All his friends wanted to talk about was the costume. They used Savannah’s basement as their base, and every day someone brought new supplies. Savannah’s mother contributed rolls of brightly colored crepe paper. Bizz found a couple of old sheets to use for the body. Charlie brought tape and magic markers. And on one day, Jonas and X arrived with a box full of cardboard tubes.“Let’s just say my dad wasn’t psyched to see a garbage bag full of unrolled toilet paper in the bathroom,” Jonas answered when asked where they’d gotten such a huge stash.Throughout the preparations, Mark’s brain was in the midst of a war. One side wanted to tell his friends not to make the Dragon. But the other told him to keep his mouth shut. So far, he listened to the second side. Yet as the day of the parade loomed closer, the knot in his stomach drew tighter.By Friday afternoon, they had all the supplies they needed. “Be here first thing tomorrow morning,” Savannah said. “If we get the costume finished this weekend, we can practice using it all next week.”“Where are we going to practice?”
