Ben was feeling very grumpy, even though he liked parties. He missed his tree house, and his special room at Ernie's, and running around outside with Bob all day, instead of having to stay inside unless Daddy or another 'dult was with him. Even the thought of seeing Faustus hadn't been able to get him to feel better. He knew Daddy and Ernie had a secret, but they wouldn't tell him and that wasn't fair. He was six now, that was almost grown up.
So he stomped away from Daddy and went to look for Faustus, or Vi, or Ella or Liam, but he couldn't find anyone, and it just made him grumpier. His eyes felt all hot and scratchy, like they did when he cried, but he wasn't going to cry cuz he was six and a big kid now. And big kids didn't cry.
He stomped all over the party, and glared at anyone who looked at him. So what did he care if he was being rude, he didn't wanna be here anyway if his friends were all hiding on him. And he definitely didn't want to go back to Daddy. He wanted to find his friends, but they weren't anywhere. It wasn't fair.
He stomped some more, and finally crawled under a table and hid his face in his knees. There, now he was hiding too, so no one would find him.