The Girl in the Bell Tower, Chapter 1

Chapter 1

It was a dark and stormy night; the kind of night you wished you could hide under the covers and wait out the storm raging outside your bedroom window. At least that’s what I wished for. Instead, I was driving down a narrow, two-lane road with trees towering overhead in the middle of nowhere in Washington State. I ground my teeth and tried to see through the gloom, but my headlights were swallowed up by the dark night and the storm. This was so not cool. I stopped in the middle of the road and grabbed the map the school had sent along with the New Student Orientation Handbook. According to the map, I was almost there; though how I was going to see anything in this storm was news to me. I threw the map aside and continued on.
After some stupid vampire movies set in the Pacific Northwest made it big, this area became the place to be. God people, vampires aren’t even real – and they definitely wouldn’t sparkle if they were. So, because of them and my dad running for Wisconsin State Senate, I was being shipped off to Hillsborough Academy, the latest, most exclusive prep school around. Never mind that I had to leave all my friends and give up my dream of being crowned Homecoming Queen for a second year in a row. This was the place to be so I had to be here. My mom had thought this would be a great way for gain publicity for my dad – hey, why not ship off their only kid to some school in the middle of nowhere for her senior year, right? – and the school had offered me free admission (after a charitable donation, of course), so here I was. I hated it and I hadn't even seen the front doors yet.

Cursing every author who’d ever written about vampires (because of course the movies were based on a set of books), I slowly made my way down the dark road. My windshield wipers whirred madly as they furiously swiped away the onslaught of rain. I jumped and yelped at a sudden crack of thunder without any lightning. Was that even supposed to be possible? It never happened back home. Of course, Madison, Wisconsin, didn’t have trees covering every square inch available either. I longed to be at home in bed, my thick down alternative blanket pulled up to my chin. I wanted to be on the phone with my best friend, Courtney, talking about the first day of our senior year at East Madison High School: what we were going to wear, who we wanted to see this year, who we hadn't missed over the summer. I wanted to feel normal. Of course, normal was something I would never be.

I shuddered as I thought about the reasons behind that. I have a secret, something I’d only ever shared with Courtney. My parents thought it was my imagination and almost anyone else I’d tried telling thought I should be locked up in a loony bin. How bad could it be, you ask? I can see ghosts. And not only see them, but I can hear them and interact with them. I’d learned about it at the end of my sophomore year, when I’d suddenly been harassed by a girl nobody else could see; that ended up being because she’d died twenty years ago.

So why am I driving myself if my dad’s running for Senator and must be rich enough to get me a driver? Because I hate the idea of charity. If I’m about to do something myself, I want to do it.

My Blackberry chimed with the familiar tone that signaled my best friend’s call. I reached across the console and snatched up the phone before it could go to voicemail.

“How’s it going?” Courtney asked and I felt tears flood my eyes. Bearing her voice made me so homesick that I thought I would throw up.

“It’s wet,” I grumbled and she laughed. “Richie forgot to tell me it would be raining when I landed.”

“That’s what you get for arriving so late,” she chastised. Richie is my dad’s campaign manager, kind of like a glorified secretary. He was the one who’d heard about Hillsborough Academy and suggested it would be good for his campaign.

“Yeah, like I had a choice in that,” I finally replied, rolling my eyes. The reason I hadn't had a choice was because my parents had decided to throw me a Going Away/Birthday Party tonight and I’d had to stay at least two hours. You’d think I’d be used to all the publicity crap that went with being in public office since my dad had been Governor for five years, but I still hated it. Out of the 300 people in attendance, I’d only known about a dozen of them and Courtney was the only one I’d really wanted. My dad had proclaimed the party a success; I thought it had been a disaster.

“Yeah, the party really blew,” Courtney agreed sympathetically. I nodded even though she couldn’t see it and blinked as a fresh set of tears sprang to my eyes. This was not how my senior year of high school was supposed to go. I couldn’t believe my parents thought this was best for me; it was obviously only best for them. I sniffled into the phone.

“Oh Tammy, sweetie, don’t cry. I’m sure everything will be fine. You’re going to make new friends and have a great time; and until then, I’m only a phone call away. Besides, J.T. Maxwell is supposed to be going to Hillsborough Academy; maybe you two will hook up.”

I rolled my eyes again. J.T. Maxwell was a famous Hollywood star; why he wanted to go to school in the middle of nowhere was a mystery to me. He said it was because he wanted to connect with his fans; I think it was just because he wanted to hook up with them.

“That would be your fantasy,” I reminded Courtney. “Maybe you should’ve come in my place.”

“Or maybe I should’ve stolen away in your suitcase. I would’ve fit, you know.”

I laughed. Courtney is four-ten and doesn’t even weigh 100 pounds sopping wet; she could have easily fit into my 30-inch upright with wheels. As it was, I wasn’t sure how I was going to get that, my duffle bag, my 20-inch wheeled carryon, my backpack and my large satchel style purse inside without getting completely soaked. Maybe I could leave my luggage in the car until tomorrow.

My headlights caught a sign for Hillsborough Academy and I let out a little yelp of glee. I was almost done with this nightmarish drive.

“All right. I’m almost there. I’d better go,” I told Courtney.

“Okay. Call me later and tell me how awful your roommate is.”

“She’ll be horrible; she’s not you.”

Courtney laughed, we said goodbye and I ended the call. The road I was on ended in a circular drive. I looked in awe up at the building before me. It looked like something out of a medieval fairy tale. Flood light illuminated the large double doors on the front. I turned off the rental car and sat back to take it in for a moment. The school was massive. Entirely made of red brick and mortar, the school boasted a bell tower overlooking the courtyard in back. The dorms were attached to either side of the castle/school. I looked up towards the top windows, counting how many floors the building had, and gasped when I saw a filmy white figure at one of the top floor windows. Rain obscured my view but I was pretty sure it was a girl. Maybe it’s just another student, I thought to shoo away the possibility of a ghost; though it would be my luck that the school would be haunted. Grimacing, I looked up as one of the front doors opened and an older man in black livery ran out with an umbrella. I opened the door when he stopped next to my car.

“Miss Gray, do come in from the rain,” the man said, his voice stiff and formal. He looked to be somewhere in his forties, his dark hair starting to gray around the edges and laugh lines at the corners of his dark eyes. I was shocked he knew who I was.

“I’ll help you take in your things and bring them to your room. Mrs. Starks wants to speak with you right away,” he added when I didn’t move. Butterflies fluttered in my already queasy stomach as I wondered what the Director of the school wanted to see me about. I nodded as I pushed the door open. It was time to find out what this school was all about.