Ghost Time

seeing. So I watched it, and right away, I knew everyone would be freaking out. Because it tells the rest of the story, what happened that night. At first, I thought it was a copy of the same video from the night before, because it starts with the four of us, Leila, Dani, and Stella and me, showing up at Spencer’s party. So right after we all walk into the Perry’s kitchen, then it cuts to Spencer Perry and Brandon Firth standing in one of the rooms, down from the kitchen, where you turn to their laundry room. Then you see Brandon peek his head out to see that we’re there, while Spencer’s standing over a cup, doing something you can’t see, but whatever they’re doing, you’re thinking, They’re up to something, those guys are definitely up to something….
    The strange thing is, watching it, I knew it was going to be okay. Or I knew at least I wasn’t the one who had to worry, because it’s like someone’s taken my memories and made a movie out of them, and you see exactly what I was seeing that night, living. After you see Spencer and Brandon in the laundry room, the next thing you see is my point of view, and I’m stumbling all over, holding my hands out for balance, wasted, as a bunch of us pile into a couple cars and drive to Shecky’s.
    Shecky’s is this local chain, kind of like IHOP, that stays open late on Friday and Saturday nights. The whole way there, I was in the backseat with Brandon, making out with him— ugh , so gross.A good minute of tongue and tongue close-up that’s sloppy and pimply and stomach-turning. I’d rather watch animals humping on National Geographic , I really would. All my friends are grossed out too, all of them shooting each other looks, but I have no idea what’s going on. I couldn’t remember it for so long, but when I saw it, with my own eyes, the two of us, me and Brandon, going at it in the backseat, I felt sick. Because it was true, that’s what really happened, and I’d seen a little worse than that, the Monday when it got out about the party, and there were pictures of us in the car.
    I stopped the video and closed my computer. I don’t know how long I sat there, totally shocked, maybe an hour before I heard my mom walk through the front door, and she called my name. Then she knocked, and I said, Come in. Hey, she said, still holding the doorknob, standing in my doorway, and I said, Hey, seeing she hadn’t even taken off her coat. All right, she says, slapping both hands on her thighs. She goes: Principal Cheswick called me this afternoon and told me there’s a new video of the party from last year—a video of what really happened at that party, she said, and then she held up her hand, seeing my mouth fall open. She said, I saw. I watched them already. And I just want to say I’m sorry, Thea. I’m so sorry I didn’t believe in you more last year, despite how things looked, and she really did look so remorseful. Principal Cheswick would like to meet with us tomorrow to talk about it, she said, and that’s what we need to discuss now. There are a lot of things I want to talk to you about tonight, before we have that meeting, she said.
    I said, Mom, I told you I don’t want to talk about the party anymore, throwing my head back. She goes, Lots of things, Thee—there are lots of things I want to talk to you about. And the way she said that, I knew something happened: What happened? I said. Let me take my coat off, she said. You might want to do the same, she said, looking at me as she stood from my bed. And only then did I realize I’d been sitting there, in my coat, too, that whole time.
    Let’s sit at the table, she said, and I followed her into the kitchen and sat down. She got a beer out of the fridge, then looked at me: You want one? she said, holding the bottle up. So something pretty bad happened, I knew, watching her pouring her beer in an iced glass. It’s the one thing Mom still does that we’d done when my dad was around: she always has good beer glasses that she keeps in the freezer. Now, though, our freezer is so small, she has to turn the glasses on their side.
    Looking at her, I thought, You’re so pretty. Despite everything, you are still so pretty, Mom. I don’t notice it much anymore, but she is, she’s beautiful. I thought about telling her that, too, then she took a sip of beer and said, They’re cutting back at work, and I said, But they already cut back. She nodded. More, she said, and I said, You lost your job ? It