Haunted

III

Grace's second attempt on getting me to make friends didn't make me any happier. She told father that she would be taking me to the local lake for a day out in the sun. He couldn't be happier that I was going places instead of staying in my room all day, so of course I was now obligated to go with Grace to the lake. She knew just which buttons to push and pull.

The small town of Elk Springs, Colorado had barely any attractions, meaning that Grace would soon run out of things to make me go out and do. There was only so many times that a girl could go to the bowling alley or the local ice cream parlor before someone got bored.

The lake, however, was the exception. Grace would be perfectly content with dragging me there and plopping down to read a good book quite a few times. She would leave me with no one to talk to, basically forcing me to go out and try to make friends. But I was stubborn, and two could play at that game.

When Grace sat down on her blanket and pulled out the latest stuffy romance novel by her favorite author, I ventured just out of her peripheral vision and sat down on my own blanket, pulling out a detective novel. I liked to imagine just how much faster all of the crimes in the books would be solved if they had someone like me on their side. The ghosts of the victim could lead me directly to the killer.

I only got about a couple of pages through, at the point where Main Detective Guy is at the crime scene and is introduced to his new partner, Love Interest Girl, who (spoilers) is an ex-girlfriend of his that he hasn't gotten over who is now married to Successful Husband. I could see where the book was going a mile away, but I didn't find out if I was right because a volley ball landed right on it, spreading dusty sand all over me and my book.

I looked up and saw a girl with an apologetic expression and pretty blue eyes smiling at me. "Oh, I am so sorry!"

A group of laughing boys were huddled over her shoulder, and some girls were sitting down not too far away from where I was, all around my age. I assumed she was a part of this group and was apologizing for the guys who were now hitting each other in the arm and pointing my way.

"No, it's really okay. That book was boring anyways." I replied, dusting the sand off of my shorts and tank top.

She put her hand out and brushed her brown hair back from blowing in her face, "My name is Emily Sanders. You can ignore the idiots who hit you with the ball. They were just trying to show off for us girls."

I chuckled. "What else can you expect from boys? I'm Raven Zheng."

She smiled. "What a pretty name. You must be the new girl."

"Yeah," I nodded, "I guess everyone knows that by now."

Emily grinned. "Well, what do you expect? We're a small town. People usually notice when someone new moves in, especially someone our age." She paused. "So, have you met anyone else from town yet?"

"Um, yeah, actually. I bumped into him yesterday, someone named Cade."

Recognition passed over her face. "Cade? As in Cade Woods?"

I nodded and she stood back with a funny expression on her face. "I guess it is true that no one goes through this town without knowing about him."

I tilted my head with a confused glare. "But, I don't really know about him. All I got was a strange encounter."

She sighed. "Trust me, he's like a local celebrity. You'll know about him soon enough."

One of the boys called out to her before we could finish our discussion. Emily, in turn, invited me to go and meet the rest of her friends instead of leaving me in the dust. I figured that there was no point in not meeting more kids my age, especially if I wanted to find out more about Cade.