Free A Whispered Darkness by Vanessa Barger

classes were going.” Grant said.
    “They’re all right. But it’s only the first day.”
    I slipped out of the chair and threw away my garbage. Haven’s speculative look unnerved me. This time, things were going to be different. I was determined.
    When I sat back down, Grant leaned over. “What I really want to know is what you’ve done to piss off Bryan.”
    I made a face. “He thinks I need his advice about who to hang out with.”
    Haven sighed. “In his defense, I’ve got a reputation.”
    “For what?”
    He paused. “It’s better you find that out on your own.”
    Grant grinned and looked at Haven. “Dude, I’m totally on your team.”
    Haven’s lips twitched. “Thanks. You two have tripled the size of my ‘team’ in one day.”
    The bell rang and Grant got to his feet. “We’re usually on the underdog’s side.”
    “How does the underdog usually come out, in your experience?” Haven asked.
    Grant’s gaze flicked to mine. “Jury’s still out.”

Chapter Ten
     
    Friday morning, our second week of school, I stood in the hallway with Bryan. Because I’d gotten confused the first couple of days, he decided I was incapable of remembering anything about navigating high school. I’d joked about it the first three days, but now it irritated me.
    As Bryan asked me about where I’d be after my last class, my temper snapped.
    “I’m not an idiot, Bryan. You know where I’ll be, and so do I. Now leave me alone and let me get to class.”
    I stormed off, pleased at the way his mouth dropped into an astonished “O.”
    The pleasure at surprising him faded into guilt as I took my seat in English.
    Haven sat on the other side of the room. I couldn’t really escape him in a school this small. We pulled out our books, and I bit my lip. Truth was, I had a huge crush on him. Not that I’d admit it out loud. He didn’t seem interested in more than friendship, and I wasn’t going to make the first move. I focused on the assignment Mrs. Hamilton discussed at the front of the room. A creative writing activity, based on a field trip we’d take at the beginning of next week. Permission slips came down the rows, and I stared at the location.
    Riverview Cemetery .
    “Cemetery?” I gaped.
    The girl in front of me rolled her eyes and slid the paper in her binder. “She takes a group every year, though the assignment changes each time. Mrs. Hamilton’s got a morbid side to her.”
    At least most graveyards didn’t have ghosts. Given the choice, a spirit was more likely to hang around their house or some other place of strong emotion. Cemeteries didn’t hold such connections for most of them. I hoped this would be a quiet one. I’d spent the last two weeks keeping an eye out for the ghost I’d seen in the hall. So far, he had only made one other brief appearance.
    For the rest of class, Mrs. Hamilton gave us a preliminary creative writing exercise. We had to take an event from our summer vacation and retell it as a flash fiction story, with a bit of embellishment. An educational form of the “two truths and a lie” icebreaker.
    My pen hovered over my paper. A smile I couldn’t contain slipped out. I had quite a few topics I could choose from. Should I write about my parents’ divorce? The blond who had more plastic than Mattel and aspirations to be our stepmother? We lived in a seriously creepy haunted house that gave my brother nightmares and growled at me. How would I write that one down?
    I picked the move. Toned it down so most of my story was pure fiction, but it sounded mundane enough to be reality. When I finished, I slouched back in my chair and read it over. Sometimes I wished my reality were more like the story.
    I switched with the guy beside me, marked two spelling mistakes and a comma error and proceeded to doodle on my notebook while he finished. He hovered over my paper with a pen, intent. After a few minutes, he scribbled a couple words at the bottom and handed it back with a