Midnight Sun(20)

“Why are you nervous?”

I give him the simplified version. “I don’t know anyone.”

“Well, I know all these idiots, and you have nothing to be nervous about,” he tells me.

“Come on now,” I say. “You can’t know everyone.”

Charlie looks around the room before pointing discreetly at a loud, tall, red-faced boy doing shots. “See that guy?”

I nod.

“He pretends he’s a dumb jock but he’s in, like, every AP class. He’s going to Yale, but he wants everyone to think he’s a moron.”

Yale. He wants people to think he’s not going there? “That is moronic,” I say. “I mean, it’s Ivy League. The best of the best. I’d be wearing the sweatshirt to school every day. I’d love to go there.”

“You should, then,” Charlie says. “How could they pass up the valedictorian of your strict solo home school?”

I lean into him slightly. I love how warm but unyielding he feels. Soft yet strong. It’s a nice combination.

“It’s… complicated,” I begin, thinking for all of a millisecond about telling him how college is not even a possibility because of my XP. I’m considering making a joke of it, saying maybe I could go to night school. But then something tells me not to ruin what is turning out to be a great night. There’s enough time for reality later.

I nod over at a girl in a supertight, super-low-cut dress. “What about her?”

“Wore headgear to school until tenth grade, clearly trying to make up for lost time,” he says, then motions to a short, acne-ridden boy. “Peed his pants on the sixth-grade field trip. And that girl over there, she has a prescription drug problem. Now see that dude? He has the longest fingers I’ve ever seen. He’s also, like, one of the top ten cellists in the state. He’s cool.”

Charlie’s saying this stuff like it’s no big deal, but the whole time I’m thinking two things: (1) I have missed out on so much, and (2) People never really outlive their pasts. There will always and forever be the shorthand Headgear Girl and Wetpants Boy, and kids who graduated in this class will know immediately who that is, even at their fiftieth reunion. I decide to indefinitely postpone the conversation that will out me as Vampire Girl.

A guy jumps on Charlie’s back out of nowhere. Charlie is startled and stiffens up like he’s ready to throw down. Then a look of recognition crosses his face and he smiles instead.

“He’s back!” the guy whoops. “Charlie’s back! Why didn’t you pregame with us? We had—”

Charlie’s friend notices me standing there and stops talking. Another guy comes toward us trying to carry way too many drinks in way too few hands.

“Whoa, who’s this?” the first guy says.

“Owen, Wes, meet Katie,” Charlie says, gesturing to each boy as he makes the introductions so I can tell them apart.

Wes kisses my hand with wet, beery lips. “Katie, you’re a magician. Teach us your ways,” he says, giving me a deep bow.

I look at Charlie, then back at Wes. “What do you mean?”

“It means you got this guy to come to a party and make a smilelike feature. Our boy hasn’t looked this good in a long time,” Owen says, throwing an arm around Charlie.

We all start chatting and laughing like old pals, and it doesn’t feel awkward in the least. But my newfound social comfort flies away when Zoe saunters over. Of course, she immediately starts hanging all over Charlie. “I’m sooooooo thirsty,” she coos, staring up and batting her fake-feather eyelashes at him. I seriously don’t understand how she doesn’t just fly away. “Get me a drink?”

Charlie extracts himself from her grip and moves closer to me. “I can’t right now; I’ve gotta give Katie the party tour.”

Zoe plants herself in front of us so we can’t move.

“Katie,” she says, eyeing me suspiciously. “How come I’ve never seen you around before?”

“I—” I start to say, but Charlie jumps in before I can even begin to formulate some sort of lie.

“She’s in the witness protection program,” he says with an easygoing charm. “If she told you that, she’d have to kill you.”

Zoe gives him a little fake laugh, but she’s still eyeing me. “On second thought, you actually do look familiar,” she says. “Have we met somewhere before?”

I shake my head. “Don’t think so.”

She steps aside, her lips pressed together. “It’ll come to me, don’t you worry,” she says.

Zoe glares at us as Charlie holds his hand out to me. I take it. I hope he can’t feel how shaky the encounter with Zoe has left me.

“Ready?” he asks.

I follow behind him, leaving Zoe standing all alone and angry. I glance back at her over my shoulder as we head up the grand staircase, and she’s still glowering at me like she wishes I’d self-combust. I’m sure she’d probably be thrilled to know it’s an actual possibility in my case.





10

“And this,” Charlie says, flipping the lights on in yet another room. This one is stacked floor to ceiling with antique-looking hardbound books. “Is the library.”

“Oooooooooh.” I stare around with undisguised envy. “I would literally live in here if this was my house.”