Chapter 12: Chapter 12

Sunny

"Where is Shiela?" I asked our seatmate.

I could not see her in our room. Where did she go?

"Someone called her from the other section." she answered. "I did not see who called her, but she went out after that." she added.

It is her friend.

My friend is kind of a social butterfly. She knows a lot of people inside of this school. She is also a part of the cheerleading squad that represents our school to other schools. If you ask her about someone, she can easily tell you what their course or department is.

But I need someone to accompany me. I need her help todaaaay, that is why I am finding her.

"Aah!" I complained when I bumped into someone. "Sorry–Steven!" I exclaimed.

Maybe he can come with me. He can, right?

"What?" he asked grumpily.

"Are you okay?" I asked. He is pale. "Do you want me to send you to the clinic?" I asked him.

He looks pale. He looks like he will collapse any minute now.

"I am fine," he answered. "What were you asking? You have something to say, right?" he added, referring to what I did a while ago.

I shook my head. "N-no need, I do not want to bother you. Just rest for a while," I replied back. "Call me if you need something, okay?" I added, making sure that he could ask for my help since he is still not close with our classmates.

We should make sure to make friends after this. Let's make sure he gets better first.

I am sure he will not ask for our classmate's help. Mavin is much better than that. You know his attitude. He is not someone who will ask for help, even if he is dying.

He nodded before walking back quietly to his chair.

My classmates are busy with their things, and I need someone who is not busy at all. I do not want to bother them and ruin their moment.

"Marco!" I called Marco the moment he came in from our room.

"What?" he asked back.

I pulled him out again from our room, not asking if he would come or not. I would just make him come with me. He looks like he is not busy at all.

"Hey! Easy! Where are we going first?" Marco asked.

"Library," I answered. "I can not go there alone, help me today okay? I will help you back next time." I added, making sure that I would pay him back next time.

"Shiela is in the gymnasium, practicing." he replied.

"She is? She did not tell me," I asked wondering. "How did you know about it?" I asked him again.

Well, she can not tell me because I was not around.

"I saw her. I just passed there a while ago." he explained.

"I cannot go to the library alone. I am scared." I told him.

Yes, I need to go to the library. That is why I am looking for someone to come with me.

Marco laughed at me. "Why are you even scared? The books there won't eat you alive." he said.

"Don't you know the stories about the library? They said that there was a ghost student roaming around the library, especially if it was in the afternoon." I shared. "It is better to be sure than to see it alone." I added, saying what I really feel.

Christine, my old classmate, shared that story with me before. Christine asked me to accompany her to the library when I was still a transferee at this school, and then she told me that there was a ghost student roaming around inside the library.

How I wished she would not have told me though. Now, I am scared to go there alone.

After that, when I got home, I searched on Facebook for our school and I saw some entries about encounters with the said ghost.

"Ah that..." Marco said.

"Do you believe that? Is it really real or did they just want to scare the students?" I asked, curious if it was really real.

I never experienced seeing one, so I do not really know if it is real or not.

He nodded. "We experienced that one last year." What Marco shared made my eyes wide-open.

"Wait a minute!" I cut him off. "Let's head to the library first. I do not want to hear any more stories for now." I told him. I stopped him to tell me right away.

We had to go there first and make our way back safely. After that, he can share it.

We entered the library, with me holding on to Marco's sleeve. It is a good thing that it is still not that dark and that there are still students inside the library.

There is some reading. There are also groups of friends, especially the sleeping students.

I quickly get the book I need to borrow and pull Marco to the librarian.

"Ma'am, I want to borrow these books." I told the librarian and showed her the books I wanted to borrow.

"Put your name here," she answered. "Where is your classmate? Tell him that the book he borrowed is due tomorrow." she added, referring to Steven, who always borrows books here.

"Yes, Ma'am. I think he can not return the book he borrowed today because he is not feeling well. But I will tell him about it, or I can just give it back if he has it." I answered.

After borrowing the books, we headed out immediately.

"You look so scared. The more scared you are, the more she will want to scare you. Don't you know about that?" Marco told me.

"I can't help but get scared." I answered.

"Anyway, is Steven your library buddy?" he asked.

Library buddy? Why are we called library buddies now?

"We have been talking about you and him," he answered. "Are you guys a thing?" he asked, and that made me hit him.

I hit him enough for him to know that what he had said was so wrong.

"I can not cheat on Jake! How can you say that!" I told him.

He put his arms up, surrendering. "So, it is purely a classmate relationship?" he asked again.

"Of course! And there are things that you guys do not know about," I answered him. "At first, I started talking to him because Ma'am asked me to tour him around on his first day," I started. "Since I am the one who talked to him first, my conscience is telling me to approach him more since he is not that talkative like you guys." I added. "I even told him to make friends, so that he could talk to our classmates, but he did not want to. That is why I will force him next time to make friends. I did not know that there was some kind of rumor already. You guys should have told me in the first place."

"Yeah, we know that." he agreed, nodding. "Even though I cannot approach him easily, he is too serious. I did not see him smile once. "Eventhough I am a boy, I am afraid to approach him too." he added.

I nodded back. "I don't either," I said. "And to make you believe me more, my grandma is working as a housekeeper in their house. I learned about it when I was working for my grandma last last week because she was sick," I shared. "Grandma is cleaning Steven's big house. That is why I need to help her. Grandma is also cooking for him and his older brother because they do not have any household helpers in their mansion-like house." I shared Steven's information again.

I will just say sorry. I really need to explain myself to stop the rumors already. If this rumor gets to Jake, he will get mad at me. I need to put an end to this one already.

"Really?" Marco asked.

"Yes, it is. I hope you won't tell our classmates about this. You and Shiela know about this matter. Let us not make Steven more awkward than he is already. He is too grumpy than his older brother." I told him.

"Do not worry about it. Since you told me the reason and I basically knew all the information, I will help you clear your name with our classmates, he replied. "It does not mean that we are talking behind your back, we are just curious about your closeness. We did not know that there was a story behind it. Sorry for judging you a while ago, I deserved the hit." he added.

"Thank you." I told him.

"Anyway, about the ghost student. Foundation day that time, and we decided to go to the library at night," he started sharing. "The rumor about it was so famous at the time, and we wanted to know if it was true or not. We saw her sitting at one of the tables alone, reading a book." he added.

My mouth gaped and I asked, "In the middle of the night? She is reading a book?" I asked back.

"Yes, she is. She even looked at us as if she knew we already saw her. And do you know what is scarier than that?" I gulped as Marco said something that made me nervous.

"What is it?" I asked back.

"The book she is reading... is the book you are holding now."

"AAAHH!!!" I yelled, and I dropped the books I borrowed.

Marco laughed loudly while holding his stomach. "HAHAHA! Your reaction is so funny!" he said.

Did he just tease me?

Is it true or not?

I picked up the books and started to hit him.

"Sorry! HAHAHA!" he added, escaping.

"I will kill you!" I said and followed him to our room.

I did not hesitate to kill the hell out of him after I finally cornered him.

"I was lying about the book," he said as he shielded himself. "She is really reading that time and looking back at us." he continued.

I stopped hitting him. He sat properly.

"When she did that, we ran outside of the library because we were scared. That is why we learned that it was not just a rumor." He said.

He is serious this time. So the ghost story is true in any case?! Why does it have to be true? I won't be able to go there alone. Huhu.

"Really?" I asked. "Why did the ghost start to roam around the library?" I asked again.

"One of the professors from the other section told them that she died inside of the library. She was locked inside of the library, bullied by her classmates before. Tomorrow morning, they saw her laying on the cold floor, lifeless." Marco answered, and that made me shiver all over my body.

So the bullying is the reason why we have her in our library. Maybe she wants to get some revenge on those people who bullied her, but she should not include those people who did not hurt her at all.

"T-thank you for coming with me," I told him. "I will go back now." I added.

"Welcome. It is fun to tease you." Marco said. "Let's hunt her next time, okay?"

I did not answer him anymore and went back to my seat, hearing a laugh from him again.

I will take my revenge on you next time as well, Marco!

He is teasing me more. Am I an easy target? Next time, I will make sure to get my revenge on him. I will definitely pull his hair more strongly than the last time.

I hope the ghost will try to scare him really badly because he is bullying me. Hmp.

Right, I need to tell Steven about the books he borrowed.

"Maybe later. I think he is sleeping." I told myself. He is facing the window, while resting his body on his desk.

He must not be really feeling well.

I will check on him later.

I won't be able to return the books he borrowed either.