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You mean my ship, she replied, indicating her hat. I m the cap n.
Milo was looking at us like we d left half of our brains at home. No one el
se is going to be wearing a costume, he informed us.
I just smiled at Haily. So what do you think cap n? Should we tell the boy
s there s no costume party?
Haily responded with a mischievous grin. Nah. I say surprise em, and lan
dlubbers can walk the plank!
I laughed at her, happy that she didn t care about completely fitting in wh
en it came to having fun. Like she d said before, she d probably be hanging
around me all night, being around so many people that she didn t know, but
she could care less about what they thought of her if she showed up in a t
acky pirate costume.
Suit yourselves, Milo said, shaking his head. But, at least he was smiling
as he gave me directions to Jerry s house. I wasn t too worried about Caleb
being upset that we were the only ones in costume. Joe was going to be livi
d, but Haily and I both knew that, and every once in a while, she liked to p
ut her cousin on the spot, so I wasn t too worried about it.
Jerry lived on the opposite side of Stratfort from Milo, right near the priva
te school, which was about a quarter size of ours. There were cars lining the
street and a wide driveway leading up to the tall house in front of us, deco
rated with Halloween lights and jack-o -lanterns. But, not as many as there d
been at Brandon Sholer s.
As I suspected, Caleb wasn t bothered at all that we were the only ones in
costume. In fact, I think he liked something about that. Joe, however, was
livid as Haily and Caleb dragged him towards the house ahead of us. I found
myself hanging back a little with Milo, trying to pretend I didn t notice
as he continuously looked my costume up and down. I was happy to see that h
e seemed amused more than embarrassed, and if I was surprised that he d inv
ited us in the first place, I was even more surprised when he stopped me ou
tside the door. I stood still, biting at my smile as he carefully removed m
y eye patch, and then pulled it onto his own face, blinking at me curiously
from his left eye. I grinned at him, removing the reddish-brown rag I d ti
ed over my head, and after much debate, he turned so I could put it on his.
Caleb knocked on the front door like nothing bothered him, but Milo made sur
e to be ahead of us as Jerry opened it, wearing normal street clothes, as he
took us all in, his eyes settling on Milo before he promptly burst out laug
hing, but was quick to add, Nice costumes!
I remembered Jerry being friendly when I d met him at Hangman, and I was gl
ad that nothing had changed as he scratched at his left, dark sideburn and
grinned at me. The hot chocolate guy s here! he remarked, and my friends
regarded me curiously as Jerry gave my shoulder a friendly slap before invi
ting us all into his house. Milo introduced each of us, as if he d actually
known us all for a while, and surprised me with his more outgoing manneris
ms around Jerry he led us straight down to the basement, where the party se
emed to be confined to.
It was an interesting setup in the wide space of the basement. There was mus
ic playing loudly, but we hadn t even heard it until we reached the bottom o
f the stairs, and he had three long sofas set up, an entertainment system wh
ere a large group of people were gathered to play video games, and a full-si
zed pool table in the back corner. It wasn t exactly like the parties that m
y friends and I were used to, and I could see it in their faces, but Jerry b
eing as outgoing as he was seemed to make it easier as he moved through the
room with us, introducing us as we went. Except Caleb. Caleb found the jello
shots right next to a group of girls and made himself right at home.
Haily did tend to stick with me. I probably wouldn t have minded if Milo did
n t glare at me every time she grabbed my hand. And Joe finally let his gua
rd down enough to enjoy himself when he joined a group at the pool table and
went about hustling them out of all their money. With Haily practically att
ached to my hip, I stuck with Milo, noticing that a lot of people were happy
to see him. They all mentioned the same thing: that he hadn t been around i
n a while. This made me curious, because Milo seemed like a loner by nature;
but apparently, there were friends that he d seen on a regular basis when h
e was still going to Stratfort. I also found that I really liked Jerry. It w
as hard not to when he spent enough time trying to talk to Haily that she ac
tually let go of me for a good thirty minutes, and he even got Caleb involve
d in a conversation. It was the first time since I d met Caleb Spangler that
he actually looked content in the company of a guy other than Joe or me.
Jerry s was one of the cleanest parties that I d ever been to. There was an
assortment of alcoholic beverages on hand, but it almost seemed like most pe
ople were afraid to touch them. It was an interesting change, but not unenjo
yable. For everyone, actually. Not one of my friends mentioned leaving early
, but since it was a school night, I noticed most people leaving around ten
thirty. We went at eleven, with Jerry actually telling us to come back. I th
ink we were all a little shocked when Caleb actually collected Jerry s numbe
r so he could invite him to the next party that he decided to throw.
I m not sure how I pulled it off, but when we left, Haily ended up riding w
ith Caleb and Joe, leaving me to take Milo home on my own. I was grateful f
or the extra few minutes with him, even if he did seem a little tired and d
istracted by something as he removed the eye patch and rag from his head, t
hrowing them on my back seat.
Is everything okay? I asked him. We were about a block away from his hous
e, and he had his forehead against the cool window as the heater blasted us
in the front seat. We didn t embarrass you or anything, right?
Milo looked over at me, seeming confused for a moment before he shook his
head. No. That was actually... good, he decided. I smiled, happy to agre
e with him.
Good enough that you d wanna come over for a while? I tried. It was a po
intless question. I already knew what he was going to say.
Or maybe, I thought I knew what he was going to say.
Okay.
My eyes snapped over to Milo, who was looking straight ahead, and obviously
full of surprises tonight. But he didn t have to tell me twice. I was turn
ing away from his block and heading towards the hill within minutes. Althou
gh, I couldn t escape the feeling that something was very off about Milo ag
reeing to come over to my house so late on a night before he had school in
the morning. When I finally asked him, he simply told me that he wasn t rea
dy to go home because he didn t know if Emily was going to be there. Appare
ntly, his dad had planned to spend the evening with her at the house, and t
hat s why he d gone to Jerry s party in the first place. I would have prefe
rred it if he d told me that he d agreed to go home with me because he coul
dn t get enough of me, but hey, I d take what I could get. I only wished th
at he was in a better mood. It wasn t that he was cranky--more, troubled, I
think. It was difficult to get him to smile, even at my jokes as I drove h
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