Free Phantoms of Fall (The Haunting Ruby Series Book 2) by Joy Elbel Page B

slid into a chair quickly. It felt really
stupid to sit there alone staring at my food, so I decided to
pull out a book and at least pretend to be busy reading.
I
leaned under the table to retrieve one from my bag and saw a
pair of legs on the other side of the table. Skinny jeans, neon
colored socks and high top sneakers—could those legs belong
to who I thought they did? Oh, please let me be wrong!
    But of course, I wasn’t wrong. It was Creepy Girl. And
she was sitting directly across from me. Staring at me like a
psycho. She didn’t even have a tray, so no food meant she had
nothing to distract her from her current fascination. Suddenly
those tacos looked positively inedible. I didn’t care about how
rude it would look—I grabbed my stuff, gave her a nasty look
of my own and stormed away. Dumping my full tray into the
garbage, I headed to the restroom so I could just be alone.
    I hid in there until the bell rang. Physics was my next
class and even though Creepy Girl was there too, so was
Chloe. Finally, someone I could talk to.
When she motioned
for me to sit with her, I gladly accepted. Class went well since
I had someone to distract me from my silent stalker. Only two
more classes left in the day and at least Zach would be with
me in Advanced Math.
Homeroom was the last I time I saw
him and after the day I’d had, I really needed him near.
    On my way to study hall, I considered Creepy Girl.
What were the odds that she would be there, too? Pretty slim.
I mean really, there was
no way
it could happen, right?
Wrong, yet again. I tried to start reading the first book on my
English syllabus, but couldn’t get past the first few
paragraphs. I had to find out who she was and what her deal
was. Zach would be able to identify her for me and even if he
couldn’t—or wasn’t willing to—tell me why she hated me,
then I would go to Rachel.
Her behavior had to have
something to do with him—there was no other explanation.
    Now that I had a plan, I was disappointed to walk into
Advanced Math and not see a trace of her. Great. My chance
to find
out her name
was
gone
at least
until
tomorrow
morning.
I seriously had the worst luck in the world.
I
watched everyone as they walked through the door for two
reasons. One, the sight of Zach’s face was the only thing that
could possibly make this day feel like anything but a total
disaster. Two, Creepy Girl found a way to sneak up on me in
the cafeteria and I wasn’t about to let it happen again.
    Zach was the last one in the door and Mrs. West closed
the door behind him. Finally, I got to spend one class with the
person I most wanted to see and not with the one I least
wanted to see. It was an amazing feat, but I would have been
happier to see Misty than her. At least Misty didn’t follow me
around all day. Then it hit me. Was it possible that Misty paid
or even threatened this girl into scaring me all day? Could she
be so desperate to break up Zach and me that she would
resort to trying to drive me crazy?
Anyone who would stoop
to pushing
their competition into a swimming
pool was
capable of worse, right?
Instantly, I realized that Zach did
exactly the same thing to Ryan and I pushed the thought to
the back of my mind. Zach was nothing like Misty—nothing
like her at all.
    Class was infinitely boring which made freedom seem
unattainable. When the final bell rang, everyone shot out of
their seats in one synchronized mass.
The flow of traffic
heading out the door came to a screeching halt as we all
fought to get out first. In the rush, I ran headlong into Zach’s
back and dropped my pen on the floor. Chasing it through my
legs, I watched it roll backwards and come to rest at the foot
of my desk.
As I turned to pick it up, a frightening sight
loomed before me.
Creepy Girl was still seated in the desk
directly behind mine.
    When did she sneak in that I didn’t see her? She
wasn’t in the room when I got there and I watched the door
until the teacher closed it. What