She's So Dead to Us by Kieran Scott Page B

If I didn’t, I’d never hear the end of it.
    “What’s your problem?” Shannen asked, coming to my window. “What happened to Up the Stakes Jake? This is nothing compared with some of the crap we’ve pulled.”
    The half-wits behind the car started to try to remove the ten-ton statue themselves. There was a bang and a tumble, and Todd let out a string of curses worthy of a New York cab driver stuck in traffic at the Puerto Rican Day Parade. Chloe shushed them and giggled. A flash popped.
    I glanced up at the windows on the row of identical condos, wondering which was Ally’s. If she looked out right now, she would see this. All of us out here being juvenile delinquent losers.
    “Jake? Hello? What’s the problem? You don’t even know the girl,” Shannen said. “What, she’s such an incredible backslapper you’ve developed some kind of soft spot for her?”
    Sometimes every word out of Shannen’s mouth sounded like a judgment.
    “No,” I said.
    “Then let’s go already!” She yanked open my door and watched me expectantly.
    Shannen was going to do this anyway, that much I knew. The best thing was to get it over with and get us all out of here as quickly as possible. Before Ally could see us. Before she could see I had anything to do with it. Before all her opinions of me could be confirmed.
    “All right, all right,” I said. “Let’s do this.”
    It took about thirty seconds of grunting and sweaty-handed shifting to deposit the lawn jockey on the small square of cement outside Ally’s front door. Right in front of the obviously new and obviously cheap welcome mat, which was decorated with happy strands of sunflowers. Next to it were two small pumpkins waiting to be carved. I felt like I was going to hurl.
    “Remember how Ally’s dad used to have a whole truckload of pumpkins delivered to their house?” Chloe whispered. She was looking down at the pumpkins too, the camera hanging from a string around her wrist. She glanced at Shannen wistfully. “And we’d all come over to carve them the night before Halloween?”
    Shannen rolled her eyes, but I could tell she wasn’t unaffected by the memory.
    “Pumpkin gut fight!” Trevor and Todd shouted way too loudly.
    “Dudes! Shut it!” Hammond whispered, which made them double over laughing.
    “Are you sure you want to do this?” Chloe asked.
    Finally Do-the-Right-Thing Appleby had arrived.
    “Chloe! Come on!” Shannen hissed. “This was practically your idea.”
    “I just said I bet her mom misses the lawn jockey,” Chloe said, wide-eyed. “I didn’t mean we should bring it over here! I mean, look how sad it looks.”
    We all stared down at the lawn jockey. It was so massive it took up almost the entire step. Suddenly a light flicked on overhead.
    “Shit!” the Idiot Twins whispered in unison, and ran.
    Chloe was right on their heels, carefully but quickly picking her way down the steps. Hammond, Shannen, and I froze.
    “Let’s get out of here,” I hissed, my heart in my throat.
    “Wait. There’s one more thing,” Shannen said. And she rang the doorbell.
    “Dammit!”
    Shannen laughed and sprinted for the car. Hammond launched himself face-first into the backseat. My gut stone was now choking all air supply as I fumbled with the handle and ducked inside. Shannen hit the gas and peeled out. Hammond kept repeating “shit, shit, shit” over and over and over again while Chloe hid her face in her hands and the Idiot Twins whooped and cheered. I told myself not to look back. That it was a huge mistake to look back. But I did anyway.
    I looked back to find Ally Ryan’s stricken face staring after me.

ally
     
    “Hey, guys! Thank you so much for coming!” Annie clutched my arm in one hand, David’s in the other. “I was worried there wouldn’t be anyone here!”
    I glanced around the baseball field, which had been completely taken over by the Fall Festival. For the past two weeks—ever since that first “glitter Sunday”—David