Chapter 10B

I glanced over the rectangular glass coffee table as I finished up my creative writing assignment. Haily was at the narrow end across from me, while Caleb and Joe had their homework spread over the wider sides of the table. The Geld's living room wasn't massive, more like cozy with the fluffy dark green furniture and thick carpeting. I'd always thought it was a nice place to study, especially being full of my friends. Maybe we liked to have our fun, but when it was time to study, we tended to keep each other in line, and I was pleased when I had all my homework finished by ten o'clock.

"What did you guys wanna do tomorrow night?" I asked. "Still wanna go out to eat or something?"

Being a Wednesday night, there wasn't much going on for Halloween. There were a few costume parties around town, but none of them really appealed to me and my friends. That's why I was hoping that they'd be open to this party that Milo had mentioned.

"If I can still be a pirate," Caleb replied without looking up from his book.

"We could go to a party," I suggested.

"Like where?" Haily responded. "It's going to be too cold to be at Hangman, and our parents are probably going to be at most of the parties around here. No thanks."

"There's one in Stratfort Ranch," I said, and this was met with silence. For my part, I flipped open my history book, pretending that I wasn't nervous about this at all.

"And who do we know in Stratfort?" Joe finally asked, sounding more amused than anything.

"Milo told me about it," I replied, still not looking at my friends. The spirit rally hadn't turned out horrible with Milo there, but I still worried that my friends wouldn't like the mention of him, especially after homecoming, and what Jame and Ronnie pulled. "One of his friends is throwing it."

"I'll go with you," Haily said, after only a few moments of silence, and I looked up at her.

Frankly, I was a little surprised. I'd expected that I'd have to talk them all into this. Of course, it seemed that I'd still have to do some talking when Caleb and Joe looked at Haily like she'd lost her mind.

"What?" Haily said, frowning at them. "There's nothing better to do. It's a party."

"I'm not going," Joe stated, sounding unapologetic. "I'm going out with Kelly later tomorrow night, anyway."

"You could always bring her," I suggested.

Joe frowned at me. "I'm not going, Nelson," he reiterated, and I frowned back at him when he gave me a look suggesting that he was refraining from saying something else that I might not like. I turned my attention to Caleb, who shook his head at me.

"Sorry... I don't think so, either, Nels. You're the one who keeps telling me to stay out of trouble. It would probably find me there."

"Jame isn't going to be there," I told him, and Caleb met my eyes again, looking thoughtful. "I met the guy having the party a few weeks back," I continued. "He seemed okay. It's just an option, anyway, but I'm probably gonna go."

There. That was simple enough. I was going to a party with Milo Trust, and they could decide for themselves if they wanted to go with me.

"Like I said, I'll go with you," Haily said. "What time will it be?"

"I'm not sure," I replied. "I'll get the details tomorrow."

"Can I still be a pirate?" Caleb suddenly asked, and I smiled at him.

"It is a Halloween party."

"Are you serious?" Joe asked, now looking disapprovingly at Caleb. "You're going to Stratfort?"

"I'm thinking about it," Caleb responded in a tone that suggested it wouldn't be smart for Joe to start shit with him over this.

Joe just shook his head. "Whatever."

"So that means you're thinking about it, too, right?" Haily remarked, eying her cousin.

"Just shut up," Joe mumbled. "I'm not talking to any of you."

I smiled. I was going to a party with Milo Trust, and all of my friends were going with me. Five minutes later, the same thought placed knots in my stomach as I listened to my friends make fun of anyone or anything from Stratfort, and I suddenly found myself wondering if this was even a remotely good idea.

Everything was fine. I was a social individual. I did well in crowds, even if I'd never met anyone in them before. When I was younger, I'd never quite understood the concept of not talking to strangers, and that hadn't changed. But I was nervous. I told myself that was stupid, but it was no less true. This was a big deal--me and my friends going to a party in Stratfort. But, that was because Milo had invited us. This was a big thing for him. I knew that. It made this a big deal for me, because if anything went wrong, Milo would probably regret ever inviting us in the first place; and given my luck, he'd want to go back to pretending we were only acquaintances in Mrs. Bates's parenting class.

I tried not to think about it. Everything was going to be fine. Sure, maybe Joe couldn't shut up about what schmucks Milo and his friends were; and maybe Caleb was threatening bodily harm if he so much as smelled Jame Graham; and Haily insisted that she wanted to hang onto me all night since she wouldn't know anyone; but everything was fine. I was going to get to see Milo. I'd get to know more of his friends than just Assface, which likely meant that I'd see he liked normal people, too. And, I made a pretty damn good pirate.

Our costumes were pretty simple. We'd always had to improvise because October was a cold month, so the four of us stuck to old white dress shirts. I'd never been fond of the lace cuffs, but the ratty-looking vests that my mom and Leanna had pieced together for us two years ago were pretty cool. They were close to black in color and matched the torn-up sweat-like pants that ended just below our knees. I'd learned long ago to wear long underwear beneath mine. This year, since Haily got to wear the large black-rimmed hat we'd found years ago, Caleb and I had tied rags over our head while Joe stuck to a cleaner-looking black bandana. Caleb had a fake beard that was three shades darker than his hair and Joe had fake earrings because he was too chicken to actually poke any holes in his body. I was pretty fond of my eye patch, except for last year when I got drunk and lost all depth perception. I had bruises from continuously walking into things. And, as I'd told Milo, I got to wear the fake, morbid-looking red parrot on my shoulder. Its tail was missing, and so was its right eye. I loved that thing.

But, the best part of our costumes was our assortment of fake swords. Caleb and I drove Haily crazy every year when we'd come out of nowhere and initiate a fight with one another, whether we were in a restaurant or just walking down the street. Joe tended to pretend he didn't know us when we did things like that. But just like the rest of us, Joe could admit that there was something fun about dressing up in ridiculous costumes to celebrate the holiday.

According to Milo, he wanted to end up at Jerry's place around eight. It took some convincing on my part, but he'd agreed to let us pick him up. Joe and Caleb had agreed that they wanted to take separate vehicles, just in case they wanted to leave early, and I didn't even argue about it since Joe was already annoyed that Kelly had opted to take her little sisters trick-or treating, instead of going with him, and Caleb was under the impression that he would definitely end up in some sort of fight at this party. I told him that he was being ridiculous, and hoped that I was right. Haily was being pretty cool, though, if I didn't think anything of the way she kept telling me that I made a hot pirate when I reluctantly allowed her to put makeup on my eyes.

We met at my house early, after school. We had dinner with my family and for a few hours we watched scary movies while helping my parents hand out candy to early trick-or-treaters. Caleb liked doing that, but complained that all of the little kids were so bundled up in their coats that we couldn't even see their costumes. But he talked me into feigning a sword fight for them in the front yard, nonetheless.

At around seven thirty, Haily rode with me while Joe and Caleb drove behind us, and I led the way to Milo's house. I pulled halfway into the driveway when I spotted Milo with Juanita beneath the porch light, while Caleb pulled along the street. The Trust residence didn't seem very big on Halloween decorations, but they were definitely pulling in large groups of kids as they passed my car with their pillowcases to collect their candy from Juanita, who was smiling for once, and to my surprise, dressed as a large orange pumpkin. I was a little disappointed to find that Milo wasn't in costume at all, rather an ironed green sweater and new-looking blue jeans. Haily noticed this too, and regarded him as if he'd committed some sort of crime as he waved to Juanita and headed towards my car. When she looked at me from beneath her large hat, I just shrugged.

"He said he didn't dress up."

Haily made a thumbs-down gesture, shaking her head, while I focused on Milo, who suddenly stopped between my headlights, looking through the front window at Haily and me. His brow went up momentarily as I waved to him, and when he walked around to let himself in the back seat, he was shaking his head and biting back a smile.

Haily and I both glanced back at him, unfazed, as he slid into the back seat and looked between us with a bemused expression on his face until his eyes finally settled on me.

"You actually dressed up," he finally said, as if he didn't quite believe us.

"I told you--pirates," I replied, nodding.

"But this isn't a costume party," Milo said, as if it was supposed to be obvious. Haily and I exchanged confused glances before I looked back at Milo.

"But you said Halloween party," I reminded him.

"Halloween means costumes," Haily agreed.

"Not this party," Milo replied, still looking rather amused. "Look, if you guys wanna go home and change first..."

"Change?" I mocked shocked. "There will be no changin'."

"Iiieeee," Haily drawled. "Can't pillage if we change. I need me sword." She tapped the plastic one currently in her lap.

"Caleb would be mightily displeased if he couldn't ask the young lasses to take a ride on his ship," I added. Haily giggled.

"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 else 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 boys there's no costume party?"

Haily responded with a mischievous grin. "Nah. I say surprise 'em, and landlubbers can walk the plank!"

I laughed at her, happy that she didn't care about completely fitting in when 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 tacky 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 livid, but Haily and I both knew that, and every once in a while, she liked to put 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 private 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, decorated 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 he seemed amused more than embarrassed, and if I was surprised that he'd invited us in the first place, I was even more surprised when he stopped me outside the door. I stood still, biting at my smile as he carefully removed my 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 tied 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 sure 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 laughing, but was quick to add, "Nice costumes!"

I remembered Jerry being friendly when I'd met him at Hangman, and I was glad 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 inviting 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 mannerisms around Jerry he led us straight down to the basement, where the party seemed to be confined to.

It was an interesting setup in the wide space of the basement. There was music playing loudly, but we hadn't even heard it until we reached the bottom of the stairs, and he had three long sofas set up, an entertainment system where a large group of people were gathered to play video games, and a full-sized pool table in the back corner. It wasn't exactly like the parties that my friends and I were used to, and I could see it in their faces, but Jerry being 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 didn't glare at me every time she grabbed my hand. And Joe finally let his guard 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 attached 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 in 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 he was still going to Stratfort. I also found that I really liked Jerry. It was hard not to when he spent enough time trying to talk to Haily that she actually let go of me for a good thirty minutes, and he even got Caleb involved 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 people were afraid to touch them. It was an interesting change, but not unenjoyable. 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 think we were all a little shocked when Caleb actually collected Jerry's number so he could invite him to the next party that he decided to throw.