Apparition High School Part 4

“Jeeze prom already,” groaned Mai. She and I have become great friends. “What no one has asked you,” I state. We get to our outside table and wait for Bryan and Knight She takes the little bento box out and eats he chicken salad before telling me “No with these glasses I look like Velma from the Scooby gang.” Knight comes and sits next to her and says, “I like Velma Daphne is annoying.” She blushes and I ask where Bryan is “He’s trying to get into Hannah’s pants” Bryan comes up and tells Knight to shut up. “I was not she wants tutoring in Biology” we all giggle but then Bryan gets out his notebook about the mine tunnels.
I tell them about my dream “Seeing the floors shake it could have been what my cousin calls a backdraft. If the fire started in one end because of the oxygen it got carried into the tunnel below that bathroom and spared from there.” After lunch we sneak into the building and go see the area where the old bathroom was. We find a classroom and the door is unlocked. After I went in, I felt the presence of the boy I first saw. “The fire was hot and fast we all smelled smoke and it smelled like cleaner.” Telling him in my mind “think it was Ether maybe used in the mines, but I am not sure.” He tells me about the rumbling when we are interrupted “Hey what are you four doing in here its lunch time outside.” I tell everyone “Yeah outside buy the grass “and everyone follows me outside.
Once out at the grass I get everyone up to speed “Alright Scooby Gang here is what the boy now I know his name Jimmy Dawson.” I told them what he said in the class but then he pops up next to us to ask about the school now “It look different” I look around and gather everyone near me, so it looks like we are having a conversation.” It got rebuilt after the fire, Bryan when the wing was built over the old bathroom and theater area.” Bryan scrolls through his notes and tells us “In 2003 before that it was all portables and theater were held over at the community center.” Bell rings and we get to class but before that Knight asks Mai to prom, “Really you are asking old four eyes” I ask Mai why no contacts and she says, “Mom and Dad work hard at the church but with my astigmatism no contacts except out of pocket.” Bell rings and it’s time for class, “See you after school Bea” Bryan says. I forgot we were going to learn some more dance lessons no one knows, not even Knight.
Once I get my homework done and Bryan sets new clean dishes out, we get out back and practice some steps. “Alright now left, right forward backwards, it’s just a box step nothing to be nervous about.” His Mom puts on some Dwight Yoakam and with Guitars, Cadillacs, hillbilly music… we learn the box step. Bryan is still nervous. Kayla agreed to go with him but she’s on the dance team and he wants to impress, “You have some basics down “but before I finished, he asks to slow dance. “She likes to slow dance and I don’t want to step on toes.” I can only smile it’s so sweet and Kayla is a nice chick, so I pull out my phone and put on Play it Again its slow enough but still has a good beat, “Save us Luke Bryan” he groans but we get the slow dance finished. I scooter past the cemetery and hear some men speaking Chinese I guess; I shall ask Mai what some of this means. Getting ready for school I looked up some words that I could identify by sheer luck, and one was Zai xiuxi it means at rest so hopefully Mai can put the rest together. “Good morning, Grandma Dee where is Mom?” Grandma says Mom went to work early so she can be home later to go shopping for Prom dresses. My turn to groan “I don’t even have a date, and no one is jumping at the chance to ask the weirdo out.” Grandma feeds me some bacon and eggs, “You are not weird and there is still time baby.”
“Good morning, Scooby Gang, up for an adventure at lunch” Bryan was especially chatty today. We all nod and agree to meet by the back gate after the bell rings. Walking to my second period class Jim appears and tells me “Be careful young lady those tunnels are still dangerous, not safe.” I ran into the door frame and some boys chanted “Weird “so now it official. Lunch came around and Mai is jazzed she also confirmed that the men might be saying in Mandarin we are not at rest “which makes since because I bet, they just buried them, and they did not get any dignity." We see the boys and Bryan shows us his big surprise. “Check this out see those old looking barns, well they are entrances to the mines, look I took pics off dad’s maps.” We looked through them and yes, they did have an entrance because the operations were near here. “Great find maybe we get down there and solve this because there are some restless souls here and I can help them move on.”
We group text about going to the tunnels and agree Mai can spend the night and the guys will meet us at the entrance. Logistically we will figure out how to get there. Friday comes around and Mai gets in the car with Mom and I. “It's nice to see you Mai we will get pizza and wings for dinner tonight since it’s a sleepover.” Mai and I agree and set up the air bed for her “Okay girl spill any dress yet and what do the rents think.” She tells me they like Knight, but his look concerns them, and she has told them many times he does not worship the devil. After dinner Mom leaves for work and an hour after that Grandma Dee's driving us to the old barns “Look I am responsible for you too and the boys I guess so don’t go to far in and here’s some flashlights.” The boys show up on bikes and are a little worried about Grandma “Don’t worry she just drove us she heard us talking and didn’t want us to get hurt.” All four of us walk carefully inside and already I can see the commotion from that day. Turning a curve, I stop everyone and listen to a man talk about a charge. “The charge was to short dam foreman was a cheapskate the bang was instant” I scream and fall backwards thankfully everyone caught me. “No one stood a chance this was no accident that foreman did this because of money there was no more, and it was finish or not be paid, so he tried to speed things up with more dynamite.” The janitor wasn’t at fault as the mining company was.

End of part 4