You know, I’ve been thinking,” Brandon says. He, Jesse, and I are on the playground of our old elementary school. We stopped by on the way to my house. Brandon’s sitting on the edge of the ball pit and holding a handful of pebbles. He’s tossing the rocks back onto the ground one at a time. “When somebody grows out their fingernails for a record, how do they wipe?”

Jesse hits the tetherball from one of his hands to the other. “Seriously, man?”

“Ohhh, you’re right. That’s dumb. They’d just use the other hand.”

“Gross.” Jesse hits the tetherball hard so the rope wraps around the pole.

I go down the slide and stay at the bottom. “So. What’s our next plan? Because I still haven’t gotten my parents to put the costumes on again,” I say.

“Why not?”

“I can’t just be like, ‘Hey, Mom and Dad, why don’t you dress up as cows again?’”

“Sure you can,” Brandon says. “If you’re smart about it.”

“Or you could just, you know, tell them to stop,” Jesse says.

“I’ve tried.”

“Like you’ve literally said, ‘Mom. Dad. I do not want to do this anymore.’”

“Yup. And they said they understood. And then they talked to the principal and got him to agree to my public humiliation.”

Jesse shrugs. “Ever think you should just go with it?”

Brandon throws a pebble at Jesse.

“Thanks, Brandon,” I tell him.

He nods. “My pleasure.”

“I may not have a choice if I don’t figure something out.”

Brandon opens his hand and lets the rest of the rocks fall to the ground. “Obviously you have to give up.”

I roll my eyes. “I didn’t say that.”

“Good. Because I know what we are going to do next for… wait for it, sabotage.”

“Great.” Jesse sighs.

Brandon points to him. “You’ll like this plan. Know why?”

Jesse shakes his head. “I don’t think I want to.”

“Because you, my friend, have a starring role.”