ghost

[shesepankh]

Kindergarten teacher Renée Higgenbotham Swan (36) was killed in a car crash one mile from her residence in Phoenix, AZ, January 9, 2005. She is survived by her daughter Isabella (16). Her service will be held at -

Bella has the entire obituary pasted into a page of one of her compilation notebooks but tends not to re-read past the first lines. It's repellent. The concept of obituaries is repellent. The funeral is over. Renée's vibrant brief life has been summed up over the course of a paragraph, and is also over.

Bella pretends to sleep on the plane. Her neighbor is talkative and she doesn't want to say shut up, my mom just died, because - what if it doesn't work? What if this news doesn't have the power to bludgeon everyone else into stunned silence the way it does Bella?

Charlie collects her. Charlie hugs her. Charlie doesn't make her talk. Good wonderful understanding quiet Charlie does not say a word. He takes her home. Her room's where she left it last August.

It's raining.

Bella stays home, moving in, moping, for a day, and then she shows up at school, gray-faced and withdrawn. First class is English. Okay, whatever.

The teacher wants her to introduce herself. Bella wants to yank on the skinny end of his tie until he regrets making her.

She stands at the front of the room and says that her name is Bella Swan and she's moved here to live with her dad. The teacher makes an impatient go on gesture and she stands there for a moment before robotically saying the same thing she produced at the beginning of the year in her old school in Phoenix when they were doing go-around-the-room-and-share-facts. "I'm one of those people who actually likes Shakespeare."

He lets her sit down.

She sits.

Comments

[shesepankh]

"Bella," says Bella.

[morethanimaginary]

"Nice to meet you," says Savannah.

She shares a look with Darren.

"... 'Kay, Darren, what is it you'd like me to do? You're making a face."

[castmyown]

"Interference, please, Bella just got here and needs time to settle."

Another look is shared.

[morethanimaginary]

His sister reads him loud and clear. Trauma, got it.

"Okay, done. But you give me your English notes, that book is incomprehensible."

[castmyown]

"Sure."

Table-ward they go!

[shesepankh]

Table-ward.

Bella brought her lunch. Charlie took her out to a diner the night before but she only ate half her sandwich, so here it is, plus a banana and a cup of rice pudding.

She sort of picks at it, although she makes enough progress that she may expect to have eaten it all by the end of the lunch period.

[morethanimaginary]

They sit, notes are exchanged, and then Savannah says, "Hey, Darren, preferences on how she finds out about the why we're here thing?"

[castmyown]

"Rock paper scissors for it," he replies, retrieving lunch.

They play rock paper scissors. Darren wins with scissors. "Ha. You get it."

[morethanimaginary]

"Damn. Right, then. Before the gossip mongers show up and you get the wrong story - our mom is cray-cray, her baby-daddy is long gone, and we're happily adopted. There, that was easy. I'm getting better at this."

[shesepankh]

"...Okay."

Darren completely already volunteered to explain to people why Bella is here. Does "people" include Savannah?

[castmyown]

It does, but he's waiting for a better time to tell his sister. Savannah knows not to ask, she is not a problem. It can wait for when Bella is not present and doesn't have to hear someone say her mother is deceased.

"We got very annoyed with being interrogated," explains Darren. "So - rock paper scissors for explanation. Took people ages to shut up about it. Sometimes they still don't."

[shesepankh]

"Makes sense," says Bella. "I've pretty much been - just not saying."

[castmyown]

"Completely understandable. I'll explain if anyone asks."

[morethanimaginary]

"I'm not going to, by the way. 'Cause Darren would make a face and get huffy with me if I did," says Savannah brightly.

[shesepankh]

"That's clearly the best reason not to ask. Fraternal disapproval."

[morethanimaginary]

"Hey, you haven't seen some of his faces. He's got a mean glare. That shit's what nightmares are made of."

[castmyown]

Darren snorts. "Language. We're in school."

[morethanimaginary]

"Thanks, dad."

[shesepankh]

"How uptight are you on the subject of swearing exactly?"

[morethanimaginary]

"He mostly just likes to give me grief about it."

[shesepankh]

"Okay."

[castmyown]

"Only after that spat with your ex-friend in the hallway. Before then I just politely ignored it," challenges Darren.

[morethanimaginary]

"... Yeah, okay, some of the things I said there were pretty bad," laughs his sister. "But you love me anyway, right?"

[castmyown]

"No. Because it is definitely a thing that I can take back and not just automatic because you are my sister. You should be on your best behavior."

His words are dripping with sarcasm.

[shesepankh]

Bella smiles faintly.

Eric Yorkie, oftentime consumer of Darren's notes, swings by the table. "Hey man, can I get English, last Wednesday?" he asks. "Overnight but I'll photocopy it and give it back in the morning. New girl! Hi! I'm Eric. You're Bella Swan, right?"

"Right," confirms Bella.