Invisible Inkling

It’s Really Not Funny, Max

BoooooooOooooooooo!

A ghostly sound echoes through the dark elevator.

The dead ballerinas all scream.

I might scream a little, myself.

BoooooooOooooooooo!

“If this is you, Max and Gustav, you are totally not funny!” yells Nadia. “I got a whole elevator full of little kids in here.”

No answer. Just silent darkness.

“We’re not little,” Chin tells Nadia. “We’re fourth graders like Hank.”

Nadia ignores her. “It’s really not amusing, Max!” she calls.

No answer. And then again: BoooooooOooooooooo!

Oh.

How could I be so stupid?

It’s only Inkling.

He is booing Nadia. Getting her back for all the times she’s booed me.

The fear rushes out of me.

“You’re actually kinda scaring me, Max!” Nadia yells. “I want you to stop right this minute and turn the light on.”

BoooooooOooooooooo!

“Edie?” asks Chin. “In that movie you saw, did the elevator go boo?”

“No,” says Daley. “It didn’t, actually.”

“That’s good,” says Chin. “So it’s not the same situation.”

“Yeah, but it’s some other situation,” says Linderman. “And I don’t like it.”

BoooooooOooooooooo!

Whimpering, from at least two of the dead ballerinas. If not three.

“Shut up, Max!” Nadia yells. And then, to the ballerinas: “You guys, it’s going to be okay. The elevator’s not haunted. It’s just my stupid boyfriend and his stupid friend and HE’S NOT EVEN GOING TO BE MY BOYFRIEND ANYMORE IF HE DOESN’T TURN ON THE LIGHTS AND STOP WITH THE BOOING RIGHT THIS SECOND. BECAUSE YOU ARE SCARING ALL THE LITTLE KIDS AND IT’S MEAN, MAX.”

But the lights don’t turn on.

“All right then, Max,” Nadia says unhappily. “I am not even your girlfriend anymore. Because you are being a total jerk right now.”

She’s standing next to me and I can feel her slide down to sit on the floor of the elevator. “This is the worst Halloween ever.”

And Nadia—Nadia, my sister—

Nadia who gets to invent ice-cream flavors that Dad actually sells in the shop,

Nadia who can sculpt real sculptures,

Nadia with the pretty handwriting and the spending money and all the friends she’s on the phone with all the time,

Nadia who always yells at me not to go in her room,

And not to touch her pumpkins,

And not to be so annoying—

Nadia starts crying.

“What’s wrong?” I ask.

She’s sobbing and sniffling. “I’m too old for trick-or-treating,” she moans. “You think you’ll never be too old, and then one year, before you even know it, you are too old. And your friends want to go to a party. They think trick-or-treating is dumb. And you could go with your little brother, but he doesn’t want you. And you realize: You’ll never go trick-or-treating again. That was it, last year. Your last time. You didn’t even know it was the last time when you had it.”

She takes a deep, shaky breath and goes on: “My pumpkins were ruined, and then I did new pumpkins and I didn’t even win the contest when I worked so hard. I carved six pumpkins in one week, for nothing. But then when I’m upset about it, Mara and Jacquie are all ‘What does it even matter? It’s just a pumpkin.’”

“That’s harsh,” says Chin.

BoooooooOooooooooo!

Inkling is really making me mad. Can’t he see Nadia is upset?

“All they think matters is glitter makeup and cute clothes,” Nadia says. “They ditched me with the unicorn costumes we were supposed to wear. I don’t know if I even want to be friends with them anymore. It’s like they’re always together and I’m just tagging along.”

“Wow,” I say.

I didn’t know Nadia felt that way at all.

Ever.

“Plus, I just broke up with my boyfriend, even though I really like him,” sobs Nadia. “I like him so much, and now we’re not even together anymore.”

BoooooooOooooooooo!

“I hate you, Max!” Nadia yells at the ghost. “I really hate you so much right now! Don’t ever speak to me again!”

I swear, I will never understand girls.