June 4^th, 2006

            “Johnny, it’s nine thirty in the morning.”

            “Yup.”

            “In the middle of summer.”

            “Yup.”

            “Why am I awake?”

            Meg been awake for 15 minutes, and fully conscious for none of those minutes. The previous night, she had been introduced to Grandpa Tuesday – technically he was her great-uncle, but everyone always called him Grandpa Tuesday – and passed out on the living room couch, having been relegated there until a guest room could be made up. Knowing Johnny and his seemingly limitless supply of energy, she was surprised she hadn’t been woken up sooner. She supposed this was his way of letting her sleep in.

            “I’m taking you to school!” said Johnny, with an enthusiasm that did not match the words coming out of his mouth.

            “Oh no, please tell me you’re joking. It is way too early for this,” said Meg, rubbing her eyes.

            “Okay, we’re not actually going to school school. But we have this really cool science teacher, Mr. Dakota? He lets us use his classroom during the summer for our club.”

            “Club? What club? I thought you were taking me to meet your friends or whatever.”

            “You’ll see when we get there. You’re gonna love it, I promise. I’ve got a surprise for you, too.”

            Meg was not convinced. Johnny was the sort of person who got excited about pretty much everything and expected that everyone else was just as enthusiastic as he was. As much as Meg liked him, he was just plain impossible to keep up with. Maybe he’s chilled out a bit in these last couple years, she thought. She looked over at him with a raised eyebrow and saw his fingers drumming on the wheel, head bobbing from side to side as he sang along to an imaginary song in his head. Yeah, not likely.

***

            “Welcome to the Paranormal Research Club!” announced Johnny, throwing open the door.

            Meg hesitantly walked into the room, hands in her pockets, and looked around. “Only you could have come up with a name like that, you nerd.”

            “Eh, it was a joint effort, actually,” he replied.

            The room itself wasn’t anything special; just an ordinary classroom, and smaller than Meg had expected. Uncomfortable looking plastic chairs had been stacked one on top of the other on the sides of the classroom against walls that were covered with scientific diagrams and corny motivational posters. Fluorescent lights lined the ceiling, producing a faint buzz that was just loud enough to be irritating. The only real objects present in the room were half a dozen heavy wood tables with black tops, bolted to the floor. At one of these tables towards the back of the room, sat a boy with sandy-blonde hair, sitting straight up in one of the chairs. He looked up when Meg and Johnny entered and nodded his head in greeting.

            “Where’s Ash?” Johnny asked, pulling up a chair for himself and motioning for Meg to get one too.

            “She’s not going to be able to make it today. Sorry, bud, I just found out,” the boy replied.

            “Ah, nuts.” He turned to Meg. “I was really hoping you would get to meet everybody today. Oh well. One is better than none! This is Paul, he’s our science expert.”          

            “And the owner of all the brains in this group,” he laughed.

            Johnny shot him a conspiratorial grin before pulling his chair around him and sitting in it backwards, facing the group. “That may be true, but all of the roguish charm is mine. Now,” he said, clapping his hands together, “Who’s in charge of the meeting minutes today?”

            Paul rolled his eyes. “Johnny, I’ve told you a dozen times, we don’t have to take meeting minutes. Most of our ‘meetings’ are just us hanging out anyway. I mean, c’mon, the only reason our club exists is because Mr. Dakota likes me and lets me use his room.”

            “We really have to work on your sense of drama, Paul. How can we call ourselves the Paranormal Research Club if we don’t even have a club room? That would just be lame.”

            “Well, it’s not like we do a lot of ‘paranormal research’ either,” he argued, making air quotes with his fingers.

            “That, my friend, is all about to change,” Johnny said dramatically. “Now that we have a new member, our ghost hunting can begin in earnest.”

            Throughout this conversation, Meg had been slowly shrinking back into her chair, trying to make herself as unnoticeable as possible, but at the mention of a ‘new member’ she could feel two pairs of eyes swivel over to look at her at the corner of the table. “Uhhh…what?” He can’t possibly be serious about this.

            “You betcha. We have four people now. That’s perfect for a ghost hunting crew!” He clapped her on the shoulder. “This was the surprise I was talking about, by the way. Now, as for the details—”

            “Johnny!” she hissed. “Isn’t this a little sudden?”

            “Eh, don’t worry about it,” he said, waving her off.

             Meg stood up, interrupting her cousin and shooting a death glare in his direction. The chair scraped behind her loudly. The two boys looked up at her. They seemed surprised at her sudden outburst. “That’s enough, Johnny. I let you drag me all the way out here, and I didn’t put up a fuss about it, but you can’t just keep forcing me into shit like this without asking me.” She turned around and started stalking towards the exit before realizing that she had probably just made a complete idiot out of herself. She turned her head back to them, face turning pink. “I’ll…be waiting outside so, uh, just take your time or…” She let her voice trail off before walking away as quickly as she could manage without sprinting.

            Closing the classroom door behind her, she leaned her back against the cold concrete wall and started taking deep breaths. She was so frustrated it was all she could do not to pound her fists against the wall. They might hear her, though, and she had already embarrassed herself enough. She could hear them talking to each other through the wall, but not enough to be able to make out what they were saying. Damn it, she thought. Why am I so angry about this? It wasn’t their fault. They just wanted to include me. It didn’t matter. Not really. Even if she had agreed to go along with whatever they were planning… She knew all too well how everyone back in Philadelphia had treated her. Why should the people here be any different?

            Meg and Johnny rode in uncomfortable silence the whole way home. He kept looking over at her and opening his mouth like he wanted to say something, but she refused to meet his eyes. When they finally arrived back home, she ran ahead of him and grabbed his arm before he could walk inside. He looked down at her and she realized that she had no idea what she was planning to say. “I’m sorry!” she blurted out, still looking at the ground. “I mean, I know you mean well, but not everyone can just go with the flow like you can and, well…” She rubbed the back of her head nervously. “I really wish you would just tell me about the things you plan before you just decide to throw me into them!”

            She raised one hesitant eye upwards and, to her surprise, Johnny was actually smiling. “You know, you’d be surprised how many times I’ve heard those exact words.” He laughed softly to himself. “It’s cool, Meg. I do tend to get a little ahead of myself sometimes, you’re right.”

            “So we’re still good?” asked Meg.

            “No worries on that count. It’s going to take a hell of a lot more than that if you wanna get rid of me. And don’t worry, Paul wasn’t upset either. He knows better than anyone how I can be. Look, I know you aren’t the most outgoing of people, so you don’t have to come with us tonight if you don’t want.”

            Meg paused to think about that. She could still hear a nagging voice inside, asking what the point was. Whether it’s sooner or later, eventually they’ll drive you away, it seemed to say. In the past, that voice had always been right. There was no reason to believe that the coming months would change anything about who she was. But maybe…maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to ignore it, just for one day. “You go on without me tonight,” she said. “But maybe next time we can have a fresh start.”

            He grinned. “You got it,” he said, turning back to go inside. He opened the front door to find himself face to face with Grandpa Tuesday. Elevated as he was standing inside the house, his head came almost level with Johnny’s neck. Balding and liver-spotted, with a hunched over posture and squinting eyes that seemed to appraise everything in sight, he was the sort of man that most would look on in pity. Those who didn’t know him, that is. Despite his age, he retained his sharp wit and was always one to speak his mind, no matter the situation. He had always reminded Meg of the old sensei from kung fu movies who were always mean and crotchety towards their pupils, but deep down really cared for them.

            He stood in front of the two of them, looking up at Johnny’s startled face. “What a happy coincidence,” he said. “I was just about to go out looking for you two, but I see you’ve saved me the trouble.”

            Johnny rolled his eyes. “You know I have a phone, Gramps. You could have just called.”

            “You never pick up, boy, and you know it,” he scolded. “Besides, this is too important for phone calls. Cancel any plans you have. You’re both under house arrest, indefinitely.”

            “What?! Why?”

            “There’s been a murder. A young man who lives not too far from here. Until I’m sure it’s safe, the two of you aren’t going anywhere.”