Chapter 4
I still remember the very first thing Derek Duran ever said to me, all the way back in sixth grade. “Is it true you live with ghosts?”
It was only the second day of junior high, and I had already known I was going to hate it. For the first time in my life I was in classes with people I didn’t know—Ashbury has one high school and one junior high, but four smaller elementary schools scattered about town. Since kindergarten I had gone to Townley Elementary, seeing the same kids day after day for six years. I knew who the bullies were and how to stay under their radar. I knew my teachers, and they all knew me. I had a handful of friends, plus my little sister was there, too. Lisa was two grades under me, and sometimes I’d see her in the hallways when we were going to lunch, or out
