The Girl

Chapter 1: Jason Burrow - The New Girl

I walked out of the teachers’ office. I sat there for almost half an hour, listening to the teacher’s preach about irresponsible behavior I did in the class and how that would affect my future, my bright future – he clearly said. I didn’t get it, I just fell asleep during the class, not more than five minutes. Okay perhaps ten minutes of sleep, I admitted.

Many of my friends did it too. It wasn't like I was alone in the guilty department but I couldn’t blame them because he’s just a plain boring teacher. He just talked and talked and kept on talking in the same tone throughout the class. I guessed that none of them screamed in their sleep like I did this morning. It was totally stupid, I know. I paid my due and now I’m late for my next class. I will have to explain why I’m late, by telling her where I’d been and exposing what I did.

Arrrrgggghh! - I couldn’t bear the embarrassment.

I saw someone walking past me, and I guessed she’s late too. Suddenly I felt goosebumps on my neck; I turned around and saw her walking with her eyes gazing back into mine.

Her small heart-shaped face fascinates me. Her face was exotic - she had a little bit of Asian features and perhaps a little mixture of European. The eyes were green as a forest but so strong and deep, bottomless like the ocean. Her wavy long hair framed her face perfectly - I thought - and so contrasted to her pure pale skin.

I saw her entering my classroom. I looked up at my watch. Shoot! I’ve been 20 minutes late. I paced a little bit faster, followed her into the classroom.

“Nice of you to finally join us, Mr. Burrow,”  Ms. Clairmont said, as I entered the classroom in her Frenchie accent – and she’s not even French. 

Some said that she spent almost 10 years in Paris studying art, but that didn’t justify her Frenchness, she’s more French than any French people I know and the truth was I know none.

“I’m sorry I was late Ms. Clairmont.” I was beginning to explain the reason, which I’ve been practicing outside.

“I know…I know,” Ms. Clairmont interrupted before I could finish my sentence. “I overheard it back in the office,” she glanced at me. “That’s so irresponsible of you, Mr. Burrow but I guess I knew why you’d fallen asleep,” she winked at me and smiled.

It’s no secret that between Mr. Dottier - the plain boring teacher - and Ms. Clairmont, never shared any agreement. She’s the opposite of him; so lively, so talkative, and when I said talkative, I meant really talking actively.

“Take your seat,” she pointed to the empty seat on the second row in front of her. “Okay, where were we before Mr. Burrow interrupted us? Oh yeah, let’s give the new student a chance to introduce herself.”

Now, I could see her. The heart-shaped face girl dully stood in front of the class.

She wore a knee-length dark green blouse under her black cardigan. Matches her eyes, I thought. Her expression was calm, not fidgeting as a normal new student would be. She looked straight at the other students with confidence, not even once she tried to avoid their curious stares.

“My name is Rae Sameera Manor,” she said. 

Her name was so exotic, just like her face. Not quite a mouthful but so rarely used. In fact, she’s the only one I know - or just know - with that name.

“Where were you before San Rafael, Ms. Manor?”  Ms. Clairmont asked.

“It’s Manor.” The new girl corrected Ms. Clairmont. 

Very brave of her, I must give her that credit – I thought. 

“Not Manor as in manor - the house - but Manor; Ma as in the city Lima and nor as in the word nor,” she stared deeply at the teacher. “I was from San Angeles.”

A big-city girl, I thought. Well, It’s not like San Rafael was a small town. We’re also big and one of the old cities in the country. However, San Angeles is known as a big vibrant city, where almost all the rich and famous reside.

“We just moved here a week ago,” she answered.

“You said your name is Sameera? Just like that famous medium, Radne Sameera?” Ms. Clairmont asked. 

It’s also not a secret about her fascination with something freaky like that.

“She’s my mother.”  The new girl said and still with that deep meaning stare.

“Really?!”  Ms. Clairmont squealed, expressing her enthusiasm.

“So I better sit next to you during the next test, you can predict the answer,” one of the girls - Claire Jarred – scoffed and the entire class laughed except for Ms. Clairmont, the new girl, and me of course.

“I know the answer because I study, not because I foresee,” she mocked back.

Feisty, I thought. This was a girl who’s not afraid to get even. I smiled with respect.

“All right, all right,”  Ms. Clairmont said while her hands were waving in the air, a gesture that made the students silent once again. “Her mother is the real deal, I saw her helping the police once on the TV,” she defended her. “Take your seat Ms. Manor so we can start the class.”

She took the seat next to the window, in the first row. When she’s walking across the classroom toward her seat, she glanced at me again as she did before in the hallway. My heart suddenly flopped, dropping down to my gut. 

From then on the class went over like usual, but I couldn’t take my eyes off of her. I secretly looked in her direction, over and over again, every two minutes.

Do you like her? - Another voice echoed in my head. 

Arrrrgghhh! Not again!

There’s something you should know about me. About three months ago, I started to hear this voice. First I thought it’s just my conscience. However, the weird part was that this voice wasn’t echoing my thought. It’s like this voice had its own thought.

Then I started researching what all these about and I read this book about multiple personalities. The descriptions were quite fit my case but I couldn’t confide in it, it’s just dumb. I’m a healthy 16 years old boy, who’s at the peak of his life – and not to mention hormones. I couldn’t just go see a doctor; I might end up in a mental ward or might become a new research subject. So I ignored it, hoping that someday it might go away. Anyhow, the voice stayed and it started to badly irritate me.

Just imagined that you argued with yourself out loud. Even when you sleep, you still could hear him saying things and whining over things. Didn’t it bother you? Well for me it was. It’s even the reason why I screamed in my sleep this morning.

I was asleep in the class, I was happily dreaming about saving my team at this one big football match. Yes, I’m on the football team - in fact, I’m the quarterback. 

My coach thought that I'm a genius but I don’t consider myself that way, I played because I love playing football and if there were people who noticed how I played it well, I’m happy about it. Some scouts already approached me in my sophomore year, offering me scholarships to Ivy League universities so that I could play on their university team. Once again, I’m happy that people took notice of me but I wouldn’t let myself play football for the rest of my life, I have another dream that I wanted to pursue.  

So to continue my sleep incident this morning. When I was deeply dreaming, this voice suddenly screamed so loud in my head and so I screamed back, jumped off my seat, and stupidly landed on the floor. To make things worse, the voice was laughing at me. That’s so ironic.  

Anyway, back to the class. I was still secretly looking at her. She’s concentrating on the subject, which wasn’t that interesting - the 2nd World War Art.

The bell rang for our lunch break. The students swarmed out to the cafeteria. It’s a social time like in any normal high school in this country. I took one last look at Rae - I even started calling her name in my mind. She’s still putting her books back into her bag.

 “Jazz, you’re coming?” Oliver - One of my football mates - was calling me by the door. I nodded and joined them.

We’re talking about football - like always - when she walked across my table lunch. She was holding a lunch tray, looking over for a space to sit.

“Guess you didn’t foresee the menu?” one of the girls said to her. A member of the cheerleader team and Claire was sitting among them, I bet she’d told her friend about Rae. They were giggling. Rae just smiled at them and started to walk again.

She chose the empty table under the tree - quite far from the crowd. She sat there alone. She took a book out of her bag and started to eat her lunch while reading.

I noticed that her mouth was moving as if she’s reading out loud - I guessed she liked it that way. However, sometimes  I saw that she’s looking at her side and still talking as if she’s talking to someone. There’s no one there but her. This got interesting every second.

A petite dark hair girl was closing by to her table. They shared the same heart-shaped face. 

“That’s the new sophomore, she’s very cute,”  Oliver said to me, pointing to the other new girl. “Her sister is the new girl in our class, she’s different from her.”

The younger girl wasn’t alone like her big sister. She’s already found her crowd and they’re waiting for her a few feet away. She waived at Rae and walked away, joining her new group.

“What’s her name again?” Oliver asked.

“Hmm? Which one?” I looked at Oli's face. 

“The older sister. The one in our class.”

“Rae,” I said and disbelief at myself that I said it right away; this could create an indication that I might have interest over her around my friend, which I have to admit that there’s this tiny mini interest. “Rae something, I honestly don’t remember,” I lied. I did remember her name even how to pronounce it right. Rae Sameera Manor.

“Yeah, it’s a very odd name,” Oliver said and shoved the burger into his mouth. I stared at my lunch tray, trying to secretly look at her, undetected. She’s still reading her book out loud - or that’s what I thought.

“We have to practice our new move Jazz! Try to gather the team and discuss this plan with the coach.”

“Yeah okay, let’s do that,” I rose from my seat. “I’m heading to the gym.”

I took the long route to the gym, so I could cross her table. I was fighting with myself not to look in her direction. I kept my pace constant and looked ahead.

She’s looking at you, the voice said in my head.

I felt the notch in my stomach and my heart was fluttering.

“Really? She’s looking at me?” I asked, whispering back to my other personality - or so I thought.

Yep, her eyes are following you, it said again.

I looked at her by reflex. She’s looking at me alright. I awkwardly smiled at her, which maybe took her by surprise - it’s shown in her expression. She smiled back at me, hesitantly.

Just by this little gesture, my heart flopped again. I almost ran to her table. Fortunately, she stood up and walked away from the table. I breathed in relief. It would be gawky if I came to her just because she smiled back at me.

I was already in my gym suit when Mrs. Reed - my gym teacher - entered the room. She’s our gym teacher, very athletic and muscular built. It's said that she used to be a star athlete in tennis, it sort of explained her strong biceps and deadly backhand. She’s not my favorite teacher but she’s okay, not dead boring like Mr. Dottier for example. She’s wearing a white sweatshirt under her sports jacket and blue training pants, which match the color of her jacket – so much for fashion sport.

“Gather up boys and girls!” She said and the whistle’s blow filling the room – her favorite media to overcome teen anti-excitement over her class. Like the herd in the savannah, we followed her order.

“You!” She’s pointing at Rae. “Why are you not wearing exercise clothes?” 

All eyes were on Rae.

“I’m a new student. I just got my schedule this morning.”

“Today we’ll be practicing gymnastics,” disagreements suddenly came from the rest of the class. “And this will be your final test for this semester!” she said one octave higher to overcome the reaction. “I’ll lend you a gym uniform, don’t be so choosy because I don’t have it in the latest new collection,” Mrs. Reed was headed to the locker room, followed by Rae.

“Boys to the ring, and girls to the gymnastics mat!” She said without even looking back at us.

A few minutes later, Rae came out wearing an oversized shirt and black short sports pants. Her long black hair was tied back in pony style. She joined the girl’s group back.

Mrs. Reed called the girls’ names one by one to the floor. They had to perform the flip, it involved running at high speed and doing the flip in the air at the right time otherwise you might fall and break your arms. Many had failed but not that they broke their arms, but because they stopped before doing the flip. You have to use your speed to be the momentum to do the flip. Claire succeeded to perform it, the advantage of being a cheerleader, they’re all about gymnastics.

“Rae! It’s your turn.” Mrs. Reed called.

My body stiffened when I heard her name. I suddenly stood there doing nothing but watching her.

“Do you see yourself getting hurt?” Claire mocked her again.

It’s so nasty of her, mocking Rae like that. I didn’t like that, I never like that part of her. I even expressed my dislike clearly to her back then when we’re dating. Yep, she’s my ex. You know, the long tradition of an athlete and a cheerleader dating each other but we broke up a couple of months ago. I’m now single and looking.

Rae was standing on the edge of the floor mattress. She’s working on her breathing by closing her eyes, calming her nerves. When she opened her eyes, she’s determined and focused. She ran to the center of the floor with long steps and constant speed - I was holding my breath. Her arms were up in the air when she did a little jump before touching the floor and flip. Once. Twice. She did two flips instead of one, it’s more than Mrs. Reed expected. The room was astounded.

My fists were hardened, I was so excited. I almost jumped and shouted my amazement - but I didn’t. It’s strange enough to feel the rush, moreover, let people know about it.

“Have you done this before?” Mrs. Reed asked Rae when she sat down among the girls.

“Yes, when I was a Sophomore in my old school.”

“It’s impressive, but still you have to do the test.” Even though Mrs. Reed said those things, she couldn’t hide her astonishment.

“Okay class, wrap it up! To the shower.” The whistle blew and once again, like the herd, we’re heading to the shower.

I still couldn’t erase the picture of Rae’s graceful stunt in the gym. I repeated it in my mind over and over again. 

You’re the last person in the locker room, the voice said. To my surprise, it’s true.

“Am I?” I looked around. It’s empty.

I quickly put on my clothes and took my bag out of the locker. I ran to the door, heading to my last class of the day – Chemistry - when I heard someone was talking inside the girl’s locker room.

“Be patient, I’m looking for it.” Someone said from the girl’s locker room.

Someone is bending down on the floor, looking at the bottom of the locker cabinet.

“Can you tell me again how you drop it and where?” She said, but no one was there. The girl stood up. It’s Rae. I was puzzled by her, wondering why she’s doing there alone and with whom she’s talking.

“So you accidentally ripped it off here,” she walked towards the locker a few feet in front of her. “And then it fell and rolled to that direction,” she’s pointing under the sink across her. “When you walked to get it, you slipped and fell. You fell hard on the head and…yeah I know.”

My heart flopped again; this time wasn’t because she smiled at me but because I knew the whole incident she described just now.

Three years ago, a Junior student was found dead in the girl’s locker room. The police said that it’s an accident. She fell over and her head rammed onto the floor, her skull fractured then she died within a second. It’s said, after that incident you could hear the locker was moving by itself. Some said that the ghost of the girl returned to the scene where she died and haunted the place.

Rae was now bending under the sink. Her arm was inside a gutter on the corner of the room. She pulled out something, it’s long and golden.

“I found it!” She excitedly said. A golden necklace hung loosely from her hand. She got up and cleaned the dirt on her knees.

“You want me to put it on your grave?” She asked, looking at a space in front of her. “You want me to give it to your little sister? Okay then just give me your address and I’ll send it. What? No? You want me to talk to her?” Her tone pitched an octave. “What should I say to her…Hmm sorry, but your sister told me where to look for this and she wanted me to give it to you. What? Yes, I’ve been talking to your sister’s ghost,” she’s acting a scene.

One word she said, sent an electric pulse in my veins. I felt goosebumps all over my body. The word of ghost. I almost fainted, my arms were paralyzed and so my bag jumped freely to the floor, making a big noise. She jumped by surprise and looked at me. She put the necklace inside her pocket and hurriedly walked past me to the door.

“Hi, Rae!” I said, jittery, pretending that I didn’t overhear her ghostly conversation.

She’s a freak, the voice said.

She turned around and glared with anger. “I’m not a freak!” she uttered a shout.

I was stunned. 

“I’m not saying you’re a freak,” I barely moved my lips and said. ”But my other personality did.”

Yes. My other personality did, so-called my other bizarre conscience. It said that she’s a freak. Yet, she could hear it. So it’s not just me. Perhaps all this time I was wrong, it’s not another personality but more like a ghostly whisper.

She closed her mouth with both of her hands. She looked at me awkwardly, like she had said something wrong. She turned around and started to run away from me. I caught her hand to stop her.

“Rae, you can hear him?” She was staring on the floor, refusing to look into my eyes. “Was it just a voice or you can see someone else besides us now?” I asked slowly.

“I’m late for my class.” She forcedly let go of her hand from my grip.  This time she was faster than me. She’s gone, left me behind.

I tried to catch her up but she beat me. She already entered the classroom, fortunately, we’re in the same class again but unfortunately, she joined another group lab, so I couldn’t talk to her.

I’ll wait until the class ends and force her to answer my question before. I wasn’t secretly looking at her like I did hours before, now I openly looked at her. She knew that I watched her. She’s avoiding my stare by pulling the book so close to her face to hide. She’s fidgeting, not confident and calm as she used to.

The time passed so slowly, this was the sixth time I looked up my watch again. She did the same thing. It’s five minutes before the class ended, I secretly cleaned up my books - stuffed them into my bag.

When the bell rang, I quickly jumped from my seat and came toward her. Oliver caught my hand and reminded me that we have to practice this afternoon. I was distracted. I looked at her again and she’s already gone - darted away like a speeding bullet and missing into the waves of students outside the class.

I was so angry with her. I’ll find her and I will.

By then, I saw something silvery on the table where she sat. I picked it up and knew that this was my ticket to find her.