Free The Opposite of Invisible by Liz Gallagher Page A

bowls resting on them. I get it. The old Halloween joke, peeled-grape eyeballs and spaghetti brains.
    “Hey, Simon, go feel what’s in that bowl.”
    He grabs me by the waist. “I’d rather feel what’s in this dress.”
    Again we kiss like a storm.
    It occurs to me that kissing him no longer makes me nervous. It feels natural somehow, like something I just know how to do. I might be growing up after all.
    A mermaid and a vampire come through the curtain, he already starting to work on her neck.
    I am so not making out in here with other people, even if Simon is breathing into my neck like he never wants to stop.
    I grab his hand to lead him back to the dance.
    We go toward the entrance, where there are ballots to vote for Halloween Queen and King. We don’t vote.
    Vanessa is standing by the punch bowl with NicolaiGregory. He’s dressed as a preppy guy: hair bleached blond, gelled back, argyle sweater, khakis. Boat shoes. All-out fabulous.
    She’s in a totally eighties hot pink dress. She’s wearing a sash that says PROM QUEEN 1980. Black fishnet tights that look like spiderwebs are ripped across her legs. Her face is the color of my watercolor brush cup after I finished my dad’s eyes, gray with blue tones. Blood drips at the corners of her eyes. She’s a dead prom queen. Her hair is ratted; bed head from the coffin. She holds an empty bottle of Budweiser, like a public service announcement for not drinking and driving.
    “Hey, Vanessa Almond looks pretty good,” says Simon. “In a scary way.”
    I nod. I’d be jealous of her costume if I didn’t know she’s probably drooling about mine too.
    Some guys stop to talk to Simon and I wonder what to say to them. Simon hasn’t introduced me. Of course, I do have trig with two of them and bio with another one. So we sort of know each other. I’m mulling that over.
    Then it happens. Vanessa’s king arrives, wearing the soda can crown.
    It’s Jewel. My Jewel. No, wait. Her Jewel.
    He walks over to her, carrying a black rose. He’s wearing the powder blue tuxedo. But. He didn’t come as a dead lounge singer. He came as Dead Prom King 1980.
    He fastens the rose to Vanessa’s dress, a corsage.
    Jewel pours punch for Vanessa as I stand speechless next to a guy I hardly know.

Chapter Ten
•
•
•
    Jewel drinks punch and Vanessa leans in to whisper something to him. He nods. She heads my way, nose in the air like a fashion model.
    So this is it. This is the way it is. Jewel with Vanessa. Me with Simon.
    “Alice,” she says as she reaches Simon and me, “I like your costume.”
    I just look at her. I want to tell her Jewel’s not her friend. He’s mine.
    Simon jumps in. “We like yours, too.”
    Vanessa ignores Simon. I’ve accidentally forced her into a staring contest. She’s listening, though. “Thank you so much.”
    She saunters in the direction of the bathroom. Then she pauses and turns back toward me. She calls out, “Doesn’t Julian look great tonight?”
    I stifle the urge to run over and scratch her.
    “What was that all about?” Simon asks.
    “Don’t ask me.”
    “Well, isn’t Jewel your best friend, though?”
    “Yeah.”
    “So what’s up?”
    “With Jewel and Vanessa?”
    “With Jewel and you.”
    “Nothing. You said it. We’re friends.”
    “Definitely not more?”
    “No.”
    “Good,” Simon says, “’cause I wouldn’t want my girlfriend to be into another guy.”
    I’m officially his girlfriend? And he’s on record as being jealous. Of Jewel. Not of Corrigan, who looks at me like I’m something to sink his teeth into.
    This is what I wanted
, I tell myself. Dove Girl, help me keep Simon interested. If I don’t, I’ll be alone and that will be way worse than where I started.
    I take his hand and lead him to the dance floor.
    The music is something I don’t recognize, fast and without words. Very heavy on the bass.
    Simon dances like a jellyfish, loosely wiggling in an effortless way like his limbs had evolved to