“Do you get to go to the festival this year?” Ru asked.

“I think so.”

“Cool, let me know what day. This year I don’t have to hang out with Randy’s mom and dad.”

Colleen tilted her head. “Is your mom going, then?”

“No way, she hates the whole thing.” Ru had never heard it directly from her mother, but she could believe it easily. “She said I can go by myself this year.”

“Can we still visit Randy’s parents? They’re funny.”

Gary Fresnel was a junk food fanatic and always looked for the strangest and most outrageous concoctions to be found at festivals. Rachel Fresnel, a bulky, muscular woman just barely taller than her son, was always up for games and any physical contests she could get into. Both had perpetual smiles, even when they were angry — and Ru had seen them angry with Randy a lot. The family had moved to Quarterhill when Randy was a baby, drawn by the legends that made the town infamous. Ru was pretty sure she’d never spoken to them once without them mentioning something about aliens. “Yeah, they’re still less annoying than Randy.”