What would Troy say? “There was an Asian girl who hung out with us for a few hours; then her mom made her leave.”

No, this was it. If Elena bailed, she couldn’t come back.

She wrapped herself in her sleeping bag and pulled on a woolen hat with a big red pom-pom, taking a few more years off her appearance.

The fight with Mark seemed to have left Troy in a funk. He put in earbuds and watched Netflix on his phone. Elena watched him hungrily—she was dying to use her phone. Her whole world was in there. Sitting outside in the cold and dark would be so much more bearable if she could read fan fiction or text her friends. But she only had one backup battery pack to last four days . . . At least it was still bright enough to read. She was sitting just below a lit-up Star Wars poster.

Her mom pulled up in front of the theater again at ten. Elena got up and walked to the car.

“I don’t like this,” her mom said. “People are going to think you’re homeless.”

“No one will think that.”

“Homeless people are going to bother you.”

“Probably not.”

“I talked to Dì Janet and she says you can buy your movie ticket online.”

“That’s not the point.”

“It’s just that—” Her mom rubbed her temple. “Elena, I think this is the dumbest thing you’ve ever done in your life.”

“That’s a good thing, Mom. Think about how much worse it could be.”

Her mom frowned and handed her a warm covered dish. “You answer your texts tonight.”

“I will.”

Elena stepped away from the car.

“Don’t worry about her!” Troy shouted from behind her. “She’s in good hands!”

Elena’s mom looked aghast. But she still drove away.

“I’m sorry,” Troy said. “Did I make that worse? I meant the hands of the line.”

“It’s okay,” Elena said, finding her spot against the wall.

Mark the theater manager came out one more time to give them a last call for the bathroom and concessions, which was pretty decent of him.

Troy was asleep by eleven, stretched out on his chair with an inflatable pillow wedged between him and the wall. He’d wrapped himself in fleece blankets, tipped his head back, and that was it.

Elena had planned to roll out her sleeping bag and sleep lying down. But that was back when she’d imagined a few dozen campers. It was different with just three people, and she felt too exposed at the end of the line. If she fell asleep lying down, someone could just drag her away in the night, and Troy and Gabe would never notice.

She didn’t think she was afraid of Troy and Gabe themselves. Troy hadn’t said anything pervy yet. Not even about Princess Leia. And Gabe seemed painstakingly uninterested in Elena.