"Trick or Treat?!" Christiane squeals as I open the door. "Smell my feet, gimme something good to eat!"

She is decked out completely in a Jessica Rabbit costume. The long purple gloves, sequin red dress, black heels, and make-up, make her look like the physical embodiment of the 2D cartoon character.

We both decided beforehand that we would go to this Halloween party as cartoon characters from old cartoons. Our costumes weren't too hard to find after raiding Billy's shop.

"Hey, Chris," I return her hug, laughing at her for being so excited. "Lemme just grab my purse."

She looks me up and down. "What even are you?" she raises a trimmed and drawn eyebrow at me.

"Oh, I'm Betty Boop," spinning in a small circle, I show off my black evening gown with the same strapless, sweetheart top as her. The red heels, long white gloves, and garter with a big red heart add to the authenticity of my costume. "I just haven't put my wig on yet."

"Oh, I see it now," she surveys me again. "Would've been more recognisable if you had on the wig."

I laugh. "I know, just let me grab it and then we can go."

Walking over to the restroom under the staircase, I go to the mirror above the sink. The wig is on a mannequin head on top of the toilet. Hastily grabbing it, I start to put it on my head and adjust it so it fits.

I stop, when I see a purple bruise on my jaw near my ear.

Shit. I must've missed it when I was putting on my make-up.

Immediately reaching in my purse for my compact concealer, I start to dab the bruise with the circular sponge. It hurts a little, and I wince when I touch it.

"Where's Cole?" Christiane stands behind me in the doorway with her arms folded and a vein rising in her forehead. "I heard he drops by here a lot more lately."

I fix the wig. "He's at church with the rest of the town for the Fall Festival. And, that's only because he worries and wants to make sure I'm okay."

"Yeah, right," she mocks. "More like he wants to keep tabs on you and it's easier for him to do personally now that your family is out of town until Sunday."

"Stop it, Christiane," I push past her. "You don't know what you're talking about."

She scoffs. "I don't know what I'm talking about?! How could you say something like that, Christina?!" she follows me. Stomping hard behind me in her heels. "Every now and then, I have to watch you use tons of make-up to cover up bruises and whatever the fuck! And, for what?! I am constantly trying to help you and get you away from him, but you just don't listen!"

"I don't need your help, Chris!" I end up yelling at her. "What goes on between me and Cole is our business alone."

"That's so stupid!"

I walk to the front door and open it again.

"Chris, stop and listen to me!"

I roll my eyes and turn around. "I don't know who this Chris girl is, but it seems to me like she wants to be left alone for a while." I speak in a baby voice.

"Chris, what the fuck?" her face curls in confusion.

"Who is Chris, Jessica?" I ask playing dumb. "The only two girlies here are Jessica Rabbit and Betty Boop."

I take both of her hands in mine and squeeze her fingers. It literally takes all my willpower to keep myself from suddenly bursting into tears.

"Chr..." she frowns and that look in her eyes...

I interrupt her. "Chris, it's Halloween." I remind. "My favorite holiday because for one night out of the three hundred and sixty-five in the year, I can pretend to be someone else. For this one night, I am not the daughter of a soldier, I am not the girl with issues, I am not Cole Cooley's girlfriend. Tonight, I can be Betty Boop. Beloved femme fatale from the thirties and you... " I spin her. "Are the very sexy Jessica Rabbit. Can we just be these two ladies today and not the two girls named Chris?"

Her facial expression morphs from sad, to confused, to thoughtful, to angry, and then finally to seriously determined. She nods her hand and squeezes both my hands very tightly.

"Okay, for tonight, I will go along with this." she grabs her purse off of the now empty end table and walks out the door. "Tonight, we're gonna get drunk and have tons of fun, you got it?!"

"Yes, ma'am." I chuckle as I stumble after her.

I will be eternally grateful to you, Christiane Buckheim. I love you.

I wonder if Christiane was a guy and I met her before I met Cole if I would have dated her instead?

This thought plays over and over in my head as we get into her car. Then I realize that I probably wouldn't have. When I met Cole, he was so charming and kind. Always giving me gifts and showering me with compliments. He didn't make the fact that he wanted sex from me overly apparent and to me this was a breath of fresh air.

It actually wasn't even until the first day of school that he officially asked me out in front of my entire Government class, even though we had already been on 'dates'. At that point, I already knew a few of his friends, I had met his sister, and we had exchanged text and late night phone calls multiple times. Everything was perfect and I had finally found that whirlwind love that my mom and dad had always talked about and that I read about in books.

But, everything changed around a month after that day. Four months or so after we met. He would get angry and come at me whenever I misbehaved. Never showing me mercy. I always apologize and promise that I won't make the same mistakes again, but I always do.

"Wake up, babe," my shoulder is jostled and I jump. "I can't believe you fell asleep almost the moment we got in the car."

I blink at her in disbelief. "I did?" the heavy false lashes weigh down my drowsy eyelids. "Sorry, I guess I haven't been getting much sleep lately and I thought too much."

She snorts. "Leave it to Betty Boop to get tired after thinking too much." after she unbuckles my seat belt for me, she steps out of the car. "Hurry up and get out, we're late!"

"Fine, I'm coming." I laugh. "How did you find out about this 'little get together' anyway?"

"Hey, I go into the city on an almost daily basis," she starts smugly. "It's hella far, but much more fun than that little town we live in." she opens the door to the hotel the party is being held in. "Anyways, thanks to my frequent visits, I met a few people that go to the college on the other side of the city and they invited me to this costume party. I told them about you and how hot you were and they were totally cool with you tagging along."

"Please don't tell me you got us in here through flirting." I lock arms with her as we make our way to an elevator.

The hotel lobby is practically empty save for one guy behind the front desk. When his eyes look up at us from the computer, he smiles widely. We wave, wink, and blow kisses at him, but right when it looks like he is about to say something, the elevator dings and we step in, without waiting for whatever he was about to say.

"Oh, if only I were single," she sighs. "Anyhoozies, to answer your question. Yes, a bit of flirting was involved, but I'm just friends with the people who invited us, most of them are girls anyway."

"I'm choosing to believe you." I chuckle. "How high up is this party anyway?"

She shrugs. "Supposedly one of the girls that invited us is the heiress to this hotel so they are throwing the party on the highest floor in a bar or something."

The elevator stops and a loud ding sounds. As the doors slowly open, the quiet of the elevator is put to a halt as laughter, singing, talking, and just overall revelry takeover the silence. Young people in costumes dancing around and conversing with each other are everywhere in the hall.

"Jessica, you realise that we're seventeen, don't you?" I whisper to her. "We are not supposed to be in a bar."

"Since when are you such a good girl?" she looks at me with mock astonishment.

"Whatever." I roll my eyes. "Nothing good ever happens in a bar. My cousin Ernesto lost his eye in a bar fight."

"Sounds hot." she daydreams. "Betty, we're here to have fun." her use of my character name isn't discreet. "So let's have fun."

The doors to the main room are opened for us by two guys dressed like masked butlers and it's like I'm in a movie. Nearly every pair of eyes in the bar turn to look at us and I'm dumbfounded.

"Are we that late?" I whisper.

Chris laughs. "No, Betty, they're staring because we look hot. Not slutty hot, but bombshell hot."

A chick dressed up like a flapper brings a tray with two flutes of champagne on it. We take them and she leaves with a hop in her step after winking at us in an exaggerated way.

"Wanna dance, ladies?" a pair of twins dressed like Woody and Buzz from Toy Story come up to us. It's so cute how they said that in unison, but I'm not sure about dancing with them.

"Sure," Chris answers quickly. "I'll take Buzz."

She takes his hand and allows the guy in the Buzz costume to lead her away. Buzz Lightyear and Jessica Rabbit having a conversation and dancing. That's not something you see every night.

"Are you gonna dance with me?" Woody tilts his cowboy hat and stares at me patiently.

I drink down the rest of my champagne. "Why the hell not?" I smile leaving my glass on a passing server's tray.

The music blast and I find myself in the middle of the dance floor with Woody the Cowboy. Thoughts on whether or not it's okay for me to be here float through my mind. However, they quickly fade after another couple flutes of champagne.

"What's your name?" Woody ask me.

I laugh. "Tonight, I'm Betty."

<>

"Betty! Betty!" half of the room yells.

"Jessica! Jessica!" the other half screams their heads off.

Somehow, Christiane and I have become the supreme life forces of the party. Now we're in front of the bar taking jello shots. Woody took a shot that was placed on my collarbone and I pecked him on the lips as a congratulations.

The large quantity of alcohol gets to me, but I have a surprisingly high constitution. While the alcohol is effective, it doesn't do all that much -- most likely because I ate so much when Cole finally left my house.

"Another!" Chris yells as she crushes the plastic shot cup in her hand.

This crazy bitch.

"Yeah!" I call in agreement.

This is the most fun I've had in several months and thanks to encouragement from jello shots and Jessica Rabbit screaming in my ear, I now plan to enjoy it fully.

"People, people!" the DJ yells into his microphone. "It is time for karaoke yet again!" a majority of people scream excitedly. "Place your nominations now!"

"Betty & Jessica!" a girl dressed as a bunny yells.

"Yeah!" everyone agrees.

Me and Chris look at one another and giggle. We are totally prepared for this.

"You want lil ol' us to perform?" I ask doing my best Betty Boop.

Whoops and hollers erupt and I playfully plug my ear with my index finger.

"Why not?" Chris takes my hand and we climb up on the bar. "Somebody hand us a couple of mics."

I'm really excited because while we were waiting for Halloween to come, Chris and I had already practised morphing the two songs sang by our characters together. We know exactly what to do.

The moment I get my mic, I clear my throat cutely and the room goes quiet. I look around playfully, chuckle, and start to sing Betty Boop's song 'I Wanna Be Loved By You'.

"I wanna be loved by you, just you,

And nobody else but you,

I wanna be loved by you, alone!

Boop-boop-a-doop!"

Applause and then, Christiane joins in with Jessica Rabbit's 'Why Don't You Do Right'.

"You had plenty money in nineteen twenty-two

You let other women make a fool of you

Why don't you do right like some other men do?"

"I wanna be loved by just you."

As we finish our somewhat erotic performance, people (mostly guys) start to clap and applaud and whistle. My heart flutters. It was more fun than I thought it would be and it went so much better than I thought it would.

Fuck yeah.

"Thank you, everybody," I say into the mic. "Now can some nice fella help me down, I just might fall." my head spins slightly from the booze.

A roar of laughs erupt around us as I give the mic to Chris. Buzz comes up to help Chris get down and Woody comes to help me, but right before he reaches his hand out, another guy comes up. Whispering something in Woody's ear. He successfully gets him to go away.

"Wanna dance with me for the rest of the night?" a dude too handsome for his own good takes my hand and waist and helps me down.

"Definitely."