“Do you guys like mozzarella sticks?” Logan asked. She set the to-go box on the futon and delicately opened it. “They’re probably cold now, but…”
“You’re…” the Iron Man boy said.
“Logan. What’s your name?”
“Nick.” He dug into the mozzarella sticks. “We didn’t write that thing on your dads’ door.”
“I know you didn’t,” Logan said.
Nick and Elexis shared a nervous glance.
“Did they write something else?” Elexis asked. He paced across the room and stood in front of the TV like he meant to hide the game he’d been playing. “I can tell you who did it. I saw John Paris’s truck here the other night. Or, I heard it. It woke me up. And then I woke you up.”
“Not surprising. I just ran into him at the bar and he seemed lovely,” Logan said. She waved a hand. “I was actually coming over to see if you guys wanted to hang out. Family’s gotta stick together.”
“I’m not related to you,” Nick said.
“There’s not a lot of kids our age around here.” Logan pulled apart a mozzarella stick. “And my dinner date kinda ditched me.”
“You had a date already?” Nick asked. “You just got here.”
“Figure of speech.”
“She was hanging out with Ashley Barton,” Elexis interjected. “I saw you guys leaving town this morning.”
“Correct.” Logan smiled. “I was briefly hanging out with Ashley Barton.”
“Why?”
“We’re hunting ghosts.”
Elexis and Nick both eyed her. After a moment, they laughed. Logan laughed, too, because sometimes it was easier to just tell the truth and let people make up their own minds about it. If Elexis and Nick thought she was joking, she wouldn’t correct them. Convincing a couple of teenage boys that the impossible existed wasn’t on her usual list of fun party activities. She barely believed it herself.
“What’re you working on?” Logan asked, angling to get a better look at the contraption in Nick’s hands.
“Making a computer,” Nick said. “Are you and Ashley friends?”
“No. It’s strictly professional.”
After a long moment, Nick sighed and put down his bits of plastic and wiring. “You’re so lucky. I wish I was friends with Ashley Barton.”
“Well, she’s single now.” Logan shrugged. “You could probably make a move.”
Elexis gasped. “That’s not funny.”
Logan sank onto the edge of Elexis’s mattress and put her hands on her knees. “Sorry. Question, though—did you guys … like Tristan Granger? Gracia seemed like she hated him.”
“Oh, that’s just Nana,” Elexis said. “She hates him because him and his friends used to pick on me. But they kinda picked on everyone. And it wasn’t really Tristan.”
“Yeah, Tristan never said anything to me,” Nick chimed in. “Him and Ashley were always nice.”
“But they let their friends pick on you?”
Elexis and Nick were quiet.
“Why’d you tell me about the thing on my dads’ door?”
“I don’t know,” Elexis said. “Just felt like I should.”
“Huh. Well, thanks.” Logan slouched. “A lot of people here seem to really hate us. But not you guys. Why?”