-Josh-

Homecoming sucked. Again. I didn't really dance with anyone, just hung out by myself and snacked or danced in a group with some other football guys and watched as people like Ezra and his two shitty friends actually seemed to have a good time.

It's over now, though, and it's been a couple days. Now I'm mostly thinking about Halloween-- and what I'm going to dress up as. The school allows costumes over the holiday, and since it's one of the few weekdays throughout the year where we don't have to wear uniforms, I want to take advantage of that and try to enjoy myself.

"I hope the Halloween party this year isn't ass like last year's," Kieran says over lunch about halfway through the month. "Like, I'm still gonna go, but I'm graduating this year, so I don't want my last Halloween party to suck."

Ian nods. "Yeah. The whole year's gonna be stressful, I can tell. They did last year's seniors dirty-- a good Halloween is the least the school can do."

"I know I'd like some good dances for my last year," I agree. "It's not until next year, obviously, but I understand not wanting to have your last year here suck."

Kieran laughs. "That was barely English. I got the point, but... pay more attention in English class, dude."

I roll my eyes. "You understood it anyways."

"Makes you seem less smart, though," Ian notes with a smirk.

"Oh, shut up." I take a bite of my food. "I have a whole 'nother year to be smart. I don't have to seem smart yet."

That gets all of us laughing. I like being able to laugh with these guys-- especially knowing that they'll be gone next year. I don't know what the team will be like without them-- they've been a constant as long as I've been playing football here.

I'm thinking about that still when I get back to Ezra's and my room after classes. He's getting ready to do his homework, as usual, and I take a seat on my bed to procrastinate by reading comics or something else just as unproductive. I can't even focus on procrastinating, though, because there's so much going on in my head.

Eventually, I ask Ezra, "Do you know what you're gonna dress as for Halloween?"

He glances up from his notebook. "No, why?"

"Nothing. Just wondering." I didn't expect him to ask why. "Got any ideas?"

"Some. But I don't have the time to put them together so I'm lost."

So he's kind of in the same predicament as me. Despite myself, I hear my own voice say, "Dude, same."

I don't even know what made me say that. Some kind of primal instinct, I have to assume, because I don't actually care that he knows we're in the same position to do with Halloween costumes.

"Huh." He flips a page in his notebook and continues scribbling. He's silent for a couple minutes before speaking again, breaking the silence. "We could dress as each other."

"What?" I don't know if I heard him correctly.

"Well, like, we've both got clothes already, and I have my makeup or whatever. It's not hard to find fake earrings or just rhinestones or whatever, either, so it's not like it would be hard." He shrugs. "And we're close enough in size, too, that it wouldn't be super awkward to swap clothes for a few hours."

I'm silent for a long, long moment.

"Whatever," he mutters. "It was just an idea."

"No, no, it's actually... better than any of mine." It's low-effort, easy, and all it requires is for me to wear some stupid makeup and clothes for a night. Some people might even think it's clever or something.

He perks up a little. "Yeah?"

"Yeah. Let's do that."

"Cool." He smiles. "Glad we came to a decision."

I roll my eyes at him. "Whatever."

He goes quiet again and turns back to his math work.

I have an idea. Thank goodness. But that's all Ezra's been good for so far. We aren't friends.

We won't ever be.