Page 77 of Friend Me

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Straightening my wig,I rang Alicia and Jackson’s doorbell.

Noah opened the door. The eleven-year-old was dressed in the bottom half of a dinosaur costume, complete with stuffed, spiky tail; a striped shirt; Wolverine claws; and an old-style hockey mask pushed up to the top of his head. He snapped his teeth at me.

“Okay, I give up. What are you dressed as?”

“I’m the Jabberwocky. We read it in class. Lewis Carroll never describes it, except for the ‘jaws that bite’”—he snapped his teeth again—“and ‘the claws that catch,’ so I made up the rest. And you’re Princess Leia.”

He sounded let-down at my generic costume. To be honest, I was a little disappointed, too, considering all the thought Noah had put into his.

“You got it. I even have a blaster.” I showed it to him.

“We’re not allowed to have toy weapons at school.”

“Oh.” I hid it in a fold of my white gown. Clearly, I was losing points in his eyes. Maybe Tigger had rubbed off on him.

“You staying up for the party?” I asked.

“Just for the first hour. Then I have to go to bed. I have tae kwon do tomorrow morning.” He stepped aside to let me in. “Hey, have you met Sam? She’s my aunt or something.” He screwed up his face like he was trying to hide a grin behind a scowl. “She’s pretty cool.”

“Sam, Jackson’s sister? Yeah, I know her.” Had Sam replaced me in Noah’s affections? A tiny pang pierced my heart. I shouldn’t be jealous of an eleven-year-old’s crush, should I? I sighed. I’d done stupider things for love. Like, tonight. I shoved my blaster into its hip holster.

“Let’s go find her. She’s in the kitchen.” He darted ahead of me through the open-plan living room into the kitchen, where Alicia, Jackson, and Sam stood in the way of a couple of uniformed caterers.

I walked behind the island to hug Alicia. She was dressed as Alice in Wonderland, her blond hair pulled back behind a black headband. She wore a blue dress, white tights, and black Mary Janes. “Everything okay?”

“Yes, I guess.” She glanced at the caterer sliding a tray of bacon-wrapped scallops out of the oven.

“Hey, Sam.” Sam wore a pair of black cargo pants, an oversized faded black Bon Jovi T-shirt with a sword-pierced heart on it, and a crown made of playing cards, all hearts. “You’re the Queen of Hearts?”

“Yeah! You like my costume? Noah and I made it. I don’t usually come to Jackson’s parties, and I didn’t know it was dress-up.”

“Sam.” Jackson, the White Rabbit in white T-shirt, jeans, and floppy ears, noogied her head in the open center of the crown. “I told you at least three times about the costumes.”

“Fine. I didn’t want to dress up. Costumes are scratchy. But this isn’t so bad.” She plucked at the T-shirt, which I recognized as his.

“Whoa.” Cooper’s deep voice sounded behind me. I whirled to see one of the servers grappling with a tray. It looked like he’d narrowly missed knocking into her. Odd. Cooper was usually so careful, almost graceful. I’d never seen him trip or fall or knock into anyone. Not like the position he’d found Tyler and me in last week after our fight at lunch. Or the time I’d fallen while doing yoga in front of him.

“Sorry. Are you all right?” he asked her.

“Yes. Sorry.” She set down the tray.

Automatically, I checked behind Cooper. No Jamila. But that didn’t spark the pleasure it would’ve a month ago.

The kitchen was getting crowded. “They’ve got it under control in here. Let’s move out of the way.” I shooed the party hosts and guests out of the kitchen. Tugging Alicia by the hand, I led her into the living room and sat next to her on the sofa. Sam and Noah headed toward the dining room, where I heard the sound of dice shaken in a cup.

Jackson carried over a tray of glasses of orange punch. He handed one with a maraschino cherry on top to Alicia. Then he passed me one with a twist of orange rind. “You get our special Halloween punch.” He winked.

“What is it?” I sniffed it, and bubbles fizzed into my nose.

Cooper eased down onto the sofa next to me. His lightsaber handle poked me in the thigh, and I scooted a few inches away. “Just a recipe Jay and I made up in college. Try it.”

Disappointingly, my glass held the only fizzes, even with Cooper’s knee touching mine.

“Cheers,” I said and clinked his glass.

“Cheers.”

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