DetectiveRed

Full steam ahead for the last couple of chapters of part one. I have decided to light a fire under my ass to get it done. Let's go!Big thanks to Trismegistus Shandy, for editing and DerbyGhost for giving me inspiration for this chapter.

In the six hours since Katie had had her talk with James, he had somehow unravelled the mystery she had been investigating, got himself a boyfriend, accepted his sexuality, become more girly and come out to his asshole friends. It would have been incredible if it weren’t so poorly thought out and rushed. Seriously, who just decides to make their dysphoria worse? Who talks to a ghost and decides,’Yeah, make my life even worse’ is a good thing to ask for? James, that’s who. Trying to understand his decision-making was starting to seem futile. 

Katie: So, do you want me to call you Jamie?

Jamie: No, but do it anyway. 

Katie: Okay, Jay.

Jamie: Why are you calling me that?

It would be a lie if she said he had been forgiven for all of his transphobia over the last couple of months. Reusing the nickname from when they went bra shopping seemed to be a good way to get back at him, while also not hurting him.

Katie: You know? Like you called me K?

Jamie: I’m sorry about that. 

Katie: I mean, it was like two weeks ago. You have bigger problems. 

Jamie: Maybe. But still, I’m sorry. For that and everything else.

Katie: Let’s talk about this another time. 

She wasn’t ready to have another emotional talk with James after earlier. Sure it had been enlightening and getting him to hopefully give up his bastard ways once and for all was great, but she also didn’t want to think about apologies when he was already tired. He could apologise when he wasn’t struggling and they could talk about it properly.

Jamie: Okay. 

Katie: Anything you need help with for tomorrow?

Jamie: I’ve already bothered you enough. I’m gonna get some more sleep. TTYL

Katie: Okay, tell the ghost I said hi if you see her again.

Jamie: Sure.

Now it was time to think about the ghost. About Melody. Ghosts made sense. How else could things start appearing in a closed bag? What else could have been moving those chairs around? What else could accelerate her transition? Still, it was hard to understand why she’d turned him into a girl. She’d have to ask for more details later. Maybe she could ask Melody to talk. There had to be a way for them to communicate if she could talk to Jay. In the meantime, she had some research to do.

An hour of searching yielded a small amount of information about her. She’d died in 2001. Her parents begged for her ‘nickname’ to be printed on her memorial instead of her deadname. Three teachers were fired because of their inaction, and since then Ashland High had had anti-bigotry programs in place to deal with garbage students. Those programs weren’t enough for the school to tell their students about the school’s history, or to talk about suicide or LGBT issues or history. Those programs were still not enough to prevent Jay and Ben’s bullshit and also not enough to prevent the death of a student a couple of years after the first incident. Good job, school system! It was almost enough to make her understand some of Melody’s radical methods. Almost. Melody had been there for years, right? Stuck in the school for so long, surely she would understand the rules and programs in place. Wouldn’t it have been less destructive for her to simply get Jay and Ben caught by the teachers? One of the biggest reasons they got away with all of their crap was because Miss Campbell was consistently late enough that they could pretend they didn’t do anything.

Maybe talking to Adam would help her put together a reason behind all of her actions. Adam was always a good rubber ducky when she was faced with a hard problem, and even if he couldn’t help her figure it out, talking to him was nice. It made her feel normal, like sure there was a ghost that changed someone's body, and she was trying to understand it because she might have an obsession with Mystery Inc., but in the end, she was just a teenage girl who had crushes sometimes. It was nice. Feeling normal was a rare pleasure for people like her.

Katie: Hey Adam, found out what’s been going on with all of the weird stuff.

Adam: What is it? 

Katie: It’s a ghost, Adam. A ghost! Who would have thought? Not me. I mean I had thought about the possibility, but it didn’t seem likely.  Ghosts!

Adam: So there’s a ghost?

Katie: Her name is Melody, she died around fifteen years ago, and apparently she is the protector of LGBTQIA kids at Ashland High. 

Adam: And she’s the reason everything is happening. 

Katie: Yup.

Adam: Well that’s anti-climatic. 

Katie: We can't pull the mask off this one, bonafide supernatural shenanigans going on over here. I mean supernatural was really the only option as soon as James changed. 

Adam: I mean have we tried pouring boiling water on him yet?

Katie: ADAM NO.

Adam: Adam yes.

Katie: I highly doubt this is a Ranma situation. 

Adam: I was prepared to believe it was any form of weird shit. You’ve told me about so much of that GB stuff, nano-bots or weird gender-bender viruses would also be believable. Ghosts are a little less interesting.

Katie: Call me out why don’t you.

Adam: You love it when I do, don’t lie. So how’d you find this out? 

Katie: Apparently, James is possessed. She told him that in his dreams. From my research, she wasn’t lying.

Adam: This is wild Katie.  

Katie: I know! It’s great. I just wish I was the one who found it out.

That was the downside to all of this. She’d tried being methodical. She’d tried catching it on tape or trying to science out solutions, but Melody had eluded her. A ghost was one option, but it was a farfetched one. Occam’s Razor said the option with the fewest assumptions was likely correct, and a ghost-related conclusion took a lot of assumptions to be correct. At least there were still some things to learn; why did she keep tripping Nick? It didn’t seem like it would help her achieve anything. If she was meant to protect LGBT kids, why repeatedly trip one? Hell, why did she make Jay’s sexuality discovery even more complicated than it would have been otherwise? 

Melody’s motivations were confusing at best, illogical at worst. What Katie would give to talk to Melody. It would be an enlightening conversation, to say the least. I mean a conversation with a ghost would bring so many things into question, it would confirm the existence of the supernatural and it could explain so many things about the human condition, but that was all hypothetical. It wasn’t like she could walk up to Jay and be like, ‘Hey can you patch me through to Melody, thanks mate I appreciate it.’. How would talking to the supernatural even work? It was probably better to focus on talking to Adam, instead of letting her mind wander into ridiculous territories.

Adam: Well, I doubt that’s the end of all this. After all, James still exists. Am I gonna have to deal with James? I don’t want to deal with that asshole.

Katie: Well, IDK, he didn’t tell me how coming out to Ben and Lachie went. 

Adam: What?

Katie: I know right? Also, he’s going all-in tomorrow.

Adam: Jeez. So he might come to the table. 

Katie: He might. I doubt he will drop his pride that quickly, though. 

How would he being there even work? It was something she hadn’t thought about. A fantasy she usually refused to indulge. Hanging out with James regularly again, without dwelling on all the bullshit that had happened between them. Part of her wanted to explain to Adam that she hoped that would happen, that she hoped Jay could hang out with them. Because despite his bullshit, she cared about him. She wanted him to be better. Maybe it would be possible; she’d just have to warm Adam up to the idea. 

Adam: From what you’ve told me, that sounds right.

Katie: Maybe Nick can put some sense into him. 

Adam: Maybe. 

Katie: I might need help giving him advice, still. I mean he’s a trans guy and I don’t know all the ins and outs of that.

Adam: If he asks me directly, I’ll help him. I’m not going out of my way to help though. He’s gotten enough out of you. 

Katie: Fair.

Adam: Speaking of James. Why are you still helping him? He’s been on your back for six months, and even after you helped him out he still turned it back on you. Why do you keep helping him, Kat?

Katie: Cause he’s my friend.

Getting into the nitty-gritty of everything would have been a pain. How was she meant to explain to her best friend that she kept helping her old asshole best friend because she missed him?

Adam: I figured. Well, if you want a break from mystery-solving and helping out dickheads, wanna watch a movie or something this weekend?

Katie: Yes

Her hands had moved before she’d even finished reading the message. It would be good to get away from thinking about ghosts and Jay, and her body rapidly changing. Maybe it would be a good time to try out some of the clothes she’d never been brave enough to wear. She’d been so caught up with what was happening to everyone else, she hadn’t thought about what Melody’s interference could open up for her. Seriously, dresses, dresses that go spinny; she could wear them outside without weird looks, if she was lucky. Could she pull off an orange turtleneck yet? Did she want to dress like Velma? 

Adam: Cool, it’s a date. 

A date? Fuck.Unexpected, scary, what?. Maybe he didn’t mean it that way. Knowing Adam, he definitely might have said that to fluster her.

Katie: Fuck you.

Adam: Let me take you out to dinner first. 

Katie: Adam!! Stop!!

Adam: Okay. I was kidding about it being a date btw. Unless you want it to be ;)

Adam was such an ass! Why did she always fall for assholes? She didn’t deserve this. She didn’t deserve to be flustered by cocky bastards. What was she meant to say? She liked him sure, but the last two weeks had been so caught up in Jay’s bullshit she had been ignoring them. 

Katie: Not yet. Maybe after things settle. 

Adam: Okay! Let me know if Saturday or Sunday works best.

Katie: Sure. 

It was nine at night, probably better to ask about it tomorrow. Plus she was getting tired. Too much stress for one day, too much research as well. It was probably best that she laid down and thought about something mundane and normal like dating.