Zach, you’ve got it all wrong! I….”

It was impossible to sit there and listen to her lie to
me about not wanting Zach. “Save it, Chloe. Save your lies for
someone who will believe you.
Try them out on Zach—he
might fall for them.”

Her mouth snapped shut and she didn’t say another
word to me. It felt good to stand up for myself for once. Now
if I could only do the same with Misty.

When I got to detention, my original plan was to get
started on what I decided to call my “punishment paper” for
Mr. Raspatello. But as I wandered through the stacks trying
to decide which of Poe’s works to write about, I found myself
in
front of the shelf
housing
the yearbooks.
Without
hesitation, I pulled out the volume labeled 1989 and returned
to my table.
If Garnet was a sophomore when she died, she
would have been a freshman in 1989. Maybe, just maybe, I
could learn something new about her that could help.

I checked the index in the back to find that she was
only listed in two photos. The first was her class photo which
was on page 52. I flipped to the right page, found her name,
but when I looked at the picture I was certain that someone
had gotten it wrong.

The photo above her name was that of an overweight
girl with braces and bad acne.
She was at least seventy
pounds heavier than the photo from 1990. Don’t get me
wrong—Garnet even at her best was no beauty queen, but
this photo was wretched. The only thing that stood out to let
me know for sure that it was her was her eyes. Sad, lonely,
and
pathetic
eyes.
But haunting—just like the eyes
that
stared at me in every class for the first week of school.

I checked the other photo listed on page 140 to find
her listed as a part of the cafeteria staff. She—along with her
only friend—was a student cashier in the cafeteria.
Two
overweight girls would get teased mercilessly for something
like that. The other girl in the picture was listed as Stephanie
Morgan. Curious, I checked the index to find a picture of the
Black Raven Society but found no mention of it at all.

I would have to wait until I got home to check the
1990 yearbook, but I pulled out 1991 to see what I could
uncover about the Black Raven Society.
Again, nothing.
Whatever it was, it only lasted for one year and it was quite
possibly connected to Garnet’s suicide in some way. When
detention was finally over, I left the school with a weary sigh.
It was a rough day, but I felt like I was at least a half a step
closer to solving the mystery.