no self-deprecation rule goes for you too.”
“You’re both beautiful,” I agreed. And I wasn’t just trying to pacify Cass. It occurred to me, in that moment, how seldom I actually looked at my friends. The same way I didn’t notice the woods surrounding my house or the lava lamp on Main Street. I was so used to seeing Arden and Cass that they’d become part of the landscape. But they were beautiful.
“And you are too,” Cass said. “And you’re interesting. And ambitious. And unique. If Alex doesn’t like you, fuck him. But don’t for a minute think you don’t deserve to be on that date.”
I smiled at Cass. “If I were the kind of person who believed in using physical affection to show gratitude, I’d hug you right now.”
Cass snorted. “And if I were the kind of person who enjoyed backhanded compliments, I’d hug you back.”
“Well, I do like hugs, and I love you both,” Arden said. And she pulled us together into an embrace.
For once, I didn’t flinch away.
Text Conversation
Participants: Gideon Hofstadt, Owen Campbell
GH: Will you please answer my calls?
GH: I want to explain myself.
GH: You know I’m not actually interested in this guy.
GH: Owen, please?
GH: You can’t avoid me forever.
GH: Okay, you’re very talented, maybe you can.
GH: Look, I’m sorry, okay? Maybe I didn’t make that clear, but I’m really, really sorry.
OC: Does that mean you’re not going on the date?
GH: Well…I can’t really back out now.
OC: Stop texting me, Gideon.
Event: Oswald’s Rally
Date: Oct. 13 (Fri.)
A sad fact of my life was that no one had to convince me to attend the rally J. Quincy Oswald held on Friday night. I had to keep tabs on him. You should always know what your nemesis has up his sleeve.
My brother was neglecting to conduct his due diligence and instead went to a party at his friend Devin’s house. I knew better than to ask Father to help with anything involving Oswald, so I asked Cass for a ride instead.
“I wouldn’t miss it for the world,” she said.
That was how I ended up standing in a crowd of Seekers and myTality™ distributors, with Cass on one side of me and Arden on the other. Cass wore a shiny silver dress and tinsel laced through her hair.
“The outfit is a bit much,” I told her.
She glanced down, flexing a foot adorned in a sparkly, plastic shoe. “I’m going for a space-age look.”
“I know what you’re going for.”
“I can’t believe how many people are here,” Arden said, pulling into herself more, as if that would help her avoid the crowd. I didn’t blame her. Being surrounded by people on all sides always set off the panic sensors in my brain.
Nearby, Arnie Hodges stood on his step stool and spoke to the people surrounding him, like he was Oswald’s opening act.
“They want us to believe no alien spacecraft crashed in Roswell, New Mexico,” Hodges preached. “They want us to believe there aren’t alien corpses in freezer units at Area 51. They want us to believe Project Blue Book, a government study of UFO activity, never turned up evidence of alien life. But are we going to sit back idly and believe whatever they tell us?”
“No!” shouted the crowd around him.
Compared to the myTality™ distributors and Seekers, I saw only a few locals in the crowd: Adam Frykowski in his too-big suit, taking notes on a steno pad; a couple kids from school; some families I knew in passing; and Laser, standing outside Super Scoop, puffing on an e-cig and glaring at anyone who got too close.
Our town had been completely taken over by outsiders. I’d never been fond of small-town life, but it was disorienting to suddenly not know most of the people wandering Lansburg’s streets.
At five minutes past 7:00—fashionably late again—Oswald appeared in front of the crowd. He wasn’t on anything as unassuming as a step stool, like Hodges. No, Oswald towered over us on the observation platform that ran the circumference of the lava lamp. The stairs leading to the platform had been locked off for years and I wondered if he got permission to go up there or if he’d gone rogue.
“People of Lansburg,” he drawled into a bullhorn. “Welcome.”
The myTality™ distributors cheered enthusiastically, the Seekers slightly less so. Oswald let the applause wash over him, as if it was giving him fuel.
“We come from different walks of life,” he said. “We’ve got unique hopes and dreams, battle individual demons. But tonight, we unite under one purpose. We’re here to