Page 58 of Chasing Your Ghost

“You should get back to stretching,” he said, apparently done speaking about his supposed best friend. “I’m going to go see how my parents are doing.”

Riley hid her disappointment by looking down at her toes as she bent her body over her legs and wrapped her fingers around the arches of her feet. “Alright. I’ll see you later.”

“Enjoy your lesson.” He stood up, and Riley lifted her gaze in time to see him vanish.

“I don’t know what I’m supposed to do, Dad,” she whispered into the empty studio. “I could really use your help right now.”

But, of course, her dad’s ghost didn’t appear to offer her the guidance she so desperately needed. He was gone for good, and Riley needed to figure this out without his help.

She hadn’t told Asher the real reason she’d still been in bed when he’d arrived at the pool house that morning. Though she’d claimed she was tired after staying up late reading, the truth was she was having one of those days when she was missing her dad so much that she was struggling to function.

For two weeks, Asher had helped keep her mind off of her dad, but her grief refused to let her have peace any longer. Had Asher not shown up, she might have stayed in bed, canceled her ballet lesson with Miss Markova, and done nothing but hide under her sheets all day.

But he had shown up, and Riley had been ashamed that she’d wanted to take the day off from their search for answers, so she’d gotten up and got dressed, her guilt the only thing fueling her as she did so.

“I miss you so much,” she choked out before furiously brushing away the tears that had rolled down her cheeks when she heard the studio door open.

Despite Riley’s attempts to focus on the lesson, she just couldn’t put her all into it. Miss Markova became increasingly frustrated with her until she eventually turned the music off and pinned Riley with a stern look.

“Do you want to be here?” she asked without sympathy.

“I do,” Riley promised her tiredly. “I’m just having an off day.”

“It doesn’t matter if you’re having an off day. I expect you to give one hundred percent every time you’re in this studio.”

Riley wanted to scream at her that it was impossible to give her all when she felt the way she did, but she couldn’t bear explaining her grief to her teacher right then. So, instead, she sighed and said, “I’m sorry.”

Miss Markova pinched her lips together in disappointment. “Go home, Riley. I expect you to come here next week with the same talent and energy I saw in the group class on Monday. Otherwise, don’t bother showing up at all.”

Riley blinked back the sting of embarrassed tears and nodded. She tore off her pointe shoes, pulled her joggers and shoes over her tights, and left the room in a worse mood than she’d arrived. The only thing she was glad about was that Asher hadn’t been there to witness her getting reprimanded.

“You finished early,” Noah noted when she walked out of the building and found him and Chris sitting on the hood of his Jeep waiting for her.

“Yep,” she replied, too tired to give them an explanation. She knew she was being rude, but she got into the backseat without another word.

“Everything okay?” Noah asked her when he and Chris had gotten into the front.

“Fine.”

The two boys shared a confused look, but neither pressed her further, and they all remained silent as Noah drove them toward Hugh and Edith’s house.

“Chris and I are going back to his place for a bit to play PlayStation,” Noah said, breaking the silence several minutes later. “Do you want to come?”

Riley was tempted to say yes, but she knew she couldn’t. The books might have already arrived, and she wouldn’t be able to enjoy herself knowing she’d be breaking her word and letting Asher down.

“Not today,” she replied. “Maybe another time.”

It became quiet again, and Riley hated the tension that had filled the car because of her sour mood. She felt like a plague that carried pessimism and gloom everywhere she went.

“Thanks, guys,” she said when Noah pulled up outside the house.

“No problem.”

“See you later, Riley,” Chris said as she opened her door.

Riley paused with her hand on the door handle. “Oh. Are you guys coming back here?”

“Yeah. Hugh invited us over for dinner, but then I have to get back to my mom,” Noah explained.

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