5 4

Sheila and Mira had finally returned from shopping and touring. When getting out of the car, they saw six people at their front door.

"Can we help you," Sheila called out. When they all turned to face them, Mira paused and paled.

"Hi, we are the Evans and they're the Addams," a woman said, "We're your neighbors."

Sheila turned to Mira in slight shock then back to the two families.

"Um, right, well its nice to meet you all. My name is Sheila Baker and this is-"

"Mira, honey!" Sheila didn't realize Mira had came forward until the blond woman rushed to hug her. Mira stiffened but returned the hug.

"Hi, Mrs. Addams."

"Oh, don't you start with that. You can still call me Margie."

Mira nodded and gave a small smile.

"So, why don't you all come in. I'm sure you're all freezing your gloves off."

Mira went to get the rest of the groceries when Dean rushed to take them from her.

"I'll help with that."

Before she could protest he had grabbed all the bags and began going inside. Everly opened the door for him and everyone else. Mira gave them both looks of suspicion but a nudge from Sheila made her go forward.

"I'm so glad that you and your father came back," Carlson Addams said as they ate. Sheila made a quick meal for everyone along with hot chocolate.

"I wish we could have caught Jerry before he left."

Mira remained silent but gave a small smile.

"He'll be back in a few weeks, actually," Sheila spoke up, "I'll tell him you guys stopped by."

"Yeah, we saw the Evans on their way over as we were coming. We didn't mean to bombard you two," Said the blue eyes Mrs. Addams.

"You guys are fine. We were actually going to visit you and your family together, once Jerry returned."

Mira zoned out of their conversation and began stacking the corn kernels on her plate. Everly noticed and watched her in amusement. She used to always do this with Laurette when they grew bored at the dinner table. Everly could never do it herself, however, so she would always watch. Dean watched on, intrigued by Amira's actions. After the fifth kernel, however, the small tower fell. Sounds of dissapointment sounded the room which is how Mira noticed she gained the attention of everyone at the table.

"I remember you and Laurette would do that whenever you both grew bored," Mrs. Addams stated then sighed, "Its good that some things never changed."

Mira stiffened when Laurette made her appearance beside her.

"Its great seeing them again. I missed them."

Mira closed her eyes and stood before exiting the room, ignoring the others calls for her.

She rushed to her room and began pacing the floor to calm her breathing.

"What the hell was that," she asked Laurette.

"You know what that was, Amira. You can tell that they don't blame you for-"

"Of course they don't because I didn't tell them. Why Everly didn't tell them is what I want to know."

The apparition was silent then, not able to answer.

"So you really do see her."

Dean stood in the doorway, leaning against the threshold. Mira's eyes widened and she rushed to pull him into the room and closed the door.

"Are you stupid? Don't say that aloud!"

Dean held his hands up as if surrendering. Mira sighed and went to sit on the window sill.

"What do you want, Evans?"

Dean followed her and stood beside her.

"Everyone was worried when you left. Everly and your stepmom was about to come up but I said I would. That's you'd most likely talk to a stranger better."

The Irish girl scoffed and rolled her eyes but a phantom of a smile made its way to her lips that he almost missed.

"And the lot of them believe ya? You must have been pretty damned convincin', now weren't ya?"

Dean chuckled and put his hands in his pockets.

"I was hoping that it would be true. That you'd talk to me now that I'm probably the only one who knows about everything."

Mira looked at him then to Laurette beside him, who gave her a look that made her cave; the look that said 'talk to him or I won't let you sleep tonight'.

"Fine, Dean Evans, I see a dead girl because of me own guilt. According to the doctor she's just a part of my subconscious that I conjured up to keep me from goin' completely insane."

The boy nodded and sat on the window seat.

"You never said how long in the journal of yours."

Mira glared but looked out the window.

"I honestly can't tell ya that. I know I stopped seeing her two years ago. When I moved back here, however, she just showed up again and won't let me get a lick of rest."

Laurette scoffed at her but remained quiet.

"Well I would still like to be your friend. You may not believe me when I say this but I think we could both use one."

Mira turned to him fully, now. She eyed him for a moment, looking for him to laugh or something that would tell her that he was joking around.

"Why would you want to be friends with me? Like I said I ain't the most friendly to be near."

Dean looked her in the eyes and smiled.

"If I'm honest I want to date you," he said, making Mira stiffen, "but I know that you won't want to so I'll just stay a friend. Its simpler that way anyways."

A knock on the door broke the conversation and Sheila peaked her head in.

"Dean, your parents went on home since you guys are right next door."

The woman looked to Mira with a sympathetic smile.

"You did good down there, sweet pea. I'll talk to you tomorrow okay?"

The red head nodded, letting Sheila know to leave. When the door closed Mira placed her head on the glass and groaned.

"I don't want any friends, Dean. Its just too much and I don't deserve it anyways."

Dean grabbed her hand and made her look at him. His dark gray eyes pulled her into him, scaring her.

"None of that was you're fault. You can't blame yourself for that. Maybe over the years you repeated it so much that its all you can hide behind but you know the real truth."

Flashbacks of that day swam in her mind so she closed her eyes tightly to try and forget. She promised her that she wouldn't cry and thats what she wouldn't do. She pulled away from Dean and stood to back away from him.

"Leave."

Dean stood to him feet and was about to speak but instead took her phone from her pocket.

"Hey-"

He held it away from her as he typed away. After a few moments he returned the device and walked away.

"See you Monday," he waved. Once he left she looked through her phone to see what he was doing but saw nothing out of place or changed.

She sighed before going back to the window to think. The memories of Laurette haunted most of them. Soon, the light from house caught her attention. She looked over to see Dean smirking at her from the window. She was shocked, to say the least. She hadn't expected for their rooms to be visible to each other.

"Well would you look at that," Laurette teased, "looks like the next door neighbor is closer than we thought."

Mira ignored her and glared at Dean. He shook his head and turned around only to remove his shirt. Mira gasped before pushing away from the window and turning her back to it. Her phone dinged a moment. She opened it to see a message from an unknown number.

All this could be yours if you want it to be~ D

The message confused her until she turned sharply to see Dean smiling before gesturing to his well defined body. She marched over to the window and closed the curtains, only after sticking out her tongue at him.

Dean chuckled at her childish gesture but didn't miss the red that was on her cheeks. He decided to take it a bit further and sent a teasing message.

No need to be shy. I'll let you touch too ;) ~ D

He was about to gather his things for school when his phone dinged. He smiled when he read her message.

I'll kick your arse if you don't stop ~A

Dean chuckled but decided against texting back. He chucked the phone aside then jumped on his bed, letting his thoughts mull over everything Amira.

When she returned from school, Amira and Sheila had a girls day. The two did some work around the house, which was cleaning, painting the walls, and gardening while the paint dried.

They hadn't talked about the last night's events, which Mira was grateful for. They did, however, speak on Dean James; and by speaking, Sheila teased Amira about his concerns.

"Let it go, Shelia," she said as she patted the soil around the flower.

"Oh come on, Amira. You know that boy is sweet on you, don'cha? What did you two talk about last night?"

"Nothing, alright? He was just being a weirdo. Thinks we'd make great friends or whatever."

Sheila grew quiet, making Amira turn her head to see her staring at her with a smirk.

"Friends, huh? I doubt that boy wants to just be friends with a pretty little thing like you."

The Irish girl blushed and turned to continue her task.

"Whatever. Point is I ain't lookin' f'er friends. There is no point in hav'in 'em around me."

"Reed..."

Amira closed her eyes to will the girl away but was dissapointed when she still saw her.

"Well dear, it looks to me like you don't have that option."

Amira looked to her in confusion but then followed her line of vision and saw Dean walking towards them.

Sheila stood and dusted herself off when he was close enough to speak to.

"Well well, mister. To what do we owe this visit?"

He looked down at Mira, who was now sitting back, propping herself up with her arms.

"Saw the two of you gardening in the freezing weather and was wondering if you guys wanted help."

While Mira scoffed, Sheila smirked, a devious plan already forming in her head.

"Thank you Dean. Amira might need some help."

The red head whipped her head to the side and narrowed her eyes at the woman who paid her no mind.

"Wouldn't have pegged you for a gardener," Dean said as he stood above her.

Amira turned to him with narrowed eyes then went back to work.

"And I wouldn't have pegged ya for an outcast," she stated.

Dean went beside her on the ground with a smirk and hummed in mock thought.

"The bad girl and the outcast," he mused, "nice ring to it."

Mira paused her work and looked to him with curiosity.

"So you also think I'm a bad girl with the others then?"

The tall, usually brooding, boy looked her in the eyes. Mira felt her world sinking away so she went to try and finish gardening but Dean grabbed her face gently with his fingers and made her look at him.

"I believe that you are whatever you want to be. I believe that the person you are trying to be right now is hiding who you want to be."

She hadn't realized that she was inching closer to the mysterious boy before her until he let her go and turned to the garden plot.

"So, tell me what to plant," he stated.

Mira was thrown off by him and by herself. Laurette was suddenly beside her now, making kissing faces and noises to match.

When late afternoon came, Dean and Sheila were talking as if they'd known each other for years while Mira sat in the background, listening.

"I kid you not," Sheila stated before snorting a laugh, "when she first saw the horse, it had come up behind her. It licked a carrot off her neck from when her daddy put it on her collar and she screamed so loud it startled the horse. When the horse stood on two feet, she fell back and landed straight into a pile of goat crap."

Amira felt her cheeks warm with embarrassment as Dean laughed.

"Almost dying isn't funny at all," she grumbled.

"No," Sheila said with a smirk, "but falling into goat manure is."

Amira rolled her eyes as another round of laughs started between the two.

A moment later, the doorbell rang, earning everyone's attention. Mira stood quickly and rushed to the door, eager to escape more embarrassing stories. What she hadn't expected was to see Everly with a picnic basket.

"Everly? What are you doing here?"

The blonde held out the basket to her and sighed.

"Mom made these for you and Sheila. Fair warning, she still experiments."

Mira took the cookies but kept her eyes trained on Everly.

"Who's at the door," Sheila asked from behind Mira. Everly looked past her with a smile but it fell when she saw Dean.

"Am I interrupting something?"

"No."

"Yes."

Shiela and Mira glared at each other before the older woman pulled Mira from the doorway and smiled.

"Everly, right? Come on in! I was just making lunch."

"I don't want to impose, ma'am."

"Oh enough with the ma'am stuff. Call me Sheila!"

Everly was pulled into the house and and was pushed into the living room along with Mira. Shiela pushed the two on the couch and grabbed Dean.

"Dean, why don't you help me with lunch, hmm?"

When the two left, the room was ingulfed in awkward silence.

Mira refused to look at Everly while Everly looked straight ahead. After a few more moments the blond groaned and stood.

"This is ridiculous and childish," She exclaimed, "if anyone should be giving the silent treatment it should be me."

Mira glared at the girl and stood herself.

"You're the one that decided to show up uninvited to my home and for what? To drop off cookies?"

"I need answers and you've avoided me in school-"

"I've avoided you in school for both our sakes, and you just pop up here-"

"Yes I pop up here because your story makes no sense to me! What you and Laurette argue and she kills herself? I've seen the two if you fist fight and eat pizza within the same hour so sorry if it makes no sense to me that you fight again and she dies."

The two were in each others faces now while Laurette tried to calm Mira.

"Just walk away, Amira," she begged but her plea fell on deaf ears.

"Sorry to break it to you, Everly but I. Killed. Laurette. Accept it and move on. Hate me if you have to. Hit me. Scream and call me names if that's what it takes for you to move on and leave me the hell alone."

Everly looked Mira in the eyes and saw the truth. Mira was hurting even more than she was, however that became possible. She knew that she'd get the truth if she just pushed harder.

"Maybe I should just start a rumor around the school then," she said lowly, "that way everyone will know what you did."

A calm expression washed over the red head's face, making Everly weary. The pain in her eyes were now gone, replaced with nothingness.

"If that's what it takes."

Everly glared at the girl and went to say more but Dean came and grabbed Amira by the hand.

"Excuse me but do you mind helping Sheila for a moment? I need to speak with our friend here."

Dean didn't wait for an answer as he dragged Mira outside.

Everly knew then that Dean knew more than she did and her persistence heightened further.

Dean glared at Amira while she couldn't look him in the eye.

"So what? You're just going to punish yourself now? What the hell would that accomplish besides hurting yourself and Everly?"

"Everly is the one that wanted to start the rumor. I just won't negate them."

Dean groaned and pulled at his hair in frustration.

"Why the hell are you being such a masochist? Did it ever occure to you that she may just find out on her own? Hell I did!"

Amira rubbed her temples, a headache beginning to form from the topic.

"You only found out because I was careless. The book is never leaving this house again and you aren't gonna say anything. Sheila isn't a big mouth and my dad ain't even here to blabber, not that he or anyone else knows the full story anyways."

Dean searched her face and sighed before pulling the girl's cheeks.

"What the hell!"

"You are going to be the one to tell Everly everything. Laurette will have to push you to if even harder than before."

The girl glared as her ghostly friend smirks from beside him with her arms folded.

"Oh little Reed, prepare your anus."