"Like an old couch?"
He smiled that same smile. "Yeah, goofball. But it doesn't matter. There's no way--"
"Yes, there is!" And I showed him the loose boards at the basement window.
"You go in first," he said, prodding me forward with trembling hands. "You're smaller."
I slithered easily through the window.
Inside, it was really dark, even for me. I could barely make out the cobwebs. I loved it! There were stacks of cardboard boxes everywhere, and it smelled like a basement that had been there since the beginning of time.
"C'mon already!" I said.
"I can't move! I'm stuck."
"You have to move. Do you want them to find you with your backside hanging out?"
I yanked and pushed and pulled. Finally Jack came through, to my relief, but not his.
I led the terrified senior through the moldy basement. He held on to my hand so tight I thought he would break my fingers. But it was nice to hold his hand. It was big and strong and masculine. Not like Nerd Boy's, whose tiny hand always felt squishy and smarmy.
"Where are we going?" he whispered in a terrified voice. "I can't see a thing!"
I could make out the shapes of massive chairs and sofas, covered with dusty white cloth, probably once belonging to the old woman who stared at the moon.
"I see some stairs," I said. "Just follow me."
"I'm not going any further! Are you crazy?"
"How about a full-length mirror?" I teased, peeking behind a cloth.
"I'll take one of these empty boxes!"
"That's no good. Your friends will kill you. You'll be a laughingstock the rest of your life. Believe me, I know how it is."
I looked back at him and saw the terror on his face. I wasn't sure if he was scared of his friends outside or of the basement steps that might cave in at the slightest pressure. Or maybe he was afraid of ghosts.
"Okay," I said. "You wait here."
"Like I could go anywhere? I have no idea how to get back!"
"But first..."
"What?"
"Let go of my hand!"
"Oh, yeah."
He let me go. "Raven--" "What?"
"Be careful!"
I paused. "Jack, do you believe in ghosts?"
"No, of course not!"
"So you don't think there is a ghost here? Of that old woman?"