• • •
Betsy had to spend the night, since her parents couldn’t come get her because of the subway. Erlan could’ve gone home, obviously, since he was right across the hall, but his parents said he could spend the night if he wanted. I’d never had a Tuesday-night sleepover before. This was turning into the best Halloween ever.
We were rolling out the sleeping bags and blankets on the floor in the living room when Betsy whispered to me, “Hey, Alb-Albie?”
“Yeah?” I said. Erlan was in the bathroom changing into his pajamas, so it was just me and Betsy in the living room. I tossed a pillow up at the top of the sleeping bag, where my head would go.
Betsy tucked her chin into the T-shirt Mom gave her to wear as a pajama top. She was wearing a pair of my old pajama pants on bottom, the dog ones. She squeezed a pillow to her chest and looked up at me.
“This is f-fun,” she told me. She didn’t say anything else, because that was right when Erlan came back into the living room and so she got shy again, but I could tell by the look on her face what she was thinking. I would bet a million dollars that she was thinking that she wished every day could be Halloween.
That was what I was thinking too.
gus.
Calista did have a boyfriend. His name was Gus. I found that out when I asked her about the neon pink streak in her hair, which sometimes you could see if her hair was in braids, but most of the time you couldn’t. When I asked her about it, Calista said, “Oh, do you like it? I’m thinking of getting rid of it because Gus says he hates it.” And I said, “Who’s Gus?” even though I thought I probably knew already. And she said, “My boyfriend. Didn’t I tell you about him?” And I said, “No,” and then she told me all about him, even though I didn’t say I wanted to know.
Gus was twenty-four, which was three years older than Calista.
He was from California, just like Calista. They went to high school together. But they didn’t start dating till a year ago.
Gus could’ve been the valedictorian of their school, because he was so smart. But he never was the valedictorian. Calista didn’t say why.
She also didn’t tell me what a valedictorian was, but lucky for me, I didn’t care.
Gus didn’t think Calista should’ve gone to art school. Calista seemed mad about that, even though she laughed when she told me.
Gus moved to New York City to be an actor, because he was very talented. When I asked what movies he had been in, Calista said, “Well, not much yet. But he goes to lots of auditions.”
I had a nanny once who went to lots of auditions. She moved to Michigan to be a kindergarten teacher.
“Do you want to see a picture of him?” Calista asked me. “I’ll show you on my phone.”
“No, thanks,” I told her. “I’ll wait till he’s in a movie.”
Maybe Gus would move to Michigan too.
parent-
teacher
conferences.
Parent-teacher conferences were on Monday. Mom went. Dad too. I had sort of forgotten they were going, but when they came home, I remembered.
Dad did not look happy.
“Albie, these grades are unacceptable,” he said, throwing a stack of papers on the table. My grades or homework or something, I guess. I didn’t look.
“Richard, please,” my mom said. But she didn’t say please what. She dug some money out of her wallet and handed it to Calista.
“Bye, Albie,” Calista said softly before she snuck out the door.