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I decided to focus on the person I could talk to without the risk of being my mom’s roommate. I said to Ethan, “You’re asking me to cover you because you want to go to the football game, and you want to go to the game because Rebecca Stilteine is on the Homecoming Court and you want to see her in her pretty dress.”

“Well. Yeah.”

Well, of course. That’s how he said it, as if I asked him if the sky was usually blue. I usually covered for him. I’d always been covering for him, but a little kick of rebellion danced in me. And you know? Why did I need to cover every single week? He was going to ask for Halloween next week and I already knew I would say yes because I did need the money, but did it have to be every single week? Maybe I’d go to the football game instead.

“I can’t tonight.”

He blinked at me, looking a little owlish. “You can’t?”

“I can’t.”

“You can’t?”

Not wanting to keep up with the echoing game, I shook my head. “I have plans.”

“Plans?” His head inclined toward me and he pushed up his glasses. Ethan somewhat gave off the impression he was nerdy, but he didn’t look like one. Except for the glasses. And he dressed in either khaki pants or khaki shorts. He wore buttoned down shirts. Plaid. His hair was black, enough length on top so he had to comb it over and there was still a slight wave to it. Green eyes blinked back at me. He had a Clark Kent appeal to him. Square jawline. He was maybe five ten. Medium build. He wasn’t skinny, but he didn’t have bulging muscles either.

“Plans. I’m going to the game.”

“But… You’re new.”

“Yeah?” I said it as a challenge.

He blinked, stepping away from me. “I mean, not that it means you don’t have plans, but I didn’t think you had any friends.”

The ghost was avidly listening to our conversation, her head bouncing between us.

I continued to ignore her. “Maybe I don’t. Maybe that’s why I want to go to the game.”

The ghost snorted. “You don’t go to a football game to meet friends. You go with friends. You go alone and you’ll risk being outcasted for the rest of your high school career.”

My mouth flattened. She wasn’t helping.

Ethan shifted on his feet, glancing downward. “Yeah. I guess that makes sense.”

“So I can’t cover for you tonight. But hey, you can still make the halftime I bet.”

“They introduce the court before the game.”

“Ask them to do it at halftime.”

His mouth curved down, fiercely. “They do it before the game because two of the guys are on the football team.”

“Oh.”

He sighed, shaking his head. “You’ve covered for me every Friday. I know I shouldn’t keep asking, but—never mind. It doesn’t matter.” He began edging away. “Have fun. Maybe I’ll see you at the dance.”

The dance…

I blanked on that, but he was right. There was a Homecoming dance and I had no intention of going. I never did because all the ghosts in every school I’d attended went to the dances. It was confusing on my end to see them dancing through the people and having to pretend I didn’t see them. Sometimes the ghosts were funnier than the other students and I’d rather converse with them, but there was the risk factor of being committed.

It happened to me one time. I wasn’t willing to go back.

“You know, forget it.”

Ethan’s head jerked upright. “What?”

I was conceding. “I’ll cover for you.”