Girl Meets Ghost by Lauren Barnholdt

day. It’s just that ever since Daniella died, it’s been really hard for me, you know? I don’t know who to trust.”
    â€œI understand,” I say.
    â€œOh, please,” Daniella says. “She doesn’t know who to trust? It’s not like I left her a million dollars or something.”
    â€œYou’d be surprised how many people try to talk to me just because they want to know the details of what happened that night,” Jen says. “It’s creepy, you know?”
    I wonder what she’d think if I told her I could see dead people, and that her dead friend is in this parking lot with us and has been talking nonsense about something having to do with her and a shovel. Probably she wouldn’t be too thrilled.
    â€œThat makes sense,” I say. “I know that a lot of times when I tell people my mom left, they act all concerned, but really they just want to know the gossip.”
    â€œYour mom left?”
    â€œYeah,” I say. I decide to leave it at that. She doesn’t need to know that my mom left when I was so little that I don’t even remember her. And that even if people did want to know gossip about it, I don’t know any.
    â€œI’m really sorry.”
    â€œÂ â€™S okay,” I mumble, and then look down at my shoes. God, I am getting a lot better at this acting thing. It used to not work so well, if you want to know the truth. In fact, one time my subpar acting skills got me kicked out of a mini-mart by the police. (I won’t get into it, but the ghost I was helping had a dad who ran the store.) I add in another sniffle for good measure.
    â€œHey, don’t cry,” Jen says, sighing. She rummages through her bag for a tissue, and then hands it to me. I pretend to blow my nose.
    Daniella’s mouth drops open. “Wow. You are actually really good at this.”
    â€œThanks,” I say to Jen. And Daniella. Even though I do feel kind of bad. I mean, I shouldn’t really be playing on the poor girl’s emotions. Especially since her friend died not that long ago. But I tell myself that I’m helping Daniella, and that’s more important. And in the process maybe I’ll be helping Jen, too.
    â€œWell,” Jen says, “um, good luck with your gymnastics.”
    â€œYeah,” I say. “Good luck to you, too.”
    And then Jen walks away and gets into her car.
    â€œThat’s it?” Daniella screams. “You didn’t find out anything!”
    Obviously she doesn’t know the most important part of acting—knowing when to end the scene.
    â€¢Â Â â€¢Â Â â€¢
    â€œMy hair is a mess,” I moan, looking at it in the mirror over the sinks.
    â€œ Your hair?” Ellie cries. “What about mine?”
    â€œYour hair looks perfect, as usual,” I say honestly. We’ve been in the bathroom of the movie theater for fifteen minutes now, which means we only have five more minutes until we have to meet the boys if we’re going to stick to our be-five-minutes-late plan. And I’m nowhere near ready.
    It’s a miracle I even got here on time. My idea was to kind of blindside my dad with the whole going-to-the-movies-on-a-date thing at dinner so that he wouldn’t really have time to think up a million reasons why I couldn’t go. Also, I figured that by telling him the truth, it would show that I was capable and responsible. And the fact that Ellie and Kyle were going was, like, a bonus.
    Of course, he had to call Cindy to find out what she thought, which was über-annoying, but whatevs. Cindy said it was okay, so I couldn’t be too mad at her. Although I’m still a little mad at my dad for giving her so much power in our lives. It’s like just because Cindy is a woman, he thinks she knows everything related to raising a daughter. But it doesn’t mean she knows anything—especially about dating. My dad needs to learn to trust