The Longest Halloween, Book Two. Frank Wood

into Joel’s ear after each completed takedown. “I am so much better than you in every way imaginable.”

      It was hard to dispute that. In addition to being the captain of the Tae Kwon Do team, Ian was tall, dark, the girls all thought he was hot. He was a multisport athlete—football, wrestling and tae kwon do of course—and most impressive of all, he was the owner of a sleek new silver sports car. How any teenager could drive something like that around was absolutely mind boggling for Joel. Most teens Joel knew could barely get their shoes tied and shirts properly buttoned, let alone command a vehicle like that. For Joel, though, Ian was, above all else, a bully. He had seen it at school during gym class. Joel had felt it firsthand, too. Ian never bullied in public. It was when he got you alone, and that’s when he got Joel—and while he was squeezing him, he asserted how much better he was … better, taller, stronger, better looking, just better. Joel had to admit that he was probably right. It must be nice, Joel thought, to be so much better.

      And Joel hadn’t thought Polly was that kind of girl either, the kind who were so impressed with shiny new things, the kind who fell for what was clearly just a lot of flash and shine, but here she was running up to greet …

      “Ian, you were fantastic!” she gushed. “Your moves were too fast to follow!” She doesn’t even sound like herself, Joel thought. Polly didn’t gush, not ever.

      “All in good training, babe,” Ian said.

      “You… . uh … did well too, Joel,” Polly said, looking at Joel as he pulled himself up off the floor.

      “Hey, I thought for the demonstration we had decided to switch off on aggressor and defender,” Joel said, approaching Ian.

      “Yeah, but why mess with something that was going so smoothly?” Ian replied. “It was all for the good of the club anyway, right, Franklin?”

      “I guess,” Joel said flatly.

      “You know, if I didn’t know any better,” Ian went on snidely, “I’d say you might be looking to show off in front of someone.” He began to shake his head. “The Good Book says that pride goeth before a fall, Franklin, best to remember that. We all can’t be sensei, and it’s just as important to be a good follower.”

      First of all, Joel thought, Ian Samuels quoting the Bible to him was like the devil hosting a tea party for the heavenly host; and if anyone was looking to show off in front of Polly, it would be Ian. Joel seethed as he watched Ian stroll away with Polly, his Polly on Ian’s arm … no doubt headed off to his great big shiny silver car. He was so lost in his thoughts that he scarcely heard Ellis Sigler walk up.

      “Earth to Joel,” Ellis was saying, “come in, Joel!”

      “Oh,” Joel grunted.

      “Nice demonstration over there,” Ellis said. “You could give the crash test dummy a run for his money.”

      “You’re a funny guy,” Joel said. Ellis followed his friend’s eyes to Ian and Polly, who were talking nearby.

      “I think you’re turning a little green, dude,” Ellis said.

      “Whatever,” Joel returned.

      “Here’s your stuff.” Ellis pushed Joel’s bookbag in his direction.

      It had been one year since the momentous events of last year’s Halloween season. For Joel, many of the details had become a bit foggy. He recalled major events, such as how he and the witch Zeldabub had fought the goblin Googamond before the Pearlie Gates, and how they had prevented Googamond from turning last year’s Halloween into a never-ending affair. But there were many things that he was less clear about. Had his younger brother Jasper and Jasper’s best friend Dreyfuss really lost their faces? Had their hometown of Portersville really become overrun with Googamond’s creepy friends? He couldn’t recall as clearly … but everything turned out all right in the end, so maybe it didn’t matter. And with all that had gone on since then, last year seemed seemed eons ago. Tenth grade had come on like a freight train for Joel, upturning his world in a millisecond. Conducting that train, no doubt, was the changed relationship between him and Polly. They had been friends since grade school, until the advent of Ian Samuels to Portersville.

      “Hey, are you listening to me?” Ellis asked, touching Joel on the shoulder.

      “What?” Joel asked, distracted.

      “Your horizons, Joel,” Ellis said, “I said that I think you need to really think about broadening your horizons.”

      “What are you talking about?” Joel asked, trying not to but clearly sounding irritated.

      “You and Polly were good during your time,” Ellis said, “but maybe it’s time you thought about redirecting your fire, if you know what I mean. It’s like my daddy always says,” Ellis went on, “girls are like trolley cars … you miss one and another one’ll come in due time.”

      Joel shook his head and rolled his eyes in response. Most times, his best friend could make him laugh enough to forget whatever his cares might be, but at the same time, Ellis could be completely weird too. As the two of them headed out to the front of the high school where students had begun to swarm as the lunch bell sounded, Joel saw Ian lead Polly to his car, parked ostentatiously in the lot.

      “And really, Joel,” Ellis said, “who can compete with that?”

      Joel had to admit that Ellis was right. The car was a sweet ride, no doubt about it. It wasn’t as if Joel hadn’t thought about his own ride before Ian came parading through town with his so-called Silver Bullet—the nickname he had given his car. He was just like any other teenaged boy in that sense. Mr. Gregory, one of the older men for whom Joel delivered groceries, had decided that he was too old to drive his car anymore. While it wasn’t a state-of-the-art sports car like Ian’s, it would still, for all intents, serve his purpose. It had been a major battle to get his mother to agree to the purchase but once she had, it was full steam ahead for Joel. It made sense, he thought. He could help out with errands and transport Jasper to his after-school events. It would also be incentive for him to keep up his grades, as good grades meant lower insurance rates. It wouldn’t hurt either that he could score some points with Polly or with any other girl who would take an interest.

      He had done his homework, now came the hard part: raising the money. Joel found work delivering groceries for Mr. Greene to the sick, infirm or otherwise shut in, and while it was nice to have a few dimes to scratch together, that’s about what it amounted to when it came to putting together the money for Mr. Gregory’s “barely driven, solid as she comes” Ford pickup. And Joel didn’t want any special favors from Mr. Gregory, either; he wanted to pay what Mr. Gregory was asking.

      It was then that he spied the huge, plaid-shirted back of Hezekiah McClafferty tacking up a “Help Wanted” ad on the corkboard Community Affairs Center in the main hallway of the school. The McClafferty family had just bought the old Grisson farm where Joel and lot of other kids used to work for the summer. Hezekiah was about two heads taller than Joel and just as wide. Dark, mean little eyes sparkled out from under a brow that could keep rainwater away from his nose. Thick, dark, cropped hair covered his large head, ending in two large sideburns that poured down the side of his face. Two eyebrows joined over the center of his forehead, making one unibrow. He regarded Joel and Ellis for a moment before lumbering away.

      “You know, I still think it’s strange the way Mr. Grisson just up and left Portersville with nary a peep,” Ellis said, recalling the events of earlier this summer. “He had no family … heck, us kids were his family, and he goes and leaves on us.”

      “Yeah, maybe it was too hard for him to say goodbye,” Joel said absently, heading over to the Help Wanted flyer. The other kids gathered at the billboard were more taken with the advertisement for the Halloween night haunted cruise put on by the Crescent Coast Community Players. One of the tall ships would be converted for the night into a full-on pirate’s galleon and safely transport teenage trick-or-treaters from Morrelli’s Costume Shop on the coast down to the church’s community center and home to the Harvest Festival,