Chapter Nine

Ryan rested on his bed and Miss Aldridge knocked on the door. Ryan opened it and she winced at the sight of his face.

"Ryan, fighting's not the answer." She crossed her arms. "Promise me you'll walk away next time."

Ryan nodded and closed the door.

---

Grace wore red lipstick and a tight skirt the next morning and Mr. Ross dropped her off at school tensely.

"Eyes on a boy at school. I can feel it," he said. "I learned a lot about women when I was young."

"Like what?" asked Ryan.

"They love professional musicians and men that sing good."

"Tell me more, Dad."

"When you get older."

---

Ryan walked into Homeroom, feeling everyone's stares burning his cheek. He looked at Shantel. She read a large card at her desk.

Someone left an orange envelope on his desk and he pulled out a Halloween party, invitation inside it with a haunted-house graphic on the front. Jessica Mui wrote her address on it and signed, "Hope to see you there."

Ryan thought about it.

Troy sat there miserably, ignoring the stares. His swollen chin healed a little, but his face looked red. He held the invitation in his hand. The bell rang and Chase staggered in with a puffy lip.

"Chase, I understand you're still recovering, but try to make it on time," said Mr. Connelly.

Chase sat down roughly and grabbed the orange envelope off his desk and stuck it in his notebook. He looked over at Ryan.

---

Science Lab began. Troy sat near Chase at a work table irately and Chase limped to Mrs. Mendoza. He whispered something to her and stood there.

"Pablo," she said. "Please switch seats with Chase."

Pablo frowned like an infant sitting at a table with Ryan. He glanced at Ryan disappointedly and Troy eyed him sorely as Pablo got up.

"Hi, new, lab partner," said Chase, sitting next to Ryan awkwardly. "My neighbor, Agnes gave me a ride to school today. I really appreciated you asking your dad to give me a ride yesterday."

"And you asked to sit here?" said Ryan, opening the blood-type, test kit. "I'm not that good at Science."

"I am," he said with a grin.

Chase pricked Ryan's index finger with a tiny lancer and Ryan flinched a little. Chase pinched his finger firmly, squeezing three drops of blood into three separate, test containers. Then he held a cotton ball on the wound for a while, covering it with a bandaid.

"I'm a Science Lab master," said Chase.

"Have you done anything about the entities on you?" asked Ryan.

"Entities? You said Sloan only saw one."

"Well, I saw a snirver and it's still there," said Ryan.

"Okay," said Chase with a sigh.

"Make an appointment with a counselor," said Ryan.

"Then what?"

"Sit with your mom or dad and get help."

"I'll think about it."

"I hope so."

"Oh. I took the questionnaire," said Chase. "I'm not an angelkin."

"But you see things that happened."

"That doesn't make me an angelkin."

"I see things, but I can't change them," said Ryan.

"You wouldn't see them if you couldn't change them," said Chase.

"I haven't been able to."

"You will."

He did his own blood test and he and Ryan both had "A positive" blood, getting the test results fast.

"Excellent, boys," said Mrs. Mendoza. "That's an "A" for you both. Good job."

Ryan grinned from ear to ear.

"Ow," Pablo whined.

Troy pushed the lance into his index finger, but he pulled it away.

"I don't want to get an "F", Pablo," said Troy. "Hold still."

Troy lanced his index finger firmly and Pablo let out a screech.

---

At the cafeteria, Troy walked out of the kitchen with his hot, food tray and sat across from Shantel. She talked to him about something that made her smile.

Ryan sat a table with Sloan, Jamal and Pablo.

"I know why he punched you," said Pablo, crunching potato chips from a plastic baggie. "He can't wait to stab somebody."

"Are you going to Jessica's party?" asked Sloan. "It's Thursday."

"Shantel's going," said Jamal.

"I don't know - so is Troy," said Ryan.

"Hold up your invitation and try to see what happens, bro," said Pablo.

"It doesn't work like that," said Ryan.

"Troy told everyone in Homeroom you see stuff before it happens," said Jamal.

"Did they believe him?" asked Ryan.

"I don't think so . . . especially when they saw your face this morning," he said.

"Is that entity thing still on you?" asked Sloan.

"No, my sister helped me with it. It's gone."

"Good. Now you won't die," said Pablo.

---

After school, Mr. Ross sat at the kitchen table and Ryan stood nearby.

"Hi," said Ryan.

"What do you want, Rye?" he asked suspiciously.

"Nothing," said Ryan.

"Your face looks pretty bad."

"It'll get better," he said.

"Yeah, okay."

"Um . . . what part looks the worst?"

Grace opened her bedroom door and watched the hallway nervously. A boy with short, black hair wearing a baseball cap rushed into her room from the front, living room door.

"All of it," said Mr. Ross.

Ryan smiled and went in his room.

---

Ghosts made with white sheets draped from the trees in the front yard of a white house on Maitland Street. Rubber bats and cotton webs with plastic spiders on them covered the windows and Mr. Ross parked in front.

"Take something good for me," he said. "I'll be back at ten."

Ryan got out of the car wearing a white, dress shirt, black pants and a cape with black eyeliner around his eyes.

An Asian lady in a wizard's gown gave chocolate chunkies to two small children dressed as witches at the door. They hurried past Ryan to two adults on the sidewalk.

"Hi, there. What's your name?" she asked.

"Ryan, hi."

"I'm Jessica's mom, Mrs. Mui. That's Jessica's dad in the kitchen. Help yourself."

An Asian man in a brown, sports jacket, green T-shirt and black pants with green makeup on his face poured red punch and seltzer into a large, glass bowl on the table and added a bag of candy, eyeballs to it. They floated to the top.

Ryan poured some punch into a paper cup with a ladel and one eyeball dropped in.

"Ooo, a vampire," said Mr. Mui. "Don't bite me . . . kidding."

Mr. Mui went to the living room and grabbed the television remote, scrolling through the app icons. He found the Halloween, dance-party app and played it.

The video for "Monster Mayhem" by Goldfast blasted loudly.

Two long couches faced each other in the living room and soft chairs filled the rest of the room.

"Hi, Ryan," said Jessica, wearing a pink, chiffon dress with white flowers in her hair. "Thanks for coming. You look cute."

"You too," he said.

Pablo sat on the couch at the coffee table. He dodged a motion-sensor, skeleton hand in a bowl of tiny, chocolate balls wrapped in orange foil with skulls on them.

His tan, fedora hat fell in his eyes and his khaki shirt and pants hanged on him loosely.

"Hey, Count Dracula," he said.

"Hi," said Ryan. "An archeologist, right?"

"The best - Jamal's killing the pu pu platter on the patio. She's here, bro - your girl."

Shantel walked into the living room, wearing a white, bridal dress, white makeup and black lipstick.

Chase staggered behind her and whispered something, wearing a frilly, dress shirt, black pants and a black cape with the color red on the inside. Shantel looked at Ryan and Chase tossed the cape over her playfully. He stared at Ryan, holding the cape up at his eyes and limped to the patio.

Shantel followed him and Ryan stopped her.

"Hi, Shantel," he said. "You look cool."

"Thanks."

"Want to sit somewhere?"

"Sure."

Pablo made room on the couch with a wink and Shantel sat beside Ryan.

"Troy's here," she said.

Pablo whispered. "Move faster, bro."

"Um, Pablo, can you get me a ghost cupcake in the kitchen?"

"Oh, I gotcha," he said. "I'll dig up a lost treasure before I bring it." He jumped up and picked up his pants.

"Great," said Ryan.

"Troy told me you wanted to tell me to mind my own business next time you argue with anyone," said Shantel.

"I never said that."

"Then what did you want to tell me in Algebra?"

"That . . . it's cool you stuck up for me."

"Even after what I said?"

"Um . . . yeah. Girls know stuff about guys."

"No, they don't," said Shantel.

"What do you mean?"

"I'm not like other girls," she said.

"What are you saying?"

"I see things."

"Like what?"

"I'm sorry, I can't tell you."

"Did you tell anyone else?"

"No, just my family."

"Why are you telling me?"

"You see stuff before it happens. Chase told me."

"I don't see everything," said Ryan.

"Maybe you're afraid to."

Ryan smiled. "Shantel, do you want - "

"Hi, Ryan." Troy fell on him and hugged him like a bear wearing a green wig and a purple, sports jacket with jeans. "You look good." He wore white makeup and added a lot of black around his eyes. The smell of beer shot up Ryan's nose.

Ryan pushed him off and he rolled to the side. "Get off me. You're drunk."

"Oh," said Troy, struggling to get up. "You dropped this." He shoved the hand-written copy of Shantel's wrinkled poem in his hand and stumbled away.

"This is his," said Ryan.

"What is it?" she asked.

"A poem . . . um - "

Shantel took it and read it. "How did he get this?"

"I - I'm not sure," said Ryan.

"He must've saw my combo. Did he let you read it?"

"Chase did."

"What do you think?"

"You like guys with red hair and blue eyes," said Ryan nervously.

"What were you going to say before?"

"I wanted to invite you to . . . my house."

"I can't go there. But you can come to mine."

"Cool."

"Want to go outside?"

"Yeah."

Jessica sat on the couch next to Troy, fixing his wig. Ryan followed Shantel to the back patio. A hanging, red lamp shined above a round table outside where Jamal, Chase and Pablo sat.

"The cupcakes are all gone, bro," said Pablo. "Want something else?"

"No, thanks," said Ryan.

A stone path led to a garden nearby and Shantel and Ryan walked down it.

A tall man wearing a skeleton mask and a black cape walked up the path and placed his black-gloved hand on Ryan's shoulder.

"Good evening," he said. "Happy Halloween." He chuckled and hurried down the path, disappearing.

"Creepy," said Shantel. "Who was that?"

"I don't know," said Ryan. "Maybe he's from Jessica's family."

---

In the kitchen, Mrs. Mui tied an orange handkerchief over Troy's eyes and pushed him under a giant, pumpkin pinanta hanging from the ceiling. Then she handed him a baseball bat.

Troy swung at it twice and missed. The third time, he cracked it hard.

Chase took the bat from Troy and he gave him the blindfold. Mrs. Mui blindfolded Chase and he arched the bat all the way back. With one strike, he split the cardboard.

A handful of wrapped, sugared, sour chews, gummy bears and red licorice fell on the floor. He hit it again and more candy fell.

He lifted the bat over his head and struck the pinanta, ripping it open. Sprays of candy flew at Shantel and Ryan, landing everywhere.

Shantel grabbed a handful. Ryan picked up some sugared, sour chews at his feet.

"Thank you, Chase," said Mrs. Mui. "I hope you get better from your foot. A lot of aggression - alright." She clapped. "The candy's out, everybody."

---

Mr. Mui grabbed the remote in the living room and opened the Karaoke app.

Sloan walked in the living room wearing a white T-shirt, black pants, a red bandana and a black patch over his left eye.

He sat beside Shantel and Ryan, sitting with Jamal and Pablo on the couch. Jessica, Troy, Chase and Luke sat on the other couch.

The music for "Heat Your Frankenstein" by Tressport played. Mr. Mui held a huge microphone and sang the lyrics loudly and pitchy, but Mrs. Mui howled.

Jessica played "Fast Broom" by Josie Moss and sang all the lyrics like she sang them before.

Everyone clapped and when Sloan got up, the room felt awkward.

Jessica handed him the microphone and he asked if she had "Your Blood" by Sinquest. She played it.

The Karaoke music started and the tension thickened.