Kindred Spirits Read Free

you can buy your movie ticket online.”
    “That’s not the point.”
    “It’s just that—” Her mom rubbed her temple. “Elena, I think this is the dumbest thing you’ve ever done in your life.”
    “That’s a good thing, Mom. Think about how much worse it could be.”
    Her mom frowned and handed her a warm covered dish. “You answer your texts tonight.”
    “I will.”
    Elena stepped away from the car.
    “Don’t worry about her!” Troy shouted from behind her. “She’s in good hands!”
    Elena’s mom looked aghast. But she still drove away.
    “I’m sorry,” Troy said. “Did I make that worse? I meant the hands of the line.”
    “It’s OK,” Elena said, finding her spot against the wall.
    Mark the theater manager came out one more time to give them a last call for the bathroom and concessions, which was pretty decent of him.
    Troy was asleep by eleven, stretched out on his chair with an inflatable pillow wedged between him and the wall. He’d wrapped himself in fleece blankets, tipped his head back, and that was
it.
    Elena had planned to roll out her sleeping bag and sleep lying down. But that was back when she’d imagined a few dozen campers. It was different with just three people, and she felt too
exposed at the end of the line. If she fell asleep lying down, someone could just drag her away in the night, and Troy and Gabe would never notice.
    She didn’t think she was afraid of Troy and Gabe themselves. Troy hadn’t said anything pervy yet. Not even about Princess Leia. And Gabe seemed painstakingly uninterested in
Elena.
    Her mom didn’t trust them, but her mom didn’t trust any guys. She used to just have it in for white guys. (“
White guys are the worst. They rap 2 Live Crew lyrics at you and
expect you to laugh
.”) But ever since she and Elena’s dad had separated four years ago, her mom had taken a stand against any and every man, especially where Elena was concerned.
“
Learn from my mistakes
,” she said.
    Learn what?
Elena wondered. Avoid men? Avoid love? Avoid radiologists who buy movie-replica lightsabers?
    Usually when her mom gave her warnings like this, Elena would just give her a thumbs up. Like,
No prob, Bob
.
    Because it really wasn’t a problem. Avoid men? Done! This had literally never been an issue for her. When other girls complained about how to deal with unwanted male attention, Elena
wouldn’t feel jealous exactly, but she would feel curious—how does one go about attracting such attention? And is it impossible to attract just some of it? Just a small, manageable
amount? Or was attention from boys all or nothing, like a tap that, once you’d found it, you could never turn off?
    Elena’s teeth were starting to chatter, and it wasn’t even that cold out. But the cold of the ground had crept through her sleeping bag, through her jeans, through her long underwear
and tights, and settled into her bones.
    “You’ve gotta put something under your sleeping bag,” Gabe said. “Or get off the ground.”
    She looked where his butt must be. He lifted the side of his sleeping bag up. He was sitting on cardboard, two or three pieces.
    “Does that work?” she asked.
    “It helps,” he said.
    “Well, I don’t have a spare box on me . . .”
    Gabe sighed. “Hold my spot.”
    He got up and shuffled out of his sleeping bag, walking down the street and disappearing behind the building. When he came back, he was carrying a few cardboard boxes. Raisinets. Sour Patch
Kids.
    “You take mine,” he said.
    “What?”
    “Move up, unless you don’t want to sit between us. Troy’s an excellent windbreak.”
    Elena shuffled over to Gabe’s pile of boxes, pulling her things with her. Gabe quickly made himself a new nest and settled down again.
    “It does help,” Elena said. “Thanks.”
    She tested her instincts, to see if she felt any less safe sitting between these two strangers than on the end. No. She felt about the same. “You just want
me
to have to