by Megan Atwood
Sarah snorted. Sheriff Hadley loved to dress up for sci-fi conventions. He had more costumes than Sarah had ever worn for Halloween.
They walked across the street to the sheriff’s building. The building had once been a one-room schoolhouse, but the sheriff’s mom—former sheriff of New Amity—had converted it to a sheriff’s station years ago. At least that was what he liked to tell Sarah’s mom all the time. Sarah had no idea why.
When they opened the door, Sheriff Hadley was sitting at the desk, staring at the computer, occasionally running a hand through his bright red hair. Sarah could see a green tentacle waving on the screen. He was clearly watching a movie. A scream came through the speakers.
“SHERIFF HADLEY!” Sarah yelled, knowing it would startle him. He jumped so high, Sarah thought he might jump right out of his chair. Lizzie covered her mouth to keep from laughing, and this made Sarah laugh and then elbow her.
“Oh, hey, girls,” Sheriff Hadley said. “How’s Ana—I mean, your mom—Sarah?”
Sarah rolled her eyes.
“Fine. Anyway, we have flyers here for the ice cream stand. Can we post one on the bulletin board over there?” Sarah pointed to a board with a lot of WANTED posters on it that hung above a big cooler with a handmade sign that said BAIT—WORMS FOR SALE.
Sheriff Hadley looked at them thoughtfully. “Well, that might not be the best place for it. But we can tape it up right on the door to the outside.”
Sarah and Lizzie smiled at each other. “That works!” Sarah said.
“Aren’t you two a little young to be running the stand? I might have to arrest you for breaking the law. . . .” His eyes twinkled.
Lizzie’s eyes got wide, but Sarah put her hands on her hips. “Good luck! I’m a fast runner.” She pretend-glared at him. He pretend-glared at her. Then Sarah couldn’t help it; she smiled. She felt Lizzie next to her breathe a sigh of relief.
“Oh, he’s just kidding, Lizzie. Can we borrow your tape?” Sarah asked him.
“Fine,” he said, sighing like it was a big hardship, then winking at Lizzie and Sarah. “So how come you get to run the stand this year, really? Aren’t Gloria and Jeff doing it again?” He brought the tape over to them.
Lizzie said, “Camp,” so softly a fly wouldn’t be able to hear her, so Sarah jumped in. “Gloria is going to acting camp for a whole month of the summer. So WE get to take over.”
Then Lizzie seemed to find her voice. She liked Sheriff Hadley—she just always needed Sarah to do the talking first. She said, “Oh, and because Gloria and Jeff aren’t best friends anymore.”
Sarah stopped and stared at Lizzie. Her mouth dropped open. She could feel her heart start galloping like a runaway horse, and she was pretty sure she heard a buzz in her ears. Gloria and Jeff, not best friends? That could even happen?? How could they STOP being best friends, just like that?
“But what happened?” she asked, her voice higher than she meant it to be.
Lizzie shrugged. “Gloria said they just grew apart. Something about . . . nothing in common? Or maybe she said he was a commoner? I can never tell with her. Anyway, she has a whole new group of acting friends now.”
Sheriff Hadley smiled and said, “Well, that’s too bad. Gloria marches to the beat of her own drummer, so let’s hope she finds a great band that can match her style. But at least that means you two get to run the stand!”
Sarah could barely hear him. Why he was talking about drums at a time like this was beyond her, anyway. And why wasn’t Lizzie as upset about this as she was? And why hadn’t she told Sarah until now? If best friends could just STOP being best friends one day, that meant it could happen to Sarah and Lizzie.
Especially since they didn’t have that much in common anymore.
Sarah tried to shake off her dread. They had the ice cream stand for the whole summer. Then they had a zombie hayride. There was nothing and no one that would get in between them. That was that. They were best friends, always.
Still, the day felt different now. Suddenly, the air seemed frigid in the sheriff’s office and the building felt really small.
Sarah cleared her throat and made herself stop thinking. To Sheriff Hadley she said, “And guess what?”
Sheriff Hadley put tape on the flyer and opened the door to the outside. Lizzie and Sarah followed him out.
“Uh, you are also going to start your own Fortune 500 company?” he said, centering the flyer on the door.
Sarah had no idea what that meant. “Of course not. We’d never do that. But we ARE going to have a zombie hayride this fall, if we make enough money at the stand.”
The sheriff gave the tape one last smooth and then turned to them. “A zombie hayride! Now that would be something.”
“I KNOW!” Sarah practically shouted. “Lizzie and I went on one a couple of years ago and it was so. Much. Fun. We knew then we wanted to do one at the orchard. But we never could. Except this year, of course. Because we’ll TOTALLY make enough money.” Sarah didn’t mention anything about her worries. The zombie hayride would be great. They had to make enough money. They had to. Suddenly she felt like a million ants were in her pants and she needed to move move move.
“Anyway! We gotta go. See ya!” She grabbed Lizzie’s hand and practically dragged her across the street.
“Thanks!” Lizzie called behind her, but Sarah kept dragging. Lizzie said, “Why are you going so fast?”
Sarah said, “We just need to get going.” She didn’t tell Lizzie she was really running away from the idea of losing her best friend.
CHAPTER 3
A Whole Bunch of Nuts Mixed Together in a Small Bowl with Rainbow Ice Cream. And Bait.
Sarah, you’re acting weird,” Lizzie said.
“Not as weird as a zombie,” Sarah said, then put her arms out and walked a zombie walk, groaning.
Lizzie laughed again. “Let’s zombie-walk to Dinah’s Diner.”
They both stuck out their arms and shuffled along the street toward the diner. Two younger girls hanging around the farm supply store stared and pointed. Sarah recognized them from Community Spirit at the town hall on Sundays—Talia and Kateri. She whispered under her breath to Lizzie, “Let’s give them a scare.” Lizzie giggled but then groaned louder.
“Muuhhhhhhh! BRAINS!”
Sarah made her voice rough and loud and yelled, “I NEED LITTLE-KID BRAINS!” and then picked up the pace on her shuffling. Lizzie followed suit. Talia and Kateri squealed and laughed, then went sprinting away from them, giggling the whole time.
Something about the two of them made Sarah feel nostalgic. Maybe because they reminded her of Lizzie and herself when they were seven. Almost four long years ago. When things were simpler.
Sarah heard a jingle across the way and saw Hakeem walk out of Dinah’s Diner (and Bait). She knew that meant he’d just dropped off some pastries. More importantly, she knew that Rachel might just give her and Lizzie a pastry so they could “test” it.
Sarah grabbed Lizzie’s hand and pointed to Hakeem. Lizzie said, “Ohhh.” Sarah and Lizzie stopped being zombies and took off toward the diner. Even though Lizzie hated running, everyone rushed for one of Hakeem’s pastries.
They burst through the diner’s doors. There were only a few people there—some from the town, but many from the surrounding towns. Sarah knew this because she knew everyone in New Amity.
“Hi, Rachel!” Sarah loved Rachel and Aaron, the part owners of Dinah’s Diner (and Bait). They were pretty young for old people. She also loved Dinah, the actual owner and Aaron’s grandma, who Sarah was pretty sure was older than all the adults in New Amity put together.
Rachel was hugely pregnant and always had one hand on her back. She stood up from putting the tray of pastries in the display at the front counter. “Just in time!” she said, smiling. “I think we have two pastries that need to be tested. Can you help?”
Sarah and Lizzie nodded solemnly. Sarah said, “Only if you post this flyer, though.” Lizzie nudged Sarah with her elbow bu
t also giggled. Sarah giggled a little too, but tried to keep a straight face. Fair was fair—they would only help Rachel by eating the pastries if she could help them. Still, she added, “Please.”
“Sure! What is it?” Rachel walked around the counter, carrying the two pastries on a little tray. Sarah and Lizzie grabbed the pastries and Sarah dug in without missing a beat.
Lizzie didn’t mind doing the talking with Rachel because she was so nice, so she piped up, “It’s a flyer for the ice cream stand. Sarah and I are going to run it this summer.”
Aaron came out from the back, a white apron tied around him, streaked with all types of food. It said, KISS ME, I’M JEWISH. He smiled his nice smile at the girls. Sarah thought he was pretty okay-looking looking for an old person. He took a flyer. “Oh, aren’t Gloria and Jeff doing it this year?”
Sarah practically choked on the pastry. She wanted to say: “No, Gloria abandoned her best friend.” But she changed the subject, talking fast around a huge bite of pastry.
“Zshoombie ehright” was what it sounded like.
Lizzie translated, “She said ‘zombie hayride.’ ”
Sarah swallowed. “We get to put on a zombie hayride if we make enough money.”
Rachel’s face clouded over. “I have to say, I’m not a fan of zombies,” she said, rubbing her belly. “Just because this little one is a tad sensitive.” Her face got green. “Uh-oh. I guess you can’t even say it—” and with that, she hurried around the counter, her hand over her mouth.
Lizzie turned to Sarah. “We made her sick!”
Sarah took another bite of her pastry. “Whoops,” she said, enjoying the raspberry filling.
Aaron watched helplessly as Rachel scurried away. “Poor Rachel,” he said. “It’s been like this her whole pregnancy. But only two more months.” Dinah came over, walking slowly but with bright eyes. Sarah loved how twinkly they were.
“Well, two of my favorite girls are here and I still haven’t gotten a hug?” she said, pulling Sarah in for a squeeze. Lizzie threw her arms around the two of them, making Sarah laugh. Dinah let them go with a pat and asked, “What brings you girls to the diner? It’s summer vacation for you, right?”
Lizzie pointed to the flyer in Aaron’s hand. “We were just asking Rachel and Aaron to post this.”
Dinah took the flyer. “Oh, good! The ice cream stand. Hakeem’s pastries are even better with ice cream, if you can believe it. But, say, aren’t Gloria and Jeff doing it this year?”
Sarah pressed her lips together and suppressed a yell. Instead, she grabbed Lizzie’s hand and pulled her out the door. Lizzie said, “Thanks!” as the door shut on the diner.
“What the—?” Lizzie started, but Sarah interrupted her.
“Hey, let’s go to Hakeem’s and post a flyer there.”
Lizzie gave her a look, but Sarah pretended she didn’t see. She practically ran to Hakeem’s Sports Store and Hardware Plus Bait Shop next door to the diner, not even waiting for Lizzie. She breezed through the door, making the chime swing wildly. Sarah ran up to Hakeem, who was talking to Stella from Stella’s Imported Goods and Local Bait Shop near the cash register.
“Hey! Hakeem! Will you post this?” Sarah said, out of breath yet still managing to yell.
“Excuse us, young lady,” Stella said, looking down her nose and over her glasses at Sarah. Sarah thought Stella looked like she sucked on lemons every morning.
But still, she didn’t mind that Stella interrupted her. Sarah was nice that way. “Oh, that’s okay, Stella.” To show she forgave her completely, Sarah held out a flyer to her. “Maybe you can post this flyer too.”
The door chime went off again and Lizzie came up beside her. Sarah didn’t look at her. Stella huffed but took the flyer, and Hakeem took one as well.
“You can’t beat ice cream!” Hakeem said, and winked at Sarah.
Sarah said, “Yeah, Dinah says your pastries are even better with ice cream.”
Stella spoke up. “How dare she! Hakeem’s pastries are perfect as they are.” She smiled adoringly at Hakeem. Sarah had to stop herself from rolling her eyes. Stella had been in love with Hakeem probably since before Sarah was even born, but Hakeem never seemed to notice. He was too preoccupied with his wife, who had passed away decades ago, to see anyone else around him.
Hakeem smiled kindly at Stella. “Oh, everything can be improved, that much we know. Dinah is a wise woman. In fact, maybe I’ll concoct a pastry that goes perfectly with Garrison Family Orchard vanilla ice cream. My Camila loved ice cream!” He pointed to the photo of his wife he had put up on a wall of his store, right above a little altar. Sarah had seen it a million times—he pointed at it every time she came in. He put different decorations around it at different times, and there was always a string of lights around the photo. She gave Camila a little wave.
Stella sniffed. “It would be hard to improve upon your pastries, Hakeem, but I suppose it’s always a worthy endeavor to improve ourselves. As I was saying before being interrupted”—Stella shot Sarah and Lizzie a dirty look—“I will bring you foods to freeze tonight, as I know you’ve been busy getting ready for Ramadan.”
The door chime dinged again and Sarah saw Dani Alvarez enter. Dani was the town administrator.
But Sarah needed to get going. Her body needed to move move move—the more she stood around, the antsier she got. She REALLY didn’t want to hear about Gloria and Jeff running the stand anymore. She started toward the door without looking at Lizzie and thrust a flyer at Dani. “Can you put this up in the town hall?” she asked, not even bothering to say hello.
“Oh, the stand! I just saw Gloria outside,” said Dani.
Sarah closed her eyes, then opened them again. “Ughhh. She’s not doing the stand this year. We are.” She realized she’d said every word through clenched teeth.
Dani looked at her thoughtfully. “That’s great, Sarah. It looks like maybe you’ve said this before.”
Sarah huffed. “Like a million times! But we get to do it this year, and just because Gloria can’t seem to keep—” She stopped herself to start over. “If we get enough money, we get to do a zombie hayride!”
Stella sniffed. “Well, I never.”
Dani’s eyes widened. “Ooh, I LOVE horror movies. What about a haunted house instead?”
Hakeem said, “Camila was never a fan of the scarier things. . . .”
Suddenly, Sarah felt close to tears. “Never mind,” she grumbled, and walked fast to the door. This had started as such a good day. She loved the people in her town, and she’d thought everyone would be excited for them. Instead, everyone seemed to want to talk about Gloria or how much they hated the idea of a zombie hayride. Even Lizzie didn’t seem to care as much today as Sarah wanted her to. Lizzie didn’t seem bothered by anything.
Sarah did a quick wave behind herself at the adults and walked out the door. Lizzie followed close behind. Sarah could practically hear the question mark above her head.
They walked toward Annabelle’s Antiques and Bait way down the road. A kid on a skateboard she didn’t recognize zoomed close. Sarah almost knocked him over, she was walking so fast. “Hey, watch it!” he said, jumping off his skateboard. Sarah patted his back, at the same time taping a flyer to his T-shirt. The kid didn’t notice and jumped on his skateboard and zoomed away. Lizzie giggled. Any other time, Sarah would have giggled too.
Up ahead of her, she saw a group of kids hanging around the antiques store but couldn’t make out who it was quite yet.
“Sarah, are you going to tell me what’s wrong?” Lizzie asked, puffing a little to keep pace.
Sarah shrugged. “I don’t know. It’s just . . . it seems like everyone was just . . .” She didn’t quite know what she wanted to say. She looked down and slowed her walk a little. She could now hear the murmur of voices from the kids by the shop. She really didn’t want to get into a huge conversation with other people around. Especially when she wasn’t sure what she wanted to say.
She wondere
d why kids were hanging around a boring old antiques shop, anyway. Ms. Henderson—Annabelle—liked to dress up in Regency dresses, long dresses that had puffed sleeves and a close-fitting top part. The rest of the dress was loose, like a really baggy, long tube. Sarah thought they actually looked comfortable, except for the top part. Ms. Henderson acted like a person in the early 1800s in a ton of other ways too. She often needed “smelling salts” because she had the “vapors,” whatever all of that meant, and talked about “courting” and “consumption” a lot. In other words, Ms. Henderson was one of the stranger adults Sarah knew. Sarah thought all adults were a little weird, but Ms. Henderson was extra-special weird.
Lizzie gently touched her arm and Sarah stopped. “Do you feel like everyone was saying they’d miss Gloria at the stand? That sort of hurt my feelings too, if I’m honest.”
Sarah started. That wasn’t it at all! Of course they wouldn’t MISS Gloria. No one would.
But before she could respond, she heard the word “ACTING!” yelled loudly. She turned to look. Now she could see the kids clearly—it was Gloria and her new group of acting friends. They were coming toward Lizzie and Sarah.
“Well, hello, baby children,” Gloria said. She flipped a boa around her neck and looked down at them over her sunglasses. Three other kids stepped behind her. Sarah recognized Justin, Nyo, and Aisling from around town. They all wore little bits of costume: Justin had on steampunk glasses; Nyo wore a cape; and Aisling had on a crown.
Gloria went on, “You all know my baby sister, darlings. Lizzie, love, what brings you to this part of town?”
Sarah said, “Well, it’s basically the only part of town? We’re putting up flyers for the ice cream stand. You know, the one you used to run with your former best friend, Jeff?” She could feel Lizzie’s eyes on her, but she kept her eyes forward.
Gloria nodded sagely. “Yes, ages ago my former best friend and I used to run the stand. Sometimes, one just transcends one’s friends and must move on. No one knows when a person might outgrow another.” She motioned to her group of friends, “But I have found my niche here. ACTING!” she yelled, and her three friends yelled, “ACTING!” back. Then they all floated away, leaving Lizzie with a bewildered look on her face and Sarah completely unsettled.