Emma kept her gaze glued on a stack of food-themed costumes: a phallic orange carrot, a round donut with leechlike felt pink sprinkles, and a Hershey’s Kiss. “I thought I saw Gabby in the hall, that’s all.”

Laurel grinned. “Maybe it was a ghost!” she said in a teasing, ghoulish voice, pointing to a Ghostface mask from Scream.

I wanted to burst out laughing; little did Laurel know the truth. But the ghost Emma heard in that hall was definitely not me.

Laurel assessed the bloody wedding dress once more and draped it over her arm. “This could work. So are you taking a date? Maybe someone named Alllex, perhaps?” She stretched out the name and playfully punched Emma on the arm.

“Alex is just a friend,” Emma said quickly, turning away.

“Yeah, right!”

“Seriously. Like I said, she’s from tennis camp. And she’s a girl. Short for Alexandra.”

Laurel cocked her head and gave Emma a dubious look. “A girl who’s thinking of you and can’t wait to talk?” she asked, reciting the lines from Alex’s text.

The bells to the store jingled, and a man in a pin-striped suit with two small blond boys entered. The kids ran for the rack of army uniforms and started shooting each other with the plastic machine guns. Emma watched them snake around the racks, fully aware that Laurel’s expectant gaze hadn’t left her face. Emma knew if she didn’t give her gossip soon, she’d continue to pester her relentlessly. The more questions she asked, the more specifics Emma fabricated, the more opportunity Laurel had to catch Emma in a lie.

Emma took a deep breath and turned around. “Okay. There is a guy I’ve been hanging around with.”

Laurel’s eyes lit up. “Who?”

“Ethan.”

“Ethan . . . who?”

“Landry.” It felt strange and nerve-racking to say his name out loud.

The smile on Laurel’s face was uncertain, slightly amused. “Seriously?”

Emma stiffened, feeling vulnerable. It felt like she’d whipped off the Sutton mask and Laurel was suddenly looking at her. “We’re just friends,” she said as casually as she could. “We hang out sometimes.”

“But Ethan Landry isn’t friends with people.” Laurel still sounded incredulous. “He’s Mr. I-Vant-to-Be-Alone.”

The little boys raced around the Halloween shop as though it were a war zone. Their father slapped an Amex on the counter and gave an apologetic look to the girl in the leather bustier. “Well, I guess he’s changed,” Emma said.

“I suppose you’d be the perfect person to change him, Sutton.” Laurel got in line to pay for the wedding dress. “You should tell everyone you’re into him! It would do wonders for his popularity!”

“I don’t think Ethan cares about that,” Emma pointed out.

But Laurel didn’t seem to hear her. “You should invite him to Homecoming!”