“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.