Moonset

“Someone needs to tell me what’s going on,” I said. “This is getting annoying. How does me taking Ash to a movie have anything to do with the rest of you? No offense or anything.”

Jenna and Mal shared a look, and I wanted to smack the both of them. Stop collaborating.

That is not how this is supposed to work. You’re supposed to be at each other’s throats! Jenna gestured for Mal to explain, which he did.

“Bailey has this group date thing she wants to go on. The adults said it was fine as long as one of us goes along to keep an eye on her. They don’t want any of us out alone, but things have been quiet so they’re willing to allow us a little freedom. Since you’re going to the movies, too … ” Mal trailed off.

“Wait, that means I can go?” Bailey squealed, then jumped up and down and grabbed Mal around the waist, squeezing him.

“I didn’t agree—” Before I could finish, Bailey released Malcolm and then grabbed me, too, hugging the daylights out of me.

“Oof! We don’t even know that we’re seeing the same movie,” I sighed, already accepting defeat. Too much information was being processed at once. “And wait, group date?”

“It’s not a date,” Bailey said quickly. “It’s just a bunch of the girls on the freshman cheer squad. Mal keeps calling it a date because there’s going to be a few boys there.”

I crossed my arms. “How many boys?”

Jenna slid her arm around Bailey’s shoulder. “Just a couple of guys. It’s nothing to freak out about.”

“Normally, I’d say Bailey’s too young to date,” Mal said with a grin, “but I’m not the chaperone. So I’ll leave it all up to Justin.”

“Please, Justin?” Bailey grabbed at my sleeve. She did puppy dog eyes and everything. “I promise, it’s just a movie. You don’t want people to think I’m a freak because I’m never allowed to hang out with them, do you?”

“You can still go out on your date,” Jenna added in a sweet tone. “I’m sure Ash won’t mind.”

The three of them had teamed up against me. How was this even fair? “What were you planning to see?”

Bailey’s smile could have powered all of Carrow Mill. “Santa Claws 2—Bloody Christmas. It’s a sequel to Santa Claws—you know, the one where Santa gets possessed by the demons … ”

“Yeah,” I said, holding up my hand in the hopes of stopping her. “I remember. You really want to go see that? Wouldn’t you rather go see something … I dunno, a little more appropriate?”

Bailey went from excited to frosty in an instant. “What’s that supposed to mean?” she asked.

“You think I should go watch some stupid kiddie movie? I’m fifteen, Justin. God!”

She stormed off, and Mal and Jenna both looked at me with something like glee. “You really stepped in it that time,” Mal offered.

“Shut up,” I glowered, walking away from the pair of them. Date-ruiners. That’s what they were. Awful, selfish, date-ruiners.

When I went over to Malcolm’s house later that evening, Cole was perched on the front steps.

His hair was down in his eyes, and he looked like he’d worked himself up to an intense brood.

This could last for hours. Cole didn’t get into bad moods often, but when he did, it was always a struggle for the rest of us.

“Hey buddy, how’s it going?” I sat down next to him.

Cole snorted, looking at me from underneath his fringe. “Like you care. All you care about is

Ash now.”

Okay, wow. “That’s not true. C’mon, you know me better than that.”

“I thought I did,” he muttered. “All you care about is going out with her tonight.”

“That’s not all I care about.” How was I supposed to fix this before Cole went haywire and started goth-ing it up again? “Why don’t you come with us tonight? Bailey’s going with a group of friends. We could make a thing of it.”

Another snort. “Don’t worry, I’ve made actual friends here. You don’t have to pity me.”

“I don’t pity you,” I said slowly. “Where is all this coming from? This isn’t you, Cole.”

“How would you know?”

“Okay,” I said, trying another tactic. “Things have been weird since we got here. I get it. It hasn’t been like any of the other times. But that doesn’t mean I’m going anywhere.” I nudged his side. “You’re kind of stuck with us. We’re a package deal, remember.”

He leapt to his feet and stomped away without another word.

“Look at my babies, all grown up,” Mal said with a mock sniffle as we pulled up in front of the theater. It was at the same outdoor mall we’d gone to our first week in town, in the next city over from Carrow Mill. I let Bailey take the front seat, allowing me to lounge in the back and worry. What if I keep talking stupid? What if she thinks I’m boring and that’s why I wanted to go to a movie. What if she decides I’m lame?

I’d been fine up until this point with Ash. She was strange and bizarre and utterly fascinating, but I’d always thought I liked that. But now, ever since I’d used the D-word, it was like all I could do was panic. I second-guessed every conversation we’d ever had, overanalyzed every laugh and smile. She was friends with Maddy, and Maddy disliked me for obvious reasons.

What if that rubbed off on her?

I wiped my palms on my jeans for about the thousandth time, and swallowed my gum. What if my breath is awful? I pulled the pack of gum out of my pocket and slid another stick in my mouth.

“Is Cole going to be all right?” Bailey asked from the front.

“He’s going to be fine,” Mal assured her. “You know how he gets.”

“He hasn’t had much luck making friends,” she said, looking down at her hands. “I mean, Luca’s been cool, but I don’t think people here get Cole’s sense of humor.”

“He just takes a little bit to warm up to,” I said.

“Maybe,” she said. “But everyone’s been so busy, so he probably feels like you guys are all moving on, too.”

“No one’s going anywhere,” Mal insisted. “We’ve just been busy. And things have been a little crazy. They’ll settle down soon.”

“I hope so.” Bailey glanced back at me. “You can’t walk in with me.”

Mal reached back and grabbed my hand up in his. “But we want to introduce ourselves to your young gentleman.”

I snatched my hand back, laughing. “Speak for yourself. Go be someone else’s gay parent.”

“Just be careful, okay? Weird stuff’s been going on and all,” Mal said. We still hadn’t talked to

Cole or Bailey about what was going on. They only knew what we’d told them on the first week.

“We’ll be fine.” Part of the agreement with Quinn had been about an escort. Not just me being there to escort Bailey, but a Witcher escort. There were supposed to be two of them somewhere in the theater, just in case something happened.

We got out of the car and climbed up onto the sidewalk. It was only six, but the sun had already set. Luckily, the theater believed in a hefty light bill, because there were streetlights and blazing spotlights everywhere.

The window rolled down. “You have protection, just in case?” Mal called out, peeking his head out the window.

Bailey looked no more mortified than I did. But only barely.

She saw her friends and ran off, and I hovered near the doors for a few minutes, wishing I’d been smart enough to pick a better spot to wait at. But I didn’t have to wait long.

“Hey there, hot stuff. Don’t you look nice?” Ash appeared at my side, wrapped up in a black coat. Her hair was crimped and curled tonight, and the lights brought out all its different shades of red.

“Oh,” I said, looking down at myself. “Thanks. I mean, it was nothing.” Nothing for me at least. I’d made Mal pick me out something to wear, which he insisted was offensive and playing into stereotypes. But he did it, criticizing my taste as he went along.