“‘A Night of Immortality,’ then,” Sydney said. She and Sophia wore matching expressions of irritation with the group. They had been pushing this theme all week and were clearly ready for a vote.

“What’s scary about immortality?” the girl on my left asked.

She had a point there. Being mortal, with all its dreary death nonsense, was infinitely more scary than eternal life.

“Immortality doesn’t have to be scary,” Sophia said. “But it can be, if you want. Like, Frankenstein’s monster, brought back to life.”

“And cursed mummies,” Sydney added. “And vampires and ghosts and zombies and just, y’know, general undead.”

“Plus, if you really love the full-moon idea so much, you can still dress as a werewolf with the immortality theme,” Sophia said.

“Werewolves are not immortal.” The words slid out of my mouth with such ease and authority, I didn’t even realize I had said them out loud until the whole table turned to look at me. “I mean, I think I saw that in a movie once.”

The girl next to me nodded with an air of authority. “Twilight. The wolves live a long time but not forever.”

Sure, what she said.

“Can we just vote on it?” Mark asked. “I don’t think it’s going to be unanimous.”

The twins agreed and called for a show of hands. Half the table, including the Twi-hard girl on my left voted for “A Full Moon.” The other half, including Sydney and Sophia, put their hands in the air for “A Night of Immortality.” Only Mark the Purge boy and I abstained—him in opposition to both themes, me because I could not possibly care less.

Sophia dismissed the boy protesting the theme. “Charlie,” she said, leaning forward so her straight blond locks fell into a frame around her face. “You are our tiebreaker. Full moon or immortality?”

I looked up from the fingernails I had been inspecting and saw the entire table watching me in anticipation. I honestly didn’t like either theme, but I very much liked it when all the eyeballs in a room were on me, so I made a show of thinking it over—chin in one hand, the fingers of the other hand tracing an invisible pattern on the table.

After a long moment, I looked up at Sophia and said with absolute honesty, “All I have ever wanted is immortality.”

“I knew you would be a good addition to the committee!” Sydney squealed, locking arms with me as we swept down the hallway. She blew a stray strand of pink out of her face. “But you didn’t have to pick that theme just because it was my idea.”

Was it? I couldn’t recall who suggested it. But if it made her happy . . .

“Sure, I did,” I said. “And it was the better theme anyway.”

“By far,” Sophia agreed, falling into step on my other side.