“I was planning to go around with Dalton.” He was relieved she would be out hunting candy as well.
“Do you know the address?” Jenna asked.
“For the haunted house? I wrote it down.”
“We should check it out. Want to meet up around seven?”
Cole tried to keep his expression casual. “Where?”
“Do you know that old guy’s house on the corner, with the huge flagpole?”
“Sure.” Everybody in the area knew that house. It was one story, but the flagpole was basically a skyscraper. The old guy looked like a veteran. He raised and lowered the flag every morning and night. “Meet there?”
“Bring the address.”
Cole retrieved a notebook from his backpack and opened it. While he looked for his homework, his mind strayed. He had never hung out with Jenna after school, but it wasn’t like they were going on a date. They would just be part of a group of kids checking to see if a spook alley was actually cool.
Mr. Brock started class a few moments later. He was dressed as a cowboy with chaps, a big hat, and a sheriff’s badge. The outfit made it tough to take him seriously.
Cole walked along the street beside Dalton, one foot on the curb, the other in the gutter. He was still a scarecrow bristling with arrows. The straw poking out from his neck kept tickling the bottom of his chin. Dalton remained a gloomy clown.
“She wanted to meet at the flagpole?” Dalton verified.
“Just near the house,” Cole said. “Not on his lawn.”
Dalton pulled back the sleeve of his coat and checked his watch. “We’re going to be early.”
“Only a little.”
“Are you nervous?”
Cole shot him a scowl. “I’m not afraid of haunted houses.”
“I don’t mean the spook alley,” Dalton clarified. “Haven’t you always sort of liked—”
“No, Dalton, come on,” Cole interrupted. “Be serious. It isn’t like that. We’re friends.”
Dalton bobbed his eyebrows up and down. “My parents say they started out as friends.”
“Gross, knock it off.” Cole couldn’t let Dalton say or do anything that might make Jenna suspect he thought she was cute. “I should have never told you I used to like her. That was forever ago. We’re just doing this for fun.”
Dalton squinted up ahead. “Looks like a big group.”
He was right. They found Jenna waiting with seven other kids—three of them boys. She was still dressed like Cleopatra.
“Here they are,” Jenna announced. “We can go now.”
“I have the address,” Cole offered.
“I know where it is,” Blake said. “I went by earlier tonight.”
“What’s it like?” Dalton asked.
“I didn’t go inside,” Blake replied. “I just live nearby.”
Cole knew Blake from school. He was the kind of guy who liked to take charge and talked a lot. He always wanted to be goalie at recess, even though he wasn’t that good.
As they started walking, Blake took the lead. Cole fell in beside Jenna. “So what’s your name?” Cole asked.
“Huh?” she replied. “Cleopatra?”
“No, you’re her twin.”
“Right. Want to guess?”
“Irma?”
“That doesn’t sound very Egyptian.”
“Queen Tut?”
“Sure, let’s go with that.” Jenna laughed lightly, then strayed over to her friend Sarah and started talking. Cole fell back to walk with Dalton.
“Do you think the spook alley will actually be freaky?” Dalton asked.
“It better be,” Cole said. “I have my hopes up.”
Blake set a quick pace. They marched briskly, passing a herd of little kids with plastic superhero faces. Most of the houses had halfhearted decorations. Some had none. A few had really elaborate jack-o’-lanterns that must have been carved using patterns.
Dalton elbowed Cole and nodded toward a doorway. A portly witch was handing out full-size Twix bars to a group of little kids.
“It’s okay,” Cole said, hefting his pillowcase. “We already made a good haul.”
“Not much full-size candy,” Dalton pointed out.
“A few little Twixes are just as good,” Cole said, unsure about whether he had any in his bag.
“I heard they have some real cadavers,” Blake was explaining. “Dead bodies donated to science but stolen to use as decorations.”
“Think that’s true?” Dalton wondered.
“I doubt it,” Cole replied. “The guy would end up in jail.”
“What do you know about it?” Blake challenged. “Have you been stealing corpses?”
“Nope,” Cole said. “Your mom was too broke to hire me.”
Everyone laughed at that one, and Blake had no reply. Cole had always been good at comebacks. It was his best defense mechanism and usually kept other kids from bothering him.
As they continued down the street, Cole tried to think of an excuse to walk alongside Jenna. Unfortunately, she now had Lacie on one side and Sarah on the other. Cole had spoken with Jenna enough to feel fairly natural around her. Sarah and Lacie were a different story. He couldn’t work up the nerve to barge in and hijack their conversation. Every possible comment that came to mind seemed clumsy and forced. At least Dalton was getting plenty of proof that he and Jenna were only friends.
Cole paid attention to the route. Part of him hoped Blake would lead them the wrong way, but he made no mistakes. When the spook alley house came into view, Blake displayed it to the others as if he had decorated it personally.
The house looked decent on the outside. Much better than average. A few fake ravens perched on the roof. Webby curtains hung from the rain gutters. One of the jack-o’-lanterns puked seeds and pulp all over the sidewalk. The lawn had lots of cardboard headstones, with an occasional plastic hand or leg poking up through the grass.
“Pretty good,” Dalton conceded.
“I don’t know,” Cole said. “After all the buildup, I was expecting granite tombstones with actual human skeletons. Maybe some ghost holograms.”
“The best stuff might be inside,” Dalton said.
“We’ll see,” Cole replied. He paused, studying the details. Why did he feel so disappointed? Why did he care about the impressiveness of the decorations? Because he had talked Jenna into coming here. If the haunted house was cool, he might get some reflected glory. If it was weak, she would have gone out of her way for nothing. Was that really it? Maybe he was just frustrated that he had hardly talked to her.