My House is NOT Haunted

Kelly’s P.O.V

Whitney had been gone for a month, and Jason and I were still no closer to finding her. Every lead we’d gotten led to a dead end. Whoever had kidnapped her did a good job of covering it up.

My parents were hysterical. They mostly didn’t come out of their room, and we brought meals to their door. They shut themselves off from the world.

Jason’s mom was like a mother to me in the absence of my own parents. She comforted me on my loss, though she couldn’t fully empathize.

Jason… I didn’t really know what was going on. After that one kiss, we haven’t tried again, for fear that we might actually like it too much… and considering I was still dating Brandon, that might not be such a good idea.

Yup. Brandon and I had been an official couple for about three weeks. Not that Jason had been too thrilled about it, but still. We went out every Friday, and during the week once in a while. I just felt bad that he was getting me in my worst state of my life. He deserved better than that.

As much as liked him, I was getting worse by the day. He didn’t need me anymore. One day before school, I met up with him in the hall.

“Hey,” he said cheerfully.

“Brandon… look, we need to talk…”

His face hardened. “What’s wrong?”

I sighed. I never realized this would be so hard. “I… think we should see other people,” I blurted.

I looked into his eyes, which were full of hurt. “If… that’s what you want…”

I shook my head vigorously. “It’s not what I want, but with all the things that have happened lately… Look, you deserve someone who can be their best all the time. I’m afraid to say I can’t be.”

I hung my head. He paused for a moment, and lifted my shin so that I was looking him in the eyes again. “Kelly, you’re perfect the way you are. But if you really want to split up…”

I forced myself to nod, though my entire body was screaming to say no.

Brandon sighed. “Well… I guess I’ll see you around.”

He turned, stuffed his hands into his pockets, and went to class.
-----

I felt numb the whole day. I only spoke when someone asked me a direct question, and spent class time staring into space.

Jason, of course, took notice immediately. I wouldn’t talk to him.

That night, he cornered me in my room.

“Kelly. Seriously, snap out of it!” He sat on my bed, trying to get my attention.

I turned up my iPod, which, ironically, was playing ‘My Immortal’ by Evanescence. I smiled a little at the memory of Jason trying to sing it.

Now, though, he looked worried. Reluctantly, I pulled out my headphones. “Snap out of what?”

He narrowed his eyes at me. “You know what. You haven’t been yourself all day! Scratch that, you haven’t been yourself all month! Kelly, just tell me what’s wrong!”

By then, tears were streaming down my cheeks. “What’s wrong is that my big brother’s dead, my sister is missing, and I broke up with Brandon! There, happy?”

Hid gaze softened. “I’m sorry. I… didn’t know…”

I sniffled, and wiped my eyes. “I know you didn’t. It’s not your fault. I just… miss them, you know?”

“Why did you break up with Brandon?” he asked softly.

The tears came back. “He… deserves better than what I can give him…”

Suddenly, Jason grabbed my shoulders. He turned me to face him, gazing at me intently.

And his lips crashed into mine.

Again, his kiss was nothing like Brandon’s. It felt like electricity was running through me. Instead of pulling away this time, he tightened his hold on me, sliding his hands to my waist. I wrapped my arms around his neck. I could’ve sworn he moaned a little as I opened my mouth and his tongue slid in.

He let go of my waist, and placed his hands on either side of me. He leaned into me, and I lay back on the bed while he climbed on top of me. It was then that I realized what he was doing. “Jason!”

He jumped, as if coming out of a trance. He slid off of me, reluctantly, and sat next to me on the bed. I sat bolt upright once he was off.

He sat cross-legged, staring at his feet. Something was on his mind. “What’s wrong?” I asked.

He lifted his head, and looked into my eyes. As he held my gaze, he spoke, barely loud enough for me to hear. “I… I’m in love with you.”

-----

Whitney’s P.O.V

Ok, I may have been a tad bit angry for being brought here, but can I just say one thing? I love it!

Agent training was awesome. I get to target practice (along with guns, they also taught me to shoot a bow and arrow!), learn martial arts (I successfully knocked Taylor out one day), and – my favorite – picking locks. Not that I didn’t have more to learn, obviously.

My favorite time of day, though, was lunchtime. Oh, no, not because I had to eat. Because we had a cafeteria, and I was the only female agent, in training or otherwise. And with my crop tops and short shorts, it’s no wonder I got so much attention, though I didn’t give any of them so much as a second glance. What can I say? I’m a tease.

Taylor was acting… cocky, but that was typical of him, as I’d learned quickly. He had the decency to at least respect that I was, indeed, a girl, and hadn’t tried anything. So far.

Although, I admit, I missed having girls around to gossip and shop with and things like that. Also, when it was that-time-of-the-month, I had absolutely no way of getting tampons because the men had no clue what they were!

I was in my room one night, working on a crossword puzzle. I know, gasp! Something actually mentally challenging! To tell you the truth, I love these things.

Anyway, I was in my room one night when Taylor walked in (shirtless, for some reason. Probably just coming from martial arts which was our equivalent to gym class) and stared at me. He just leaned on the doorframe and stared at me. I, naturally, returned his gaze, raising an eyebrow. Finally, my curiosity got the better of me.

“What are you staring at?”

Taylor smirked. “I just can’t believe they would actually recruit a girl to do our job.”

I narrowed my eyes at him (and tried very hard not to look at his perfect abs). “What are you talking about?”

“You mean, you’ve been here for over a month, and you don’t know what kind of work you’re training for?” he said with a laugh.

“I’d really like to know about it, Tator-tot,” I seethed. Tator-tot was my nickname for him when I was mad. Obviously, he didn’t like it.

The next thing I knew, he was pinning me to my bed, and straddling my waist, so I couldn’t defend myself. I got a strange feeling of déjà vu.

Bending over so that his face was inches from mine, he hissed, “I told you never to call me that.”

I gulped, and nodded vigorously. He smirked, and got off.

A few minutes later, he was out of the shower, and wearing nothing but a towel. I suppressed the urge to stare, though it was tempting.

“So, Ice Queen,” he sneered. Yeah, that was my nickname. “You still want to know what you’re training for?” I swear, he was mocking me!

“Please,” I said sweetly.

“We’re a company of paid assassins.”

I gulped, and stared at him wide-eyed. "W-what? Assassins? Like... kill people assassins?"

His ever-present smirk grew. "I'm pretty sure that's the only kind."

I stared at him in shock. I was learning how to kill people?! Why?

He seemed to notice my expression, because he answered, "We're hired to take out... unsavory people." Wow. Big word for such a little brain. "To kill them, and not get caught, that is."

Even in my freaked-out state, I couldn't help but point out the obvious.

“You’re towel is slipping.”

He looked down, and saw that yes, his towel was indeed around his ankles. I rolled my eyes while he pulled it up, blushing furiously.