Even as we leave the house five minutes later, I can still feel the impression of Kent's fingers against my wrist. We spent the rest of our trip giggling at the cheesy scares that had been prepared for us, but we were always ready in case something managed to break through and have us running from the house. All in all, it was the least scary haunted house I'd ever been in, but I don't have much to go on. I’m never going to forget Kent’s mini freak out with the bats. Ever.

We see everyone else waiting for us nearby. Rosie waves us over and still seems to be laughing at whatever it was we missed. "Well, that was hilarious."

Grinning at her, I admit, "I’m not sure what I was expecting, but I was tough enough to take that particular house on." I side-eye Kent, who gives me a pleading stare. At that, a laugh bubbles out of me. "But this guy here is not quite as brave as I thought. I think he might've jumped from that second story window if he had the chance, just to get out."

"The empty room?" Jen asks. "Yeah, that was the scariest bit for me too. I was sure they were leading up to something really big and then the end result was so anticlimactic, all of my nerves just came tumbling out anyway."

Kent and Rosie start in on a play-by-play of each room of the house, even though there really isn't that much to reminisce about. As they talk, I spot someone I think I recognize standing at the edge of the square. Whoever it is, she's wearing a black costume that covers up most of her face, distorting the shape of her body slightly. In the way she's standing and watching everyone around her, I think it has to be Rhiannon.

"Be right back," I say before disappearing into the crowd. I quickly cross the distance between me and my suspected target. I wasn't sure if Rhiannon was going to come with anyone, but seeing her standing by herself—if it is her—almost makes me regret that I suggested we all come. I'd hate to be the reason she has a miserable time tonight, whoever this girl is, it doesn’t seem like she’s having fun.

But there’s a chance it's not even her. The girl I'm watching has her hair tied up into a messy bun at the top of her head, in the dark it looked close in color to ours, but I can't say much more than that. The way she's standing is so very Rhiannon, I don't know if that's enough to go on. I'm not about to go up to someone who might be a stranger and accuse them of being related to me, because that's one guaranteed way to get the town talking about me all over again.

I'm less than ten feet away now and trying not to stare too obviously, as I wait for the girl to do something that would tip me off one way or the other. She's watching the crowd, if it's Rhiannon, I wouldn't be surprised if she's looking for the rest of us, either so she can win our little game or have someone to hang out with until it’s time to go home.

Has she not met anybody in the two months we've been here yet? Was I supposed to invite her to come with me? I've been so busy worrying about how she's been acting at home, and I never noticed her at school, so I don't even have a guess. In math class, she focuses on the lessons more often than not. But that's her to a tee. Though she talks to me about her day after class, there's so much I don't see.

The girl I’m watching pulls out her phone, at once I know it's my sister. Not only is the phone the same one I see every day on Rhiannon's nightstand, white with navy blue stripes, but the way she's holding it I would recognize anywhere.

"Hey, Rhiannon," I say, coming up behind her and tapping on the shoulder.

She turns towards me and takes off her mask, looking bored. "Hey." I’m not even sure what her costume is.

I take in everything around me, nervous about being spotted by Reece or Reilly, though I doubt either of them are as interested in finding us as they are in hanging out with their new friends. "How’s it going?" I ask. She looks entirely disinterested in everything going on around her. I want to ask if she came here with anyone, hoping I’m wrong, but the evidence seems to speak for itself.

"Kind of thinking I might go home. This is lame."

I study the square, trying to see what she’s seeing. It looks like the whole town has come out tonight, everyone from toddlers to seniors are decked out in costumes, talking to their neighbors and eating homemade snacks.

I don't know how I do it, but I convince Rhiannon to come at least meet the people who I'm starting to think of as my friends here in Fairview. I don't think she's interested in meeting anyone at all, but the walk home by herself in the cold can't be all that appealing either.

"Hey," I say reinserting myself into the group. "I tracked down one of my sisters, I wanted to introduce you guys. This is Rhiannon." I wave my hands around in a flourish and pull my sister out from behind me.

"Hey." Is all Rhiannon says, not all that enthusiastically.

At once everyone is on her, introducing themselves. Apparently, she has two classes with Jen, I can already see the two of them having a bunch of things in common. If only I can get Rhiannon to open up a little.

We work our way around the square, checking out various stalls or stopping to eat. Rhiannon and I frequently end up hovering around in the back of the crowd as Jen, Rosie and Kent run into other people they know. Inevitably, were always introduced with great enthusiasm, and I do my best to seem friendly. I'm sure I come off as awkward more often than not, but Rhiannon makes no effort at all. She clearly doesn't want to be here and is taking it out on everybody.

Eventually, I pull her side. "Okay, what's wrong with you?" She's not a people person on a good day, but she's always been good at the political face and making small talk when necessary. Better than me, if nothing else. Today she's just being rude. She hasn't said anything outright, but she's making it abundantly clear she's not impressed with everything going on around her. She's barely speaking at all. I already regret inviting her to come hang out with us but can't exactly banish her. "You clearly don't want to be here. Why don't you just go home?" I try to make the suggestion sound as though I'm worried about her and not about me, but Rhiannon is not even listening.

"Mom and Dad won't let you stay out that much later anyway, the younger kids have mostly already left. I may as well wait it out until I can get a ride back to the hellhole we call a house."

I don't have it in me to argue, so I leave her struggling behind us. It takes me a few long strides and catch up with Rosie, I’m praying that no one else attempts to talk to Rhiannon tonight.

"Well, your sister’s a lot of fun," Rosie whispered as soon as I caught up to her.

"She's really not herself tonight. I'm sorry she's being so miserable." Rosie and I glance back toward Rhiannon, right away I wish we hadn’t. When Rhiannon is wearing her resting bitch face, she looks just like me. Everyone's going to see her acting this way and think that I'm the same. Why does she have to ruin this for me? "She's been miserable ever since she moved here. I'm trying to make it better for her, but she just wants to be awful."

Rosie frowns but looks sympathetic. "Well, your other sister seemed nice. Reilly and I take art together. There hasn’t really been any chances for me to talk to her yet, but she seems super friendly."

Well, at least half of the Donovan sisters can be trusted to make a good first impression.

* * *

Thanks to her eagerness to get away from anything that might be considered fun, Rhiannon and I are the first to arrive back in the parking lot where our mom’s car sits beside Dad’s new van—not his first choice in vehicle, by the way. I can spot both of my parents nearby, still huddled in a group of adults talking excitedly and pointing out people in the crowd.

By the time Reece joins us, she’s ditched her costume entirely. Someone will probably find her wings and crown piled on a bench somewhere tomorrow, having no idea that they belonged to a fifteen-year-old girl instead of a ten-year-old one.

"Did anyone see Reilly tonight?" I ask. "Did she even come?"

My sister picks that same moment to show up from behind the van, toward us from the other direction. "I was there," Reilly says with a smile. "You just didn’t spot me."

She’s not wearing any kind of costume at this point either. "What were you wearing?"

"I don’t know," she says. "You tell me, because I saw you hanging out with your drama friends, by the haunted house. You found Rhiannon for me, but unless either of you or our fairy princess over here can tell me what my costume was, I think I win."

No one has any answer for her, so I stick out my tongue. "I didn’t even think you’d be playing." Reilly rarely has an ounce of competitive spirit, preferring to leave everyone happy rather than someone victorious over the others, but that doesn’t always apply to her sisters. If there’s one thing she takes pride in, it’s knowing us better than we know ourselves.

For me, I feel like I’m usually wrong when I make guesses about my sisters, especially if I’m trying to base anything on what I would do. They always turn around and do something different, probably because they know it drives me crazy.

"Wow," Mom says, turning to Dad as the two of them approach us, "We didn’t need to round them up tonight. I’m impressed and a little shocked."

I half expect Mom to follow that up with something about Fairview bringing out the best in us, but instead she opens the car door and throws her purse inside, "Everyone have fun?"

We all mumble vague answers before climbing into various cars. I end up sprawled over the back bench in the van, twisted around my seatbelt so that if my dad yells back here to ask if I’m buckled in, I don’t have to lie to him.

I grab my phone out of my bag for the first time in hours to find eight texts and two missed calls from Nadine.

Nadine: Hey, what are you up to tonight?

MISSED CALL FROM NADINE

Nadine: Big news! Call me right when you get this.

Nadine: Or wait, are you at that town thing?

Nadine: Dying to talk to you!

It goes on like that a bit longer before culminating in another phone call twenty minutes ago.

The drive back home seems to move perilously slow as everyone tries to leave the center of town at the same time, I hate talking on the phone while other people are in the room. For basically anyone other than Nadine and my family, I hate talking on the phone at all.

Reagan: On my way home now. I’ll call you in ten.

Nadine: Finally!

A minute later…

Nadine: Nope. Can’t wait. Telling you now.

I have all of a few seconds to brace myself, not sure if I should prepare for good or bad news before she spills it.

Nadine: I’m coming to visit! My mom talked to your mom yesterday and I’m going to spend Thanksgiving with you guys.

I scramble upright, trying to untangle myself before the next text comes in.

Nadine: You can’t tell though. It’s a surprise.

Reagan: What?! You were going to last all the way until Thanksgiving without telling me this? Yeah right. My mom knows that would never happen.

Nadine: Just for a few days until they told all of you. Your parents have invited people for your sisters too. One big reunion.

A little of my excitement fades at the idea of having a bunch of my sister’s friends around at the same time as Nadine, taking away from the first time we’ve had to hang out in forever. But to be fair, they won’t want anything to do with us either.

Reagan: I’m surprised your mom agreed.

Nadine: Right?! But your mom must have convinced her somehow. She’d already sorted out the details before she’d even told me. This is happening!

I head straight for my room as soon as we’re home, hoping for a little time to ease my excitement before I have to talk to any of my family. If they see me right now they would definitely know something is up. Nadine has a bit of a reputation for not being able to keep a secret to save her life—she once told my sisters and me about our surprise party literally the day after she’d been invited—so my mom would immediately know what was up. I have to guess that Mrs. Nng wasn’t supposed to even tell Nadine yet. I know it’s going to be hard to pretend I don’t know about this.

There’s still a month to go before Thanksgiving, which is going to be slow and torturous to get through. Hopefully by the time Nadine gets here, I’ll still have people I can introduce her to. People who hopefully help prove that not everyone who lives in a small town is as boring as we thought they’d be. I don’t want her to think I’ve made some new life without her, but it would be nice to be able to show her that I’ve managed to make a few friends all on my own.