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Bella stays home, moving in, moping, for a day, and then she shows up at school, gray-faced and withdrawn.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]

Eric backs off, notes clutched in his hand.

Bella eats a bite of banana.

[morethanimaginary]

"Right, so," says Savannah, glancing between all parties involved. "Want me to go - gossip and spread the news since you are a pretty wallflower, Darren?"

[castmyown]

He gives her a look. "Not a wallflower, but by all means. I'd appreciate it."

[morethanimaginary]

"But you don't dispute the 'pretty' part. How big-headed of you," she says, trying to lighten the mood for Bella. "Should I tell her about the dresses?"

There are no dresses.

[castmyown]

"The nonexistent ones that you like to imagine me in where I pretend to be a pretty princess? By all means, your strange fantasies are your own."

[morethanimaginary]

She snorts. "Right, whatever. Going to go feed the gossip-zombies. Bye, nerd."

[castmyown]

"Bye."

Off she goes.

"... Well now I have to try and be a one man comedy show. Should I juggle?" he asks of Bella archly.

[shesepankh]

"Can you?" she inquires.

[castmyown]

"No. That's what would make it a comedy show."

[shesepankh]

"I will do without. But I appreciate it."

[castmyown]

"You're welcome. I'm afraid I can't sing or dance either, so - I'm really quite terrible at this."

[shesepankh]

"It's your fault for missing all those extremely comprehensive and well-designed lessons in which they teach teenaged amateurs how to comfort each other in response to delicate highly emotional situations without losing sight of the fact that everyone processes things differently. Why is your attendance so bad?"

[castmyown]

Darren snorts with laughter. "Oh, you know, I'm a slacker. Just couldn't be bothered to care about other people. I am a heartless monster. Yup."

(He is a bad liar.)

[shesepankh]

"It will serve you right when you get a D in Impromptu Counseling and have to take Remedial Decency. They will walk you through the correct use of 'please' and 'thank you' and 'you're welcome' five thousand times. Then come the standardized tests."

[castmyown]

"Oh no, not the standardized tests. Bubble in the correct letter for the action you should take in a situation. Choices between, 'Question a person incessantly' or 'Leave them alone if they seem to want you to' are so difficult, I'm doomed."

[shesepankh]

"No, no, that's clearly too advanced for you. Skip too many classes and that's what you get."

[castmyown]

"Yes, it is, I'm lucky if I pass at all, even with a D. I might have to get a tutor. 'This is how you small talk without being a twit.' Maybe Angela will help."

[shesepankh]

"Angela? I met her in gym, she wanted to know if I was okay after I got permission to sit out and do yoga and situps. She seems nice."

[castmyown]

"She is. We're study buddies, if you're looking for someone who will leave you alone when you want them to, she's a good bet."

[shesepankh]

"Being bothered by people paying attention to me isn't actually a typical problem for me. Although having to sit out of gym is. I can just about walk without falling over and breaking my nose; running is out of the question."

[castmyown]

"That sounds painful. Ow. Have you seen a doctor or something?"

[shesepankh]

"I meet the diagnostic criteria for a disorder that is basically fancy acronym speak for 'you are really clumsy and we have no earthly clue why'. Since they have no earthly idea why they can't really treat it. I tried a cane in the doctor's office once, and promptly tripped anyway and thwacked a nurse in the face with it, so that idea was abandoned; more significant interventions aren't worth the hassle. I'm fine ninety percent of the time if I don't try to run or climb trees or whatever."

[castmyown]

"Makes sense. Sorry that's a problem. Wish I could help, but unfortunately - not omnipotent. Despite notes in high school being some kind of cheat code where everyone wants to talk to you."

[shesepankh]

"Is there lots of demand, should I start offering to sell mine when I'm caught up enough?"

[castmyown]

"Maybe, but I think I'm underselling you if you sell them. It started when someone asked, I gave them notes, and it kind of spiraled from there when their friends read said notes and wanted in. Now I am Earth Science guru and the Notes Man. I mean if you do, go for it, it might get some of them to shoo from me and go to your theoretical better product. I won't complain."