The Guidance - By Marley Gibson Page 0,15

then eventually started keeping my visions and sightings to myself. I played the perfect teenager for them because I knew they didn't want to hear it." Loreen closes her eyes for a moment, and I hear a little catch in her throat when she begins to speak again. "I kept my true self hidden until I turned eighteen and left home. They never accepted me as I was ... as I am."

I reach over and hug Loreen tightly, letting a few tears slip out.

"Did you ever see them again?" I can't imagine leaving home and not going back.

"About ten years ago, I wrote them a letter, filling them in on my college studies and travels. I worked my ass off to pay for school, and I wanted them to see how I'd succeeded."

"You have."

She agrees. "One day, my daddy walked into the store and hugged me like I was still his normal little girl. We cried our eyes out and I could see he was genuinely remorseful for not supporting me more. It was probably my stepmother's influence over him. He was sorry that he didn't stand up for me when I got picked on by kids at school." She sets me away from her. "So you see, the world is full of Courtneys. They don't matter. Your family, that's what matters. And your mother loves you so much, Kendall. Humor her by going through the tests. You'll just prove yourself in the end, which I wasn't able to do."

"I'll do it, Loreen," I say with a sniff. "For you, for me, and for people like us ... everywhere."

Chapter Four

This day has sucked ass.

It's Wednesday afternoon, and I'm sitting on the bumper of Jason's Jeep, waiting for him to finish playing basketball.

I'm not going to cry. I'm not going to cry. I'm not going to cry.

I look down at the front of my light blue Billabong T-shirt that's stained and still a bit wet and sticky with the Mott's pomegranate-flavored applesauce that Courtney "accidentally" spilled on me in the caf. Sure, pomegranate is a great source of antioxidants (I pay attention to advertising); however, it's going to take a whole bottle of detergent to get the color out of my shirt.

It didn't help that Courtney said, "It looks like you've been slimed by one of your little ghosty friends, which you should be used to since you enjoy crawling around cemeteries on your hands and knees like the freak of nature you are, looking for dead things to talk to. As if!"

I had no comeback in the caf because I was too dumbstruck by the fact that I had purple applesauce cascading betwixt my boobage. Of course, her minions cackled, pointing at me and high-fiving Courtney for making me look the fool. Too bad Becca was home from school today with cramps. Otherwise, I'd have had her kick a little cheerleading badonkadonk for me.

"Hey, you been waiting long?" Jason shouts out. His sneakers squeak on the pavement as he comes to a stop in front of me, arms spread for a hug. His usually short blond hair has grown out these last months into something resembling an Ashton Kutcher shag. It's all plastered down on one side, obviously from running his hands through his hair. He flashes those amazing, hypnotic blue eyes my way and beckons me forward with a sexy little wiggle of his eyebrows.

"Not that long."

I should push him away 'cause he's covered in boy sweat, but I needs me a little Jason time, which I have been greatly lacking of late. I nuzzle a bit on his T-shirted chest, taking in the odor of Right Guard and salt mixed together. I try to stuff down the tears that threaten to fall. You shouldn't cry in front of your boyfriend, especially when he technically remains a new boyfriend. We're still in that stage where he hasn't seen me without my makeup—although I only wear a little bit, on my eyes—nor has he heard me burp (or worse!), and we both get those crazy roller-coaster climbs and dives whenever we're with each other. At least, he told me he does. What can I say? I'm waaaaaaay smitten.

He lifts my head with a finger on my chin. "Everything okay?"

"Yeah. Just a long, ridonkulous day."

His blue eyes crinkle with laughter. "Huh?"

"It means being ridiculous to an exceedingly preposterous degree. Like today."

"Good word. I'll have to use that."

Jason steps away, unlocks his Jeep, and then tosses his gym bag and books into