NaNoWriMo, Part 5: And Tomorrow, They Meet a Ghost (Spoilers!)

Today's word count: 1,589 words
Running total: 8,347 words
Summary: Everyone meets in front of the school, and a few of them even have mildly interesting conversations.

Also, James Patterson dies.
    That makes sense, I guess.
    “Well, it’s a good thing Ashley is in your class this year,” I say, trying my hand at light-hearted conversation.
    Mr. Williams chuckles.  “Yeah, maybe.  She’s a handful, though.  How long have you been at this school, again, Kenneth?”
    “Just three days, sir.”
    “Guess you don’t know her too well, then…”
    “Chase has told me plenty about her, though.”  I chuckle a bit.  For whatever reason, Chase has really latched onto me.  I don’t really mind it, but everyone else is completely shocked.  Whatever.
    “What about me?”
    I turn around.  Chase apparently snuck up on me and Mr. Williams while we talked.  He didn’t look too thrilled to be there—he kept emphasizing how much he didn’t believe in the supernatural, which is usually just a cover someone uses if they’re afraid of ghosts.  Brian uses this to bother Chase a lot, so I try not to bring it up at all.  It is obvious that this is not a subject Chase feels comfortable with.
    I answer him, “I was just telling Mr. Williams about how you’d always tell me stories about you and Brian and Ashley.”
    He forces a chuckle.  “Yeah.  Quite a character.”
    “I’m sure they’re interesting,” Mr. Williams adds.
    “You bet.  All right, Mr. Williams, can you unlock the door for me, maybe show me where the lights are and stuff?  I need to go get the supplies, and I don’t want to keep anyone waiting when they show up.
    “Ah, right.”  Mr. Williams walks to one of the large, dark doors in front of the school and pulls out a large ring of keys.  He fumbles with it for a few seconds before finally finding the correct key and unlocking the door.  “You can follow me.  Kenneth, you want to come with us?”
    I politely decline.  “I want to stay here in case anyone else shows up, you know?  So they know where to go.”
    Mr. Williams considers this wide-eyed for a moment, as if the idea had never occurred to him.  He sheepishly admits that it had not.  “You’re a clever kid, White!  All right, then.  We’ll be out again in a few minutes.”
    And they vanish.  I wait.  I pace a bit.  Time seems to expand quite suddenly when you’re waiting for someone.  Eventually, I pull out my iPod and put on some music.
    Half a song later, I hear a voice.  A loud, grating voice.
    “OOGA BOOGA!” it says.  I jump.
    It’s just Brian, but I am still sufficiently shaken.  I turn off my iPod and force a weak smile, then greet the newcomer.
    “What’s up, man?”
    “Ah… just waiting.”
    He grins broadly.  “I really scared you there, didn’t I?  I guess we all have an excuse to be spooked.”
    “You scared about the ghost?”  I ask casually.
    “Ehh.”  He shifts his weight and scratches his chin.  “You know, honestly?  I don’t know what to believe anymore.  I think I’ve seen a few spirits here and there, but that was all with shrooms and stuff, so I don’t know.  Ashley’s evidence for ghosts is spotty at best.  I mean, sometimes it seems pretty convincing, but other times it just seems like some douche who just likes creeping gullible people out is yelling at ghost hunters, you know?”
    He’s sort of rambling now.  At least it’s all on one thought, but I ask to be sure.  “You didn’t… take—“
    “Oh, nah, man.  You know, I thought about it, because then maybe I’d see something and it’d totally make everything more convincing and stuff.  But you never know how the acid’s going to affect you and all.  I don’t want to end up making a huge fool of myself on camera on a segment we’re definitely putting in our show this Friday.”
    Makes sense, and I’m relieved to hear it.  Not only would it have been embarrassing for Brian to be caught sky high on camera or using hallucinogens or whatever he’s into (I knew he was a pretty heavy pot smoker, but I didn’t know he was into anything else), but it would have been embarrassing for everyone present.  It also probably could have gotten us all in deep trouble, maybe even resulting in suspension or expulsion, and that was seriously the last thing I needed right now.
    Chase and Mr. Williams show up again.  In one hand Chase is carrying a clunky video camera that looks like it was made in about 1992; around one wrist Mr. Williams has a an equally old but more portable tape recorder.  This kind of stuff brings me back and makes me feel old, because I remember when everyone had these sorts of things.  In fact, I used to make tapes of myself randomly talking all the time when I was a kid.  But regardless.
    “Hey, Brian,” says Chase as nonchalantly as he possibly can.  “Where’s Ashley?”
    “She should be showing up pretty soon.  Dunno why she didn’t want to come with me, but it’s not my business to ask.”
    Chase nods grimly, obviously not caring and a little bit miffed that his vague dig had zero effect on Brian.
    We all stand there a little bit awkwardly, saying a word here or there, but really unsure of what to talk about.  Finally, Ashley shows up, so excited that she’s just incoherently babbling at us.  It takes a good kiss from Brian to make her slow down or otherwise stop talking.  Scarlett shows up last, looking largely over prepared for a ghost hunt.  Only what I really mean to say is prepared for a totally different kind of event.  Seriously, she’s wearing full out makeup and what I think are stiletto boots.
    “Sorry I’m late,” she says.  “I had to get into the right mood.”
    I look her over again.  It seems that she’s trying to go for a “gothic” or “emo” look or whatever is most popular among kids who want to be different by fitting into one big stereotype.  She’s in a black t-shirt with fancy graphics on it, a black ragged skirt, and some leggings with strategic rips in them.  To top it off, she has a black beret and heavy eye makeup.  I think she’s doing this ironically, but I can’t really tell.
    I don’t get Scarlett.  I think she thinks she’s better than everyone else and tries to prove it by only following independent films and artists and stuff, but she’s really just fitting into that huge category of kids who do the same thing.  She’s really nice to me, but she’s mean to everyone else.
    Come to think of it, Chase is the exact same way.  I have zero idea why I have that effect on people.
    Chase looks her over with an expression of annoyance, but I can’t help but notice his gaze lingers a bit longer on her boobs.  Okay, she does have a pretty nice body, but her personality makes her pretty unattractive.  But anyway, Chase says something to try and start the ball rolling.  “Okay, is everyone ready?  Brian, you have the spare recorder?”
    “Right here, with brand new batteries,” Brian says as he waves the tape recorder in the air.
    “Good.  We’ll be needing that a little bit later… okay, Scarlett, should we do an introduction or just go right into the segment?”
    “We’ll be adding in the intro later,” Scarlett responds.  “For now, you can just start the camera on Mr. Williams, and he can go from there.  In the case that there’s no ghost, this will mostly be a history lesson about our school.  Unfortunately, Kenneth had to make a promise to the principal that we wouldn’t try to fake any sort of information, so we can’t.  It’ll just be ghost sighting or history lesson.  We’ll take it from outside the auditorium.  Everyone ready?”
    Everyone responds in the affirmative, some more enthusiastically than others.  We all head to the staircase that leads under the auditorium, and Chase starts the camera rolling.
    Mr. Williams begins his introduction.  It sounds like he’s rehearsed this for days, but at least he’s sure of himself here.  “Hello, everyone!  As you know, History is always a fascinating subject, and one that must be fully understood so that we do not make the mistakes of the past.  We can also use that history to make ourselves feel proud of where we are today—to feel our heritage.  Most of the time, school history falls into the latter category.  Today… our history lesson shall fall into the former.
    “Back in 1972, a new auditorium was being built at our school.  At the same time, a boy about fifteen years of age was visiting our school.  His name was James Patterson, and he came from out of state.  He wanted to know what his new public school would be like, so he took a self-guided tour of the place.  It ended in tragedy when he fell down an uncovered trapdoor on the stage.  They say now his ghost haunts this auditorium.  Today, this brave group and I are going to see if there’s any truth to this story.  I’m sure you know the news club by now, but why don’t we just re-introduce them?”
    Chase slowly pans over the group as Mr. Williams says our names.  We all say something to the affect of “Hi” and wave.  As Mr. Williams introduces Chase, the nerd holds the camera out at arm’s length, turns it towards him, and smiles.
    “With that out of the way, why don’t we head into the basement?”  Mr.  Williams smiles, and