We walked into school and the door banged closed behind us as Dylan let it go. The hallway was bustling with lots of students and teachers trying to get to their classrooms.

Over by the lockers, I saw my brother Roderick and his girlfriend Reese standing talking to each other, both of them looking adoringly into each other's eyes. Over the past year Roderick had been a rock for Mom and I, but Reese had been a rock for him.

Reese was like a big sister to me, she and Roderick had begun dating a few years ago when they’d met at a skatepark and had pretty much been inseparable ever since. She was an amazing skateboarder, I loved watching her perform her moves down at the local skate bowl. With long flowing black hair that she often kept in a ponytail, sparkly sneakers, and three quarter denim jeans, she was the epitome of style to Roderick’s ‘throw something on from off the floor’ look. My brother always looked slightly dishevelled. His shirts were often half tucked into his jeans, with his baggy sweatshirts a couple of sizes too big for him haphazardly pulled on over top. I would watch him wrap his arms around Reese, sometimes making her disappear in giggles beneath the folds of excess sweatshirt material.

Roderick smiled and gave me a little head nod in acknowledgement as he looked in my direction. I gave him a watery smile back.

“I’ll see you in class, I just need to talk to my brother.” I said to Dylan and Georgie as I walked over to Roderick and Reese.

“Remember we’re here if you need us!” Dylan called out after me. I turned and gave him a wave in thanks, I felt lucky to have friends who looked out for me, I would do anything for them too.

“Hi little sis!” Roderick said as he grabbed me under one of his arms, giving me a playful hug and messing up my hair as he did so. I wriggled out of his grasp and quickly tried to fix my hair without drawing too much attention to myself.

“What are you up to?” Roderick asked.

“Nothing, just wanted to say ‘Hi’ and get a hug from my big brother.” I said trying to forget about what had happened out near the car park.

“Are you sure? You seem a little edgy.” He put his hand on my shoulder and looked in my eyes.

“I’m fine.” I lied. “Did you hear about the Jamie Markie concert happening this weekend?” I quickly changed the subject, averting my eyes from his gaze.

“Yeah, amazing huh?! We’ve just been talking about it too!” Reese replied and looked at me smiling. “Do you want to come with us?”

“Thank you for the offer, I’ve already organised something with my friend Dylan and the others.” I replied.

“Great, that works well for us. I can have some alone time with Reese.” Roderick laughed nuzzling into Reese’s neck.

“How can you have ‘alone’ time when you’re with another person?” I asked, he shrugged and we all laughed.

“I’m not big on semantics, I don’t need to use the right terminology for you to know what I mean.” He smiled.

I glanced at the large clock on the wall above the entrance way and realised I was going to be late to class.

“Is it still okay to get a ride with you after school today?” I said hurriedly.

“Sure! I’ve just got a couple of things to do first, but I'll meet you and Reese at the car after you finish basketball practice, okay?” He answered.

“Awesome, thank you!” I gave them both a quick hug and rushed to my locker. Putting my extra books away, I then grabbed the books that I needed for my first class, which was my favourite subject - maths. It was also my Dad’s favourite subject too, he’d always help me with my homework showing me new ways to approach problems and equations.

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Hurrying to class, I couldn’t shake the feeling of unease that seemed to have made its home in the pit of my stomach. Opening the door, I saw Georgie motioning for me to come and sit next to her, so I made my way to my desk and sat down, setting up my maths books on the desk ready to go. Our teacher, Mrs Newman, walked in and the noise level in the class reduced. She went to her desk and put her bag down.

“Good morning class! Are we ready for a day of learning?!” Mrs Newman said as she looked up at us while shuffling her papers.

She was answered with silence.

“I see. We better get our brains warmed up then huh?” She laughed. “Let’s start with some algebra, I’ll just grab my whiteboard marker…” She stopped and looked around searching her desk and ledge of the whiteboard for it.

“Looks like I'm missing some markers. Who would like to go down to the basement to the supply room and get me some more?"

Nobody in the class put up their hands.

The basement of the school was a spooky place. We’d been told so many eerie stories about students going missing down there that everyone was apprehensive about volunteering. Of course we all knew that they were just stories because no one actually knew of any student personally that had disappeared. But if you’re told the sky is green a thousand times there’s a part of you that begins to believe it.

Mrs Newman’s cheery smile started to fade and the people pleaser side of my personality started to feel uncomfortable, so I raised my hand.

“I'll do it, I'll go down to the supply room.” I said, my voice shaking slightly as everyone turned and looked at me. “What colours do you need?”

“Thanks so much Ariah, I really appreciate it.” Mrs Newman’s smile returned, and I felt happy for making her happy. “I need a green, a red and a couple of black markers.”

“Okay, can I take a friend with me?” I stood up and looked around the classroom.

Georgie caught my eye, then quickly raised her hand.

“I’ll go with her.” Georgie said.

“Great, yes Georgie you can go.” Mrs Newman smiled and Georgie enthusiastically stood up and followed me out of the classroom.

“See you in a bit.” Mrs Newman called after us as we walked out the door.

With everyone in their respective classrooms, the hallway was so quiet that we could hear our sneakers squeaking on the polished wooden floors as we walked. The basement entrance was down towards the other end of the building so we had to cover a bit of distance to get there and back.

“Haha, this is a waste of 20 minutes of Math time!” Georgie said.

“We’ll probably still have to make it up though.” I sighed.

“Don’t worry, you’re super smart at it so you’ll make it up in no time, then you can help me!” She smiled.

I laughed, Georgie was just as smart as I was and that’s why we were in the top Math group. Mrs Newman’s class was for gifted students, a group that Dylan, Georgie and I all fell into.

“Ariah, did you see the way Dylan was looking at me this morning?” Georgie asked, a tinge of excitement accentuated her tone.

I hadn’t but I decided to play along. “Sure, he seemed quite attentive?” I replied, hoping that was the right answer.

“Do you think he likes me?” She asked shyly, looking at me.

“Of course he likes you!” I replied.

“No, I mean, ‘likes me’ likes me. Like…romantically.” She whispered. Even though the hallways were empty, she looked around to make sure no one was listening in.

“We all think he likes you. I reckon he’s liked you for a long time but just doesn’t know how to express it.”

Georgie nodded and smiled, happy with my answer.

“Do you think he's going to make the first move?” She asked as she looked at me more intently.

“Why does he need to make the first move? If you like him, why don’t you be the one to instigate something more?” I shrugged.

“But I don't want to be the one to make the first move, what if he doesn’t actually like me back?” Georgie sighed, looking a little crestfallen.

“Well…” I thought for a moment. “The concert is on Saturday night, so that might be a good opportunity to do some reconnaissance?”

“I don't know, maybe.” She let out an even deeper sigh. “I’m not good at talking about my feelings.”

“But it’s Dylan, he's been a friend since… well, since forever.” I smiled encouragingly.

“I think that’s the problem. I don’t want to lose his friendship, but I like him so much it’s now hard to be around him without feeling awkward.”

“If you feel awkward around him anyway, what have you got to lose?” I asked.

“True, I guess.” She responded looking like she had already begun to imagine the scenario of asking Dylan out on a date herself.

We finally reached the door to the basement and found it slightly ajar.

“That’s weird, someone else must be getting something too.” I said surprised.

I pushed the door open gently and peered down the staircase. The light was already on and lit up the darkness with a faint orangey glow, mustiness filled the air like a thick blanket.

“Hello? Is someone down there?” I called out, a shiver going up the back of my neck as I did so.

Rustling sounds came from the back corner of the room.

“Do you think it’s the ghost? Georgie asked me ashen faced.

“I guess we’re about to find out.” I replied.