Stormy Knight- Prom Queen of the Undead Read online

  “Huh?” Chad shook his head, puzzled.

  “Like this!” Corey pushed Chad off of him with both hands and, despite the fact that Chad appeared to be twice as tall as Corey and had to outweigh him by a good hundred pounds, the shove sent Chad flying across the room.

  Zac, not knowing what to do, suddenly took a swing at Marco.

  Marco ducked under the punch then sprung back up, hitting Zac square in the chin.

  Zac crashed to the ground.

  “You want a piece of this?” an amped-up Marco asked the last player, Jarrod.

  Jarrod just shook his head no.

  Then both Corey and Marco looked at one another in sheer amazement, smiling.

  “Five in the air, my friend!” Marco said to Corey.

  “Right back atcha!’” Corey slapped his upraised palm.

  Stormy looked back at Rosey. “Now I am sure everyone will agree that this bowling alley is more than big enough for all of us.”

  The three football players and Jinna and Shyra all nodded yes.

  However, Rosey merely smiled slyly as two sheriff’s deputies, Putty and Delorenzo, appeared out of the crowd.

  “We got a call there was a bit of a brawl at the bowling alley,” Deputy Putty said, toothpick in the corner of her mouth. She was a tall, middle-aged woman with a long nose; her hair was neatly coiled in a bun at the base of her cap.

  Delorenzo stood behind her; a big, muscular man with a beard, the strong silent type.

  “Just a little friendly horseplay, officers,” Stormy said.

  Putty raised an eyebrow. “Is that so?”

  “Really officers, do you think these two,” she pointed to Marco and Corey, “could even take on these three?” She pointed at Zac, Jarrod, and Chad.

  “Yeah, we were just fooling,” Zac said, seemingly embarrassed.

  “Yeah…just having fun.” Chad attempted to smooth out his hair.

  “Having fun? Hmmm…” Deputy Putty scanned the group then focused on Marco and Corey. “Fine then. No more fighting, even play fighting, boys, or next time you’re taking a trip to the pokey for the night.”

  “Yes ma’am,” they both replied.

  “And as for you...” Deputy Putty turned to the football players. “That goes for you three as well!”

  “Yes ma’am,” they all said.

  The two deputies glanced at each other then the kids all watched as the deputies left.

  Rosey crossed her arms and started tapping her foot, fuming. Apparently, that didn’t go nearly as badly as she had hoped.

  “Come on. We’re out of here,” she ordered her crew.

  “Well, I don’t look good in bowling shoes anyhow,” Shyra said.

  “But I like bowling,” Jinna whined.

  “Now!” Rosey stormed off.

  With a collective sigh, the players and twins followed Rosey’s lead and left.

  “Well, that certainly could have gone much worse,” Corey said.

  “Good riddance,” Marco said.

  “Come on, guys. Let’s get back to what we came here for in the first place.” Stormy stuck a piece of licorice in her mouth and grabbed her slushy and order of nachos off the counter.

  The other two boys snatched their stuff and followed.

  “I think Marge said we’re at lane nine,” Marco said as he attempted to suck his blue raspberry slushy through a piece of licorice.

  “Is it just me or was what just happened tonight really odd?” Corey asked. “I mean, I seriously didn’t feel like myself. It was almost like what I would imagine an out-of-body experience would feel like.”

  “Forget it,” Marco said. “They were just acting.”

  “It didn’t feel like they were acting.”

  “They were just playing with our heads; probably trying to set us up.”

  “Maybe we had adrenaline surges? Studies show that people under pressure can do amazing feats of strength. Didn’t you feel pumped, Marco?”

  “Well, I think it’s just best we forget about it,” Stormy said.

  “Finally! The voice of reason.” Marco leaned in towards Stormy and, before she could comprehend what was about to happen, kissed her right smack dab on the lips.

  She stopped in her tracks, trying not to drop her slushy.

  Marco did the same, seemingly as surprised by his action.

  He took a step backwards.

  Then another.

  “I’m sorry,” he said. “Don’t know what came over me.”

  Stormy took a step back herself. She had known Marco forever and thought kissing him would feel like kissing a brother. But it didn’t. It felt good in a confusing sort of way; like a jar of fireflies were set loose in her stomach and were fluttering about.

  Of course, she couldn’t say that.

  “Uh, don’t worry about it.” Stormy gave Marco a weak smile. “You were, um, probably just excited. Yeah, just excited about the fight and you just reacted.” Try as she might, she just couldn’t look at him.

  “Yeah, sure.” Marco nodded. “That must have been it. Sorry.”

  Stormy wanted to say, nothing to be sorry about, but instead said, “That’s okay. Let’s just forget about it.”

  “Yes. Good idea.” Marco nodded again.

  With all of his nodding, he was starting to remind Stormy of a bobble head doll. A cute bobble head doll. She smiled.

  “What’s a good idea?” Corey asked, finally returning to Earth. Seemed he was so distracted from replaying the earlier confrontation in his head that he didn’t even notice what had just happened between Stormy and Marco.

  “That we get bowling,” Stormy said.

  With that, Stormy started over towards their lane with the boys in tow, but slowed when she realized there were two people—a middle-aged man and woman dressed in tie-dyed clothing—already bowling there.

  “Marco, are you sure we’re on nine?” Stormy asked.

  “Uh-huh,” Marco mumbled, munching a fry.

  Stormy nodded to the people. “But there’s already someone on nine.”

  Marco and Corey stopped walking and stared at Stormy.

  “Did you get a whiff of Corey’s socks or some—” Marco asked.

  “Hey! These are clean socks!” Corey protested.

  “—because, my dear Stormy, lane nine is as empty as my stomach was a few minutes ago.”

  “When he’s right, he’s right.” Corey nodded.

  Stormy looked back to the man and woman then realized that she could see through them.

  Oh, this is going to be trouble…

  Chapter 9

  “Outta sight, Lady Luck!” Stormy heard the male ghost say to the female apparition.

  Marco walked over to a table, then set his snacks down; Corey did the same.

  “You’re on a roll tonight—pun intended!” the woman ghost said.

  Stormy looked over at Corey to see if that would charm a reaction out of him. Nope. Nothing. He was too busy setting up the score card on the computer.

  However, Marco had paused and was now leaning forward, squinting his eyes.

  “What the—!” he exclaimed. “Holy Shitakes, Stormy, you ain’t kiddin!’ There are two people here; kinda invisible people and kinda not right here in our lane but… Holy Shitakes! Holy Shitakes!”

  Corey stopped punching in the information for the computerized scorecard and looked at them both. “Geez. The two of you have seriously gone off the deep end tonight.”

  “Corey. Dude,” Marco said excitedly, “are you tellin’ me you don’t see those two people standing right there in front of us?” He pointed into the empty air. “Look, look! See the woman, or the hologram, or the— Look! She just waved! Oh, oh, she’s walking towards us!”

  Marco started to back up as the female figure got closer.

  “Hi, my name’s Clara,” she said. “And that over there is my guy, Cody.”

  Cody nodded and waved a peace sign in their direction.

  Stormy stared at the ghosts. They appeared to
be in their forties. If you can have an age when you’re dead. Clara had her hair tied back in a pony tail and, even though she was mostly transparent, you could still tell her hair was streaked with gray. Her face was a bit plump, but it fit well on her body and certainly seemed friendly.

  Cody also leaned towards the chubby side; actually way to the chubby side. His flat head looked a bit out of place on top of his rounded body but his curly hair and beard sort of smoothed out the flatness some.

  “Corey, come on man,” Marco coaxed. “Don’t you see her?”

  He’d backed up enough to now stand beside Stormy.

  “What are you talking about? Do I see who?” Corey hit a few more keys on the scorecard.

  “The ghost standing right in front of you,” Stormy whispered; concerned, not only because two more ghosts had somehow crossed her path, but also because somehow Marco could see them too.

  “I see nothing,” Corey repeated, shaking his head.

  The male ghost threw another ball down the lane.

  “Stormy, what’s this mean?” Marco nervously asked. “What’s going on?”

  Stormy glanced over at Marco, looked back at the ghosts, then back to Marco. “I don’t know, but I hope my dad will. Let’s call it a night. Marco, do you mind taking our two new friends with us to my house?”

  “Uh…something tells me I don’t have much say on the matter.”

  “Good answer!”

  “Oh, come on. Are you guys really serious?” asked Corey.

  Stormy gave Corey her ‘Yes, I am very serious’ look.

  “All right, all right.” Corey stood up and went to get his snacks. “I wasn’t feelin’ like I was going to bowl very good tonight anyway, what with all the distractions and bad vibes and all.”

  “You two mind coming with us?” Stormy asked Clara.

  “I can dig that,” Clara remarked. “Hey, Cody, our new friends have invited us to go with them.”

  “Far out!” He set his ball down then trotted over to them.

  The trio of teens, with the two ghosts trailing behind headed out of the bowling alley.

  Outside, Marco murmured, “I don’t believe this. There are actually two ‘sorta here, but not sorta here’ people walking with us and no one else around here can see them.”

  “No one else except me, Marco,” Stormy corrected. “But I just don’t understand why you see them and Corey or other people—”

  “Like me,” Corey interjected. “I am sorry to say that I don’t see these two imaginary friends you guys are talking to. I mean, I guess it’s possible to have people from another realm here, especially since both of you claim to see the same thing… And actually, there really could be some sort of scientific reasoning behind what is happening, given that two Earth-locked people are experiencing the exact same thing at the exact same time even though others around them—present company included—can’t see anything.” He took a breath. “Are they with us now?”

  “Yeah,” sighed Stormy, glancing to the couple holding hands nearby. “They’re right there.”

  “Interesting…” Corey took a few steps that direction, searching the empty air.

  “Dang, Stormy,” Marco leaned closer to whisper. “I’m sorry I’ve doubted you and teased you for so long about all those vampire claims you’ve made over the years.”

  “Eh, I’m just half vampire-queen.” Stormy shrugged. She knew she probably should have been more upset, but truthfully she was relieved that Marco finally got it.

  “Which means you’re a super human! A human, half vampire-queen,” Marco repeated back.

  “Hey, these your wheels?” asked Cody. “This car is swell!”

  “Yeah, a nineteen-sixty-seven Camaro. One of the finest pieces of machinery ever made,” Marco answered.

  “You guys hop in the back with me,” Stormy said to the ghosts.

  “Groovy!” they replied in unison.

  Marco glanced at Stormy in the rearview mirror as they drove off toward her house a few blocks away. He still had that believing but not quite believing expression on his face.

  “So, how’d you two get to the bowling alley?” Stormy asked Clara, trying to distract herself from what Marco might be feeling.

  “We aren’t sure, man. We were just drrraaawwwn here.”

  “It was like we were answering a calling or something, man,” added Cody.

  A calling… Stormy thought to herself. This really can’t be good. Hopefully, Dad will know something.

  “Man, this is such a sweet ride,” Cody said.

  “Thanks,” Marco said. Then he added. “Wow. I can’t believe I’m talking to a ghost.”

  “How do you think we feel?” Clara said. “We were perfectly content being dead. But this is far out!”

  “Neither can I,” Corey said, referring to Marco’s comment.

  “Can you see them yet?” Stormy asked, hoping maybe something had changed with him too.

  “Nope.” Corey looked to the back seat. “But I still believe you guys. I’ve looked into the matter and believe it or not there are some scientists who believe ghosts are the energy, that for unknown reasons, persist after a person’s untimely death.”

  Clara and Cody looked at one another.

  “We did die in a car crash,” Clara said, looking back to Stormy.

  “True,” Cody said. “But from what I could tell, it was our time. We had done a lot of living when we were living.”

  “Well, if my dad can’t help figure this out, I can always put in a call to my mom,” Stormy said.

  “Your mom?” Corey asked. “I don’t think I’ve seen her in years.”

  “You wouldn’t have. She’s not around much, but she’s a full vampire. In fact she’s kind of their queen so she knows a lot about this kind of thing.”

  Clara and Cody both sat back in their seats, gazing at Stormy.

  “Wow, Vampire Queen,” Clara said. “We’re in the company of royalty.”

  Cody gave Stormy a little bow.

  Marco glanced over his shoulder at the ghosts.

  “Eyes on the road, please.” Stormy pointed forward.

  He turned back around. “I just wanted to ask them what it’s like to be…” Marco paused, looking for the right word.

  “Dead?” Cody said.

  “Yes,” Marco said. “What’s it like to be dead?”

  “Wow,” Corey said, suddenly excited. “If it’s true and there are really ghosts here as you said, these ghosts could give us the answers that humans have been searching for years…” His voice dropped off as he started to contemplate all of the scientific possibilities.

  “‘Fraid not, man,” Cody said.

  Clara said, “Yeah, when we come to this plane of existence we forget everything about the other planes.”

  “Bummer.” Marco sighed. “That’s too bad for you, Corey-man.”

  Corey looked at him blankly, unaware of the ghost’s information.

  “Well, hopefully my dad can give us some answers,” Stormy said as they pulled up in front of her house.

  Chapter 10

  Meanwhile, an angry Rosey had demanded that Chad take her straight home; where they were now standing on her porch. Rosey was in front of her door, arms crossed, head lowered. Chad had his feet firmly planted in front of her and his arms behind his back. He was hoping for a good night kiss, but with her mood, didn’t like his odds of getting one.

  “What’s wrong?” Chad asked.

  Rosey turned away from him. “I’m angry.”

  “Yes, I can see that,” Chad said. “Was it something I did, or didn’t do?”

  “No.”

  “Good,” Chad said. At least her temper wasn’t his fault. “Then what is it? Is it Stormy, again?”

  Now Rosey focused her attention on him.

  Chad was a quarterback, he was used to being chased by 250-pound defensive ends, yet nothing scared him nearly as much as Rosey when she got angry. He took a step back.

  “Sorry.” He took a deep
breath. “I just don’t think Stormy is that bad. And I think you need to learn to live your life without worrying about what she is doing.”

  Rosey thrust a finger towards Chad’s car. “Go home. Now!”

  Chad lowered his head and sulked off the porch. No kiss tonight, that was for sure—he was lucky to just still have his head.

  Rosey stood there, arms crossed tighter now, guiding Chad to his car with her eyes. “You just better make sure I get an extra-special prom gift!”

  Then Rosey turned to the door.

  Her mother Mandy was in the doorway. “Why are you sending Chad home so early?”

  Rosey walked into the house, ignoring her mother.

  “Rosey Cheeks, you stop this instant,” Mandy ordered.

  But she didn’t; instead Rosey followed the scent of popcorn, Barb’s favorite evening snack, and continued into the living room then threw herself down on the couch beside Barb, who asked, “What’s wrong?”

  “Stormy Knight, that’s what’s wrong,” Rosey said.

  “Figures.” Mandy, who had followed her in, walked over to her daughter, sat down, and draped her arm around Rosey.

  “Really, Mom.” Rosey leaned into her embrace. “I don’t know why I despise Stormy so. But I do.”

  Barb reached over to stroke Rosey’s hair. “Well, there are just some people we’ll just never get along with…and I think it’s because they are jealous of us.”

  “Really?” Rosey said.

  Mandy nodded. “Really. They generate negative energy towards us because they are envious of what we have achieved.”

  “Well, I don’t feel I have achieved that much, especially when it comes to Stormy,” Rosey admitted. “She seems good at everything. She may even be almost as pretty as me. I mean, I always come in second to her in everything. Track meets, softball, the spelling bee…” her voice trailed off.

  “Nonsense,” Mandy said, pulling her daughter closer. “You are the prettiest, smartest, most talented girl in the school. And don’t worry, my beautiful daughter. Soon everybody will recognize you for the true beauty and leader that you are.”

  “Thanks, Mom,” Rosey said.

  Chapter 11

  Stormy, Marco, Corey, and the ghosts found Dad in the living room watching The Love Boat on the television. He was sitting—well, more slouching—on the couch, legs propped up, remote in one hand, bowl of chips in the other. There were already a few empty bottles of soda littering the coffee table.