But she’s going to come back, my brain hisses. I’m going to make her come back.

He presses two fingers to his forehead. “Kiddo, do you understand what I’m saying?”

I run my hands along the car door. “I guess.” Maybe I should just tell him about my time-travel plan. He might even be willing to help me. After all, he told me he thinks it’s possible.

He reaches over me and opens the door. “So on that note, please go have fun, right?”

“Nothing says fun more than a forced event.”

He gives me the world’s saddest smile. “At the very least, the experience should help you grow. And I’m in the growing business.”

I raise an eyebrow. “I thought you were in the advanced biology business.”

“That too.” His smile gets a little less sad. “Which I could argue in a way is also the growing business. But I meant parenting. It’s my job to help you grow. Even when you don’t want to.”

“It’s not that I don’t want to grow . . .”

“I know,” he says, and I can hear in his voice that he does.

I give him a small wave and get out of the car. I see lots of my classmates walking inside. They are all wearing elaborate costumes and I can practically see the excitement bouncing off them like energy waves.

I protectively cross my arms over my chest as I head to the door. I figure I’ll stay for a couple of minutes and then duck out. What Grams and Dad don’t know won’t hurt them.

I follow the crowd to the gym, which has been transformed into an explosion of Halloween decorations. There’s a witch’s cauldron filled with dry ice, several elaborate paper pumpkin and acorn banners, and a large spiderweb over the bleachers. Despite my intentions of hating every second of this, I find myself smiling. I’m starting to remember why I used to love the fall festival.

“You came.”

I turn around and see Spider-Man standing behind me.

“It’s me,” Owen says, pulling off his mask.

My smile widens. “I figured. Neat costume.”

Owen’s obsession with Spider-Man stems from a fascination with spiders. Most people care about the superhero stuff, but Owen’s obsessed with the insect. He can go on and on about how underappreciated spiders are.

Sort of related: I’ve listened to him and Mia talk for hours about how insects are the key to solving global hunger. Basically Owen thinks all bugs are awesome. Me, though, I get why insects are important for our ecosystem, but spiders still make me queasy. And I’m definitely not that into the idea of eating crickets.

He balls up the mask in his hand. “Mia asked me if I thought you’d come.”

“What’d you say?”

He looks at the gym floor. “I said I wasn’t sure.”

I bop my cat ears. They wiggle on my head. “Well, here I am.”

I wait for him to ask me why I’ve missed the last couple of practices, but he doesn’t. Instead he says, “Wanna check out the Quiz Bowl booth?”