Tagline: He’s got the killer instinct.
Back tagline: Nail the quarterback…in his coffin.
Summary: When Reggie Westlake shows up at the pep rally starting off the football season, the crowd goes wild.
He’s the greatest player Stony Bay High School ever had.
Quarterback and captain, he led the team to the championship two years in a row, raising school spirit higher than ever before.
No one could forget his black and gold jersey, bearing the number nine.
He’ll always be a school hero.
There’s just one thing…
Reggie’s dead.
First impressions: This one’s been recommended a few times so I thought I’d check it out finally, but as someone who has zero interest in sport, the cover doesn’t appeal to me at all. Reggie’s carrying a lot of luggage under those eyes, which is a huge mood. The blurb sounds fun too, so fingers crossed it’s a good one! God knows I need something good after dealing with a Deathkins story last time.
Recap
Roll Call:
Amelia – Our brilliant protagonist and head cheerleader.
Jilly – Amelia’s grieving best friend who’s boyfriend died last year.
Reggie – Jilly’s deceased boyfriend who died in a tragic football accident.
Garth – Amelia’s boyfriend and football captain.
Travis – Reggie’s old brother, a sports reporter.
Shelby – Jilly’s new boyfriend who hates jocks.
Recap
We begin with our protagonist, head cheerleader Amelia Siebert, in the cheerleaders’ locker room, trying to encourage her best friend and fellow cheerleader Jilly [Jilly’s a silly name] to come out and perform for the pep rally. Jilly can’t bring herself to do it, though, and decides she’ll just go home, which is the straw that broke the camel’s back for Amelia:
“Okay, fine. You do that. You go home. Go back into the self-pity you’ve enjoyed for almost a year. I can’t help you anymore. I don’t even want to try.”
[Feisty! Poor Jilly. But also, poor Amelia for having to put up with it for so long. It’s hard to help someone who refuses to help herself, ya know?]. Leaving Jilly in the locker room, Amelia storms to the auditorium, calming herself down along the way. Up on stage before the pep rally, Amelia explains to her boyfriend, football captain Garth, that Jilly refuses to come out and isn’t even sure she wants to be on the cheerleading team anymore!
Garth empathises with Jilly, having felt the same way and all, but he knows Reggie wouldn’t want him to stop playing football, much like he wouldn’t want Jilly to quit cheerleading. Despite Amelia’s best efforts to help, Jilly can’t stop grieving over her boyfriend’s death [Hurry up and tell me how he died!], and Garth thinks she’s beyond help, suggesting Amelia is giving up too much of herself in trying to help her friend [I’m depressed at this point].
Garth is surprised to see Travis Westerman, Reggie’s older brother [So Reggie’s last name is Westerman, not Westlake like it says on the blurb? Interesting mistake…] who graduated a few years earlier, in the audience and can’t believe he’d want to be there, but Amelia explains that he writes for the sports section of the local newspaper, so he’s probably planning a story.
Amelia kicks off the pep rally in true cheerleader fashion, leading the audience to spell out Stony Bay Bombers [Which is waaaaaayy too long for this sort of thing], but when Garth is about to give his speech, the assembly is interrupted:
Slowly, at the very back of the stage, a dark curtain began to open, creaking slightly. Slowly, the widening space between the curtains filled with a foglike mist. And from the fog appeared a player no one expected to see this year. A player no one expected to see ever again. Number Nine — Reggie Westerman. Standing in the vaporous mist, circling and floating around it, the figure look ten feet tall. A menacing hulk, shoulders padded to gigantic proportions, it loomed over the stage.
[Ooky spooky! I love this description]. Decked out in his full football uniform, ghost Reggie disappears back into the swirling fog as the curtain closes behind him, leaving the pep rally attendees horrified. Coach Paladino saves the situation, declaring Reggie’s spirit just couldn’t stay away [Surely they don’t think it was a real ghost? There’s no way that thing wasn’t staged], and we learn that in the last game of the season, Reggie was paralysed from a spinal cord injury, fell into coma and died two weeks later [Oof, how horrible. American football is so aggressive compared to Aussie football].
After the assembly’s over, everyone seems to have mixed feelings about the whole thing. Some think it was awesome, others think it was tacky and distasteful [Very that], but most seem to agree that Coach Paladino staged the whole thing to rev everyone up. Angry that he would take advantage of Reggie’s death like that, Amelia confronts the coach, but he denies responsibility and is just glad he was able to save the situation, vowing that whoever pulled the horrible prank won’t get away with it [My money’s on Jilly. Probably trying to keep his memory alive or something, or maybe just a weird way of dealing with her grief?].
Afterwards, Amelia finds Jilly out in the hall, staring at the glass cabinet that serves as a shrine to Reggie Westerman, complete with his uniform, final game ball and photos through his high school career. Turns out Jilly was in the back of the auditorium, trying to build the courage to join the cheerleading team on stage, and saw the ghost appear before she ran out in horror [Bullshit, Jilly you were in that costume!!!].
Jilly’s not so sure it was a prank, suggesting it really was Reggie’s ghost [To throw Amelia off the scent! I’m onto you, Jilly…]. She explains that she’s felt Reggie’s presence with her ever since he died [This is so sad 🙁 I like the realistic portrayal of grief though] before they’re interrupted by class clown Shelby, who “looked like a leftover from fifth grade” [What the hell does that mean hahaha] and has been affectionately nicknamed Gumby by Jilly [Is it because he’s an idiot? Or does he look like Gumby?]. He wants to make sure Jilly’s OK, but she says she’s fine and he leaves.
Amelia’s surprised by the interaction since Jilly and Shelby don’t run in the same social circles — he’s a drama geek while she’s a cheerleader/jock. Jilly says she likes him because he makes her laugh, and Amelia is glad to know Jilly’s recovering her social life and potentially jumping back in the dating pool [Amelia is such a good friend, I love her]. They’re then interrupted by Travis, Reggie’s sports writer brother, who wants a quote from Jilly for the paper. He clearly holds a lot of disdain for his brother, so Jilly puts him in his place:
“You’d like to forget that Reggie ever existed, wouldn’t you, Travis?” Jilly said. “To forget that his star was so bright, you couldn’t help but be a shadow. To forget that no one would ever remember your name if it hadn’t been for Reggie. It doesn’t matter what you tell your readers. They know the truth. Reggie will always be number one.”
[Get him, Jilly!]. Travis quickly leaves in a huff, and Jilly tells Amelia she wouldn’t be surprised if he staged Reggie’s ghostly return to get a good story [She’s a bit keen to blame everyone else…suss!]. As the girls head back to Amelia’s car, we get a great description of Jilly:
Jilly’s long blonde hair hung forward around her face like a mourning veil. But her blue eyes blazed with an eternal flame for a dead hero.
[Steiner has a way with similes, I’ll tell you that much]. Although she doesn’t say it out loud, Amelia’s exhausted of talking about Reggie, constantly counselling Jilly and “listening to her cry and threaten to commit suicide” because she doesn’t want to live without him [I’ve never lost anyone close to me so I can’t really imagine what Jilly’s going through, but it’s pretty heartbreaking just reading it. Poor girl. Sounds like Amelia’s been as supportive as possible too, but it’s had no effect, so I can sympathise with her].
As they pass the auditorium, they hear Mrs. Hodgekiss, the drama teacher, scolding Coach Paladino for the prank. He’s still denying it though, and after examining the stage area, Amelia notices a box the “ghost” probably stood on and that the lights are slanted upwards in a way “that would make someone look taller”. There’s also a plastic tub of dry ice, which explains the fog [Is dry ice easy to get though?], and Mrs. Hodgekiss points out that a stage door leading to the car park had been unlocked, which would have allowed someone to easily escape without being caught [OK, so it’s clearly not a ghost].
The two girls leave the adults to figure it out for themselves and reach Amelia’s car, reminiscing about how Reggie would have loved the prank. Instead of going straight back to Amelia’s place, they go to Dexter’s Lakeside, a popular diner where all the teens in town hang out. While there, Jilly mentions Shelby wants her to drop cheerleading and she’s seriously considering it [I hope not because a man wants you to, Jilly!]. She doesn’t want to cheer on the rest of the footballers all year, especially when she thinks all of them, but especially Garth, is at fault for Reggie’s accident, since no-one prevented the fatal tackle [OK, so blame the guy that tackled him?? Jilly’s an idiot].
Amelia explains that it was just a freak accident and no-one is to blame before Shelby rocks up, and Jilly invites him to sit down. Shelby wants to take Jilly to a move tonight, but Amelia says she needs to be at the game later, which Shelby’s not too keen on attending. He’s always involved in the school’s plays and reckons Jilly could get the lead in the next one, but she’d have to drop the cheerleading squad [Are you really interested in acting though, Jilly?]. Jilly asks for a ride from Shelby and agrees to do something after the game, and they both leave without Amelia [Wow, Jilly’s a shit friend].
The Stony Bay Bombers win the game that night, with Jilly front and centre with the cheerleaders spurring them on. Afterwards, Amelia recruits her and Shelby to help organise a beach party tomorrow night to celebrate before the new couple heads off, leaving Jilly to wait by herself for Garth. When he finally appears from the locker room, Travis approaches for a quote from Garth [This guy’s just everywhere, isn’t he?!].
Travis hints that Coach Paladino’s reputation was completely made by Reggie’s abilities before leaving and Garth explains to Amelia that the workload is more spread out now instead of relying on one player. He mentions he’s not sure if he even liked Reggie, who Amelia admits “was always stuck on himself”, but everyone liked him anyway, or at least pretended to [I don’t think you can blame Reggie for Coach Paladino relying solely on him to carry the team, but I guess it would be frustrating for everyone, especially if Reggie was cocky about it].
Garth also can’t help but feel responsible for Reggie’s death since it was his job to defend Ralph, the opposing player who fatally tackled him [I have no idea how football works so none of this makes sense to me, but hopefully I’m relaying it correctly to you guys hahaha], but Amelia assures him he’s not to blame. Garth also tells Amelia how Coach Paladino suspects the ghost prank was done by some players from the Lakers, Ralph’s team, to rattle the Bombers, and Garth suspects it was most likely Ralph himself, since he’ll apparently do anything on a dare [The old classic trick — disguising peer pressure as a dare!].
The next day, Saturday, Amelia makes some calls about the beach party before phoning Jilly, hoping she’s still keen to help set up. To her surprise, Jilly seems like her old self, how she was before Reggie’s death, and Amelia decides not to stop walking on eggshells around Jilly and “treating her as if she might break into a million pieces” all the time [Good plan, Amelia! And yay for having your friend back!].
Soon, Garth picks Amelia up and they sail his family’s boat to a spot on the beach where the seniors like to party [I wanna go to a beach party! I’ve never been to one before]. They set down their party supplies by some tables and grills to reserve them for later just as Jilly arrives on her own family’s boat with Shelby. After more seniors arrive and everyone frolics in the water, the fun is cut short when Reggie appears once again, this time slowly rising from the lake [Ooky spooky!]. The ghostly figure points at Garth, Amelia and another footballer, Buddy, who’s quarterback this year now that Reggie’s gone, before disappearing beneath the murky water. Buddy, Shelby and another footballer named Frank try to chase after him, but are unable to locate Reggie in the water. Garth’s furious about this second prank, but some of the other seniors think it was real [Where’s Jilly while this is all happening? Very suss…].
Back on the shore, Amelia finds Jilly sitting at a table by herself, clearly miserable. Jilly insists she’s fine and heads back to the bonfire with Shelby, who thinks Reggie’s come back because he’s jealous of him [That’s a lot of confidence for fifth-grade leftovers, Shelby!].
As the music gets louder and everyone dances and scoffs their faces to forget about the ghostly interruption, Amelia stands at the bonfire with Garth and Buddy. Someone bumps into her from behind, almost sending her into the fire, so she opts to move. Just as she’s about to, though, she sees Buddy go stumbling into the fire, lighting up instantly [Oof!]. Several people help pull him from the fire and smother the flames engulfing him, but the damage is done, with his flesh “seared and puckered, blacked into charcoal edges” [Poor Buddy!]. One of the partygoers takes him to hospital, and Garth confides in a terrified Amelia:
“I was standing beside Buddy. His face…his look of surprise. He didn’t stumble into that fire, Mel. He acted as if someone…pushed him.”
Garth suggests that it really is Reggie’s ghost they’ve been seeing, and that’s who pushed Buddy, and Amelia agrees that the ghost is “jealous of how well Buddy filled his position as quarterback” [Really? Come on, guys. No fkn way. I could believe Jilly did it for that exact reason, or maybe Shelby because he’s clearly in love with Jilly and it’s his twisted way of making her feel better, but it’s definitely not a real ghost].
After driving Amelia home later, Garth breaks down in the car and cries on her shoulder, feeling responsible for yet another tragedy since he wasn’t able to prevent Buddy from falling into the flames [Love it, show those emotions, Garth! We support you xox].
The next day Amelia and Garth head to the hospital, which is in a neighbouring town, to visit Buddy. His girlfriend, Sandy, who’s been in the waiting room all night, tells them Buddy’s hands got the worst injuries, but he’s got first-degree burns all over, to which Garth stupidly says “He won’t play football again” [Garth, you pleb! I’m sure that’s the last thing on anyone’s damn mind]. Sandy and Amelia both yell at him for his insensitive comment, and he runs off down the hall without another word.
Jilly appears, which surprises Amelia because she thought her best friend would be too haunted by Reggie’s accident to face a hospital again, but apparently she’s been here all night with Sandy and Buddy’s family [What a sweetheart. Except I reckon she pushed Buddy and is only there to hear first-hand if he’ll die or not…]. Travis is also there, called earlier by Jilly who figured there’s a story to be written about Stony Bay losing another quarterback [I guess, but like, really, Jilly?]. Sandy suggests the quarterback position is jinxed, which lures over Travis who has some choice words about Garth:
“It does seem ironic that Garth Dreyer was standing right there beside someone who’s the victim of a tragedy,” Travis said. “And that Stony Bay has lost another quarterback. Maybe Garth has ambitions beyond our wildest dreams. Maybe he’ll stop at nothing to get what he wants.”
Jilly seems to agree with Travis here [Why isn’t anyone blaming Ralph? You know, the guy that actually tackled Reggie? What is with these two], and after some more goading by Travis, a furiously upset Amelia runs back to the car. A traumatised Garth returns soon after and they drive home without a word before he finally says something after parking at Amelia’s. He reveals he was able to see Buddy for a short time, and although Buddy could barely talk because “his lungs were seared by the flames” [Fucking brutal! Poor Buddy], he managed to whisper that he’d felt someone deliberately shove him into the bonfire [You don’t say!].
For the rest of the day and all of Monday, Amelia can’t hep but wonder if what Travis said was true, that Garth might have been responsible for Buddy’s accident. Not seeing or hearing from Garth during that time only adds to her doubts, and by cheerleading practice on Monday afternoon, they become “a full-blown worry”. Sure enough, Garth is filling in as quarterback, and he seems like a natural too, maybe even better than Buddy [I guess Garth is our red herring then]. With cheerleading practice over, Amelia opts to stay behind and wait for a chance to talk to her boyfriend. Jilly offers to wait with her, but Amelia needs to talk to him alone, and although she seems hurt, Jilly leaves with Shelby [Not sure why she’s offended lol? She’s been all about Shelby lately?].
Up on the bleachers, Amelia is quickly joined by Travis and they begin discussing ghost Reggie’s two appearances. Travis reckons Coach Paladino is responsible, wanting to keep the players fired up for their games, and suggests this week’s game will be dedicated to Buddy to keep everyone motivated to win [It still seems kind of tacky but I guess it would be a good motivator]. Travis also plans on exploiting Buddy’s accident, but decides he might focus on the rumour of the team, and more specifically the quarterback position, being jinxed.
Unnerved, Amelia heads back to the school to return her megaphone to the storeroom, realising how alone she is once inside the building. She hurries across the school to her locker to grab her things, but slips over in front of the glass cabinet dedicated to Reggie. To her surprise, there’s a puddle of water [What, no wet floor sign?] in front of it as well as some seaweed, and the whole thing smells an awful lot like the fishy lake water [If someone returned the uniform on Saturday night, surely the puddle of water would have dried up by now, and the sea weed noticed/cleaned up already? If the uniform was returned this morning, the water still would have been noticed by someone earlier in the day? Weird…].
Feeling as though she’s being watched, Amelia runs back to her car and freaks out. Like me, she doesn’t understand how the puddle of water wasn’t detected by the janitor all day [Not just a pretty face, hehe] but apparently it’s a big school and the door near the cabinet isn’t used that often [Sounds reasonable I guess]. After calming herself down, she writes a note for Garth to call her later and sticks it to his car before heading home to wait by the phone.
When he finally does call her, she tells him about the puddle and the seaweed, and Garth decides that they can’t play along with their tormentor’s games — they have to stop being afraid. But Amelia is scared and asks him to come over after dinner, but he can’t because he really needs to study, not wanting to let the coach down now that he’s the quarterback. Amelia practically begs him, but apparently football is more important and Garth tells her they’ll talk tomorrow before hanging up [Wooooooow. Maybe I don’t like Garth as much as I thought I did].
Shortly after, he calls back, asking if she just called to spook him with the sound of water dripping. Obviously she didn’t, and as soon as they hang up, her phone rings again. All Amelia hears on the other end is the sound of the ocean before a low, hoarse voice warns her to “Beware of Friday’s game” [I love how mysterious callers always have hoarse, croaky voices].
After Amelia hangs up, the phone instantly rings again, and this time it’s Shelby. Amelia immediately accuses him of making the previous call, but he has no idea what she’s talking about and instead demands she let Jilly make her own decisions, like dropping the cheerleading squad if she wants to [You gonna take your own advice there, Shelby? I’m sure Jilly’s sudden interest in the school play wasn’t her own idea]. Amelia arks up, arguing that she’ll do and say anything to Jilly that she feels she needs to, which is met with accusations of being a selfish best friend by Shelby. He reckons Amelia just can’t handle change, but that’s exactly what Jilly needs – “to hang out with someone besides dumb jocks” [Seems to me Jilly is the one who can’t handle the change of Reggie not being around… Too soon?].
Still thinking Shelby’s responsible for trying to scare everyone, Amelia tells him she’s onto his games and slams the phone down, silently daring him to call again [Big, tough Amelia!]. It remains silent, but Amelia’s convinced someone was watching her at school earlier, and doesn’t know if she’s capable of pretending to be unafraid like Garth’s planning to do. It’s Garth she’s frightened for though – “Something was going to happen to Garth at Friday night’s game” [The quarterback jinx lives on!].
Amelia doesn’t get a chance to be alone with Garth for the whole week since he has practice after school and then heads straight home to study [Make some time for your girlfriend, Garth!] but much to her relief, Friday night’s game comes and goes without a hitch, with Garth massively contributing to the Bombers’ big victory. Afterwards, Garth and Amelia go to Dexter’s where everyone practically worships Garth [The hype around small town football is so weird to me. Is it really as huge in America as books and TV shows/movies make it seem? Garth’s practically a celebrity now!]. Garth makes a comment about how great it is to be worshipped and Amelia wonders once again if he is responsible for Reggie and Buddy’s accidents, noting how he’s already becoming a “distant stranger as he soaked up the praise” and how “it was almost as if he was becoming Reggie Westerman” [Calm down, Amelia, it was his first outing as quarterback. Let him enjoy his win!].
The next day, Garth, Amelia, Frank and Jilly briefly visit Buddy at the hospital before stopping for lunch on the outskirts of Stony Bay. On the car ride there, though, Amelia grows increasingly fed up with all Garth’s Bombers talk since he’s too busy talking about his success to even notice she’s upset with him [Again, let him enjoy his win, Amelia! But also I agree with her because sport should not be your whole personality, ya know?].
Anyway, the diner they visit turns out to be the local hangout for the Lakers, the Bombers’ worst rivals! Ralph, the guy who fatally tackled Reggie, is there with some teammates, who all sledge our four trespassers with absolutely no respect for Buddy or Reggie [These guys suck!]. Garth accuses the Lakers of being behind the ghostly visits and threatens them before leaving with the others [Nooo, have a punch-on! Compare dick sizes!], where they discuss if the Lakers really are responsible as they head back to Stony Bay.
Garth informs Jilly and Frank that Buddy was pushed into the fire and Amelia blurts out her theory that someone is using Reggie’s uniform from the glass cabinet at school. Jilly points out that that would mean somebody who has access to the key for the case would be helping out the Lakers [Sounds like a lot of effort though], and Frank suggests that “any number of nerds would do it for enough money” [I mean if the jocks were that rude to me then I’d do it too. Fuck em!].
They head to Dexter’s and Amelia, who genuinely misses her best friend, tries to make plans for tomorrow with her, but Jilly’s on her high horse now and accuses Amelia of only having time for her because Garth will be working [Wow, the audacity on this girl! Amelia’s been helping you for 10 months with your grief and you dropped her as soon as you got a new boyfriend! Amelia’s spent barely any time with Garth this week, and where’s Jilly been? With Shelby. Idiot]. Coach Paladino is hosting a cookout at his place tonight to celebrate the team’s win, and since Jilly’s bringing Shelby along [She’s one of those girlfriends, is she?], Amelia suggests they can eat together so she can get to know Shelby more [Just fuck Jilly off, Amelia, she doesn’t deserve you].
Later, when Garth and Amelia are finally alone, he asks her why she’s been acting so funny since last night. She mentions what Travis said about Garth helping along Reggie’s and Buddy’s accidents so he could be quarterback, and Garth gets mad that she’d even entertain such a crazy idea. Amelia agues that he’s just been so full of himself lately [Amelia, it’s been ONE fucking day], she couldn’t stop thinking about it. Instead of being mature and replying with words, Garth, who’s usually not a hoon on the roads, turns into speed racer for the drive back to Amelia’s place [A weird reaction, if you ask me. I’m over Garth], frightening the poor girl.
The fight doesn’t last long, with the couple making up outside Amelia’s house, realising that whoever’s terrorising them is just trying to make them fight. And who’s the number one suspect? Travis! Amelia reckons he’s trying to keep his brother’s memory alive [Even though it was heavily implied Travis hated Reggie at the start? OK], since after all, half of his articles lately are about how good Reggie was and comparing his playing style with Garth’s. Garth’s main suspect is Coach Paladino, a belief shared by the whole football team after the coach told them he’ll lose his job if they don’t win the season [Surely one bad season after winning so often the last few years wouldn’t be grounds for dismissal though? Weird].
Garth and Amelia then head to Coach Paladino’s home, which is a huge, colonial-style lakefront house set on a few acres [On a teacher’s salary? Surely not]. Amelia questions how he can afford such a big place, but Garth explains he gets paid pretty well and his wife is an elementary school teacher [Does that really explain it though? This is a rich person house!] and she realises the coach has a lot to lose if he’s fired from his position.
They unload Garth’s grill and head to the backyard, where the party’s at, passing a few signs that say things like “KILLERS, YOU ARE ALL KILLERS” and “WHO IS NEXT? FOOTBALL SUCKS. SOMEONE HAS TO PAY”. They spot Frank, who tells them there’s similar signs decorating the whole property, with Coach Paladino leaving them up for everyone to see [Seems pretty suss, but he’s too obvious to be the culprit. Also, I’m impressed by the effort the bad guy has gone to! I’d be way too lazy].
Garth sets his grill up on the patio and douses the charcoal in lighter fluid before Frank gives them a tour of some of the other signs. Before long though, “a huge whomp interrupted their tour”, followed by screaming. They head to the chaos, spotting Garth’s grill “flame toward the darkening sky like some Olympic torch, out of control” [Sounds pretty!]. Coach Paladino had been knocked to the ground, but thankfully he’s unhurt. Extinguishing the flames, Garth realises someone doused the grill with gasoline [OK, but wouldn’t at least one of the other guests have seen whoever did it?]. Coach Paladino goes off on a monologue, pointing at the crowd as he scans through them and declares no-one will sabotage his football team [Someone’s already been doing it, silly poo].
The party continues with the football team all revved up once more, frustrated with whoever’s been targeting them. Amelia finds Jilly and breaks the ice with her, pissing Shelby off as he goes to get another drink. After being prompted by Jilly, Amelia admits that she does like Shelby, but he just doesn’t really fit it, and the girls realise things will probably never be like they were in the past [You could at least put in some effort, Jilly].
The ensuing awkward silence is interrupted by laughter as a group of football players vent their anger about the signs by picking Shelby up and stuffing him into a trash barrel on the patio [Hahahaha good]. Jilly and Amelia pull him out and Shelby is absolutely fuming, vowing to get revenge, and Amelia wonders if he’s behind everything and already has been getting even with them.
Jilly and Shelby leave the party and shortly after, fog starts rolling in, kicking off a game of what they call “reverse hide-and-seek”, but what I know as Sardines [Even though the described rules are a bit janky and don’t make sense], where Amelia is it:
Her job was to find one other person, but instead of running and counting them in, “One, two, three for Garth,” she would hide with that person.
Two looked for another and so on until all but one person were hiding in the same place.”
[Realistically, only Amelia should be hiding, with everyone trying to find her. Then as people find her one by one, they hide with her, until only one person is left looking. The rules here make it seem like Amelia’s looking for everyone else, then someone hiding with the people she finds whilst simultaneously looking for everyone else, growing her group with each new person… It makes no sense. Also, what’s this “One, two, three for Garth” business? I’ve never played Hide and Seek like that?].
Frustrated that Garth seems to be ignoring the grill incident but wanting to be a good sport, Amelia goes hunting for the hiders, wandering deep into the woods for some reason and losing her sense of direction [Why did you walk that far in the first place, dingus?]. The sound of a twig snapping behind her makes her remember Reggie rising from the lake, and she silently prays that no ghost will appear right now. Luck’s on her side, because Garth appears from the swirling mist instead!
Amelia’s had enough scares for one night and wants to go home, so they head back to the party to thank Coach Paladino for having them [I guess we’re just forgetting they’re in the middle of a game right now? Hahahaha]. Amelia apologises that someone tried to ruin the party, but Coach Paladino is completely unfazed, suggesting someone’s just trying to be cute, maybe even one of his own players since he steps on a lot of egos.
Bothered by how nonchalant he is about the signs and his near-miss, Amelia wonders if if he did it all himself, knowing it would fire up the players once more. As Garth drives her home, they discuss if Coach Paladino would really be that desperate to win, but Garth’s changed his tune now because the team is as good as it was last year, “maybe better”, and agrees with the coach that it’s someone who had his feelings hurt, like from not making it on the team or something [Sounds reasonable, but I don’t buy it].
The next Friday night at the football game, the mysterious caller’s [Remember that?] prophecy comes true — Frank collapses on the field! He gets taken away via ambulance as the game continues without him, and it’s not until after the Bombers win and the team is leaving the locker room that Amelia learns from Garth what happened:
“Someone had stuck pins in his shoulder pads. The pins had been dipped in some kind of contact poison.”
“Contact poison,” Amelia said slowly. “You mean if it touches your skin it can poison you?”
“The pins made scratches, helping the poison enter the bloodstream.” Garth hesitated.
[Wouldn’t he have felt them sticking into him before even getting on the field and playing though? Weird]. The poison is believed to be benzene, affecting Frank’s nervous system and making him dizzy and nauseous. Amelia questions why Frank was targeted and not Garth, the quarterback, which is when Garth reveals they were his shoulder pads Frank was wearing [!!!].
As they head to the car park, they spot Travis in his car, scribbling notes furiously with a huge grin on his face. Angry, Amelia storms over there and gives him a piece of her mind about his articles. Travis turns on Garth, asking if Frank was drunk or hungover tonight, then accuses him of failing to stop Reggie from playing that fateful night. Amelia hits Travis with the cold, hard facts — that Frank was poisoned, but then realises what he’d said about Reggie.
She turns to Garth, demanding to know what Travis meant, and it’s revealed that Reggie was hungover at the football game, maybe even a little drunk, since he was under so much pressure to perform all the time and it helped him relax. For whatever reason, Travis holds Garth solely responsible for his brother’s actions [It’s not like he force-fed him the alcohol? Reggie was a big boy who made his own decisions. I can’t stand this kind of logic, that someone else is accountable for someone’s poor choices].
Travis leaves and is now Amelia’s top suspect [So we know he’s not our bad guy], but Garth isn’t so sure, not wanting to think about it anymore. She explains that someone is trying to hurt him, not just anyone, and it was just pure luck [On Garth’s behalf, at least] that Coach Paladino lit Garth’s grill and Frank wore his pads. Garth promises to think about it, but as usual he’s more focused on playing football than the threat to his life.
On Thursday at lunch, Amelia asks Jilly to ride with her and Garth to the away game tomorrow, since the school is relaxed on means of transport as long as everyone’s there on time. Without waiting for her response [???], Amelia asks if Jilly knew Reggie was half-drunk that night:
Jilly stared at her plate of nibbled and mangled food. “If he was, why didn’t Garth keep him from playing?”
[Uh, because it’s not Garth’s fucking responsibility?! Jilly’s definitely trying to kill him]. Amelia agrees with me, questioning why everything thinks Garth should have been Reggie’s guardian. She explains that someone is trying to hurt her boyfriend, but Garth’s not at all scared by it. Jilly’s surprised that Garth’s not afraid [I guess she’ll have to ramp up her efforts!] and tells Amelia she’ll be riding with Shelby “if he can get away” [Shelby hates football and jocks but has been at every single game and event so far. Susssssss….], but will ride with them if he’s not free, “but don’t wait for me” [Fuck being her backup option, Amelia! Respect yourself].
The next day, Garth and Amelia head to Wolf Park for the away game without Jilly. The weather is alarmingly overcast and foggy, but that doesn’t stop these two idiots from making bad driving decisions:
Often, if they heard a car, they stopped right in the middle of the road, frozen.
[WHY?!? Why would you stop in the middle of the road when visibility is so poor?!]. When they get to Wolf Park, Amelia finds Jilly at McDonald’s with a bunch of other cheerleaders and without Shelby [For once in this damn book] since he had play rehearsals. The Bombers end up win the away game and on the drive home that night, visibility is still shit due to the fog, so Garth drives super slow. Eventually, a glowing light fills the road:
Garth saw the light at the same time Amelia did. Fog turned into pale gold moisture. Like a streak of cold moonlight, the spotlight across the highway outlined Reggie’s ghost, surrounding the phantom football player in a surreal glow. The number nine blazed like an icy fire on his chest. One hand was raised, signalling Garth to stop. The other pointed to their car. Reggie’s glowing helmet turned back and forth, while hollow, dark eye sockets stared vacantly.
[Does Reggie have a spotlight with him or is the headlights from the car reflecting off the gold in the uniform? Hahahaha. I would have just run whoever it is in the costume over to put a stop to the whole ordeal]. Instead of doing what I’d do, Garth swerves to the right to avoid hitting the phantom and the car skids, slides, “spun around, took flight and rolled”.
Amelia wakes up, hanging from her seat in the upside down car. She and Garth are fine though, luckily, and soon, Coach Paladino and the busload of players/cheerleaders who were travelling behind them arrive to help them out of the car. They lie and say a deer caused the accident, not wanting to scare everyone else and knowing the police already think the ghost stuff is all a prank anyway [Surely by know Garth realises someone’s actually targeting him? It’s gotta be Jilly and Shelby!].
Garth rides with Coach Paladino while Amelia sits with Jilly on the bus for the rest of the way home. Jilly asks what happened and Amelia sticks with the deer story, not wanting to upset her by mentioning Reggie’s ghost again. And by keeping his appearance secret, Amelia reckons it’ll frustrate the culprit enough to make him show up again, “and the more often he did, the more chances someone would have of catching him” [Good thinking, Amelia!].
Amelia also realises that all this horror isn’t just to rev up the players for their games — someone’s actually trying to hurt Garth [Duh, Amelia]. And after the grill incident and Frank’s poisoning, this is the third time our bad guy has failed:
Amelia felt absolutely certain that the killer wouldn’t give up now. He would be even more determined.
[The “killer” hasn’t actually killed anyone yet, Amelia]. The next morning, Amelia reads Travis’ article in the paper detailing all the accidents the Bombers have had, including last night’s crash, as well as Reggie’s death and the appearance of his ghost. The article suggests there’s a link between the phantom and the accidents, and Amelia has a real light bulb moment as she realises it’s true [Really, Amelia? You’re only connecting the dots now? It couldn’t have been more obvious].
She rushes upstairs to get dressed, planning to head to the docks where Garth helps his family’s business on Saturdays, but just before she leaves, Jilly calls. She invites Amelia shopping, but Amelia lies and says she’s going to the hospital for a check up and also promised Garth she’d meet him at the boat yard today. Jilly accuses her of choosing Garth over her again [Sorry Jilly, how many times have you chosen Shelby over Amelia since the book began? Fuck off], but Amelia just says it’s not a good day for shopping and suggests they plan ahead of time for it.
At the docks, Amelia explains Travis’ article to Garth and the possible connection between the phantom and the accidents. Garth isn’t so sure since no-one got hurt at the first pep rally [True, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re not connected?], and suggests it’s Ralph and the Lakers behind everything. Amelia points out that the Lakers had their own game somewhere else last night, so it couldn’t have been one of them on the road, and insists that Travis is behind it all [You’re both wrong xoxo]:
“I think Travis Westerman can’t stand to see anyone taking Reggie’s place, playing as well at quarterback. He got rid of Buddy, and now he’s after you.”
[Why was such a point made at the beginning that Travis didn’t like Reggie if he’s just gonna be a suspect for the complete opposite reason? I guess it’s just Amelia’s theory and is plausible because Reggie was his brother after all, but still, why even mention Travis didn’t like him?]. Garth’s known Travis a long time and doesn’t believe he could do something like this, but Amelia’s still not sure. Garth then pulls out a note that was in an envelope at his door this morning:
GARTH, YOU ARE A KILLER WHO HAS NEVER BEEN PUNISHED. YOU THINK YOU GOT BY WITH KILLING REGGIE, DON’T YOU? AND NOW YOU ARE ALL PUFFED UP BECAUSE YOU HAVE TAKEN HIS PLACE. LUCK HAS SAVED YOU AGAIN AND AGAIN. REGGIE WAS NEVER THAT LUCKY. WE NEED TO TALK. MEET ME TONIGHT — IF YOU HAVE THE NERVE. I’LL BE WAITING FOR YOU ON REGGIE’S BOAT.
T.W.
[So now Jilly’s trying to frame Travis, sneaky girl]. He wasn’t planning on showing Amelia at first and because he’s not going to go, but Amelia can’t believe what she’s hearing. He explains anyone could have put Travis’ initials on the letter [It was Jilly!], so there’s no point going to the police since it’s not actual proof. He tells her he can take care of himself and needs to keep his mind on the game this week, which pisses Amelia off enough to call Jilly and accept the offer to go shopping.
Even though Jilly can tell it’s just because Amelia and Garth had a fight, she agrees to the shopping date, and as Amelia heads to Jilly’s place, she decides that she’ll be the one to meet Travis on Reggie’s boat tonight, since she knows Garth won’t bother to let Travis know he won’t be attending [I smell the final showdown! Can’t wait to find out who’s behind it all].
Amelia and Jilly’s shopping date is just like old times, much to Amelia’s relief, and afterwards, Jilly gives her a big hug and reminds her she’s the very best friend she’s ever had [Seems like a final goodbye…]. Jilly mentioned earlier in the book she was thinking about moving to New York to live with her aunt, and with everything going on, she’s seriously considering it even more. Amelia doesn’t want her to just run away though, urging her to stay and tough it out because Reggie’s death will stay with her wherever she goes anyway.
Later that night, dressed in an outfit similar to what Garth wears so she looks like him from a distance, Amelia steps onto the docks and heads for Reggie’s boat. As she’s about to board the boat, she hears a pop and a fizzle behind her before flames surround her, trapping her where she stands. As she searches for an escape, she’s tackled into the water by a dark figure and slips beneath the surface [!!!!].
She comes to as someone holds her in the water. It’s Travis, and he’s trying to drown her! Except he’s not, he’s trying to get her to shore. He explains that he comes down here to relax when he can’t sleep, and saw her on the boat. He thought it was someone trying to steal it, but recognised her when she turned around as the flames “raced across the deck and collided with that can of gasoline” [I’m confused about whether the dock was on fire or the boat. They seem to imply the boat is, but I think it’s just the dock?].
Nek minnit, Garth rocks up [Wait, is he our bad guy?!?], explaining he guessed Amelia would be here after he called her house and her mother said she’d gone to pick him up, but Amelia’s unsure whether to trust him. They explain to Travis about the note, but apparently Garth’s ripped it up [Very suss!], and soon the police arrive.
By Monday, the police have no leads but want Amelia to come down tonight and tell them everything that’s happened over the last few weeks. She’s waiting outside locker room for Garth, but he’s taking his sweet ass time!
She goes through her list of suspects — Travis, Shelby, and Coach Paladino [Jilly’s not on the list, so she’s still my number one suspect!]. She still suspects Garth, but knows he can’t be the phantom because she was with him each time. Shelby is her number one suspect for that part. With everyone else gone and still no sign of Garth, Amelia realises something may have happened to him and barges into the locker rooms. He’s fine though, and wants her to leave, but she’s not going anywhere, so he shows her the latest note he got:
ESCAPED AGAIN, DIDN’T YOU? YOU SENT MEL TO MEET ME. THAT WAS NEARLY A FATAL MISTAKE — ANOTHER FATAL MISTAKE. SURELY YOU COULDN’T HAVE LIVED WITH THAT, TOO. HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE YOU GOING TO TAKE DOWN WITH YOU, GARTH? STAY AND FACE UP TO ME, IF YOU HAVE THE GUTS. I’LL COME TO THE LOCKER ROOM AFTER EVERYONE ELSE IS GONE.
Garth urges her to leave again, but Amelia’s staying put since it’s her problem too [Barely, but OK]. Suddenly the lights go out and they hear football cleats clacking along the tiled floor. Soon enough, phantom Reggie appears carrying a spotlight to illuminate himself [So he did have a spotlight on the road! Obviously not a damn ghost then. Not that I ever thought it was anyway, but if you’re trying to make people think you’re a ghost, why would you carry a light with you?]. In his other hand, he holds a handgun aimed straight at Garth’s heart [!!!].
Amelia tells who she’s assuming is Shelby to put the gun down [He’s got the theatrical know-how to pull the phantom off, so I guess that’s why she’s sure it’s him], but the phantom cuts the spotlight and drops both it and the gun before running into the gymnasium. Amelia and Garth give chase but the gym is completely dark, so Garth leaves Amelia standing there to go find the lights. When he finally gets them on, Amelia spots the phantom high above her. Whoever it is in the costume used a climbing rope to get to one of the beams high above and is shuffling along it. Unfortunately for “Reggie”, Garth’s on the other side of the beam, waiting.
Amelia urges Shelby to come down and talk [It’s not Shelby!], and as Garth inches closer, the phantom orders him to stop. And guess what? That’s not Shelby’s voice! The phantom removes the helmet, revealing Jilly to be the one wearing the costume.
[That was soooooooo obvious as soon as we fkn met her hahaha]. Poor Jilly has had a psychotic breakdown and believes Reggie’s spirit asked her to help him get revenge! Apparently he wants to punish Garth and Amelia for being happy because he’s so unhappy. Amelia urges her best friend to let Reggie go because he can’t come back:
“Then I have to go with him, Mel. We can’t be separated now.”
Amelia was never sure how it happened. Just that it did. Maybe Jilly let go intentionally. In slow motion she slipped, rolled off the beam.
[…]
She clung for a couple of seconds. Garth crawled towards her, but it was impossible to hurry across the narrow beam. Letting go, Jilly fell. Down, down, down.
[Where’s the bad guy monologue?!? Not that we needed one, but that’s never stopped Point Horror authors before]. Amelia runs to her best friend, hoping she’s not dead. Sure enough, Jilly opens her eyes but is unable to move, and her eyes glaze like she’s far away as she gives us a brief bad guy monologue [I knew it was too good to be true!]:
“I wanted to hurt everyone who hurt him.” Jilly came back. “People… tried to take his place, to be better than he was. I couldn’t let that happen. I couldn’t let his fans forget him.”
[Jilly, please]. Despite Amelia’s objections, the idiot still blames Garth for Reggie’s death and doesn’t want to live without Reggie. To Amelia’s surprise, Shelby appears, explaining he saw Jilly leave her house in the costume, which she’d got made in nearby Chicago, and followed her [So was he stalking her?]. It’s quickly revealed he helped Jilly with the phantom’s appearances and the signs at Coach Paladino’s house, but had no idea she was taking it so far as to hurt people.
Between them, Jilly and Shelby explain how Jilly dressed as the phantom each time [Knew it], using scuba gear and teamwork for the lake appearance, but it’s not really explained properly how Jilly pulled off the road appearance. I’m assuming she drove to the away game and then drove to a nearby town on the way back and walked back to the road, waiting for Garth’s car, then just got on the bus after the crash [But surely someone would have been like “Hey, you weren’t on the bus before!” right??].
Jilly apologises for almost killing Amelia on the boat, since she thought it was Garth, and once again accuses her of not being a good friend and choosing Garth over her [False news, Jilly]. Although Shelby confesses his love to her, Jilly admits she could only ever love Reggie and was just using him [So she was calling him Gumby because he was stupid enough to fall for her! Hahahaha]. Soon, the paramedics Garth called arrive and as they wheel Jilly out to the ambulance, she succumbs to her injuries and passes away. The book ends with Amelia realising she’ll have to get through each day “missing Jilly and wishing she could have helped her” [Amelia was a great friend til the end!].
Final Thoughts
I’m surprised by how much I enjoyed this considering how much football was involved. The plot wasn’t super interesting, but I really liked Amelia so I was invested in her journey. She’s probably one of the best heroines we’ve seen lately, based on likeability and the fact that I wasn’t screaming at the decisions she made [Although she was pretty dumb sometimes]. I only wish there was a bigger sense of danger throughout the book, but I guess that’s more because I’m used to the main character being the bad guy’s target whereas here, Amelia’s more of an innocent bystander trying to help her boyfriend.
The bad guy was pretty obvious from the start, but I won’t fault it too much for that because by this stage, I know the standard Point Horror formula. Maybe it would be more of a surprise to someone who hasn’t read many of these books though!
I thought it was written pretty well, although some things were a bit unclear [Like the boat fire, the phantom on the road incident etc], but definitely a step up from my last recap. I’d love to read more from Barbara Steiner, but this is the only one I have of hers at this stage.
Anyway, 44 spotlight-carrying phantoms out of 55.
