Free All Hallows' Eve by Vivian Vande Velde

saw
that
coming, and all along I'd been planning on dressing like an Egyptian princess, which I'd seen in the window of a costume rental place. But when I showed it to my mother, she said it was too expensive and I could put together a princess costume from some of the fabrics she had stockpiled for projects she'd never gotten to.

    Princess,
of course, is totally different from
Egyptian princess,
but my mother pretended to be oblivious to the nuances.
    So I went dressed as trailer-park trash, which meant, basically, I dressed like Nikki, which—I know, I know—was cruel, and I'm totally ashamed of myself. But in my own defense I can honestly say that anyone can always count on Nikki, also, to be oblivious to nuances.
    I even wore the Mickey Mouse shirt, and my only excuse is that I was in a foul mood because of my mother's lack of Halloween spirit.
    So there we were, walking home together at almost one o'clock in the morning, and Nikki was going on and on about what a great time we always have at Darien Lake.
    She had pulled out of her purse that snapshot she carries everywhere and was telling me—yet again—how much alike we are. As if! She said, as she does each time she shows the picture to anyone, "My mother has to take my word for it which of us is which."
    Yeah, right, Mrs. Bianchi. I'm the one with the pained expression because your daughter's got her arm around my neck in a stranglehold that would make the World Wrestling Federation proud. I'm the one with the green complexion because no matter how many times I tell Nikki, "Nikki, I don't like Ferris wheels because I can't stand heights," she always insists that I got over my fear of heights last time and tells me what a really great time we had, and my parents say, "Oh, go on with her—rides are more fun for two than alone," and she drags me on, and I spend the next two hours feeling ready to puke.

    So there we were on Halloween night, walking home in the cold and the dark, and I was thinking I probably should have peed before leaving Celeste's, and Nikki was chattering on and on and on about how great the Ferris wheel at Darien Lake is because it goes
so
high up you can see just about all of the park spread out below you.
    "Nikki," I said, talking over her because when she gets on a roll she doesn't even stop to take a breath, "I hate Ferris wheels."
    "No, you don't," she corrected me. "They're fun." She was walking on the edge of the curb, balancing herself like a tightrope walker. She said, "People need to get their adrenaline going once in a while. Ferris wheels are a good kind of scare."
    "Like this?" I said. And I shoved her. I thought she'd totter on the curb, her adrenaline going.
    In the darkest recesses of my heart, I even suspected that, taken unawares, she might fall off.

    I never saw the car.
    I never,
ever
saw that car.
    And I'd give anything—anything—to take that moment back.
Nikki
    Of course I know Aimee Ann didn't want to hurt me. Best friends don't want to hurt each other!
    That's why with total, absolute concentration I've worked so hard until I've been able to move the picture from my coffin to the stairs by her bedroom.
    She'll bend down to see what it is, and she'll know I've forgiven her.
    Then with total, absolute concentration, I'll push her.
    And then I won't be alone anymore. We'll be together forever and always.
    Just the way best friends are meant to be!

Pretending
    The moon wasn't up yet, and out here in the country, the night was darker than it ever got in the city. Brian turned on the overhead light and glanced again at the directions to Kyla Zolla's house.

    "She might have just said, Drive till you get to East Nowhere," he grumbled to himself, "then keep on driving till you run out of gas or fall off the edge of the earth, whichever comes second."
    If he had looked at the directions during study hall, when she'd passed the note to him, he might have known to suggest that she get a family member to drive her to school for