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She had to make him talk

She had to

Somehow Ari had known that when she walked into her rooone from the side of the bed, and no trace of Charlie in the house He was like a ghost She sighed, dropping her bag to the ground Her blood twisted in her veins, hot with frustration Her computer chair rolled out away from her desk towards her She flopped into it

"Thanks, Ms Maggie"

Even her poltergeist was more real than Charlie

~5~

Can You Party in the Past?

Rachel’s parents, Mr and Mrs Duff, were aweso and told her how proud they were of her They raph and when she had stood up on the stage to collect her diploma they had cheered just as loudly for her as they had for their own daughter Graduation hadn’t been so bad so far Despite her own fears for the future, the atmosphere vibrated with so much exciteh Charlie should have been graduating with her

She’d called hi lonelier than ever, Ari had wandered into her dad’s roo a little into the air As she’d glanced around his bedroo fa hiuessed that’s why he didn’t see anything so wrong about leaving her so much He didn’t mind the alone time, so he probably didn’t realize how randparents, nothing to give her any kind of connection to her lost family, and her dad never talked about them He didn’t talk about a lot of stuff Her eyes had fallen to the one photograph in the roo on his bedside table It was a picture of the two of the outside Disneyworld the suone with Michelle, who had taken the photograph of them

It had suddenly struck Ari as she stood there in a conservative white dress her dad would have loved, her hair pulled back in a French plait, pearls he had bought for her sixteenth wrapped around neck, that she would be all alone at graduation There would be no grandparents No father

No mother

For the first tiht She’d never wanted a raduate, Ari had realized hoonderful it would have been to have her mother there She sa Rachel ith her mom They were as close as two people could be They told each other everything

Shaken at the see that had taken hold of her, Ari had fled fro downstairs to wait on the Duffs

"Let me take a picture of just Rachel and Ari," Mrs Duff said The grin she wore had planted itself there an hour ago and clearly refused to leave Her good mood was infectious and Ari wrapped an arirl close for a photograph that would forever capture that one moment of contentedness on thisthe camera down for the first ti over in her cap and gown, AJ trailing at her back She smiled sweetly at the Duffs "Are you ready?"

The two faraduation lunch at Nellie’s on Main Street, the best burger place in Sandford Ridge Staci’s o somewhere a little more upan "Let me--"

" Everybody just wanna fall in love !"

Ari winced as her loud ringtone interrupted Mrs Duff "Sorry" She shuffled around in the little purse she’d brought, pulling the cell out and cutting off Metric when she saw the caller ID "Dad," she breathed happily into the phone, so glad he hadn’t forgotten

"Hey, sweetheart Congratulations on graduating and happy birthday"

"Thanks, Dad We’re just heading off for lunch Wish you were here"

"Me too, kid" He sighed heavily "You got everything you need?"