When No One's Watching - Chapter Three

Chapter 3

An Outsider’s Opinion

"Hey babe." Kelly nudged Charlie awake, her head laid upon her arms with her arms upon her textbook. "You fell asleep during the quiz. Ms. Mays was plenty pissed at you." Her eyes slowly opened, remembering where she was and what she had last recalled doing, she sat bolt upright, her hair already disheveled now a mess around her facial features. "Babe, you need to learn to sleep at home, where you are supposed to. It’s lunch anyways, food will wake you up, it always does for me." Charlie glanced up, not wishing to move but to lay there forever. She could now sense the piercing but curious eyes of Ms. Mays on her back, burning into her mind, filling it with incoherent memories of formulas and test tubes. Charlie jumped to her feet, staring at her long-term friend, Kelly Davidson. Her Slipknot shirt, fit for a male form, hung loosely around her hips, not doing justice to what would be a sexy teenager. Her blonde hair flew around her face, the black tips blending into the haze of her shirt. Kelly had chosen a different venue of pants that day, even tighter black jeans, her converse barely making themselves known because of the pants’ length. Her skin pale, her eyebrows thinned and eyes small upon her face, you would never suspect an emerging lawyer under all that makeup. "Oh God Kelly, you have to convince her to let me retake it!" Charlie grabbed at Kelly’s shoulders, lowering herself to the ground as if groveling. Kelly’s face only merged into a friendly smirk. "Don’t worry babe, ten steps ahead of you. She gives you the right of late job and make up work later." Charlie usually didn’t understand a word that came from Kelly’s mouth of justice, but was thankful that it at least sounded good. Kelly sighed, grabbed Charlie’s hand, and pulled her along into the hallway with the rest of Charlie’s stuff. "Can we go now? My stomach is growling and according to health class, I’m on the point of anorexia." They made their way through the halls along with the other students to the lunchroom ten times the size of the rest of the school. Of course there had been argument after argument about that, but in the end, the people that paid the bills won it out. Her eyes still needing adjustment after being closed for so long, Charlie rested her bag beside her chair, and rolled it out to plant herself for another few minutes of sleep. After going through so many changes this year another was added for their lunch room, round roller tables that seat four roller chairs, another example of the world trying to speed up technology growth in young peoples’ minds. All the same, Charlie enjoyed it more, for now she no longer had wait for Kelly to come back from the lunch line whilst sitting at a lengthy table stuffed with hundreds of kids that had been God knows where. She yawned, now wishing that she had not been so afraid the night before to close her eyes. It would seem reasonable to say that Charlie had always had this problem with sleeping during class, but not correct. It had only started recently; ever since the first day she had suspected presence in her home, other than two abusive people known by dictionary definition as her parents. She jumped at the sound of Kelly’s overstuffed tray hitting the tabletop, not realizing how in depth she had become in her thoughts. "So, are you going to tell me or what?" Kelly mumbled through an oversized bite of roll she had undoubtedly stolen from a teacher’s tray. Because of the school’s "low budget" it was said that rolls were not affordable for all people attending Raven High, but they could still afford enough for the staff members nonetheless. "Don’t know what you’re talking about." Charlie mumbled through her sweater sleeves, her face once again shielded from the light that had seemed to grown brighter and brighter the last few days. "Something must be bothering you. I’ve never seen you like this, always so tired. Are you sleeping with some guy?" Kelly now dropped the roll from her mouth, her head tilted, her face serious but kidding all the same. "Hell no." Charlie replied, subtly, that being not the usual way the line is given. "Come on," Kelly pressured, "Remember what Mr. Brooks told you in your "private" meeting today, ‘We must always release our true feelings if we wish to feel completely free.’ So spill it." Charlie raised her head, smiling, "Were you eavesdropping again? You must not make a habit of that. What would your mother say?" Kelly smiled back, pushing the rest of the roll into her mouth, talking through chews of her food, "She’d probably tell me way to go, and it’s not eavesdropping, it’s listening in on a conversation you were not necessarily invited to listen upon." Charlie pushed her head back into her folded arms, her hair bending up with the cloth and the force of the shove. "If you didn’t realize just yet, that is the exact definition of eavesdropping." They both laughed slightly, as they always seemed to do around each other, probably being the reason why they had been friends for so long. Kelly lowered her hands and pushed her tray slightly away, now growing impatient, but more caring than anything, "You still didn’t answer my question babe. What’s going on with you?" Charlie raised her head once again, her brows furrowed, her eyes still not quite used to the choice of lighting. She sat upright, spreading out her arms as if stretching out the sleep, and then began twiddling her fingers upon the table’s surface, as she had grown used to in the last 17 years she had been alive. "Kelly, do you think it possible, or maybe, maybe just, wait." Charlie paused, closing her eyes, wanting to word the question as delicately as possible. "Do you think that ghosts just might exist?" Kelly stopped, her face now looking straight, her eyes now slits as if pondering whether Charlie’s question was genuinely serious. "Of course." She replied. "I remember this one time I was sitting playing a video game when it suddenly became freezing, but when I raised my hand above my head it was really warm. Freaky shit huh?" Kelly stopped, seeing the frustration her story had caused in her friend’s features. "Ok, what is it about ghosts that has to do with you being so lazy lately?" Charlie paused the conversation now, wondering if she had been right to begin telling Kelly anything. "Will she think I’m crazy?" She thought, her hopes silently receding, leaving her with a sense of depression, something she had suffered ever since disbelief had set in. "I think there is a ghost in my house." Charlie stated quickly, wanting to get the nerve-wrecking moment over with. Kelly pushed her fingers together and closed her eyes, obviously thinking over what she had just heard. "You think that there is a ghost in your house. Why?" Still not thinking that Kelly believed her, Charlie went into her long planned speech made in sleepless nights, "For a couple of weeks now I’ve been feeling these weird tingles, as if someone was watching me that I couldn’t see. And just the other day I felt a hand on my shoulder. It freaked me out so much I went into the fetal position, something I haven’t done in forever. What do you think?" Kelly now stared at her friend. Her face solemn, her mouth closed in a slit. She paused dramatically, and then let out her opinion, "I think you are paranoid. Babe, I’m sure it’s just the sleep talking." Charlie pushed her face once again into her arms, realizing this was the reaction she had expected the entire time. "Just ten seconds ago you were raving of your belief in ghosts, and now you tell me I’m paranoid? And if you don’t get it yet, the reason I can’t sleep is because I’m scared of what will happen if I close my eyes." Her vision filling with tears, Charlie tried to stiffen her form to stop the racking of her body as sobs began to rage in her throat. Kelly’s face now fixed with sympathy, she pried the arms of the sobbing girl away from the table and lifted her face to confront her own. "Babe, nothing is going to happen to you. You are God sent, and God doesn’t intend on anything being sent back to him until it is used for its purpose. And I believe that your purpose is still to come. And about the ghost thing, I do believe in ghosts, I’m just not sure if you’re being haunted by one." Charlie wiped at her face, embarrassed by her fears, but curious as to why her friend doubted her so. "What do you mean?" Kelly now reached for her tray again, as if memory just kicked in that she was still hungry, and for once since lunch had started, the conversation seemed to Charlie to have taken on its natural flow. "I think that ghosts are only re-sent by God to finish out what they were meant to do." Kelly began through gulps of milk. "Why would he send someone to you that was supposed to help you in the first life? Do you know of anyone that died recently that might have meant something to you, cause I sure as hell can’t recall anything babe." Charlie sighed, realizing she could not argue with her logically minded companion, for it was impossible to win against it. "Why do I just feel stupid now?" Charlie questioned her conscience, its becoming silent since the beginning of Kelly’s strange lecture of death confusing her. And although Kelly’s speech did make sense, Charlie could not shake the feeling that SHE was right. There was something in her house and still was, maybe not a ghost but someone that was hiding, or was watching her through something. "Do you think my house is bugged?" Charlie blurted without thinking of the consequences for such a "paranoia"-suggesting question. Kelly coughed her food up, obviously trying to subtly cover the laugh that merged with the food but failing. "Babe," she began, her face still stressing to smile, "You can’t honestly think that. I mean, why would anyone want to know so badly what went on in your house that they would take the time, not to mention the money it cost, to bug your home? It’s just unethical." Charlie rested her face in her hands, her elbows carving their weight into the table. What could she do but not think herself an idiot now? Everything Kelly told her was absolutely true, "Why can’t I just let it go?" Charlie criticized once again, not noticing Kelly going to dump her tray and then returning to grab her and her bag and repeatedly telling her the bell rang to go to 6^{th period. They kissed goodbye in the hallways, promising to find each other after their classes. But once the late bell tolled, and her history teacher began his lesson for that day, Charlie could not help thinking that she was right instead of Kelly for once.}