slugzilla: hey where wer u last nite u didnt chat w/ me like u said u woud

jonesy: sorry. my mom gave me an hour-long lecture n then took my computer away. i couldnt get on.

slugzilla: :((((( y the lecture?

jonesy: resident ghost trashed my room.

jonesy: my mom thoght i was tryin 2 move my furniture n knocked everything over

jonesy: so now im grounded 4 a week.

slugzilla: a gost rly trashed ur room?

jonesy: i already know u think im crazy, so u dont have 2 say it again. :)

slugzilla: just sayin that sux. n if u have a ghost that moves stuff n gets u in triuble, i bet its a poltergist

slugzilla: poultergiest

slugzilla: poltergiesty

slugzilla: PEEVES

Coraline had to smother her laugh with her hand, and spent a heart-stopping moment listening to see if her parents had heard her. Then she remembered – her father was working on his gardening book, her mother on her article. They wouldn't notice if she threw a party in her room. Well, okay, maybe if she threw a party, but they definitely wouldn't notice her giggling to herself with the door shut.

jonesy: stop making me laugh, im not supposed 2 be online.

slugzilla: y didnt they jsut keep ur comp

jonesy: im using it 4 homework. ;)

slugzilla: so ur sure it's a ghost buggin u?

jonesy: ur gonna call me crazy again. :) but yeah. i even saw it.

jonesy: n it wasnt all that scary either. just kinda a jerk.

slugzilla: so wait. u actully saw it?

jonesy: yup

jonesy: not that anyone would believe me if i told them

slugzilla: :(

jonesy: :(

jonesy: anyway since im grounded 4 th week i cant go 2 this dance

slugzilla: dance?

jonesy: yeah the schools putting on this formal dance 4 the beginning of the year.

slugzilla: fromal? laaaaaaame

jonesy: yeah haha who wants 2 get all dressed up n go look at other peoples clothes n stand around drinking punch while a dj plays lame music

jonesy: i wasnt going 2 go anyway.

slugzilla: yeah. stay home n watch a scray movie instead!

Coraline sighed and leaned her chin on her hand. Wybie was right, of course. And it wasn't like she really wanted to have to get all dressed up only to go be mocked and ridiculed by people she didn't really like or even know in a dark, hot, smelly gymnasium with watery punch and terrible music playing in the background. And yet, somehow, being denied the choice made her desperately want to go.

Not, of course, that she'd ever admit it.

jonesy: haha good plan. well i should try 2 do my homework

jonesy: gotta read 'the raven' for english 2morro

jonesy: :(

slugzilla: is that that long poem by that mopey guy?

jonesy: you could say that.

…

"So how was the dance?"

Tucker grimaced. "Let's just never talk about it again, and everything will be fine."

Coraline couldn't hide her smirk. "Did you get stood up?"

"I did not!"

"Yup, you got stood up." She shut her locker door with a bang. "Did you honestly expect Valerie to go with you? That's be – what's the phrase – total social suicide."

"I did not get stood up!" Tucker protested.

"Yeah, he went to the dance with me."

Coraline turned around to see Sam coming down the hall towards them, Danny a few steps behind her. When he saw Coraline, his eyes darkened slightly and a scowl settled onto his face. What was his problem?

"So you ended up going to the dance after all? I thought you didn't want to go," Coraline asked, and Sam blushed, just a little, and rolled her eyes to cover it up.

"Well, I couldn't just let Tucker go alone." She turned to Tucker with a smirk. "Not after Valerie stood him up like that."

"How many times do I have to tell you that I did not get stood up?"

"So did you guys have fun?" Coraline asked. "How was it?"

Sam, Danny, and Tucker exchanged a look, and all answered at the same time.

"Boring."

"Pretty uneventful, actually."

"Eh, nothing special."

Coraline couldn't help but smile. It was nice of them to try to keep her from feeling quite so left out, even if they were all terrible liars.

"Well, this weekend, we're watching movies at my place instead," Sam said quickly. "I've got the complete collection of Nightmerica flicks on DVD. We could order pizza and hang out."

"Wait. You have all thirteen of them?" Tucker asked, sounding dumbfounded.

Sam beamed proudly. "And Nightmerica vs. Femalien. Although that one isn't very good."

"Yeah, I thought the characters were really weak," Coraline agreed. "They were like cardboard cut-outs."

Sam looked at her for a moment, as though she were looking at a rare and sort of disgusting beetle. "With about as much blood in them. That's all I ask for in a horror movie character, the ability to splatter convincingly across the screen, and they seriously skimped on the splatter. And they put Femalien in a mask." She pulled a face.

Coraline shook her head in commiseration at the stupidity of the mainstream movie industry. "If they'd only paid attention to their own movie."

"Yeah. I'm still excited for the Trio of Doom flick coming out in a couple of months, though."

Coraline couldn't help but gasp, just a little, with glee. "Me too! My friend Wybie made me watch the first three Nightmerica movies, and we were going to go see that one together." She frowned. "But I guess I'm not driving all the way back to Oregon to watch a movie."

"Hey, I'll take you," Tucker offered. "You, me, a darkened theatre...and you can snuggle up to me if you get too scared."

"More like he can hide his face in your shoulder and scream like a baby when he gets too scared," Sam interjected drily, and Tucker glared.

"Hey, for your information, I do not scream like a baby."

Sam sounded like she was trying not to laugh. "Yeah, I'm sure Coraline's going to be impressed by your very manly high-pitched squeals of terror."

"My squeals of terror are not high-pitched!"

"Sure, Tucker." Sam raised an eyebrow. "Anyway, I thought we were all going to see the movie together? And Coraline, you're welcome to come if you want."

"Really?" Coraline knew she probably sounded like an idiot, after just having had a whole conversation about this, but she hadn't expected to be seriously invited.

Sam just shrugged. "Sure, why not? If you guys are in," she added, turning towards the boys.

"Absolutely!" Tucker answered quickly, and then, "Iiif I don't already have a date that night. I mean, I'm kind of a hot property." Something beeped, and he pulled his PDA from one of the many pockets that adorned his pants.

Danny shrugged. "Yeah, that sounds like fun." The look he gave Coraline, however, suggested otherwise.

"You know, I'm gonna hold you to that," Sam warned him. "No weaselling out on me."

"Who, me? Weasel out on you? Sam, I'm hurt."

Sam scoffed. Coraline was amazed – she'd thought people only did that in books. However, like her sneer, it seemed to be part of Sam's Goth arsenal of disdain. "Oh, please. Like you've never blown me off to have an all-night Doomed marathon with Tuck."

Danny smiled weakly, trying hard to look totally innocent and failing miserably. Tucker looked up from his ever-present PDA for just long enough to ask, "Did someone mention my name?"

"It's not important," Sam answered. "Just trying to make you two feel guilty about playing computer games when we were all supposed to be hanging out."

"That was all?" Tucker shook his head. "You're right, it wasn't important."