Ariel offered no parting words to her father, nor did he offer any to her. Simply getting up and walking out of the office as calmly as she could, she shoved her hands into her jacket pockets to keep them from shaking. While Chamberlain had dismissed them to lunch, Ariel didn’t feel any sort of hunger. What she felt was nearly indescribable. It was the feeling she always got around her father. Her stomach tied in a knot, her palms sweaty, a lump in her throat, and her mind racing. No doubt she would have to deal with his anger about having to come to the school later.

Instead of heading towards the lunchroom, Ariel made a beeline for double doors at the end of the hall that led to the outside. Fresh air. That was what she needed right now. Soon Kavi was right behind her as he had pushed open the door for her.

“Well, thank fuck that’s over,” he stated, breathing out one single breath of relief. “If only our fathers knew we had resolved it yesterday. Maybe they could have saved themselves a trip.”

”Trillian Grey never listens to anyone but himself,” she said, her voice hostile. ”I could have told him not to come a thousand times and he still would. Because that's what he does. That's Trillian.

Kavi laughed as they made it outside the front office. “If you forgive me for saying this,” he paused, looking at Ariel, “I really wanted to punch the fuck out of his face.” He admitted with only a little shame, if not because he was Ariel’s father and while he didn’t like Trillian one bit, he did like Ariel a great deal.

Oh, the bittersweet irony. How many times over the years had Ariel laid in her bed wishing someone would come and punch her father square in his face. But for some odd reason that she couldn’t really figure out, Ariel didn’t want Kavi to do that. ”I wouldn’t advise that Kavi,” she said as she stopped walking, looking him in the eye.

It took Kavi a short moment to see that Ariel had stopped. “What? You don’t think I could take him?” He joked, a smile on his face.

”No. Because he'd h-” Because he'd hurt you like he did me. ”Because has the type of guy to press charges. He'd have so many lawyers on your ass it isn't funny. He has to many connections in this town. The man can get away with just about anything he wants.”

As he stood there, Kavi was starting to think those rumors that Nikki told him about were more than just rumors. The way she spoke about Trillian wasn’t how a daughter should speak about her own father. He didn’t know what, but he knew one thing: there was something Ariel wasn’t telling him and he intended to find out what it was, but he knew he had to tread carefully. There was no telling what her reaction could be if he was too blunt about it.

Taking another short moment, he just let out a small breath, sighing more to himself. “Even men with connections get brought down. Just look at what happened with Harvey Weinstein. A big powerful man in Hollywood and he was brought to his knees in the eyes of the public,” Kavi reminded her. “And if he tries to come at me, well, then I’ll just have to come at him harder.” Always the confident one, Kavi showed no fear when it came to what may or may not happen to him at the hands of Trillian Grey.

”Kavi. You don’t understand. Do you have any idea how many times I’ve seen my father wiggle out of the most stickiest of situations? How many times he’s slipped a couple of hundreds into someone else's hand? And as if he didn’t have financial influence over people, he has his mind games.” She took a deep breath, her mind racing.

Ariel knew what she said didn’t really make any sense to Kavi. But she couldn’t just outright tell him one of her biggest secrets, could she?

”The point is - you aren’t hitting my father. There’s no reason for you to. What you have seen back there was just him being his normal self. He’s known to be an asshole sometimes.”

“Do you know who you’re talking to? I mean, everyone says how much of a douchebag I can be. My broken nose is the consequence of it.” Kavi pointed to his nose, smiling to prove his point. “Besides, I don’t like the way he treats you. He had no problem belittling you in front of not only my father but the fucking principal of our school. Even if I were to face assault charges, it would be worth it just to know I got a good shot in.”

”I just really don’t want to see you get hurt, okay? While you know how to pack a punch, so does he. You might be a douche, he might be a douche. You can throw fists, so can he. But when it comes down to it at the end of the day, you will never be the monster he is.” It took her a moment to realize what she had said, her face getting hot.

Something was up, Kavi could see it. The way she was talking about her father and just how worried she seemed about how her father might hurt him caused the teen to raise an eyebrow not out of suspicion but curiosity and concern. “Ariel, is everything okay?” He asked, a hand on her shoulder for comfort. “I’m here for you, I hope you know that. We’re friends now or whatever you wanna call it.” He smiled at her. “Or if you don’t want to, we don’t have to. We can just go somewhere and hang out. Either way, I’m here for you.”

Ariel took a deep breath. Was Kavi the best person to trust with this? Perhaps not, but Ariel could think of a lot worse people to tell her secret to. She bit down on her bottom lip before speaking. ”Remember that one time I broke my arm at soccer practice when I was eight, but I didn't play soccer, but no one questioned it? Or that time I broke two of my ribs when I was thirteen practicing a new dance move that I showed you I had perfected just two days before? All of those random wrist sprains or all of the bruises that just come and go? Remember how I flipped out on you for no reason when you suddenly grabbed my arm at Santiago's party?” She was going to say more but had to stop, her voice getting thick. She felt her face getting hot, and he vision blurring as her eyes filled with tears. Was Kavi going to solve the puzzle, or was she going to have to outright say it?

“It must’ve been difficult for you to keep this a secret for so long.” He finally spoke, looking at her and taking her hands into his, squeezing them only enough so she would know that he wasn’t going anywhere. “I’m here for you, Ariel. I’m not going anywhere. If you want to get the hell out of here, I’ll get us an Uber to meet us around the corner and we can ditch the rest of the day. Or we can go to the cafeteria and I’ll buy you as many slices of extra cheese pizza with cheese-stuffed garlic knots. Or whatever you need, I’m going to be right next to you. You’re not alone, Ariel.”

Ariel had to take deep uneven breaths now as she tried to calm her nerves. Kavi didn’t take off back through the doors and charge after her father. Rather the tears coming down were a product of having this weight removed off her shoulders or because she was scared of what to come, she didn’t know. She removed one of her hands from Kavi’s grasp, clasping it over her mouth to keep from being to loud - something that didn’t come without practice. She couldn’t help it. Before Ariel even realized what she was doing, the young woman had her face buried in Kavis chest.

”I… d-don’t feel l-like eating right n-n-now,” she managed.

Kavi reacted as he only knew how: he wrapped his arms around Ariel and embraced her tight. He heard the sounds of her whimper become muffled into his school uniform and he ran a hand up and down the back of her head, patting her black hair softly. As they sat on a bench that was a bit away from the cafeteria but still outside in the sunshine, Kavi continued to comfort her.

“Just let it all out,” he said softly, “I’m not going anywhere.”

Truth be told, the poor brunette was finding herself lost in everything that was happening, she was struggling to just keep track of who came and went. In the span of what felt like an eternity for her, a few others came and went from the general area. She surprisingly remembered the names even if the faces were like blurs. Someone named XiXi and another named Reli. She also remembered something about the second one being an idiot? God, it was confusing and difficult to remember everything she heard come from April and Chanel. Again, she had mentally tried to do everything within her power to not become a victim of the overwhelming feeling passing through her.

And boy was Stella finding herself lucky that XiXi, who she couldn't help but notice was very pretty, left with another person who was easy on the eyes.

By the time she even realized what was happening, Stella parked it next to Chanel. She only knew Chanel from being on the same cheerleading squad and even then the times she talked to her was minimal at most, which brought Stella down a bit. She tried to be as nice to just about anyone who crossed her path. She knew some found it a little weird and annoying, but she never let it get to her. And she had heard some ...frightening things about Chanel. Stranger thing was Chanel never showed that to Stella. Maybe it was her own innocence that blinded her. Honestly, she wasn't sure. Thinking back on a lot of things, she wasn't quite sure exactly what to believe. For the moment, however, she thought Coco was nice. She wouldn't want to jinx it. Stella Lambert didn't do confrontation well.

As Stella just sat there, almost deer in the headlight-like eyes darting from Chanel and Julie, she felt like the fish out of water. Still, that didn't stop her from giving both of them a smile. "How bad is it? Will I need a new skirt?" She asked, again her head going left to right then back to the left when she would look to both Chanel and Julie.

"Okay, Georgie," Carter said with a slight tilt of his head and a half-smile, relieved that the girl had so easily welcomed him to her table. "And yeah, I feel you. Roberts can be very... difficult every now and then." Soon after Carter said this, the young man picked up one of his beef empanadas and took a large bite out of the side. It was only after he'd started to dab at the corners of his mouth with a napkin that he noticed the yearning look upon Georgie's face. Carter then took a quick peek at what the girl had bought for her own lunch: a cheese burger and a cup of cold looking fries. The young man shuddered at the thought of having to go through the line and purchase the food that the lunch ladies had to offer them; he figured that he'd much rather wait until he got home to eat than waste money on a meal he'd have to force down.

"Sorry, but that smells delicious... where did you get it from?" Georgia suddenly said, and Carter couldn't help but smile at her blunt curiosity. And, after all, she wasn't wrong; the empanadas did smell and look great, so he didn't really blame her for wanting to find out where he'd gotten them from.

"Mi madre made them for me," Carter said with a shrug of his shoulders. "Usually it's just leftovers from whatever we ate the night before, but since we didn't have any family dinners this weekend she just cooked these last night before she went to bed. She knows that I don't like the food here, so..." Carter let his voice trail off as he stared at the Tupperware in front of him. His mom had shoved six empanadas into the plastic container, and although he'd originally planned to devour every single one of them, he suddenly decided that he could spare a couple. Without much hesitation, Carter pushed the container in front of Georgia's own tray. "You're not allergic to cheese or tomatoes or anything, are you? I don't wanna have to call an ambulance or anything like that." The boy asked with a raised eyebrow, "Cause if not, you're welcome to try a few."

After a decent amount of their lunch hour being wasted of playing with each other’s food, flinging condoms at the nerds who had their backs turned, and general tomfoolery, the duo unanimously known as Dumb and Dumber departed from their usual table. When they left the cafeteria, they wandered around for a bit. Some of the time spent walking was accompanied by talking and some of it was just fooling around by running and playing a game of ‘dodge the student in front of you’.

That game only lasted five minutes when Sonny bumped into someone, effectively losing said game. Marisol being Marisol would obviously gloat in his face and Sonny obviously being sonny was pouting until they reached their usual hangout spot, which is to say the spot they got high at. And of course, it was none other than the upper levels of the bleachers overlooking the football stadium. It was relatively far enough from any prying eyes and it was the right amount of privacy that the two enjoyed, at least until someone discovered where they were. For now, Sonny and Marisol would enjoy the peace and quiet.

While Marisol was getting herself situated, Sonny took to his phone. He had felt his phone vibrate in his pocket when they were having lunch but he couldn’t be bothered to check it. Now, however, he was catching up. Some notifications were about his phone being updated, new features and updates on existing features, meanwhile the rest were from his social media pages -- mainly Twitter and Instagram.

Sonny glanced up from his phone, seeing Marisol light a blunt. This immediately took his full attention away from his cell phone screen and to the familiar scent of burning kush. “I thought you quit after smashing Vic’s car?” He asked her, a slight chuckle following.

Marisol shrugged her shoulders, a mischievous grin on her small face. "It's weed, Son, not crack cocaine. It relaxes me," she explained, taking a deep pull from the strawberry-flavored blunt and offering it to the boy. "You want some? Got it from Carter the other day, so you know it's legit."

“From Carter, huh? Yeah, I’ll take some of that quality MJ from our local dealer,” he smiled, taking the joint into his right index finger and thumb, taking one inhale. “Whoa!” Sonny exclaimed in the sudden scent and slight taste of fruity strawberry. “I did not expect a burst of strawberry. I guess Carter’s been sampling some e-cigs and decided to copy it for his weed.”

The young woman gave an amused chuckle. "It's the blunt that gives it the flavor, you dumb shit!" she exclaimed, lightly punching Sonny's arm while grabbing the blunt from his hands and taking another puff.

He rolled his eyes. “I’m sorry, I haven't obtained my doctorate in Joint Making, but you apparently have. So fill me in: how exactly does one infuse fruity flavors into pieces of paper?” Sonny asked the perfect balance of sincerity and smartassness in his voice. Only moments later, he would feel his phone vibrate in his pocket.

"I don't fucking know," the brunette scoffed, rolling her eyes but smirking to let her friend know she wasn't annoyed. She noticed Sonny pulling out his phone from his pocket, and pointed at the device with her chin. "You have your phone in your hand: fucking Google that shit. I'm not an encyclopedia."

“Uh huh,” Sonny nodded, though he didn’t actually hear what she was saying.

Truth be told, he was more concerned by the continuous friend request he’s been getting by one person. Even as Marisol kept talking, Sonny’s eyes never left his phone. He was trying to figure out exactly why this person looked so familiar and why she seemed so adamant on adding him to his Insta.

Realizing that Sonny was ignoring her, Marisol scoffed again, muttered something under her breath and went back to smoking her blunt. Her green eyes scanned the empty greens of the football field as she took each drag, letting the distant sounds of the school fade away into background noise and feeling all the muscles in her body start to relax. It was only after she’d consumed three-quarters of her blunt that the girl realized her friend hadn’t said a single word for the past few minutes.

"The fuck's got you so damn quiet all of a sudden?" she finally burst out, scooting as close to him as she could and snatching his phone from his hand. Laughing gleefully, Mari took a peek at the device's screen and her smile immediately turned into a confused, curious frown. "Daniella Aguilar… Who the fuck is Daniella Aguilar?" the girl asked Sonny, one arm extended towards her friend to hand him back his phone and her other demanding hand resting on her hip.

“Hell if I know. She’s been sending me friend requests all over my socials for over a month. No mutuals or anything,” Sonny rolled his eyes. “I wish I did know her so I knew why the fuck she keeps sending me requests.” As he spoke, Sonny just had noticed how genuinely bothered by it she was.“You’re not jealous, are you?” He asked her, nudging her shoulder. “I mean, she is pretty cute.” He said teasing her again in the way only Sonny could do without fail.

For what seemed like the millionth time that day, Marisol scoffed and rolled her eyes at Sonny. "You fucking wish!" she cried out, forcing out a laugh and lightly shoving him. "You remember where being jealous of someone got me the last time? Miss me with that gay shit again, man. I'm over that."

“You’re the one who didn’t seem happy that I was getting a request from this Daniella person. But hey, whatever makes you sleep at night.” As he shrugged, his eyes and, as a result, his mind went back to the mysterious Latina girl that was sending him requests. “So, like, what should I do? Accept it? If I do that, she’ll probably DM me or track me down cause, as you know, I’m not exactly secretive on my socials. Geotagging everywhere I go and shit.”

“You think you’re fucking Justin Bieber or something? Sonny, nobody in their right mind is going to stalk you. They wouldn’t last five fucking minutes around you: trust me. At one point you’re just gonna drop one of your typical dumbass comments and the stalker will be so shook that they’ll have to say something.”

“I know I’m not Justin Bieber,” Sonny said to Marisol, looking at her with a smile. “I’m a lot hotter than that delinquent is.”

“Sure, Jan.”

As he was never one to lack confidence in himself, Sonny let the smirk on his face last for a moment longer before returning to the topic at hand. “But for real, this chick isn’t taking no for an answer.”

Marisol let out a frustrated sound. “Then stop being a little bitch, accept the damn request and just get it over with already. There’s always the ‘Block’ button and a restraining order if they turn out to be a creep.”

Again he rolled his eyes. “Can’t you just be supportive of my crisis?” He asked, almost in a whining-like manner, which was a total feigning moment for him.

"Not when it's over something so stupid. Since when is the Tony Stark-levels-of-arrogant Sonny Drake intimidated by some cute random chick's friend request? Go on, bitch: accept the damn thing."

As he just stared at the request, he went to her profile and scrolled through some photos. He didn’t know if she just found him appealing or if it was something more, but Marisol was right about one thing: he accepts it and if they’re creepy or something close to it, he can just block them. Not like there’s a lot that can happen. Worse case, he blocks them and that’s the end of that.

And in a matter of moments, Sonny clicked accept. “There, it’s done. Happy?”

"If it gets you to finally shut the fuck up about it, then yes: I'm happy." Mari admitted briskly, taking the last puff out of her consumed blunt before putting it out against the sole of her shoe. “I don’t get what the big deal is. She probably just wants to get with you.”

He shook her head at her. “I thought you said weed relaxes you? You’re very unrelaxed right now. You got something going on that you haven’t shared with the class yet?” Sonny curiously asked.

“I’m fine,” the girl snapped, pulling her phone out of her pocket and cursing under her breath when she noticed the time. “Fuck, I forgot to take my pills. Let me just-” she trailed off, digging into her backpack in search of the key to her sanity. However, just as her hands wrapped around the prescription bottle she was so furiously searching for, she felt her phone vibrating in her pocket. And when she pulled it out to see what was going on, the brunette’s expression shifted from one of annoyance to one of sheer delight.



“Oh thank fucking Christ!” Marisol muttered, breathing out a sigh of relief she didn’t even know she was holding in the first place. It was then when it dawned on her that this had been the real reason why she’d been so snappy the past few hours, and not because of the missed pill. The texts from Salem proved to her that things between them hadn’t been messed up beyond repair after their night together after all. Instead, they were going on with business as usual.

What a goddamned relief.



While she went through her phone, Sonny felt the need to go through his one last time. He might as well do some researching on who exactly Daniella Aguilar was. It wasn’t easy because simply Google searches proved to useless. The only thing that Sonny had to go off of was the singular Instagram account and even that left a lot to be desired for. Some photos of her and some memes, but nothing that would scream who she was to him and why she was insistent on having him on Instagram.

Meanwhile, Marisol’s phone vibrated again with another stream of texts from Salem that lifted her already-heightened mood.



Sonny pocketed his phone and leaned over, his head resting on her shoulder and he saw the texts her and Salem were exchanging. Quickly, he snatched her phone like she had done to him. “Oh, well isn’t this the cutest thing I’ve ever read!” Sonny teased her as he stood up. “ ‘Oh Salem, I loooooveee youuuu’ !” He teased her again, speaking in his best Marisol imitation he could muster with an exaggeration on the feminine aspect. He would then follow it with kissy face noises and with the puckered lips to boot.

“Give that back, you piece of shit!” the red-faced girl cried out, visibly annoyed but letting out a round of nervous laughter.

Sonny stepped back a couple of feet, reading through their texts. “Damn, you two really are sappy, huh?” He laughed his way along the top of the bleachers.

“Fuck you,” she snapped, following Sonny along the bleachers on the hunt for her phone. When she finally reached him, she snatched the device from his hands and walked back to get her belongings, praying that the heat in her face subsided.

He was still laughing when she snatched back her phone and he looked at her, seeing the noticeable tomato red cheeks. “You’re actually blushing, aren’t you? Oh, this is just too great. You must have it bad for the Italian bean.” Sonny was genuinely amused by this sudden development. Even if she tried to deny it, the writing was all over her cheeks.

“Number one: it’s a beanstalk, not a mere bean. The dude’s fucking hung, if you know what I mean,” the girl called out, stomping back in Sonny’s direction with both their backpacks in her arms. “And number two: I don’t have it bad for anyone. He was just a good lay. That’s all there is to it.” Mari finished, pushing the boy’s backpack hard against his chest.

He grunted from that hit. She was small, but being the daughter of Soleil Jameson, Marisol Castillos sure could pack a punch. After he recovered, a smile was thrown her way, followed by more chuckling. “Sure Jan, whatever you say. If you say you don’t got it bad for him, then I believe you.” Of course, Sonny didn’t actually believe her but if she had to tell herself she didn’t have a genuine ounce of romantic feelings for him, then he’ll let her think he believed her.

The sound of the bell signaling the end of their lunch period stopped Marisol from retaliating against her best friend. So for the sake of keeping their newly established peace, the short girl merely shook her head, linked her arm with Sonny’s, and together they made their way back into the high school building of King’s Academy.

Kavi’s life had improved immensely when he was finally able to get the nose cast off of his face. After two weeks of having to struggle with that clunky cast on his face, after an early morning appointment on the 21st that caused him to miss the first two periods of school, Kavi’s doctor finally removed it and he was able to feel his nose again. It was one of those moments that he wanted to savor. He had taken the freeing moment of being able to scratch his nose whenever and however he wanted. Even though it still was a little tender, it was healed and the first thing he did when they left the doctor’s office was scratch it and rub it like a lamp.

Throughout that week, amid enjoying life a lot more than he had been, Kavi thought about a lot of things that were happening as of late. Not counting how the school administration, much to the displeasure of the student body and their student administration led by President Bailey, had decided not to throw a Halloween-themed dance, which they cited Homecoming as the reason why none of the students deserved it. As understandable as it was, Kavi simply didn’t agree. There was a need for some kind of party. He hadn’t heard really much of anything about anyone throwing such a party. So, after school on the 22nd, after there was a section of the morning announcements dedicated to this subject, that’s he decided right then and there to throw his name into the empty hat even though he wasn’t exactly sure how the fuck he was going to manage it on short notice, but he enjoyed a good challenge.

Throughout the day, Kavi had been going to just about everyone he could: The Misfits group who he frequently hung out with (though not as much recently due to his current relationship status with Ariel), the Unholy Trinity plus Aaliyah, Stella, the nerds he previously tormented, the jocks, the other group he belonged to. He went to them for both help and to get a headcount of who he should expect. Surprisingly, Kavi’s reputation among his senior class was a lot higher than he thought it was. He figured, given his short stint as the resident bully and overall his previous casanova ways, Kavi wasn’t well liked but everyone he talked to (well most of everyone) received him well.

As he would go home that same day, it seemed all the chips were falling where they needed because his mother told him that she and Kai were going to be out of town starting tomorrow and all the way to Sunday. At the moment that conversation was happening, he did everything he possibly could to refrain from jumping out of his seat from the pure joy. And when they explained that Kavi’s grandfather was sick and they needed to fly to Sydney to be with him for a few weeks, Kavi was soon given the explanation that he and his sister were to remain home. Kavi was old enough to drive them to and from home and there was enough food and money left on the emergency credit card so they didn’t run out of money.

And in that moment, aside from giving his parents his most convincing face of well-wishes for his grandfather, he was already thinking about what he was going to use that money for: party favors, costume, getting his college cousin to buy him alcohol, pay for a DJ, and, of course, hire some security to ensure no cops got through (or at least would give them a heads up for when the cops would arrive). He was so giddy that on Friday, the day before the party, Kavi was the happiest he had been.

At lunch, Kavi sent a mass-invite text that read as followed:


Following that text and the next couple of hours, Kavi had a busy twenty-four to twenty-seven hours to prepare and prepare he did. At the end of it, though his parents’ house was pre-decorated with minimal Halloween decorations (some spider webs and the like) along the pathway, Kavi’s connections with some of the theater nerds, was enough to add some style. Flashing lights with some eerie sound effects gave the allure of a legit Halloween atmosphere and fog machines to act as the smoke to even further the vibe of horror. The strobe lights and sounds were motion sensor-activated, so whenever someone stepped foot within ten feet of the front door, immediately the greeted by that and gargoyle props that would prop up, roaring in the faces of those who wished to enter. The door itself was concealed by a heavy layer of fake spider webs made from thinly cut cotton and lightly brushed with black and orange to match the classic Halloween theme.

And when one rung the doorbell, it was even replaced with a sequence of demonic laughs instead of your typical doorbell ding. Kavi wanted to go all out. When he hosted a party, it was one to remember, but the front outside was only the start.

Once inside, Kavi’s house wasn’t even recognizable. At every corner, there are trails of spider webs, decorations for the staircase rail laced with lights and fake blood fur. Ornaments of skulls, bats, pumpkins, and more skulls, bats, and pumpkins were all around from the foyer to the kitchen, and all the way to the back patio entrance. Refreshments could be found both inside and outside since Kavi liked to cover all of his bases before stepping up to bat. All of the liquid refreshments were alcohol and found in a tombstone-shaped cooler with green ice keeping the bottles and cans as cold as possible, dirt cake and finger food galore were found along with another table beside the beverage table. Anything from blood jello shots to various alcohol drinks were made available as well. Green, fruit-flavored punch rests on a table in a black cauldron-like bowl (along with a non-alcoholic brother bowl of the same stuff).

Outside, aside from more of the same refreshments being made available, Halloween-themed activities like apple bobbing, “Halloween Shot Challenge”, in which one would take as many shots as they can handle within a short time limit of one minute. Others include a bobbing alternative that’s not apples. Instead of apples, Kavi bought a bunch of brownie mix, stirred it up until it was a paste-like consistency so that it resembled dirt and put a bunch of gummy worms in it, dubbed “Worm Bob”. Additional games set up include a Halloween-themed beer pong.

“Done with some time to spare!”

With all the planning done and the party just an hour away, he had just enough time to put the final preparations on his costume of a construction worker and text Ariel to way before anyone else was set to arrive. The DJ had started to play the music, with a mix of horror-themed bops, classic renditions of horror themes with lyrics, and just overall any song that fit the vibe of Halloween was included in the playlist.

Just a moment later, the doorbell rang and, as Kavi would open it up, the first wave of party guests flew in.

“Welcome! Glad you could make it,” Kavi greeted them with a smile, “and glad the display outside didn’t scare you pussies off." He laughed his way into another smile.

It was around eight o'clock in the evening when Carter pulled into the driveway of the Fielders residence. He was tapping his fingers on the bottom of the steering wheel and bobbing his freshly styled head to the sounds of Jay-Z and Kanye West that were pumping loudly through the speakers of his cherry red Lexus. Halloween had always been a favorite holiday of Carter's; In fact, the older Carter grew, the closer Halloween got to dethroning Christmas as his favorite holiday. Ever since he found out the shocking truth about Santa Claus, Christmas slowly but surely began to lose its magic. Halloween, on the other hand, had many characteristics that made it such a unique and enjoyable day. From the spooky decorations, to the costumes, to the concept of Trick-or-Treating as a whole, Halloween was surely hard for Carter to hate. Due to this, it came as no surprise to anyone in Carter's household when he decided to go all out and get a bit creative with his Halloween costume. He'd gotten his suit custom made, had his hair cut into the necessary style, let his mother apply a bit of makeup, and had even spent a considerable amount of money on a brand new electric guitar to complete the ensemble. Now, he was more than ready to spend the rest of his Halloween night at Kavi Salvador's party.

After putting his car into park, Carter picked up his cell phone and sent a quick text message to Georgia Fielders, the girl who'd agreed to tag along with him to the party over school lunch. "I'm outside," the boy subconsciously spoke aloud as his fingers glided across his cell phone screen, "You ready to go?" Carter then tossed his phone back into its spot in the cup holder before taking those few minutes he'd have to wait for Georgia to arrive to touch up his hair and makeup in the mirror.

Georgie tidied up her suit jacket and pulled her tie tight before she admired herself in the mirror. Her hair was tucked up in a low bun and she’d drawn a mustache across the top of her upper lip. Along with the crisp white shirt she was wearing, the beautiful top hat that she’d won in a bidding war on Ebay against chappielover7, and the cane she’d borrowed from her grandpa, she was pretty happy with her choice of costume. She’d always loved Charlie Chaplin and her brother Roggie always did a spot on impression of the comedian. She applied a quick layer of mascara and grabbed her buzzing phone before she headed out of the door. Along the way out she sent a quick photo of her outfit to her family group chat and waved at Carter who she saw through the driver’s window of his car.

Moving closer to the vehicle she rounded it to reach the shotgun seat and climbed in, smiling at Carter’s costume as she did so. Man was that great, Georgie even spotted the guitar in the back. Too bad she didn’t bring her camera, she was sure that Carter would’ve made for a pretty photoshoot. ”Thanks for picking me up! My friends don’t usually show up to these sorts of things. They just take a picture of their costume and go trick treating like 5 year olds. Not that I have a problem with that but just...well, it’s a party and I’d like to go. It was nice of you to invite me along for the ride there.” Georgie confessed and shrugged. ”Your outfit is great though!”

Carter couldn't help but crack a smile as Georgie spoke, and it was when she mentioned trick-or-treating that he reached around to the back of his seat and pulled out a large plastic bag full of candy. "Nothing wrong with embracing your inner 5 year old sometimes," the young man said as he sat the bag in her lap and shifted his car in reverse, "I made my rounds before I came to pick you up. You won't believe how much candy these old, rich couples give out." Soon, they were on their way to the Salvador residence; as usual, Carter sped down the road without a care in the world. "I like your costume too, by the way. Charlie Chaplin... that's pretty creative."

Georgie’s eyes widened as she looked at the bag of candy, her hands reaching almost of their own accord towards the goodies.
”I absolutely aspire to be you one day, you know that, Carter?” She reached a hand into the bag and closed her eyes. Georgie had always liked surprises, especially ones involving candy. Her fingers slipped around a small box and she brought it out. Nerds! She loved them...well, she loved all candy. As she opened the box and poured some out in her hand she sneaked a peek at Carter. He looked so happy, so carefree. She guessed that they were alike in that way. She’d heard things about him, of course, but maybe she didn’t want to believe it. She was all for having fun but if it turned dangerous, she’d much rather stay away. Knocking herself out of her thoughts she responded to Carter: ”Thank you! I love Charlie Chaplin, he never ceases to make me laugh.” Georgie smiled as she remembered back to her childhood, when she’d sat on the couch between her brothers and watched as her parents smiled at them as they laughed, imitated good ol’ Chaplin and threw popcorn at each other. But that was gone. Georgie’s smile slipped off her face if only for an instant before she shook out another handful of Nerds and offered them to Carter. ”Want some?”

"Nah, I actually think I've had more than enough candy for tonight," Carter said, shaking his head and letting out a brief chuckle. Although Carter mostly had his attention focused on the road, he certainly hadn't missed the way Georgie's smile had momentarily faltered; after a quick internal debate, Carter decided that he'd try to figure out exactly what was going on in that head of hers. "Seems like you spaced out for a sec, though. Something on your mind?"

Georgie tossed the Nerds into her own mouth instead and stared out the side window at the road going by them. “Ah, it’s nothing...It’s probably just nostalgia.” Georgie brushed off his question. Though glad that he had cared enough to ask her (and quite surprised that he’d noticed something was wrong) she didn’t want to talk about it to anyone yet...she never did. Georgie remained silent, something unlike of her to do and waited for Carter to do something, anything at all to distract her.

Not wanting to pry any further, Carter simply accepted her answer, nodded his head and continued his drive down the road. They were just a little ways away from the Salvador residence when the sudden silence began to bother him; It was when Carter decided to turn the radio back on that this silence ceased. Soon after, the sound of Michael Jackson's voice filled the air, and his all too familiar tune began to play through the car speakers. Almost instantly, Carter began to smile and tap his fingers along to the beat. He paused to say, "looks like everyone's in the Halloween spirit tonight," before finally giving in and singing with the music. Though being very off-key, Carter grinned even wider and turned up the volume; he only stopped singing to take a quick peek at his passenger, his eyes practically prompting her to sing along.

Georgie realized how awkward it all was but couldn’t bring herself to speak. Her shy side didn’t come out often, but when it did she was brought almost always to great embarrassment because of it. Suddenly the familiar beginning tones of Thriller spilled out of the car’s speakers and Georgie felt a grin creeping across her face. She’d used to dance to this as a kid and embarrassingly so. In fact, she was pretty sure there was a hometape of the concert she’d done for her class back then. She started to tap her foot to the beat before she turned to catch Carter’s eyes and his comment. Shaking her head, Georgie couldn’t resist the urge to sing along, finally giving into temptation and belting out the song lyrics with Carter. Somewhere between the pauses in the song she managed to slip in a quiet ”Thank you, Carter”

Soon, the pair had arrived at their destination; Carter parked his car on the side of the road, only finally cutting the engine when the song had finished playing. "It's really no problem," the boy said as he leaned over and grabbed his guitar from the back seat. And after one final glance in his mirror, Carter turned to Georgie with a wide grin plastered across his face, and said, "Now, you ready to go get this party startled?"

Halloween was never Sonny’s favorite holiday. To him, it wasn’t even a holiday. There wasn’t a big deal about it in the press aside from the warning he saw about crazy teens in masks causing trouble in the suburbs of Palm Beach and Miami, but there was never any celebration to be had. The only thing about Halloween that was noteworthy was the excuse for the women aged from high school ages to mid-20s to dress as slutty as they wanted, though obviously the latter would have a bit more leeway on account of the legality of it all. But the fact remained that Sonny wasn’t exactly hyped for it.

So, imagine his absolute displeasure when he was approached by Kavi about a Halloween party being held at his parents’ house on Saturday. It wasn’t as though Sonny was entirely disappointed by the news. Parties were fun but the fact that he had to put the extra effort into a costume wasn’t the high point of his week. Still, Sonny wasn’t not going to get a costume, but if he was going to do the whole costume thing, everyone should expect the resident class clown (or so he thought he was) to one up just about everyone else. There was no way in hell Sonny Drake was going to skimp out on anything. He was going to make it a memorable costume, one that he and everyone else will be talking about.

When the week proceeded as planned and every day seemed to blend into each other, Sonny had been slow at work for his costume. See he knew to stand out, he would need some help. And for the idea he had, he wasn’t going to need just anybody’s help. Oh no, Sonny needed to bust out the big guns, so he phoned someone who knew exactly what he needed to dress to impress.

And as his bedroom door would open, when he turned around, Sonny sighed out, though he turned a neutral expression into a slight grin. “Took you long enough. You do realize I have to get everything ready in less than five hours, right?”



As the door closed, a smug Drea walked past Sonny as she set the makeup kit in her hand on his desk. “Yes hello Andrea. How nice to see you,” she said, feigning a Sonny voice. “Oh, I’m good. How about you? Yeah good too.” She spoke, talking for her ungrateful brother as well as for herself.

Sonny rolled his eyes. “If I wanted to be mocked by my older sister, I would have just shared one of my best memes.” He approached his desk, giving Drea a reluctant hug. She, however, had other ideas and forced him to give her a proper hug (much to his disappointment). “Jesus, okay let me go, you wild animal!”

She giggled her way through a smile as she gestured her brother to sit down in the chair. As he did (and begrudgingly at that), she opened up her makeup kit, a mirror showing the often unflattering mug of SOnny’s. She made sure to get out everything she needed: concealer, mascara, and other general beauty items to help transform his face into something resembling anything decent.

“Are you sure about this?” She asked before she started to apply the makeup.

“I wouldn’t have called you if I wasn’t. I need to make an impression,” he said with the straightest face he could.

Drea sighed, rolling her eyes. “YOu know, when you called me and said you wanted to go as me for Halloween, I thought it was a joke but hearing just how much you thought about it, I knew this was the only chance I was going to get to turn you into a girl.” A sinister laugh soon followed as she prepared his cheeks with a slight application of skin-colored blush.

“You motivations impress me. Such a mature 19-year-old you are, Andrea.”

“Bet your ass I am!” Drea proudly exclaimed, “now turn your head to the right so I can apply your blush, Miss Drake,” she giggled as Sonny did just as she requested.

And as the hours would go by and as Sonny would soon see himself be transformed into someone he barely recognized, he became lost in the handiwork his sister alone was responsible for. Whether she was proud that she accomplished such a feat of being able to make Sonny Drake, a boy who was often made fun of for his rat face by his enemies/people who hated his guts, was not someone who was as close to being a girl as one could without actually going the whole nine yards.

To his own surprise, Sonny was smiling and turned back to Drea with the same smile. “Well done, Drea. You actually did something right for once!” The genuine appreciation in his voice was shocking even for him.

As he leaned closer into the mirror, getting a better look of himself, Drea sat down on his bed. He could see her amused grin as he further examined just how pretty he was.

“Careful now. You don’t want to fall in love with this version of yourself,” she warned, waving her finger as she taunted him, her laugh soon following.

Sonny turned around, just glaring at his still-smiling sister. Only for a moment did it linger, but soon it left as she too would get up. “C’mon, Ms. Drake,” she teased, “let’s find you a cute outfit to wear!”

---

---

Sonny--Sonia--Drake pulled up to Kavi’s house. He half-expected some sort of display of horror cheer, but to his surprise, there was actually a fair amount of detail thrown into the presentation. It was almost as though Kavi took it seriously. Either that or he wanted to just impress people. Must be why they were friends because both went all out for the party. While Kavi made sure to put all of his energy into the outward and possible inward presentation, Sonia was ready to shock and awe everyone for how much work he put into his own Halloween presentation.

Finally, as he decided he was ready to showcase all the hard work his sister went into making sure he was as pretty as she could make him, strutting in heels, Sonny stepped down from his truck, put the alarm on, and knocked on the door three times.

“Welcome to the--” Kavi’s voice fell flat as his half-opened mouth froze upon seeing Sonny. “--You’re kidding me…”

Purposely, Sonny pushed up his bra, further selling the mirage of his getup. “Are you going to invite me in, big boy?” Sonny asked Kavi, upping his voice a few octaves as though he was trying his best to emulate Drea’s voice.

Kavi, who was doing everything he could to not burst into laughter, stepped to the side. “Ladies first,” he said, gesturing Sonia inside.

As Sonny would past his old friend, he punched Kavi hard in the chest, knocking the host of the party back a few paces.

Sonny just made his way in, taking in the atmosphere. He adjusts his wig, pushed up his bra, and strutted as only Sonia Drake could.

“Time to shake my thang!”