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turned our slow circle so I was
facing in Joe’s direction. I dared myself to look at Joe. The side of my face
lay against Ryan’s chest.
    For
once, Joe didn’t look away. We just stood there staring at each other until the
end of the song. That was when I glanced at the girl he was dancing with. It
was Erica Fisher.
    The
song ended, and I backed away. I felt bad that I hadn’t spoken to Ryan for the
entire song, but looking at his face it seemed he didn’t mind. He was about to
say something, but I interrupted him.
    “Thanks,
Ryan, for the dance.” I smiled at him and then walked away, grabbing Meg’s arm
for a second. She left her dance partner in the middle of a sentence and put
her arm around my shoulder.
    “Oh
sweetie,” she whispered. We walked out together, and I gave her a ride home. We
didn’t speak much on the way, except for Meg to say she had a great time. Joe
had danced with her, during the third song. Neither of us mentioned that. She
gave me a hug from the passenger seat when we got to her door, and a few of my
tears fell then. She didn’t mention them, and I didn’t say anything. That was
the nicest thing about having a best friend like Meg. I didn’t have to say
anything for her to understand.
    I
miss her most of all.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN
     
    You
would think things would have been weird between Joe and me after that, but no,
they went on just the same as normal. Almost rube-like, I should say.
    Halfway
through November, Joe broke into my house early in the morning. This happened a
lot, so that in and of itself wasn’t too remarkable.
    I
woke up in the morning, and Joe lay on the side of my bed where I was facing.
This too was a common occurrence. You would think it was… you know… romantic,
but by then it felt more like an insult. He could lie down next to me on my bed
with no one in the house, and still not be attracted to me.
    Rude.
    Joe
seemed agitated, his head in his hands, his elbows almost pushing me off my own
bed.
    “Morning,”
I said, and then I turned from my side to face the ceiling. I had
glow-in-the-dark stars up there since my ninth birthday. My dad bought them for
me because I was in my ‘sleep under the stars’ stage, and they wanted me to
occasionally sleep indoors. Go figure.
    “I
saw something strange on my way here,” Joe said.
    I
looked over at the clock on my alarm. It was four-thirteen in the morning. With
a groan, I pulled my pillow from under Joe’s head and held it over my own.
    “Don’t
you ever sleep?” I asked.
    He
ignored my complaining. That too was common. “You know that house on Lincoln?”
    There
were many houses on Lincoln.
    “Yes,”
I said, hoping for him to finish whatever he was saying so I could go back to
sleep.
    He
turned on his side so he faced me. He jostled the bed, waking me up more. I put
the pillow back under my head and then adjusted so I could watch him as he
spoke.
    “That
abandoned house, the one with the wood covering the windows and the rotten
roof.” He looked at me as if I was supposed to know what he was talking about,
but I didn’t. “With the graffiti on the side.”
    Suddenly
I remembered, “and the birds” I said.
    ‘Yes.”
He answered. It was this ancient house on the corner of a busy street just
itching for a bulldozer. It had one of those commercial ‘for sale’ signs in
front for more than a year, and no one ventured near it, even with stores and
restaurants going up all around it. A flock of blackbirds had made their nest
in the top window. I looked at Joe.
    “I
saw a rune on the front door.”
    I
sat up on my elbow, my comforter falling down to my waist, reminding me that I
didn’t have my thin rune on. I didn’t really care. Joe didn’t like me
thin or regular, so who cared what I looked like in front of him?
    Okay,
me. I cared. I tried not to, but I still did.
    “What?”
I asked.
    Joe
smiled when he could see I was interested. “You want to go check it out with
me?”
    I
sighed and lay back down