Chapter 6.

       She calmly laid on her bed without saying a word, Aidan patiently sat on her sofa waiting for her to say something but she didn't say anything, the only thing that could be heard was sound of the tree dancing to the direction of the wind. She began to run out of patience and turned to different side of the bed and made funny noises, that made Aidan angry but before he could say something a car horned outside her house.

       She brightens up. "Finally..." She shouted as she ran outside, Aidan didn't bother to move and waited for the girl to arrive and when she did, she was with Emily, holding her hand and dragging her inside her room.

 

        She kept praising her, and saying nice words to her, unlike the Autumn he knew. "You're a life saver, Emily. Now where did I put my homework?" Aidan finally understanding the reason for her waiting wasn't surprising at all, she never did her homework herself and Aidan patiently watched as she used Emily to achieve her goals.

       The next weekend Autumn woke up to get ready for Emily's arrival so she had her bath earlier than usual and once she was done she wrapped a towel around her body and stepped out of the bathroom. Unlike normal people, she liked picking her clothes rather late. She opened her closet to pick out a dress but her jaws dropped immediately, not one cloth remained, all her jeans, everything gone. She could feel Aidan's presence and still facing her closet she asked, "what happened to my clothes, Aidan?"

          He calmly sat back and replied, "Oh, those rags, I threw them out." She was boiling with anger but she held herself, she turned towards Aidan and shouted.

          "Why would you do that."

          "Because, I figured if you wouldn't want anyone to see you in cute girly clothes, not to mention Emily so you'd have to do what I tell you in exchange for them, you're gonna call Emily and tell her not to come over and you'll do your homework yourself and I'll get you some of your old clothes back." He said.

         "Why some." She was losing her patience but if she wanted her clothes back she would have to cooperate.

          "So I can blackmail you with the rest. Now call her."

         "And if I refuse." Her anger was heard in her voice, she wasn't ready to be fooling around with a ghost, he really was doing his job, he had succeeded in driving her nuts.

         He puts on his gentle smile but cold smile, the one you get when your in deep trouble, he stands up from the chair and walks up to her. She stood there waiting for her answer as he draws near and whispers in her ear. "Then I'll have to tell your teacher the truth and you're gonna get a mouthful."

        She scoffed and grinned, holding back her anger and daring him. "And just how would you do that".

          He smiles once again and looks her straight in the eyes. "Am a ghost Autumn. You want to bet on that", with words like that, she could tell he wasn't joking, he meant business he was not someone to mess with, suddenly the Autumn who always had something to say was quiet.

          "Fuck you." Was the only word that could escape her mouth.

           "Stop murmuring and shut up. Now shall we begin."

          She sighed and jumped on the bed before she regained herself. "Fine, but can I at least get a cloth back, I need to put on something." She begged.

          "No". He sharply said.

          "I hate you, damn you Melanie, this is all your fault."

          "OH MY GOD!" They turned to the door and realized it was still opened, Kazu stood there with a video camera in his hand, the only thing that flooded in her mind was the fact that she was still rapped up in a towel.

         "Kazu." She yelled, she ran towards the door and slammed it shut.

         "Oh, you're blushing, am surprised you don't usually blush when I look at you like that I mean I've seen more of you and he less of you but still." Aidan wondered. Adian still had a smile on his face, for some reason he was always calm, but even his silence felt dangerous.

         "I hate you."

          He laughed. "You think I feel the opposite, please. Now hurry up my dear."

           "Don't call me that and I have no idea of how to answer this exercise." She thought she had won, 'what will the ghost know about maths' she thought, 'now he's going to let me meet up with Emily.'

      He was clearly disappointed, but the look in his eyes signified hope, he hadn't given up just yet, "Weren't you paying attention in class."

          "I fell asleep." She said.

      He crossed his arms and asked, "And after you woke up?"

          "I was dying of boredom so I couldn't concentrate." She said.

           "And your note book."

         She sat upright and looked him in the eye, she smiled and relaxed, "My dog eat it."

           Annoyed, fustrated and angry he snapped, "Autumn we don't even have a dog."

            "Says who?"

            "Me and I live with you."

            "Only because of this stupid bracelet." She murmured, he sighed and calmly said.

         "Then you leave me no choice." He took another note book and filled open to middle page, he grabbed her pen and started writing down some equations, once he was done he turned the note to her direction and said, "here, this is an example..." She couldn't believe her eyes, she took the note from him with her mouth opened. He gradually broke the equations and solved it carefully, Autumn couldn't believe her eyes, Aidan clearly understood the maths and his formula was a bit higher than her teachers but still she understood it. "And that concludes the formula." She sat silently staring at her book, once he noticed her gaze he quickly snapped his fingers in front of her, "hey, still think you haven't met someone smarter than you." He teased her, but she didn't care, she opened her bag and brought out her book, he was angry when he saw this and with a frown on his face he said, "I thought your dog ate it."

        "Yeah, good news, it ate my history note, not my maths. Never mind that, where did you learn this?" She smiled.

         "Back when I was alive, I learnt this, I was in my final year of highschool before all this happened. Although it looks difficult it still ends at multiplication, addition, subtraction, and division so it may look difficult but its really nothing." He was quiet and sad, like he held a burden in his heart he looked sad but she didn't dare question him.

     

      "By the way, where did you get the money for the new clothes." She asked.

        Suddenly she heard footsteps, an angry voice cried. "Autumn, what did you do with my credit card." Shouted Jane.

 

        "I borrowed some money from your mom." He smiled.

       She understood what he meant and was very angry,  "Doesn't sound like you borrowed to me."

          "Call it whatever you want, you're not getting your clothes back."

          "What? Why?"

           "Because I said so. Now put these on." He handed her some few selections but she didn't like it. She turned it down without thinking. "No." She screamed.

         There was a satisfied smile on his face which made her scared, his grin widened. "Want me to do it for you."

      She moved back. "You're a fucking psycho." He just grins and pats her hair.

       "I've told you to mind your tongue havent I?" He gently says.

           "Who gives a shit."

           He laughed. "Typical Autumn, one minute you're okay and the next your insane."

           "Hey..."

            "Hey what?" The serious expression on his face indicated danger, she swallowed up her words and kept her mouth shut, once again she couldn't tell him off.

       She locked herself in her room and didn't come down all day, Aidan went up and down making sure she ate, her parents were worried to the call because she'd never do such a thing, not even when she tried to commit suicide. She would leave the door open so they would all see her and try to stop her. She was never serious about anything.

         "She's going through some stuffs.' Aidan said as he quietly left with her meal. She was still unable to decide on what to wear, when she noticed her hair, it's color had changed, normally she dyes her hair every month and this month, her hair was green, next was her seven ear piercings, it was all gone. She looked at herself in the mirror and could tell the difference but she was confused.

      

       ***********************

       "Autumn would you get down here, Melanie's waiting?" Jane shouted, it took quite a while before the door opened, slowly, her footsteps could be heard and once she came down her parents mouth opened in shock, she walked gently to Melanie and said with a grin.

       "Hi."

       "Hi am Melanie, Autumn's friend, wow, she never told me she had a sister, or are you her cousin?" Melanie asked, Autumn sighed and rolled her eyes.

         "Stop fooling yourself and let's go." Then she recognized the voice.

  

       "Autumn?" Shouted Melanie , she couldn't belive her eyes the only thing that matched was her voice, Autumn looked..., different.

       "That's me." She said.

        "What happened to you, to your piercings and the hair, you look cute, like an anime, I never knew your hair was prettier messy." She praised her.

           "About that, you want to guess what happened." She was staring at the direction of Aidan who waved, and once Melanie recognized that look she too looked away since she was partially guilty.

As they walked into the school, Autumn couldn't shake off the awkwardness. As awkward as it was, the once who noticed Autumn immediately thought of it as a good change.

        "Come quick, you might want to see this." Said her classmate as they ran towards her, some took her as a transfer student, others knew it was Autumn and the others thought nothing.

       They were seated in an empty classroom, Melanie was before the her peers, she looked serious and was ready for business. "Listen to me." She yelled as she banged her hand hard on the desk. "Prank week is only three days away, and we all know that the lead for the week is our one and only prank arch enemy 'Everest High', and don't forget how difficult it was for us when 'Starfox' showed up". Said Melanie, the crowd was murmuring some words and it seemed like the event was very important.

           She rose her hand up and Melanie gave her room to speak. "Starfox?, that's the town's college right, meaning my brother will be part." Autumn said.

             "Yes, and I can't wait to see him." Emily said with a smile, Autumn sighed over her words, seeing her brother at a prank war was something they should avoid.

         She rolled her eyes. "You're obviously inviting trouble." She said, Emily was confused, to her, Henry was the sweetest guy she's ever met so he might just help his little sister out.

           "Meaning?" Asked Emily.

          "Well my brother's probably good at everything he does, including pranking." A sting of jealousy was left in Autumn's heart, he always stole the spolight wherever he went leaving her behind, that's what she hated the most about him, to her he was always robbing it in her face how great he was.

            "Oh, this means we have a competition." Adam said, she snapped back to reality and smiled.

            "Yeah, and tough one too." The bells rang for school dismissed and the friends head home, they had promised to walk together so everyone dropped their car home and came to school on foot. Once the coast was clear out popped Aidan.

       "Finally, I'm out." He said.

 

        "Aww, couldn't he stay there a little longer, you should really register him for the Ghost school." Jay asked. Aidan knew the joke was on him but he said nothing.

          "How does this prank war work?" Autumn asked.

          "Oh, each school form different groups that way it would be easier to eliminate our enemy, its ten people a group so we have to start grouping immediately, then once the war starts you make sure you don't get pranked and if you succeed then you move to the final round where you have the final war with the last survivors, we don't know what the final blow will be so be alert okay." Jay said, Melanie stopped on the tracks like she remembered something.

         "Which reminds me..." She started, "Autumn and I need to visit the mall quickly, I need to get my outfit ready for prank week."

         "But Melanie, prank week isn't until next week, this is just Friday." Emily said, Melanie turned around making sure she faced them and asked.

      "Okay, which of you can boldly walk up to me and say 'I haven't gotten my war suit ready.' " She asked but no one said a word. "Then I guess, we're going shopping, come on Autumn." Before the girl could say a word, Melanie  had already gotten a hold of her hand and was pulling her away.