The next day I got a text from Jessi.
Come to the movie with me and Sebastian.
Who else is going? I texted back.
Luke and Isaac and I think Mary who plays basketball.
I hesitated. I didn’t know any of these kids very well, but I knew they were all pretty nice. I did want to see the movie, and it wasn’t like anyone else had asked me to go. Like Steven, for example.
K. I texted. What time?
My dad and I will pick you up at 2.
Of course I had to clear it with my parents, but they were just fine with it after they made sure I had no more homework. One of my deals with them was that I had to get As and Bs if I wanted to keep playing soccer, and since nothing was going to stop me from playing soccer, ever, I made sure to do all my homework and studying on time.
Jessi’s dad came at two as promised and drove us to the mall. Along the way we mostly talked about the game against the Vipers, because even though I had a lot of questions about Sebastian, I didn’t want to ask them in front of Mr. Dukes.
When we got to the mall, we took the escalator up to the second floor.
“So, do you know these friends of Sebastian’s?” I asked Jessi.
She shrugged. “Sort of. Luke’s in one of my classes. But if Sebastian likes them, they must be cool.”
“Yeah, I guess so,” I said, but I couldn’t help thinking that Jessi sounded, like, really into Sebastian when she said it.
Then I heard Sebastian call out to us.
“Jessi! Devin! Over here!”
The mall was pretty crowded with shoppers, but we spotted Sebastian along with two boys and a girl standing by the theater entrance.
“Are they in . . . costume?” I asked.
Jessi grinned. “Yeah, cool!”
As she ran toward them, I tried to process what I was seeing.
Isaac, a short chubby kid, was wearing a brown fur vest and had horns on his head. Luke, a tall kid with glasses, was wearing all black with a cape, and a patch over one eye, which was a little awkward because of the glasses. Mary was wearing silver leggings and a silver top with puffy sleeves. Her brown hair was in a ponytail high on her head, and actual lights were weaved into the ponytail and flickered on and off. Sebastian had on black pants tucked into knee-high boots, along with a gray T-shirt under a black vest.
“Sebastian! You didn’t tell me you were getting dressed up,” Jessi said.
“I didn’t want to scare you off,” he said. “I mean, you’re an athlete, so I thought maybe you would think I was a geek or something. Which I am, but . . . you know.”
“No way! It’s so cool!” Jessi said. “Right, Devin?”
I kind of felt like Jessi was putting me on the spot. I mean, I appreciated it whenever anybody put effort into something, and these guys had all obviously worked really hard to make these costumes. I didn’t think it was something I would ever do, but I did think it was cool that they were so dedicated to their fandom.
“Yeah,” I said, because it seemed like the right thing to say. “Totally cool.”
Jessi pointed at Sebastian. “Benz Mordo, chief of the rebels.”
Then Luke. “Lord Orfeo of the Dark Galaxy.”
Then Mary. “Admiral Zeta of the resistance.”
Then she looked at Isaac. “I forget. Who are you supposed to be?”
“I am a hobalur from the Dwarf Planet Cronus,” Isaac replied. “From the second movie. A minor character, at best, but one with whom I resonate quite strongly.”
I nodded. “Yup,” I said, not sure how to comment on that.
“So, I hear it’s a pretty good movie,” Jessi remarked.
“Oh, it is,” Sebastian replied.
“You saw it already?” Jessi asked.
Luke piped up. “Three times. It came out Friday, so we went to the Friday night show, a matinee yesterday, and then again last night.”
“Wow, you guys are really into Star Warriors,” I remarked. I looked at Jessi, expecting for her to make some kind of joke about it, because she had never been into this sci-fi stuff before. But she was just looking at Sebastian and smiling in a goofy way.
“We’d better go in, so we can get some good seats,” Isaac said.
“Fine, but I need candy,” Mary said.
We followed everyone into the theater. Jessi and I started walking toward the box office.
“We got our tickets already,” Sebastian said, holding up his phone to show us his ticket app. “We’ll wait for you.”
So Jessi and I got into the ticket line—and right in front of us were Cody and Steven!
They spotted us first.
“Jessi! I didn’t know you were coming here,” Cody said.
“Well, I didn’t know you were coming here either,” Jessi replied. “You didn’t ask me.”
“Yeah, well, it was kind of last-minute,” Cody said.
“Are you seeing Star Warriors?” Steven asked. “We could all sit together.”
There was an awkward silence for a moment. I couldn’t even meet Jessi’s eyes.
How are we supposed to deal with this? I wondered.
Jessi handled it directly. “That would be really nice, normally, but we came with those guys.” She motioned toward Sebastian and the others.
“Those guys? Do they know it’s not Halloween?” Cody asked.
“Of course they do. They’re dressed like characters from the movie,” Jessi snapped.
I looked at Steven. “Listen, we made plans with those guys first. I hope you understand,” I said. And then I repeated what Jessi had said. “You know, if you had asked . . .”
Steven nodded. “Hey, it’s cool. We’ll see you in there.”
I nodded back, relieved that Steven wasn’t making a big deal of it. We started talking about regular stuff, but I noticed Jessi and Cody had stopped speaking.
Jessi and I got our tickets, then got bottles of water and a large popcorn to split. Then we met back up with Sebastian and his friends and found seats.
Cody and Steven were already seated, all the way up in the back row. Sebastian and the others headed for a row in the middle of the theater.
“Optimum viewing level,” Isaac remarked, even though nobody had asked why we were sitting there.
There was plenty of time before the movie started. Sebastian and his friends started talking about their favorite characters in the Star Warriors movies and making jokes. I found myself talking to them instead of watching the boring programming that was usually up on the screen before the previews started.
Then my phone vibrated. It was a text from Steven.
What’s up with Jessi? Doesn’t she like Cody anymore?
Whoa. I wasn’t sure how to answer that.
I don’t know, I replied. Ask Jessi.
You’re her friend. What’s going on?
I took a page from Jessi’s playbook. Jessi and Cody are just friends. What’s the big deal?
His response surprised me. Are we just friends?
My hands suddenly felt clammy, and I had to wipe them on my jeans so I could text back.
Well, you know I can’t date, I typed, feeling grateful that I could use my parents as an excuse. The fact was, I wasn’t sure if I could handle dating Steven for real. Not right then, anyway.
I know, he texted back. But you know what I mean.
I didn’t know what to say. I mean, I did like Steven as more than a friend. At least I thought I did. Right then I wasn’t even sure what that meant.
Words were failing me. I scrolled through my emojis. I chose a blushing emoji, sent it, and then instantly regretted it.
Just then the words “DON’T TEXT DURING THE MOVIE” appeared on the screen, and I shut down my phone. Jessi turned to me.
“Who were you texting?” she asked.
“Steven,” I replied, and that was all I said. I couldn’t talk about how awkward everything was, here in the movie theater, sitting next to a guy dressed like a space creature.
I was relieved when the movie started and I could forget about dating and what was happening with Jessi and Cody. The movie was good—really good—although I didn’t think I would ever be inspired to dress up like one of the characters.
When we left the theater, there was no sign of Cody or Steven. I didn’t get a chance to talk to Jessi about the texts that Steven had sent me, because her dad was already waiting for us outside.
“How was the movie?” Mr. Dukes asked as we got into the car.
“Awesome,” Jessie replied.
“Good,” I said, but inside I was thinking of a totally different word.
Awkward!