“EXACTLY,” I said and earnestly slapped my raised palm against hers. After that night, I spent my lunches eating with Emily and her friends. Poor Richie had shown up to school Monday asking where Dwayne was and having no memory of the Holiday weekend. He started eating with the sixth graders after that.

Of course, I had been more than a little surprised to find Dwayne waiting for me on my grandparent’s porch the morning after Halloween. I started to ask how he’d gotten out of there alive, but the words caught in my throat as I saw the large man from the night before waiting behind the wheel of the minivan that was currently idling in my grandparent’s driveway.

Dwayne saw my expression change and glanced back at the van as he pointed a thumb over his shoulder and said, “My dad wanted me to apologize for last night.”

“Wait, your DAD?!”

Dwayne looked down and gave the ground an embarrassed smirk as he replied, “Kind’a freaky, right?”

I thought for a moment and then nodded as I said, “Actually, it explains a lot.”

“Yeah, well you were never supposed to see any of that… We’d had this huge fight because he didn’t want me going out on Halloween. It’s a bit of a faux pas for our kind and last night was his idea of embarrassing me in front of my friends… But, anyway, we’d both appreciate it if you kept all this to yourself. My dad told me to then say ‘or else’, but I don’t think that’s necessary. You saw what’ll happen.”

I nodded again, unsure of exactly how to respond. Dwayne winked and fired a finger-gun at me as he said, “My man.”