Chapter 30: Ghost Couples Haunt Inside People's Cars

"How's Ohio?" Mom asked Hestia.

The entire family was settled around the dining table for dinner. My older sister had come home for spring break. In the mess I had gotten into, I was sure she could help me out a lot in the upcoming two weeks of her stay.

"Amazing as usual," Hestia replied unenthusiastically. "It's so humid there . . . I can't wait to move to Canada." All of us chuckled. She always desired to move to Canada for colder weather. "Speaking of moving, where's Helen going? Did you hear back from Princeton?" She turned to us for answers.

Mom, dad, and I feigned upset expressions.

"They rejected--" I started gloomily.

"I don't believe you," Hestia said, putting down her fork. "You literally stayed cooped up in your room the entire four years of high for school for that college. If they rejected you, then there was some typo."

I couldn't help but grin.

"Why don't you ever hear me out?" I asked. "I was going to say that they rejected many people . . . except me. Also, they accepted me with a partial scholarship."

She rapidly blinked at me before breaking out into a huge smile. "I knew it! They couldn't! Enjoy New Jersey."

"Bet it's better than Ohio," I teased.

She didn't say anything which indirectly assured me I was going to a better state. Not wanting to gloat anymore about Princeton, I changed the subject to the latest politics. Naturally, the Presidential campaigning and elections was quite the conversation starter.

We finished dinner with the people we were voting for.

Because the journey was long and my sister deserved rest, I didn't drag Hestia to my room to converse regarding my boy troubles. Instead I patiently waited.

The next morning, I attended school as I had been for the last four years without Nolan's interference in my life. When I came back, I was astonished to locate a police car in my driveway. For a moment, I contemplated turning around and going back to school. Too bad, Mom, Hestia, and an officer came out of my house at the same time.

"There she is," Mom said, sounding relieved.

Nervously, I approached the people. "Anything wrong?" I asked, my heart pounding. We've never met police officers in real life--never even for a traffic ticket!

"We found a few burned photos in the car you got in a car accident in," the officer said. My eyes flew wide as he held up torn and burned photos. I had put those in my backpack, which was with me during the car accident with Chase. Although many of my books and binders were saved, I had neglected the hidden blackmailing photos Nolan used to blackmail me.

Oh no.

I should have burned the photos when I had the chance! I thought they were gone!

"What?" I asked in a tiny voice.

Did any of them show my face clearly?

"These are of someone vandalizing your school principal's house. We found them with the destroyed parts of your bookbag. Anything you want to share?" The male officer expectantly waited for an answer. I glanced at the three pictures in his hands, none of which had a clear shot of my face.

Nolan wasn't kidding when he said he had just started photography in the summer.

What an awful photoshoot!

Mom crossed her arms, seeming unbothered. She didn't think I'd be the culprit behind the vandalism that occurred two months ago. On the contrary, Hestia fidgeted often. She knew.

"I have no clue where those are from," I replied as calmly as possible. "Maybe from Nolan's bookbag . . . ?" He held my gaze for a few moments and I did nothing to make myself look suspicious. At the end, the officer bid a good day and left.

Let's hope Nolan doesn't sell me out.

He can't.

The proof was pretty much gone.

"These policemen always target the innocent school children," Mom said, shaking her head. "Do they really expect someone with a clean record and someone accepted by Princeton breaking laws? Absolutely ridiculous!" She had so much faith in me. I felt completely guilty. "C'mon, girls. Let's eat something."

Mom headed inside while my sister and I fell behind.

"Was that you in the pictures?" Hestia asked in a hushed tone. Tiredly, I nodded. She covered her lips with her fingers before asking, "Who took the photos?" Not wanting to get into a deeper mess by bringing up my "ex-boyfriend's" name, I shrugged,feigning ignorance. "I hope this case doesn't reopen. It'll get you kicked out of Princeton." No dip Sherlock. "I told you guys not to do it!"

"Well, what's done is done. Don't bother starting a lecture," I said.

She blinked at me in surprise.

I hardly ever snapped at her.

Entirely upset at how my life had turned out since the egging incident, I went straight to my room and started on homework. Hestia attempted a light conversation, but I didn't contribute anything.

¤》¤《¤

One week later.

Often, people told me that students who don't attend co-ed school have problems when they meet the opposite gender in real life.

Nico was the pitch perfect example of that.

As I stood with him outside his school waiting for his friends and Nolan (hopefully, he'd come with him), Nico grinned, observing me.

"What?" I asked irritated.

Leaning forward, he said, "I feel like a library card, since I've been totally checking you out."

"I suppose you didn't notice that I'm like a best seller? Currently unavailable." His pickup lines pissed me off sometimes--all the time. In fact, it was probably his timing that was wrong.

Nolan was approaching us, busy chatting and smoking with Nico's buddies.

I wished he'd drop that ugly habit.

His injuries were lightening, but I could still see traces of red and purple on his face. Having pale epidermis was a curse for some people.

"What do you see in him?" Nico asked.

"My first screwed up relationship."

And I wanted it back . . . or at least repaired.

"What's up, guys?" Kenneth, the tallest one, said. I noticed a lack of Grayson's presence, but then remembered Nico informing about him being sick.

Nolan's eyes fell on me and he suddenly turned stiff. Hopefully, Nico passed on the message to the guys to maintain a plan where Nolan didn't know I was the reason why they included him in their group. Furthermore, Nico and I were pretending to be interested in each other after hitting off the first time we met. Affording another fake relationship exceeded my budget limits.

Thankfully, Nico's friends believed we had something going but nothing official.

From Nolan's expression, I couldn't decipher whether or not he was jealous.

Did he even care about me anymore?

"So, are we going to that festival thing Nico was talking about or not?" Max asked and turned the aforementioned guy. "You promised lots of good food."

Nico chuckled. "Of course. Let's go." Today was the day we scheduled to visit the Amish village. No one except Nico and I knew. If Nolan and I were seen there by the wrong people, we'd land in heaps of trouble. Everyone shuffled inside the car fighting for the seat next to the driver's. "My lady's sitting next to me. The rest of you squeeze yourselves in the back, alright?"

I clenched my fists and took the front seat.

Earlier, I made it clear to him I wanted to be seated next to Nolan!

Nevertheless, the ride began and almost halfway through, we had to make a stop.

"Dude, both of you messed up the side of my car!" Nico whined.

"Nature's call!" I said defensively.

"Exactly," Max agreed. "Vomiting's as natural as farting, burping, and peeing!"

I was glad to not be the only one who threw up halfway.

"Here." Nolan tossed me and then Max a water bottle. I mumbled a thanks which received me hardly a single glance from him. On the way, I noticed him sneaking glances at me in the front mirror. Now, he couldn't even look me in the eye?

Vision problems, probably.

The ride continued and as we neared the Amish village, I heard Nolan wonder, "Where are we going, Nico?"

"Some Amish community celebration. My uncle suggested me attending with my friends," Nico smoothly replied. He pulled into a busy parking lot. I pretended to be ignorant of the plans and turned to Nolan.

"I'll stay here," my ex said.

"Oh come on, dude. Let's go. People might take you for a creepy stalker or some pedophile," Max said. Nico, Kenneth, and I snickered, stepping out. Max managed to drag Nolan outside. "I even heard the spirits of the dead roam around parking lots."

"Why parking lots?" Nolan asked.

"Because parking lots are basically dead ends," Kenneth joked.

I rolled my eyes but still cracked a grin.

"True." Nico shook his head. "And ghost couples haunt inside people's cars." All of us frowned at him, not understanding. "Anyone know why?" he asked smugly.

"Because they have unfinished business," Max said dryly. "That's your only ghost joke."

Kenneth and I laughed a little. Especially at Nico who was irritated at Max for ruining his joke.

"Let's see how funny joking about the dead is after your deaths," Nolan said

He killed the mood..

Striding past us towards the crowd of people, Nolan earned some annoyed friends. He behaved as if the guys had somehow offended him with the harmless joking.

"Sometimes, I want to bury him alive," Kenneth muttered.

"He's just hating life right now. He'll get better, don't worry. Let's get going," Nico assured. His friends shrugged and continued. I met Nico's eyes and couldn't help but be grateful.

I mouthed, thank you.

He winked.

We followed in Nolan's tracks. He was sitting by the area full of baby chickens put on display and out for people to hold and play with. I picked up one and instantly dropped it, feeling surprised by its pointy feet.

"You're never picking up our first child," Nico said, joining my side.

Was he serious? Nolan sat not even two feet away from us and this guy was talking about "our first child." I didn't want him to think I was over him! Not completely, anyways. Well, I wanted to create enough aggravation to hear him

I leaned closer to him and whispered, "Say something like that again and you won't ever have a child!"

"Can't you, for one second, pretend you actually like me?" I pretended to think about it before complying. I had to do something too to make his friends believe I belonged to the group. Nico held up a baby chick and rubbed his cheek against the yellow fur. My nose wrinkled at the sight. "Feel it's soft fur," he insisted.

"You can't leave any chicks alone, can you?" I asked and bit my lip to prevent a smile.

My words brought a crooked grin to his face. "No, I cannot." He held it up and brushed the soft creature against my cheek. From the corner of my eyes, I saw Nolan glaring at us. Things were running smoothly.

Nico and I hung out with the chickens for a little while, playing around, having fun, and making Nolan fume with anger and jealousy until his friends dragged us towards a buggy ride.

I didn't even reach the buggy when my wrist was grasped and someone jerked me behind a building. My back hit against the wall and I winced in pain. In the faint sunlight, my eyes met a familiar pair of light green ones. Nolan's face was a few inches away from mine and I couldn't help but feel a bit apprehensive. He uttered not a single word for a few minutes. One of his icy hands held my wrist against the wall and the one rested directly on the wall aligned with my neck.

"What do you want?" I demanded.

Instead of giving me a straight answer, he crashed his lips against mine.

¤》¤《¤

A/N

I'll try to be better with my update schedule. For the last two weeks, I've been paranoid about my work being stolen, hence the lack of updating. I updated today cuz its my brother's bday and Cinco de Mayo. Next update will be on . . . maybe tomorrow. (Haha its 11:13pm for me right now though/Thursday).

How was the chapter?

Any questions, comments, concerns, or complaints?

Think Nolan was jealous?

Do you like Nico? The boy never gives up.

Btw, there was a subtle hint in the chapter regarding the eighth breakup ;)

Please, vote, comment, and/or share! Love ya guys so much (No, I'm not lying.)