You Can't Come in Here! by P.J. Night Page B

who has to talk to Mr. and Mrs. Strig about Vicky and Drew coming over. They work a lot of nights and weekends, but they have to be home during the day because Drew and Vicky are homeschooled.”
    â€œO-kay,” her mom said slowly, raising her hands and shaking her head.
    â€œDon’t you see?” Emily asked, smiling as her dream begin to fade from her mind. “We have no school tomorrow. Some end-of-the-year teacher conference thing, but for Drew and Vicky it’ll just be another regular day of homeschooling—with their parents! I’m going to go over there tomorrow and ask them if it’s okay for Drew and Vicky to come to the party. And I’ll invite the whole family over to meet you and Dad tomorrow night. It’s perfect!”
    Emily jumped up from the table and grabbed her books. “Bye, Mom. Bye, Dad,” she said, kissing each of them. “Thanks!” Then she hurried toward the door.
    â€œYou’re welcome?” her mom replied questioningly, wondering exactly what Emily was thanking her for.
    That day at school was a bear for Emily. Not onlydid she have two finals scheduled, but her math teacher sprang one last pop quiz on the class as well. By the time she got to lunch, she was completely stressed.
    â€œEm!” Hannah called out from their usual table. “We’ve got some serious party planning to do.”
    â€œCan’t,” Emily said, pausing at the table but not sitting down at her usual seat. “Gotta cram for the history final. It’s on the Civil War.”
    â€œThe North won,” Ethan volunteered, being his usual helpful self.
    â€œSeriously, guys, I gotta study, but no worries. We’re off tomorrow, remember? So let’s hang out, okay?”
    â€œI have my first soccer practice for the summer team in the afternoon,” Ethan said.
    â€œAnd I’ve got to watch my little brother when he comes home from morning preschool,” Hannah added.
    â€œSo let’s hang out in the morning,” Emily suggested. She knew that she had to go talk with Mr. and Mrs. Strig tomorrow. But there would be plenty of time to do that in the afternoon. After all, her parents didn’t get home from work until late anyway.
    â€œOkay with me,” Ethan said. “You wanna meet at the lake?”
    â€œSure,” Hannah said. “Ten?”
    â€œGreat. See you guys then.”
    Emily slid into a seat at an empty table and pulled out her history book. She hardly ate any of her lunch, cramming Gettysburg and Appomattox into her brain rather than mac and cheese into her belly.
    When her excruciating day finally came to an end, Emily was exhausted. She had planned to maybe go play guitar with Drew and Vicky that evening, but she felt herself dozing off at the dinner table. She watched about ten minutes of Attack of the Zombies , a “true classic” as she described it to her parents, then headed up to her room.
    Emily checked her e-mail to see how many of her friends had RSVP’d to her party invitation. Two additional people said they would be coming, bringing the total so far to twelve. This was going to be a great party, but at the moment, all Emily could think about was going to bed. She slept like a rock and had no dreams, scary or otherwise, that she could remember.
    The following morning she had the great pleasure of sleeping until she woke up on her own. She had remembered to turn off that annoying pest known as her alarmclock. Her parents were long out of the house by the time she stirred. She fixed herself a bowl of cereal, which she ate while watching the rest of Attack of the Zombies . Then she took a shower, threw on some clothes, and hopped on her bike.
    During the twenty-minute bike ride from her house to the lake, Emily’s mind focused on the sleepover. She had been so consumed with studying for her tests, not to mention all this wolf nonsense, that she had hardly had any time to really think