You Can't Come in Here! by P.J. Night Page A

helping.”
    â€œAnd now, I’ve got to scoot home and change for the party,” Hannah said as the trio headed up the stairs.
    â€œChange?” Ethan asked, sounding truly baffled. “I have to change?”
    Hannah and Emily both turned around and stared at Ethan. He was dressed in a shirt that might have once had sleeves and a collar, but now looked like it stayed on Ethan’s body only because it was too tired and tattered to care enough to fall to the ground. He wore gym shorts—last year’s gym shorts, which were so faded the school logo was illegible. On his feet he wore sneakers with no socks. His big toe peeked out of the side of the left sneaker.
    â€œNo,” Hannah said dryly. “You look fine.” Then she and Ethan headed for the front door. “See ya tonight, Em!”
    When Hannah and Ethan had gone, Emily wentback downstairs. The room really did look like a small forest. She headed back upstairs to help her parents prepare the food. Soon everything was ready. Now came the hard part—sitting around waiting for the guests.

CHAPTER 12
    Six o’clock finally rolled around. The doorbell rang. Emily ran for the door, followed by her parents. It was Hannah, of course. Emily knew she would be the first guest to arrive.
    â€œWelcome to the campout!” Emily cried, opening the door and giving Hannah a big hug, as if she hadn’t seen her in months.
    â€œCan you believe it’s finally here?” Hannah squealed joyously. “This is going to be so great!”
    â€œNice to see you again, Hannah. Long time, no see,” Emily’s mom joked.
    â€œCome on in,” her dad added.
    â€œHi, Mr. and Mrs. Hunter,” Hannah replied.
    She gave each of them a quick hug. “Thanks againfor letting us use your house for the party.”
    â€œYou know that Emily’s friends are always welcome here,” Mrs. Hunter said. “And you kids did a fabulous job decorating the downstairs.”
    â€œYeah, it really looks like a forest,” Mr. Hunter added. “I had to take my GPS with me when I went down there so I didn’t get lost!”
    Emily was in such a good mood that even her dad’s corny jokes seemed funny today.
    A few minutes later, the doorbell rang again. Emily opened the door and saw Ethan standing there with another boy. This boy was not as tall as Ethan, but his hair was also bright red, though he kept it shorter and neater than Ethan did.
    â€œEm, this is my cousin, Declan,” Ethan said. “Declan, Emily.”
    â€œHey, Declan, come on in,” Emily said. “Ethan, on the other hand, you can wait outside.”
    â€œYou’re very funny, as always,” Ethan said. Then he followed Declan into the house.
    â€œThank you for inviting me, Emily,” Declan said. “I know how much Ethan likes you.”
    â€œAll right, all right!” Ethan said, pushing Declanthrough the door. “That’s enough of that Ethan-likes-you stuff.”
    Emily laughed. “Well, I really can’t stand him,” she said.
    â€œHi, Mrs. Hunter,” Ethan said, handing a grocery bag to Emily’s mom. “Here are the toppings for the ice cream sundaes.”
    â€œThanks for bringing those, Ethan,” Mrs. Hunter replied.
    Over the next hour the remainder of the guests arrived. By seven fifteen everyone was down in the home theater and the party was in full swing.
    As everyone munched on pizza, the talk turned to teachers the kids had this year and who they might have next year. Some kids talked about their plans for the summer.
    â€œI’m off to Camp Cheapskate again in a couple of weeks,” Roger Higgins announced.
    â€œIs that really the name of the place?” Emily asked.
    â€œNah, it’s really Camp Chesapeake, but everyone calls it Camp Cheapskate because the guy who runs it is so cheap,” Roger explained. “His idea of a camp T-shirt is a white undershirt with