I noticed then that other students were stepping to the side to make way for us, and I imagined how we must look—the mysterious new girl with the dark hair and blue eyes, flanked by the popular and statuesque Carlone twins, cutting a path through the crowd. It was just like every teen movie I’d ever seen, and I couldn’t keep the smile off my face.

I was born to Bee.

The boys were waiting for us at Poe’s locker, which had become our gathering place before and after school. My eyes went first to Dexter, as they had done all week, but his own gaze was on his phone, thumb scrolling the screen in lazy swipes. He leaned against the wall of lockers, turned away from us enough that I could see the O’Shea printed on the back of his shirt, tight against the lean curves of his muscles.

I slid up beside him and pretended to read his phone. “Are you googling me again? I’m telling you, I’m not on social media.”

It was only a tease, but the lightning-fast way Dexter snapped his phone off and the red that crept up his neck told me I might not have been too far off.

He recovered quickly, turning around with his signature grin splashed across his face. “You mean those naughty pictures I got weren’t from you?”

“You wish.”

“Maybe I do wish,” he said.

I felt a tingle in my toes that was as frustrating as it was exhilarating. He’d been flirting with me like this for a week, but still he hadn’t asked me out. Why did humans always act like they had all the time in the world, when they had just this one little blip?

The evidence seemed to indicate that he was playing hard to get, but if that was his game, he would lose. I had preyed on more challenging boys than Dexter O’Shea. Still, I had to grudgingly admit that his delay in asking me out had only made him all the more enticing. My mild flirtation with the tall, tan, and blond boy was growing into a more focused fascination. Clearly, I missed the hunt, and this could be the closest human equivalent.

“And Charlie saved the day by voting for immortality!”

Sydney wrapped up her account of our meeting just as Reg scooted up to the group, and her final word caused his tennis shoes to practically screech to a stop.

“What’s that about immortality?”

“Parade float theme!” I spat out.

He visibly relaxed. “Oh, good. Now, if you can just come up with a new name and rebrand the entire event.”

Sydney and Sophia looked surprised, but I had to side with Reg.

“He’s not wrong. I mean, Halloween Hoopla? Really?” It was hard to keep the disdain out of my voice. “Isn’t there anything a little less . . . quaint?”

“Like what?” Sophia asked.