It would have looked better if I had my big drip-drop earrings, but whatever, I thought I still looked pretty killer.

  There was only one issue left to tackle.

  Grandma and Gramps.

  With a deep breath, I made my way down the stairs and into the living room, where they were sitting. They had the radio on; Gramps was reading a book, and Grandma was working on knitting a big fuzzy cream and blue something or other. From the sheer size of it, I would guess it must have been a blanket.

  She had a soft-bodied doll tucked up against her side. The doll was wearing a simple white slip, and had big fabric angel wings attached to her back. Her eyes were closed, and she had big stitched-on eyelashes.

  I had read about her in the book.

  Her name was Angelina, and she had been part of a big church choir. A bag of sand that had been meant to pull the curtains open and shut fell on her and squished her flat as a pancake. Just looking at the doll after reading that story was enough to make me shudder a little.

  “Hey,” I chirped as happily as I could. “Grandma? I had a question for you, and it’s kind of a big deal.”

  “If it’s kind of a big deal, I suppose you kind of have my attention.” Grandma turned to look at me and lowered the knitting needles. Lucky me, because it had the big tuft of blanket cover up the doll at her side for the most part.

  I took a deep breath. “I was invited to a party.”

  “Were you now?”

  “And it’s tonight, and I really wanted to go.”

  “I can see that. I didn’t realize you could dress up.” She gave my tights this kind of dubious look, as if she didn’t totally know what to do with them.

  I pulled in a deep breath, curled both hands in front of my chest like I was just a sweet little thing begging for help, and asked, “Can I please, please, pleeeease go, Grandma?”

  Gramps snorted.

  Grandma frowned at me.

  “I know. I know what you’re thinking. You don’t even need to say it. But I haven’t had any problems at school since that fight.” I already tried to argue my case with her. “And I promise that it will stay that way.”

  Gramps said, “You need to go fishing in the ocean.”

  “Eddie,” said Grandma. “What on earth are you talking about?”

  He put his book down and leaned forward in his chair, bracing one knobby-elbowed arm on the top of his leg. “I want to make sure that you start getting Cs on your report, little miss. I want to see trout, I want to see kelp, I want enough Cs that we can build a boat and go for a weekend fishing trip on them.”

  “Oh, for heaven’s sake!” Grandma threw one hand up in the air, rolling her eyes. “Why can’t you just tell her to work on her grades?”

  “I just did.” He sat back in his chair properly again, but didn’t pick his book back up. It looked like it might have been an old-fashioned airport romance novel, complete with the oil-painted cover.

  Grandma pinched the bridge of her nose, then told me, “As much work around as was in that sentence, your grandfather is right. You need to work on your grades, Quinn. I know—I know that we aren’t your parents, but we still want what’s best for you. If you go tonight, can you promise us that you’ll try to get a C on your next test?”

  “Deal,” I told her eagerly.

  Grandma lowered her glasses. “Then go write down the address and hang it on the front of the fridge. We’ll pick you up at ten p.m.”

  “Ten?” I gasped.

  She picked up her knitting needles again, making it clear that the time wasn’t open for discussion. “That’s right. Go put the address on the fridge.”

  It was way earlier than I wanted to have to come home, but I decided not to push my luck straight into the trash, and hurried to write down the address before they changed their minds and decided not to let me go at all.

  When I came back out, Gramps was standing at the door. He held up his keys. “If you walk, you’ll be dripping in all that face paint by the time you get there.”

  I weighed the cons. Which was worse? Ruined makeup, or getting dropped off in Gramps’ old monster of a truck?

  Ruined makeup.

  “Okay. Thanks, Gramps.” Plus, if I hurt his feelings too badly, they might still change their mind about letting me go.

  Thankfully, the car ride there was pretty much totally silent. It wasn’t nearly so long of a drive as our trip out to the hardware store, and Gramps seemed content to hum an old blues tune to himself on the way there.

  He stopped at the end of the street.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked, worried that he had changed his mind because of my grades or something like that, and was about to turn the truck around and take me home.

  But Gramps just reached over and gave my knee a pat, a strange twinkle in his eye. “I remember being a kid. Times were different back then, that was for sure, but if my grandpappy had shown up to the sock hop with me, oh, there wouldn’t have been a single dame willing to go for a dance.”

  No clue what a sock hop was, but I did know it was like, a huge touching gesture on his end—especially since we haven’t been getting along super well lately. So I flung my arms around him in a quick hug and then jumped out of the truck.

  The moment both feet were on the sidewalk, Gramps honked the horn twice and sped off like the devil was chasing him. He might have, in that moment, become my favorite grandparent. A grin spread over my face as I turned around.

  Even though I had never been to Trevor’s before, it was easy to see which house the party was at. The front door was blocked open, lights were on, and a handful of neon-colored balloons were tied to the doorknob.

  Some kids from school were sitting out in the front yard passing around a magic-eight ball. I made my way up the walk and gave them a hesitant smile.

  They didn’t smile back.

  Not the best start to the night, but I reminded myself that this was totally not about other people. This was just about me and Trevor.

  So I grinned and, with one last steadying breath, I stepped inside.

  The "Party"

  The party was pretty chill. Actually, it was too chill. I don’t know why, but I had been expecting… people everywhere? Parties like you saw on the TV—or something like that. Music. Instead, it was just a handful of kids from school sitting in Trevor’s basement playing video games and talking.

  I was the only one in makeup. Everyone else was just sitting around in jeans and shorts and normal-looking tee shirts.

  Trevor came over and gave me a hug when I made it down the steps into the basement. “Hey! I was starting to think that maybe you weren’t gonna show up!”

  “I mean… Um, hey.” My voice came out soft, and as soon as he let go, I tried to pull the hair over my face to hide the starry makeup that was there. I couldn’t help it. Just a few minutes ago, I thought I looked absolutely killer, totally put together, like the kind of girl that anyone would be thrilled to have at their party.

  Now, I felt overdressed and silly. I was imagining a dance party, not this. Apparently this is just how Texas kids hung out. Not for the first time, I found myself missing Maryland. I might not have been the most popular kid back there either, but at least I knew what sort of outfit to wear to a ‘party.’

  This wasn’t even a party. This was just people sitting around.

  The basement was at least a step up from the one at my grandparents’ old manor house. For one, there were no dolls sitting around all over the place. Also, no cradle. And no dust. It was actually more of a hangout spot then it was, you know, a true basement.

  Sure, there were a few totes with holiday stuff shoved under the hollow beneath the stairs, but there were also bright blue and green bean-bag chairs, a TV hung up on the wall, and a pool table at the center of the room. A mini fridge shaped like a rocket ship sat next to the TV.

  “Okay, so, you probably know Erica, because she’s in Illustration with us,” said Trevor, leading me over to do introductions.

  Erica gave me a hesitant-looking smile. She was short and pear shaped, with a mass of freckles on her face. All of her long blonde hair was held up in a messy scoop bun by a massive over-sized butterfly clip.

  She said, “Hi! So glad you could make it. Trevor told us you might be stopping by.” A pause. “I’ve seen some of your pictures. You’re really good.”

  Trevor gestured to the guys taking up the blue and green bean-bag chairs. “That’s Rob and Mason.”

  Mason had a messy mullet—which seemed to be one of the most popular hairstyles for guys at our school. Either they had mullets or short shag cuts like Trevor, with no in between.

  Rob was built like a brick wall. I bet he would have been a killer quarterback. His shirt marked him as a theater student, though. No one else would walk around wearing Hamlet merch.

  Neither of them waved at me. Mason’s mouth didn’t even twitch up into a smile.

  “My older brother’s out for the night and my sister is too.” Trevor had a glint in his eye.

  Erica interjected, “And we’re all grateful for that,” like it was some sort of inside joke. Call and response, everyone laughed. She then went pink cheeked. “Sorry, Trevor.”

  “I mean, we are all glad about that. My sister can be a lot to handle.” Trevor just smiled confidently.

  I nodded but didn’t ask after it. The last thing that I wanted was to out myself as being even further out of the loop than I already looked.

  There were only two other kids. I knew Pip from art history; he was small for a guy, skinny and short, with a great big green mohawk that seemed to exclusively be an attempt at making himself look taller. I made that guess based on the fact that he was also wearing a rather demure-looking polo shirt and nice unstained jeans.

  He looked terrified of me, and made sure to avoid my gaze.

  The other kid was Midge, who I thought I might have seen in the halls at some point, but also maybe not. She wore a rainbow t-shirt and rolled-up boot-cut jeans, and teddy-bear socks. She didn’t seem too thrilled to see me either, despite the fact that we had definitely never met.

  Maybe she was friends with May or Alice?

  That might have explained it.

  Honestly, it was just kind of a weird night. This wasn’t a ‘party’ in the way I had been picturing it. Some of the kids were totally icy to me, as well, but we all gathered around to play pool—except for Mason, who stayed at the game console—and that was great.

  When I said that I had never played it before, Trevor stepped up behind me and wrapped his arms around me, guiding me through the first couple of strikes in a practice session before we started the game for real.

  He was warm against my back. His breath ghosted over my ear. I loved the way it felt, having him that close to me. Having his hands curled around my own. My cheeks were pink with an embarrassed blush that I could only hope no one else was able to see.

  I wasn’t any good at pool.

  Part of it was that I had never played the game before, and it kind of sucked to have to learn a game that everyone else was already super good at. Team sports? Yeah, they had never been on my radar.

  Even with the family stuff, I spent my free time in my bedroom instead of out helping Gramps and Grandma with anything; we hadn’t even started to paint the walls yet because it was a ‘group activity’ and I kept putting it off.

  And with my dad… I didn’t want to think about that right then.

  So I just didn’t.

  The point was, working with Trevor felt good. I liked it.

  He was a lot of fun. The kind of fun that I thought he would be when he came to my house that first time, and the kind of fun that made me want to seek out his Dream Self next time the full moon came around, even if it meant going into the super bizarro forest.

  We lost, big time. But I realized I was not upset. Lately, my emotions had been going haywire. It was hard for me to not feel everything super hugely. The tears, the anger, the hate, and even this relief that, even though I haven’t said much of anything to anyone else in the party, but at least Trevor and I are getting on.

  And then he flung his arms around me and pulled me in for another hug.

  The relief that washed through me was so strong I could have drowned in it. I snaked my arms around his middle and hugged him back. It didn’t last nearly long enough before he pulled back and said, “Great game.”

  “I guess,” said Erica, looking dolefully at the pool table. “I don’t know. I’m thinking that maybe Rob is the only one who deserves that clap.”

  Rob beamed. “That’s because I’m a pro at this.”

  From the bean-bag chair, Mason called out, “Only because your dad’s at the bar all the time. He’s always playing pool.”

  “He works there,” said Rob, quickly, nodding at Midge, who was sitting in one of the other bean-bag chairs, playing on her phone. “I just go and hang out.”

  Midge made a disinterested sound in the back of her throat.

  “You’re not upset that we lost?” I asked, a bit bewildered.

  “Of course not! It’s not real, it’s just a game. I just like hanging out with you.” Trevor grinned at me and reset the pool table. “Anyone want to play another round?”

  I smiled deeply. If only your doll version felt the same way….

  Was it my fault? Eh, half and half. Molly should have given me a heads up that they would come back as permanent residents after they died. I would have tried really hard to make Dream Trevor’s death way more painless, and maybe even to not have been seen for it. That way, he wouldn’t be scared.

  I could have cracked him hard over the back of the head with something and knocked him out, then stabbed him. Would have made a whole world of difference.

  And also, if I didn’t finish the story, who knew what would happen? I might get stuck there permanently myself. So, yeah, it wasn’t totally my fault that things between us had gone so badly. I just wished that Dream Trevor would give me the same second chance that I was giving his real-world counterpart.

  “Sure,” said Rob. He looked over at Midge hopefully. “Do you want to partner up?”

  Erica’s lower lip jutted out. She was in luck though, because Midge didn’t even look up from her phone before giving a dismissive wave of her hand.

  “I’ll partner with you,” said Erica, reaching out and brushing her hand lightly over the side of Rob’s arm.

  He looked put out over the fact that Midge wasn’t coming to play with him, but I didn’t really care. I still was lucky enough to have my preferred pool buddy with me, and Trevor was just as quick to help me out this time around, too. Every time that he leaned against my back, put his hands on my arms, and got close to my ear to say something, it made my heart skip a beat.

  About halfway through the second game, I caught Erica’s gaze from across the pool table. Was that a flash of jealousy that I saw? If it was, it vanished fast. Erica gave me another one of those small smiles of hers.

  I was brave enough, for the first time all night, to smile back.

  The game went pretty much the same way as it did before. I lost, and I lost big time. Which meant that Trevor lost big time, too, but he still didn’t mind.

  After that, the two boys did a one-on-one game so Erica could go and grab another can of soda from the mini fridge, and talk with Midge about something over in the corner of the basement. It felt like they were both staring at me but… I told myself I was just being paranoid.

  Tonight had gone fine.

  It had actually gone pretty close to great.

  It seemed like Trevor and I really were getting closer, and maybe he had been telling the truth. Maybe this was just about wanting to hang out, after all.

  Near the end of the boys’ one-on-one match, Mason called out, “When’s the food getting dished?”

  “I’m calling for a pizza at the end of this game,” said Trevor. “So whenever it arrives.”

  “At the end? Why not now?” Mason complained.

  Trevor countered, “Because I’m paying for the pizza and I’m busy, man. If you want it now, you pay.”

  Mason clearly did not want to pay. He shut up and went back to the racing game he was playing—and losing. His car ran into a building and exploded for the umpteenth time that night. He was about as good at the racing game as I was at pool.

  When Trevor and Rob finished their game, Rob returned to the bean-bag for car racing, and Trevor briefly stepped outside to get the pizza ordered. I instantly missed him. There was just… No one else down here that I wanted to talk to.

  Either they seemed to be into their own thing, like Erica and Rob, or else they were just… Really not looking like they wanted me to be near them, like Midge. Which was fine, because I had honestly only come down here for Trevor, anyway.

  So if I had to stand around and wait for a little bit, well, I supposed that was alright.

  Then it Got Awkward

  The pizza got there around eight, which meant that I would have plenty of time to eat and hang out before Gramps came back to get me. Bonus points, it was the first time I’d eaten pizza since coming out here.

  I told Trevor that, and he gave me an almost-sympathetic look. “Yeah, my grandparents don’t order in or anything either. I think that’s got to be like, an old-person thing.”

  “I don’t know why they hate tasty food so much,” I lamented, pulling a slice of pizza onto my paper plate. They were big, double-sized slices, loaded down with thick-cut pepperoni, thicker-cut mushrooms, and melty, goopy, stringy cheese.

  One half had black olives and onions on it too, which was the half that Rob and Trevor were eating off of. Erica picked the mushrooms off of her slices and dropped them onto Midge’s pizza.

  Trevor said, “At least they aren't’ the type to only do oatmeal. Right?”

  “Yeah, but Grandma’s eggs seriously aren’t that much of a step up.” I pulled off a piece of pepperoni and plopped it into my mouth. The crisp bit of meaty goodness was like taking a bite straight out of heaven. It seriously took all of my self-control to not just inhale the piece and make yum-yum sounds the whole time.