“There she is,” a deep voice said from the crowd. I stepped back as Colleen’s family enveloped her in hugs, piled multiple bouquets of deep red roses into her arms until she could barely hold them all.

Colleen’s dad noticed me first. “Looks like all the ghosts are appearing tonight,” he said, smiling. Colleen’s mom hugged me. Her littlest brother, Jack, told me about his gerbils having babies, like I’d never been gone. Calvin, who was just a couple of years younger than us, waved but hung back. He’d always been protective of Colleen, and I was sure he was still mad at me. But I’d show him I was here to stay.

As Colleen’s family discussed where to go to celebrate, Colleen elbowed me. “Go find Jude. And try not to burn down the building with all your”—she lowered her voice into a suggestive whisper—“chemistry.”

I snorted, gave her one last hug, and made my way out to the lobby, where Jude was waiting. “How’d it go?” he asked, looking at me intently.

I still couldn’t find the words, so I nodded and smiled big. Jude slung an arm around my shoulders and squeezed. It made me feel like I could do anything. Fly out of this theater. Take over the world. Tell him how I really felt.

“I have the most badass dance partner, slash neighbor, slash friend in the world.”

I deflated a little but tried to keep smiling. Dance partner, neighbor, friend. These weren’t bad things to be.

Before we left, Jude stopped to use the bathroom, so I waited for him on a bench in the lobby. I was resting my head against the wall, trying to sort through the multitude of emotions crashing around inside me, when I saw a familiar beanie in the crowd.

I leaned forward and caught Harrison’s eye. He smiled and detached himself from a group of middle-aged women, glancing around as he walked over. “Hey,” he said, sitting down next to me. “What are you doing here?”

“Oh, I’m—” I realized Harrison had no idea that KDBS was my old school. After the intensity of the last few hours, it was kind of a relief. “I was here for the show. You?”

“Me too. My mom wanted to see it. I wasn’t expecting so much death, but I liked it. So, um, did you come here with people?” He glanced around again. I sighed, knowing who he was looking for.

“Do you like Ethan?” I asked point-blank. Maybe it was rude, but I was completely out of filter.

Harrison paused for a second. Then he looked at his shoes. “So it’s that obvious, huh.”