“The hoopla is a whole-day event,” Sophia continued. “Starting with the parade and ending with a big street party outside the school that night. There’s a barbecue and bands and prizes for best parade floats and best costumes. Everyone in Nowhere goes. Everyone. Since most of the fun happens at the school, Hope High students get to plan the whole thing.”

“Translation—free labor,” Poe interrupted.

Sophia ignored him. “We sell parade entries and take a cut of all the food sales to raise money for charity. So, yes, it’s volunteer work, but it’s great for college applications.”

“Charity, college applications, blah blah blah.” Sydney flipped her bubble gum hair over her shoulder. “Soph, you always leave out the best bit. The hoopla kind of replaced our annual homecoming dance, so now we have a faux dance in the gym at the end of the night. It’s more like an after-party, with everyone in costumes, so all the kids from school dress up in formal wear, but with a horror theme.”

“Like a zombie bride,” Sophia added.

“Or a mummy in a tux.”

“Or a sexy vampire.”

A warning look from Reg stopped me from announcing that they were looking at a sexy vampire. I hoped I was still the former, if not the latter. I kept my mouth shut and stuck my face in my coffee instead. It was my third cup, and my hands were shaking a little—an unpleasant but tolerable side effect.

“I like the dressing-up part,” Poe admitted. “Not so much the intolerable planning meetings.”

He looked hopefully at me and Reg. “I don’t suppose one of you wants my spot?”

“Well, you’re not exactly selling it,” Sophia admonished Poe. To me and Reg she said, “Being on the committee has its perks. You get to ride on the school float.”

“Oh, get real,” Sydney said. “The only perk for Soph is that she gets to boss people around.”

“Not all people.” Sophia poked her sister. “Just you.”

“But seriously,” Sydney said, “it’s pretty cool to ride on the float and help throw the year’s biggest party. Trust me, I’m not a joiner. I leave that to Soph. But this is one extracurricular activity that’s worth it.”

It sounded like work, and I was not interested in work. However, I was acutely interested in parties and not against the idea of waving down at people from a parade float.

“How do you get on this committee?” I asked.

Sydney slung an arm over her sister’s shoulder, and they put their heads together, pink and platinum hair intertwining, identical conspiratorial grins on their faces.

“You kiss up to the committee chairs,” she said.

I looked up at Dexter through my eyelashes. “Are you on the committee?”