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I froze midstep. He’d heard me. The stranger had superpowers.
“Two thousand and nine,” I told him, planting my feet.
He turned around.
That’s when I realized he wasn’t a man-man like my father—he was a teenager. A wicked-tall teenager.
His lips were a straight line. “Interesting name.”
I covered my mouth with my hand as I giggled.
He didn’t giggle back.
I wasn’t used to that. My mother was silly, and we laughed together all the time. My father made more faces than Genie in Aladdin. Even the nuns at school cracked a smile most days. But this boy? It was like he was wearing a mask.
A really boring mask.
“That’s the year,” I corrected. “And since it’s two thousand and nine, you should know better than to smoke cigarettes. That stuff will kill you.”
The boy with the green eyes continued to look at me as though I were wearing an invisibility cloak. He didn’t speak. He didn’t move. Was he breathing?
He wrapped his lips around his cancer stick, and the tip burned red.
He’s breathing.
I sighed. “You’re just like my da. You don’t believe me, but it’s true. Your lungs will turn black, and you’ll die. They told me so in school.”
Disgusting fumes blew from his mouth, and I wrinkled my nose.
“Who’s your da?”
I stood a little taller. “Jack Callahan.”
Couldn’t he tell? Everyone said I had my father’s eyes. Sometimes Ma said I had his attitude too.
He raised an eyebrow. I’d made the mask move. Grinning, I told him, “He’s taking me shopping for my Halloween costume today.” He was rude and didn’t ask what I was going to be, so I decided to tell him anyway. “I’m going to be Taylor Swift.”
“Who’s Taylor Swift?”
He had to be joking. Though he didn’t seem like a funny kind of boy.
“You’re kidding,” I said.
“Why would I do that?”
He was getting weirder by the minute, but for some reason, I wanted to keep talking to him.
“Taylor Swift is only the most famous singer of all time.”
The corners of his mouth twitched. It happened so fast that if I’d blinked, I would have missed it. I knew the beginnings of a smile when I saw them.
“What are you going to be on Halloween?” I asked.
He tilted his head. Something in my tummy told me to take a step back, but I didn’t.
“A monster,” he finally answered.
Goose bumps popped up on my arms. “D-do you already have your costume?”
