Shepherd's Crook - 13. Chapter 13

Muffled sobs could be heard from within Ms. Stein’s science room before Gibby tentatively stepped foot inside. A dozen red rimmed eyes looked up at him as he walked in. Several girls huddled together in a circle, hugging each other as they continued crying in the middle of the aisle.

Amanda glanced up at Gibby as he made his way along the outer aisle, avoiding the group of girls and headed straight to the back of the room, taking his seat at the lab table he was assigned to with Tanner. Mike stood alone, staring out the window with his arms folded over his wide chest. His dark features were stone hard as he watched the tree limbs blowing in the breeze outside.

Mike’s dark face was emotionless while Ethan’s pale face looked haunted and worried. Ethan sat by himself, his eyes glassy and wide as the dazed look of bewilderment mauled his handsome appearance; he was the only student sitting in the far row of individual desks. Both boys looked lost without their friend.

Just as Ms. Stein took her place in the front of the classroom, Tanner appeared in his seat beside Gibby. “Jeez, who died?” Tanner smiled when he saw Gibby jump. A lopsided grin crossed over Tanner’s face, happy with himself at catching Gibby off guard.

Gibby glared at him, but he wasn’t able to berate Tanner in a room full of people. Instead, Gibby cocked an eyebrow and shot him an angry glance. Tanner smiled even bigger as he stuck his tongue out, playfully taunting his lab partner.

“Ooooh touchy,” The smile faded from Tanner’s face after he looked around at his friends still grieving over his death. “Sorry, I guess everyone is really upset, huh?”

Ms. Stein cleared her throat. “If I can have everyone take a seat in the desks at front of the classroom.”

As the student’s began to find their desks, Gibby pulled his satchel over his shoulder and headed towards the desk he had claimed as his own, the first day of class. All eyes settled on the one desk that remained empty.

“I know that everyone is upset over the tragic death of Tanner Mitchell and a lot of you came and met with the grief counselors here yesterday,” The petite teacher continued as she slid off the edge of her desk with an arm load of papers. “But the best way to stop thinking about such a horrible event is to keep our minds occupied--”

“Oh my god! You can’t be serious! Are you giving us a pop-quiz?” Amanda’s nasally voice demanded. The murmurs quickly grew to a roar as the students protested Ms. Stein giving them a quiz.

“We all think that it would be best--”

“Who thinks?” Amanda cut Ms. Stein off again. Her icy stare intensified as she glared at the teacher.

“Ms. Grady,” Ms. Stein kept her voice sharp and professional, “When you have your own classroom, then you can make the rules; until then, this is my classroom and you will be quiet or you can go spend the day in the office with your father!”

Ms. Stein wouldn’t let Amanda deter her from doing her job, “As I was saying, the teachers here at Shepherd’s Crook think it will be best to try to keep your minds occupied. So if everyone can put away your books and get out a pencil…”

Amanda glared at the teacher. “I’m telling my dad about this.”

A confident smile curled around Ms. Stein’s face, “Please do, I would love to sit down and discuss this effective teaching tool to gauge how well my students comprehend the material assigned up to this point.”

With that Ms. Stein handed a stack of papers to each person sitting in the front row and directed them to take a quiz before passing the rest back to the students behind them.

The red angry splotches slowly started to dissipate from Amanda’s cheeks. Gibby watched her calm down and jumped when Tanner broke the silence of the room.

Letting out a long whistle, Tanner roamed the aisles of the classroom, shaking his head, “Mandy has always been a great big, spoiled brat. Getting what she wants and pushing everyone around because—Shit!” Tanner stopped talking and froze where he was. His eyes connected with Gibby’s before he instantly appeared beside Gibby’s desk.

Gibby’s was confused. He watched Tanner frantically trying to grab the quiz off the desk, but his trembling hands passed right through the piece of paper. A second and third try left the quiz sitting in place, untouched. The rest of the class was oblivious to the spirited spectacle playing out right in the middle of their classroom.

“I know the answers,” Tanner’s whisper held a chill. “I have the answers to this quiz.”

Tormented, Gibby watched Tanner grow more and more agitated. He was completely helpless to do or say anything to help Tanner. Gibby sat there, his eyes wide as Tanner started to rage.

“That fucking bitch gave me the answers!”

“A, A, B, C, A, A, D, C, B, A.” Gibby glance down at the quiz and saw that the first few answered did correspond with the answers that Tanner was shouting in the middle of the classroom. Tanner’s solid form started to shimmer when his memories came flooding back.

“That fucking bitch!” Tanner roared, “I don’t believe it. That psycho whore killed me. I remember it now…I remember every-fucking-thing! Mandy killed me…to keep her god damn secrets.”

Tanner paced around in circles as he fisted his fingers through his blond hair. Gibby helplessly watched Tanner remember the truth about his death. He wanted to comfort Tanner, yet he sat there unable to do anything more than watch the ghost boy rage.

“How could you?” Tanner screamed across the room at Amanda. Without warning, Tanner advanced on her, lowering his face right beside hers, he growled through his clenched teeth, “You killed me over your fucking GPA? Worried that Daddy would find out that his precious little girl was nothing more than a big fat cheater?” Tanner’s body shook as he continued to snarl at the unsuspecting girl, oblivious to the ghost hovering inches from her face.

The angrier he got, the more static that buzzed in the room as his emotions electrified the air. The blinds started to sway and the overhead lights flickered.

Tanner screamed!

As the anguished wail ripped from his chest, he vanished into a thick plume of white vapor that blasted an icy gust of air through the classroom. The blinds banged against the closed windows, desks shook, and papers flew around the room. Students screamed in terror at the unexplained rush of wind. Ms. Stein and Gibby both jumped out of their seats at the same time.

The teacher tried to settle the students down while Gibby grabbed his bag and rushed to the front of the classroom with his completed quiz. The room was still in a state of panic as he slammed his test onto Ms. Stein’s desk then ran out of the room without permission.

***

Gibby set his satchel in the window ledge before checking the stalls to make sure nobody was there. “C’mon Tanner, I know you’re in here,” Gibby spoke softly to the empty bathroom. Pacing around the small room, Gibby waited. A small creak from one of the heavy metal doors gave the ghost boy away.

Gibby tapped his knuckles on the wall. “Are you okay?”

The door opened a few inches. Gibby peered through the crack. Tanner sat on the back of the toilet tank with his feet on the seat. His blue eyes were dark and sunken.

“I’m sorry that Amanda--”

“Don’t,” Tanner snapped at Gibby; then he suddenly closed his eyes and banged the back of his head against the wall behind him as regret washed over his face.

Gibby stood there watching him, unsure of what to do or say.

“I thought they were my friends…how could they do this to me?” Tanner whispered.

Knowing all too well the sting of betrayal, Gibby wrapped his arms around Tanner. His solid form trembled in Gibby’s tight embrace. “Believe me, Tanner; I know how much it hurts.”

When Gibby confessed his pain over his boyfriend making out with his best friend while he lay in a coma in the hospital after the fire, he had showed Tanner a vulnerable side of himself that he had never shown anyone before. Now, holding Tanner in his arms, all Gibby wanted to do was to take away the pain that Amanda Grady had caused the most incredible guy on earth.

Tanner closed his eyes as he leaned into Gibby’s warm body, “Do you think your unfinished business is to bring Amanda to justice?” Gibby whispered against his ear.

Trying not to break their contact, Tanner shrugged his shoulders before a lopsided grin pulled at the edge of his mouth. “If not, then maybe I can haunt her ass until I drive her completely insane and they wind up committing her to a mental institution.” The sparkle returned to Tanner’s brilliant blue eyes.

“You’re too late on that one, babe. I think that bitch already dove off the deep end. I swear that girl is freaking crazy.”

Tanner quickly agreed. “Psychotic is more like it. So, what do you think Ms. Stein is going to say about the room exploding like that? Do you think she’ll have a scientific explanation?”

Gibby chuckled and shook his head. “Oh my god! I wish you would have stuck around to see the looks on everyone’s faces. It was priceless. I thought Ethan Conroy was going to shit his pants.”

The smile disappeared from Tanner’s face at the mention of his best friend. “Ethan was there, Gibby. He was with Amanda the other night when she…when they…” His voice trembled as tears laced his eyes. They spilled down his cheeks and he cast his eyes toward the tile floor.

Tanner didn’t have to finish for Gibby to know what he was talking about. His best friend was there when Amanda killed him. That would explain the haunted veil on Ethan’s face; the bastard was tortured with his memories of their crime.

“It’s okay,” Gibby soothed him, running his fingers along Tanner’s jaw, tipping his face to look at him. “Don’t worry, they can’t hurt you, never again, and we will make sure that they pay for what they have done.”

Realizing that he was touching Tanner and not going through him, Gibby stumbled back against the metal stall. “I can feel you,” He murmured as his eyes glanced up and down Tanner’s solid body.

Tanner grinned at the trick he had discovered just last night. He waggled his blond eyebrows at Gibby before lifting a finger and tracing it along Gibby’s jaw confessing, “The calm feeling that I get whenever I’m with you, helps me focus. I can pull all my energy together making my body solid unlike the ghostly mist I turn into when you’re not around.”

Gibby smiled. “So…I’m like your own personal Ghost Whisperer?”

“You make me feel alive, Gibby.” Tanner’s eyes shimmered with desire as he stared at Gibby’s mouth. He grinned, watching the crimson flush pepper Gibby’s cheeks. Tanner stepped closer, but Gibby didn’t step away as the ghostly teenager closed the space between them.

The kiss that followed was brief. Gibby didn’t know who had started the kiss, but as soon as Tanner’s lips found his, Gibby melted. A strange mix of icy mint engulfed his senses. It felt warm yet cold at the same time. There was no denying his attraction to Tanner as Gibby’s erection pressed against his jeans.

“Oh my god,” Gibby muttered breaking the contact. “You can’t kiss me like that then expect me to try and concentrate in class.”

They both laughed. Tanner pressed his forehead to Gibby’s before he feathered a soft kiss to his freckled nose.

“You better hurry up and go to class.” Tanner told him while he remained leaning back against the metal wall.

“What about you? What are you going to be up to while I’m out there fighting a raging war in high school hell?”

A flicker of gold glimmered in Tanner’s blue eyes. Gibby gasped at the sight. It wasn’t frightening in the least, but it sent chills down his spine as he stared at Tanner’s handsome face.

“Oh, don’t worry about me; I’ll be around.” Tanner’s body started to tremble as his solid form hovered between a spectral glow and a wisp of smoke. Just as Gibby reached out to drag his fingers through the misty shimmer, Tanner engulfed him before disappearing.

Gibby grabbed hold of the toilet paper dispenser to keep from collapsing to the ground. His heart raced, goose-bumps peppered his skin, and the pupils of his eyes dilated as his body reacted to Tanner’s touch, which was breathtaking.

Staring down at the sudden erection straining against his jeans, Gibby grumbled to the empty room, “Great! Now, I’ve got to make it through my next class sporting a stiffy.”

For some reason, Gibby was confident that even without being able to see Tanner, he could still feel his presence nearby. Opening his mouth to tease that he’d have to find a way to make Tanner pay for the unexpected boner, the door swung open as two classmates walked inside the bathroom.

Gibby quickly adjusted himself before he rushed off to class still hoping that Tanner heard his last comment. If he didn’t, then maybe Gibby would have to show him the effect that the ghost vapors had on his body.

“How’s that for being a tortured soul?” Gibby smiled as he continued along the crowded hallway heading to his next class.

Well, Tanner remembers what happened! What do you think? Still liking? Hating? Ready to kill someone Amanda maybe? Hehe 
Thanks for reading!
KC