Haunted

But she didn’t really want to split. She had been in love with Hunter since ninth grade. They had shared the years since. Very long, good years, or so it had seemed.

In the end, Hunter did call her. He was so sorry. He’d ruined everything, but he couldn’t get out of going to their prom with Cindy Lee.

She accepted his apology with a maturity her mother assured her was beyond her years. And it was her mother who suggested that she ask her friend, Josh.

“Josh!” she’d said with surprise.

But it was only momentary. Josh was a loner. He was a genius with computers, math, and science. He was painfully shy himself, but delighted when she wanted to try out a song, a dance move, or a monologue on him. They had lived down the street from one another in their rather rural area for years, and had long ago become friends. They didn’t run in the same social circles, but Darcy had steadfastly maintained her friendship with him, no matter what anyone else thought. Over the years, some of her friends had accepted him.

And amazingly, Josh had been able to warn her about many of the pratfalls she might have encountered in life. Go with Hunter tonight for ice cream, he had urged her once. Don’t let him go alone. And she had done so, and Cindy Lee had been there, flirting with Hunter, until she had realized that Darcy was with him. There were other things. He’d made her stop her father from driving to the store one day when it turned out that his brakes were bad. Both her folks listened to Josh. She had learned to do so, too.

Other people, she knew, were frightened by some of his predictions. He had known when Mrs. Shumacher down the street was about to die of cancer. He had known when Brad Taylor was going to break his leg during a football game. A lot of the kids called him a freak. But despite her little spat with Hunter, she had always held her own in school. She could bring Josh to the prom, and he’d be accepted, because he’d be with her. Oh, they’d talk about her—and him—behind their backs, but what did she care? Hunter had already hurt her just about as badly as she could be hurt; she was cut right to her eighteen-year-old heart.

And besides, the whole high school thing was over. A new life was about to begin.

Josh hemmed and hawed at first, skeptical. “Darcy, I’ll just look like the geek you dressed up and brought along.”

But she’d laughed and assured him, “Josh, honestly, you’re a good-looking guy. Tall, lean, great eyes, and if you don’t mind, we’ll shop together. But if you’d feel uncomfortable, we won’t go. We’ll just see a movie or something that night. I mean, if you’re willing to keep me company.”

He’d smiled at that. “I’d rather be in your company than anyone else’s, that’s for sure. But you don’t have to take me. Half the school would go with you.”

“That’s doubtful and it doesn’t matter. If you don’t want to go, I don’t want to go.”

At that, Josh had given her a strange smile. “If you want to go to the prom with the class nerd, lady, I wouldn’t dream of stopping you.”

To her amazement, the planning was fun. Although he usually dressed like a couch potato himself, Josh had a good eye for clothes. Hand in hand they went shopping together. They ran into a number of her friends at the mall, and she was delighted to see their eyes widen at first, and then seem to focus more deeply on Josh. He was able to help Cissy Miller with a math problem she’d been dragging around for days, and over tacos at the food court, he found a new friend in Brenda Greeley, a really beautiful girl, and the head cheerleader.

When they got back to shopping, he made Darcy try on a dress she hated on the rack, and loved once she slipped into it. It turned out that one of Josh’s computer buddies worked in the store, and he was able to give her his employee discount, so she could afford the gown. The young man’s name was Riley O’Hare, and he told Darcy he was actually in her auditorium class. She apologized sincerely for never having met him, and when they left the shop, she thoughtfully told Josh that she had never known that she could be so rude or careless herself.

“Darcy, you? Never,” he told her devoutly. “Rude and careless is when you don’t acknowledge someone when they talk to you, when you can’t even lift your hand for a wave. Or when you push over a thin guy just ‘cause he’s not on the football team, or can’t really join in on a jam with a guitar. Darcy, you know that I love you, and it’s one hell of an overused term, but you’re a special kind of girl, you know?” He looked embarrassed suddenly. “Hey, come on, we’ve got to find something for me. I can’t take out a girl like you looking the way I usually do.”

So next came Josh’s turn, and when she advised him on a shirt and suit, somewhat funky and retro, he, too was delighted, thinking that he looked something like a New Age Mozart.

There was only one fly in the ointment that day.

Mike Van Dam.

He was friends with Hunter, and dating Brenda. Darcy realized later that he must have seen them in the food court, and seen Brenda talking to Josh. When they were leaving the mall, the door suddenly swung back on Josh, who was carrying the bags filled with their purchases. Mike, broad shoulders thrusting forward, was suddenly there, standing over Josh, who had wound up on the floor. “Hey, there, geek-boy, having a problem standing?” He reached a hand down, which was accepted by Josh, except that as soon as Josh was halfway up, Mike released him. Josh fell again, hard, on his tailbone.

“Mike, what the hell is the matter with you?” Darcy demanded, infuriated, reaching down to give Josh a hand herself. Mike caught her by the shoulders, spinning her around.

“What the hell is the matter with you, Darcy? Trying to make fools of us all by taking up with the riffraff, the scum of the school?”

She jerked free from him. “Mike, you idiot. What? Are you going to live in your little high school tough-guy haven for the rest of your life? Scared for your future, because football star and all, you just might not get into college, and a decade from now, you’ll still be on the couch, an armchair quarterback, while Josh is making his way up the ladder in a top law firm?”

That got him, and she knew it did. Josh was on his feet by then. Mike stared at him furiously.

“I carry mace,” Darcy warned softly.

Mike cocked his square-jawed head, blue eyes burning, cropped blond hair seeming to stand on edge. He made a clicking sound and pointed a finger at Josh. “You’re a dead man,” he told him.

Josh stared back at him, a strange smile of amusement and irony curling his lips. “Maybe. But so are you,” he said very softly.

Mike was about to go into another fit of rage. Darcy grabbed the bags and pushed Josh out the door. For a moment, they could hear Mike raging behind them. “What’s that supposed to mean, geek-boy? You’d better be careful, I’ll—”

They never heard the rest of the threat. The door had swung shut once again.

Darcy looked at Josh uneasily as she quickly led him to the car. “What was that all about? You didn’t have one of your little premonitions there, did you?”

Josh laughed and shook his head. “No, kid, no. But he doesn’t know that.”

Darcy laughed as well, delighted. Josh had probably managed to scare Mike through the next many nights.

The night of the prom came. As long as Darcy had known Josh, she barely knew his father. His mom had died when he was an infant, and his dad had almost never been around. All Josh had ever said about him was that he was the head of a company with offices in D.C., which was why he had to spend so much time away from their small town in southern Pennsylvania. He was a nice enough man when Darcy saw him, though he had seemed ancient from the first day they had met. She hadn’t realized, though, until Josh picked her up for the prom just how much money his dad must make. Josh’s graduation present had been a brand-new Volvo, a sporty one at that.

Josh brought her the most beautiful corsage she had ever seen. Her mother fussed around the two of them, taking picture after picture while her father beamed.

Josh, she discovered that night, was also an amazing dancer. Flushing, he informed her that he’d had some experience because his father had brought him to cotillion classes when he’d been in junior high.

Her friends were good that night, especially Brenda, and even the guys had to toe the line somewhat, since their dates seemed to accept Josh. Hunter, however, never approached her once. She saw that he and Mike were watching them from a distance, however, and that Mike looked as if he were about to explode when she and Josh won the “Wild and Wacky” dance contest.

Hunter just looked sad.

Darcy smiled at Josh, and he looked at her, curiously arching a brow. “Thank you,” she told him.

“Me? Thank you! I’m like a male Cinderella tonight. Prince-not-so-charming, feeling like the beau of the ball.”

She shook her head. “No. You made me realize that my life wasn’t over without Hunter, and that there is a world ahead.”

He caught both her hands, squeezing them tightly. “Don’t you ever forget that, Darcy, you hear? The world is out there, and it’s yours. It’s a beautiful world.” He spoke urgently, staring into Darcy’s eyes. “Even when things don’t seem quite right. Some people, just with a smile here and there, a kind word, make it all a better place for everyone around them. You’re one of those people. Remember that. There are times in life to be sad, to feel pain, but you’re a giver. Don’t ever let yourself be downed by fear, hardship, or even sorrow that’s so deep, you may not feel like going on.”

A chill swept into her. “Josh, you’re scaring me.”

“Sorry, Darcy.” He seemed to return to himself again. “Hey, I don’t believe it. They’re playing a Charleston! Want to try it?”

“Why the hell not?”

In a while, she forgot his words, because they did just have so much fun.

She was vaguely aware of the amount of drinking going on, the punch being spiked, and even the drugs. Brenda was upset because she was sure Mike was getting smashed. She was uneasy about the guys driving, but she had no control over any of it and decided that she was just going to enjoy the miracle that occurred; Hunter had thrown her over just before their senior prom, and she was still there, and having the best time of her life.

At last, it was time to go. Darcy had booked a room at the hotel where most of the kids were going after the prom, but she didn’t want to go. Josh agreed that a perfect end to the evening might be watching a few movies, then seeing the sun come up. They were in his brand-new Volvo and heading out of the parking lot when the first warning that they were never going to make it occurred.

There was a tap against Josh’s bumper. Just a tap. It barely jerked them forward.

Josh turned around, swearing softly. “Too much alcohol in there, or kids who just can’t drive.”

With lights blaring around them, they really couldn’t see who was behind them.