Phantoms of Fall (The Haunting Ruby Series Book 2) by Joy Elbel

was going on here? Where
did she come from? Was she hiding in the room somewhere,
waiting for me to let my guard down?
Misty was up to
something—it was
my
mission to figure out what that
something was. First, I needed to find out who her hired goon
was.
10. No, Seriously…What is Going on
Here?
“How was your day?” Zach asked as he put his arm
around me and gave me a kiss on the cheek.
     
“Truly wretched—how ‘bout you?” I leaned into him
and rested my head on his chest as we walked.
     
“Not bad—no homework yet so I consider it
a
success.”
    Well that made one of us.
I decided to ask him about
Creepy Girl.
She was so odd that I thought maybe just a
description alone would be enough for him to identify her.
Describing her as thoroughly as possible, I was disappointed
to see no sign of recognition on his face.
    “I don’t know who you’re talking about, sweetie.
You’ll have to point her out to me tomorrow. Why are you so
curious about her?”
    Should I tell him why? Should I tell him I thought she
was a part of some nefarious plan Misty cooked up to drive
me insane? In truth, it sounded just a little bit farfetched even
to me so I let it drop. “No reason.”
    Zach and I made plans to meet at The Hideout at eight
o’clock and he kissed me before dropping me off at Rosewood.
I had no lunch and threw up all of my breakfast so I ran
straight to the kitchen for something to eat. There weren’t
very many things to pick from, so I tossed in a microwaveable
pizza and devoured a handful of pretzels while it cooked.
With one pizza down, I flung another one on my plate and
watched it rotate until it was done. I ate like I hadn’t eaten in
weeks and once I was finished I felt sick again. Every last bite
made its way out of my stomach and into the garbage within
minutes.
    It couldn’t still be Shelly’s eggs—it must be the flu.
I
decided to take something to settle my stomach and then lie
down for an hour or so.
Something told me to set my clock
just in case I overslept and I was glad I did. When the alarm
went off at 7:30, I was dead asleep and it took me a few
minutes to get my bearings. I rarely took naps because of that
awful feeling of disorientation I had upon wakening but it was
even worse this time.
With my brain still in a fog, I brushed
my teeth, changed my clothes, and left to meet Zach.
    I was halfway to The Hideout when my phone rang.
Not trusting my driving skills enough to talk and drive at the
same time, I pulled onto the side of the road and answered it.
“Ruby, didn’t you get my texts?” Zach questioned.
     
Texts?
I was still so groggy when I woke up that
checking texts was the last thing on my mind. “No, why?”
    “I’m sorry but I can’t meet you tonight. I was at the
shelter longer than I expected and now Dad needs me to help
him fix Mom’s car. If you want to come over here, you can.
We won’t have any alone time, though. Sorry.”
    I was so disappointed I almost chucked my phone out
the window.
Time alone with Zach was the sole reason for
meeting him tonight. But there was one other thing on my
agenda. Maybe if Rachel was home, I could talk to her about
Creepy Girl.
I would probably get better answers from her
anyway so I asked, “Is Rachel home?”
“No, she’s out
with Boone.
Are you
coming over
anyway? I’d really like to see you.”
    We all have childish moments where we act like little
brats when we don’t get our way and I decided that this was
one of mine. “No, I’ll just wait until tomorrow.”
“Oh…okay then. I love you.” Hearing his voice thick
with disappointment, I almost changed my mind. Almost.
     
“Love you, too.” And I hit the end button before I
could change my mind.
    After beating
the steering
wheel
in
frustration, I
turned the car around and went back home. Why didn’t I
agree to go to his house?
Because I loved him but sometimes
he drove me a little bit crazy, that’s why. Our relationship
was so damned scattered lately.