You Can't Come in Here! (3 page)

Drew rushed into the room, red faced and panting.

“It's terrible! It's horrible!” he cried.

“What happened?” Emily shrieked, rushing to his side.

“The wolf ate Mom, but—but—it didn't like the way Dad tasted, so it spit him out,” Drew said, dropping his chin to his chest. “Dad feels so rejected.”

Then he lifted his head and smiled at Emily.

“I get it, guys,” Emily said, shaking her head. “I fell asleep. I had a dream. There was no wolf.”

“Oh, Mom and Dad say hi, by the way,” Drew added.

Emily nodded.

“Tell them I say hi back. And now that I've totally embarrassed myself, I'm gonna head home and see if I can get to work on a better dream.”

“Don't worry about it,” Vicky said sweetly, her usual edge softening a bit. “It happens to the best of us.”

“Thanks,” Emily said, thinking how great it was that Drew and Vicky accepted her even when she made a fool out of herself.

“Watch out for the wolf,” Drew said as Emily headed for the door.

“Cute, real cute,” Emily said.

She stepped from the house, closing the front door behind her. As she walked away she heard the muffled sounds of Mr. and Mrs. Strig talking to Drew and Vicky. A few seconds later, she was quietly opening the door to her own house, breathing a sigh of relief that her parents hadn't noticed her being gone.

Back in bed, Emily tossed and turned a bit before finally drifting off. Her dreams, while not scary, were fitful, filled with a sense of unease. She kept finding herself in unfamiliar rooms, trying to figure the way out, but running into one locked door after another. A
feeling of dread pulsed through the dreams like a faint heartbeat. The last thing she remembered before the dreams finally stopped was the distant, lonely cry of an animal.

BLEEP! BLEEP! BLEEP! BLEEP!

A terrible noise filled Emily's ears. Her eyes shot open wide and she bolted upright in bed. Then she glanced at the alarm clock on the night table next to her bed, saw that it was seven a.m., and realized that this was the source of the hideous noise. She slapped the snooze button so hard that the clock tumbled onto the floor. Dragging herself from the bed, the horrible reality of the situation dawned on her. It was Monday morning and she had to get up for school.

Emily had tried all different ways of getting herself to wake up for school. At first she set her iPod to wake her up with music. But when the wake-up music started blaring, she would just drift back to sleep, falling
into a new dream based on the tune she had selected to awaken her. Then she had her mother call up to her room, but that just resulted in a grumble, a moan, and another plunge into slumber. So, in time, Emily realized that it had to be this loud, incredibly annoying clock that forced her up and out to start her day.

The weekend had flown by so fast. After she'd played beach volleyball with her dad all day Saturday and eaten way too much saltwater taffy yesterday, Friday night's wolf incident had pretty much faded from her mind. When it did circle back into her thoughts, she alternated between recalling just how real it had seemed and just how dumb she'd felt when she realized that it had only been a dream.

Emily got dressed, gulped down a bowl of cereal, and hurried off to catch the school bus. As the bus pulled into the school parking lot, she spotted Ethan Healy and Hannah Young, her two best friends. The three of them had been in school together since kindergarten. Here in middle school, they were not in all the same classes, but they always ate lunch together.

“Hannah! Ethan!” Emily called out as she bounded from the bus. “Wait up!”

“Hey, Em!” Hannah shouted back as the three friends fell into step together, heading for the school's main entrance. Hannah had short brown hair and a round face. When she smiled, her eyes twinkled mischievously, as if she was cooking up some kind of scheme. Hannah would do anything for Emily, and Emily felt the same way. Whoever came up with the abbreviation “BFFs” most definitely had Hannah and Emily in mind. “How was the beach?”

“Did your weird neighbors come with you?” Ethan jumped in, stepping in front of the two girls and walking backward.

Ethan was taller than Emily and Hannah. He had a mop of bright red hair that hung down into his face and shook when he walked. His hair was definitely the first thing anyone noticed about him, but it was his sense of humor that Emily and Hannah knew best.

“They didn't, but I did hang out with them on Friday night, Mr. Smarty Pants,” Emily said. “They happen to be really awesome. But you wouldn't know that since you've never met them.”

“Well, I met them, Em,” Hannah piped up, “when I went with you to their house a couple of weekends ago. I usually like anyone you like, but they were kind of cold
to me. And that house—I was really creeped out by that place.”

“I know,” Emily said. “But Hannah, you get spooked by butterflies, remember?”

“How could anyone forget?” Ethan chimed in. “You were the best part of our class trip to Butterfly World. From your reactions, you would have thought that you were being attacked by flying zombies or something, not little butterflies with pretty wings.”

“All right, all right, are you guys done?” Hannah asked, shaking her head. “Am I ever going to live that down?”

“Nope,” Ethan said matter-of-factly.

“Butterflies disturb me,” Hannah continued. “All that fluttering around my face—ugh! Anyway, that doesn't have anything to do with what we were talking about.”

“What
were
we talking about?” Ethan asked.

“Drew and Vicky,” Emily reminded him.

“Right,” Hannah said. “I was creeped out by their house. And I don't see what's so great about them anyway.”

“They're nice and fun to hang out with, that's all,” Emily explained. “You just have to give them a chance.”

Before Hannah could reply, the bell rang, signaling the time when all students had to be inside.

“See you guys at lunch,” Emily said, scooting into the building with her friends, who each went in a different direction.

Emily hurried down the hall. The last thing she needed was another tardy caused by standing outside the building, yakking away with Hannah and Ethan.

The rest of the morning dragged on, as Monday mornings always did. Emily made it through math, English, and gym. Lunchtime finally arrived.

As she headed to the cafeteria, she thought about what Hannah had said before school. So Hannah was a little creeped out by Drew and Vicky's house. So what? She shouldn't hold that against them. Emily wondered how she could get her friends to like one another. Invite everyone over all at once? Emily smiled to herself. A party wasn't a bad idea.

By the time she reached the cafeteria, the usual lunchtime pandemonium was well underway. She filled her tray, then deftly navigated her way between tables of screaming and laughing kids, ducking under a few flying trays and stepping around the odd container of spilled milk or splattered glob of Jell-O.

Spotting Hannah and Ethan at their usual table in the
corner near the window, Emily slid into a seat beside them.

“What'd you get?” Ethan asked, leaning forward, sticking his face right over her tray and scanning it, like a hungry hawk searching for prey on the ground below.

“Get your nose outta my food!” Emily said, gently shoving Ethan's forehead away. “I got the lasagna. It's the usual gloppy cheese, dried-out sauce, and some green things that perhaps were once vegetables.”

“I got the meat loaf,” Ethan said proudly. “I like not knowing what's in my lunch.”

“You are so strange,” Hannah chimed in, looking right at Ethan and picking up a forkful of salad.

“You've been saying that since we were six!” Ethan complained.

“Well, it doesn't make it any less true,” Hannah shot back. Then she turned to Emily, as Ethan picked apart his meat loaf. “How was gym?”

“Rope again. Need I say more?”

“I know! If people were meant to climb ropes—”

“We'd have wings, right?” Ethan interrupted.

“What's that supposed to mean?” Hannah asked.

“Well, you know, so we could fly up the rope instead of having to climb it?” Ethan explained. The
girls started giggling at the thought of Ethan with a pair of wings.

“Well, at least you won't have to climb the rope for too much longer,” Hannah began. “The school year's over in just three more days, not counting today or our random day off on Thursday.”

“What are we going to do to celebrate the end of the school year this weekend?” Ethan asked. “We could go to Ride World again. That was great—especially seeing your face on the roller coaster, Em!”

“As I recall, Ethan, I was not the one who lost his lunch when the Ferris wheel got stuck with us at the top,” Emily replied.

“So I learned that I don't like heights,” Ethan said defensively. “And that fried chicken sandwiches with peanut butter on top don't like me. That's a mistake I won't make again.”

“I have a different idea for this year,” Emily said, trying to steer the conversation back to reality and away from the strange planet known as Ethan's brain. “I was thinking we could have a big party. I'm sure I could talk my mom into letting us have it at my house.”

“Ooh, fun!” Hannah squealed. “We haven't had a big
party in forever. Wait a minute. How about making it a sleepover?”

“An end-of-the-school-year sleepover party!” Emily cried. “I love it! Hannah, you are a genius!”

“I've been telling you that for years,” Hannah said, hiding her face behind her hand, adding, “Please, no autographs.”

“And that will be a perfect chance for you both to get to know Drew and Vicky better,” Emily added. “You'll see that they're really cool.”

“Wait,” Hannah said, dropping her genius routine and staring at Emily. “You're going to invite them to our sleepover?”

“Yes,” Emily replied quickly. “They
are
my friends.”

“But they don't even go to our school,” Ethan pointed out.

“They don't even go to
any
school,” Hannah added.

“All the more reason to invite them, then, isn't it?” Emily asked. “This will be a chance for them to meet all my other friends, to help them feel like part of the gang. It's got to be hard when your parents homeschool you. It'll be a great time for everyone to get to know each other.”

“Well, I don't—,” Hannah started.

“Great, then it's settled,” Emily continued, not allowing Hannah an opportunity to protest. “I'm glad we all agree.”

“You're forgetting one thing,” Ethan said, inhaling the last crumbs of his meat loaf. “I'm a boy.”

“Really?” Emily replied in mock surprise. “I just thought you were a really weird-looking girl.”

“Seriously, Em,” said Ethan, rolling his eyes. “Hello! There's no way your mom will allow a coed sleepover!”

“Good point,” Emily said, a bit surprised that she had completely overlooked this fact.

“How about the boys have to leave around ten or eleven?” Hannah suggested. “It can be a regular party, and then the boys can go home and the girls get to stay for the sleepover.”

“That'll work!” Emily said, greatly relieved. “Hannah, you're—”

“—a genius, yes, we've already established that.”

“Good idea, Hannah,” Ethan said. “I'll bring the fried chicken with peanut butter sandwiches!”

BRIIING!

The bell rang ending lunch period, and the three friends got up, cleared their trays, and headed from the cafeteria with the stampede of the rest of the students.

“Call me tonight and we'll start planning the party!” Emily said to Hannah as the three friends headed off to three different classes. “See ya, guys.”

Emily was bursting with excitement as she hurried off to history class.
Hannah and Ethan are going to love Drew and Vicky
, she thought.
The five of us are going to have the best summer together—and it all starts at this party. I can't wait!