Gravity - By Abigail Boyd Page 0,55

mom and dad don't want you getting in any trouble."

"Sure," I said. I knew there was a good chance she might forget that she had told me to call her when the time came.

Ms. Vore drove Theo and me to the orphanage and dropped us off around eight in the evening.

"Be back by 11:30, have fun," she told Theo, and sped off in her car. She seemed to be rather lax about Theo staying out, or maybe that was just me being used to overprotective parents. For a moment I felt guilty that Hugh and Claire didn't know about my ruse. Being partially honest was still lying. But I tried to tell myself I wasn't hurting anyone, and I would take care of myself.

Theo wore huge, glittery bat earrings, her red hair up in a bun. With her glasses she looked like the world's coolest librarian. As we walked through the gate I had a flashback to long-ago birthday dream. The moment when I realized that I was locked out and I could go no further. Jenna standing in front of the house, hands hanging at her hips...face flat and hopeless...

"Where's Henry supposed to be?" Theo asked, breaking me out of my memory.

"He just said he would meet us here," I replied. "No specific place."

"Hopefully we can find him," she said.

There were lots of juniors and seniors from Hawthorne, although I didn't see anyone I knew by name. They all towered above us, making me feel adolescent. Theo and I peered around the tall crowd of bodies, but I saw no sign of Henry. The lawn looked like someone had come along and done a cleanup job since my last visit.

"Maybe he ditched on me," I said, not wanting to accept the disappointing possibility. In my head, I tormented myself for thinking he would follow through with it. "I should have found someone who didn't think the whole idea of ghosts was the most ridiculous thing they'd ever heard."

Just then, I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned to see Henry, smirking. I felt the same sense of relief as I did when I was lost as a child, and I spotted one of my parents' faces in the crowd. A familiar, safe beacon. Hope.

"Were you going to give up on me that easily?" he asked with a mock hurt expression on his handsome face. I noticed with some trepidation that Henry had obtained Alex, the idiot always cracking jokes in History class, as our fourth person.

"This is who you came up with?" I asked, raising my eyebrows and scrutinizing the other boy.

"I'm just here for the free entertainment," Alex assured me, running a hand through his hair. "You did buy me a ticket, right?"

I frowned and nodded at the same time.

"Yes, I bought you a ticket." I distributed the little printouts I'd bought online out to everyone.

"I don't have to pay you back, right?" Alex asked.

"Uh, no," I said, annoyed.

We handed in the tickets as we got in line. The sessions, as the staff referred to them, ran early in the evening, and we were there for the eight-thirty, the last. I had tried to time it so that hopefully everyone else would leave and we'd have the property to ourselves.

I was somewhat excited to see the haunted house itself, even though it presented merely a distraction. I shifted on my feet as we stood in line. Everyone spoke excitedly in little groups, their speech peppered with apprehension. A few girls appeared scared, their boyfriends comforting them with quiet words.

A chill had arrived now that the sun had gone down, making me glad that I had dressed in a chunky sweater and jeans. There were a few guys in costumes, one even wearing a skull mask. I peered around the people in front of me. The line went to the entrance, the double doors underneath the staircase. Our little bunch remained near the back.

"You females can cling to me if it gets scary," Alex said. I figured he would start beating on his chest like a gorilla any minute. It was a show I would be delighted to miss.

"Stuff it, bro," Theo retorted. "We can take care of ourselves."

My phone beeped and I pulled it out of my sweater pocket. Henry's name was on the screen. Sorry, he has a car was all it read. I giggled.

After a few minutes of waiting, the doors flew open with a puff of thick fog. I couldn't help but be reminded