I sighed. So he was going to keep things close to the chest. “Polynomial equations are going to be the death of me.”
Callan chuckled at my side, and I bit back a smile as I began to work.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
On Halloween, after weeks of a relentless pace of SCC classes, Evergreen Academy courses, and studying both on my own and with Callan, I was ready for a fun night out.
Alex had invited me to a Halloween party, and I’d accepted. I’d been excited all week, not completely sure if I was attending as his date or just as a friend. Either way, it promised to be a fun evening and change of pace. Plus, I’d always loved creating themed outfits, and Halloween was the ultimate dress-up occasion.
On my way out the door, my aunt tromped up the stairs, a small potted oak branch in her hands.
“What’s that?” I asked, pausing to look at it.
“The town did the annual autumn tree cutting of Frank today. I grabbed us one of the cuttings, since you seem to be into plants lately.”
I swallowed, glad her words were innocent enough. I’d beencareful not to leave my Evergreen Academy books lying around where she could find them, but I supposed Iwastalking about plants much more than usual.
“Awesome. Shall we name him Frankie?” The town had been taking cuttings of Frank, the oak that had one of the letter boxes on the Wildflower Trail, for decades.
“How creative,” my aunt teased. “It’s perfect. Heading to the Halloween party?” She eyed my outfit. “Maybe you should take Frankie with you. It goes with the theme.”
“Let’s let Frankie adjust to his new environment before taking him to house parties, shall we?”
We had lined the steps to our apartment with carved pumpkins, and the candles inside were glimmering in the late evening light as I passed them.
I pulled carefully out of the parking lot, catching glimpses of children in costumes, trick-or-treating with their parents. I could practically feel the magic in the air, real or imagined.
I stopped by Maci’s house to pick her up. Jace and Mitchell were planning to meet us there. As it turned out, those two had some overlapping friends with Alex, and we’d all been invited to the same party.
Maci looked stunning as she climbed into the car, long black boots stretching out in the passenger seat. She’d dressed as a pirate, with a short black-and-red dress and large captain’s hat.
“Wow,” she said, looking me over. “I wasn’t sure how it was going to turn out when you said you were dressing as a plant lady, but you look totally adorable. The watering can is a nice touch.”
I laughed. I was wearing a brown velvet jumper dress and had stuck plant leaves and vines all over my arms and hair.While I didn’t have the power to have the plants twine around me, as many of the students at school did, I had gotten quite good at collecting plant specimens without damaging them, and I was proud of the display I’d crafted.
I wore potted plant earrings and had shimmering dark green powder dusted at the corners of my eyes, matching my emerald ring. My daisy-printed backpack was on my back, stuffed with a few essentials and my notebooks, which I hardly went anywhere without.
When we arrived at the house party, we could already hear music blaring from the street. I debated what the chances were that the cops wouldn’t get called this evening and decided the odds weren’t great.
Inside, I couldn’t help but compare the dingy, sparse surroundings with the bright, warm atmosphere of the Evergreen Academy. Still, I had to give the guys who rented the house credit for taping a few Halloween decorations to the wall and getting an orange-and-black LED disco ball spinning.
“You made it!”
I heard Alex’s voice and spun to see him wearing a baseball jersey from a Southern California team, black smudges of paint under his eyes.
“Nice outfit. Wonder where you got it,” I teased.
“This was all I had in my closet that could be considered a costume,” he said with a grin. “Are you… poison ivy?”
“A crazy plant lady, but poison ivy works too.”
“Isn’t she precious?” Maci said, and I couldn’t help but feel slightly put off by her comment. But as I introduced my two friends, Alex slung an arm over my shoulder, and the feeling wasquickly replaced by a flutter of nerves in my stomach. Maybe this was a date, after all.
“I’m going to go find Jace. He said he and Mitchell are here already,” Maci said.
“Want me to come with you?”
“You two have fun.” She wiggled her eyebrows and disappeared into the crowd.
