Before I knew it, it was the week before Halloween.

As I strolled the school halls I heard tell of a Halloween party on Sunday night, the day of, hosted at the house of one Christopher Watson.

Chris and I had gone to school together since kindergarten. He was always loud and obnoxious, the kind of guy who would get the entire class punished for acting out because he never understood when enough was enough. Judging from the way he acted now, I wasn’t so sure he had matured much since I’d left.

He just turned his assholery into something more productive- being the high school equivalent of a frat bro and hosting a party whenever he could. (Supposedly.)

He was lucky that his house was so close to the woods that he never really had to worry about noise complaints or not having enough space. Better to throw a party where the party can spill over out of the yard and into the forest than one where everyone’s so tightly packed it’s a fire hazard.

However, of all the things I could say about Chris, he was never an asshole to me, which said a lot about his character in my opinion.

He was an asshole in the way that he was obnoxious and always wanted attention, not in the way that he’d shove your head in a toilet or call you names.

He even nodded at me in the hall once or twice when I walked by, and after the first time I didn’t even have to look around to make sure it wasn’t directed at someone just behind me.

Ugh, well, I guess this is a long winded way of saying that I actually got invited to Chris Watson's Halloween party.

Briefly after being invited- not with an invitation because this was one of those parties you wouldn’t want a paper trail of I guess- I immediately worried it would somehow be a Carrie situation, but quickly I managed to calm those fears. (Because of course that would be my first assumption.)

Considering I wasn’t the guest of honor at this random Halloween party and had been invited in passing I figured it wasn’t that, unless it was a downright terrible attempt.

Besides, who douses people in pigs blood anymore? This isn’t the seventies.

Pigs blood or no, I decided it was probably best for me not to go. What was there for me to do at a high school party? I didn’t drink caffeine, much less alcohol. I also didn’t really want to go mingle with my classmates, since I didn’t want anyone to suddenly have a moment of clarity and recognize me as the kid who left four years ago. Besides, I wasn’t exactly what anyone imagined when they said ‘party animal’,  considering my favorite activity was sitting at home on my bed and playing whatever video game I’d been obsessed with that week, and my second favorite activity was being asleep.

But then I got a text.

It was late Thursday night, so late it was actually no longer Thursday night but rather Friday morning, and I had been asleep until my room was illuminated by a bright light and I jumped awake, heart pounding and convinced somehow I was being abducted by aliens or something along those lines until I realized what was going on.

Drowsily, I lowered the brightness and silenced my phone, but before putting it back on my nightstand I actually bothered to look at the text.

It was Sebastian.

On a school night? Dude, you’ve got to go to bed. This is why you’re falling asleep at the library.

‘Are you going to the party Sunday?’

I stared at it for a minute, waiting for my brain to wake up enough to remember what he was talking about.

When it finally did, a full five minutes later, I replied.

‘Not sure yet’

‘Whubarebyku still awake’

‘Wby are you*’

‘Wjy’

‘Ugh nvm’

I tossed my phone screen side down on my bed and rested my head back on my pillow.

Then I felt it buzz. 

‘Cant sleep, don’t worry abt it.’

Yeah, like that’s gonna happen. 

‘Arebyou going 2 the larty ?’ I typed, struggling to keep my eyes open long enough to even hit the right keys.

‘Not sure yet.’

I rolled my eyes. Why’d he even text then?

‘Ok goodbite’

‘8 mean good jight’

‘Whatveer you know whag I mean’

The phone slipped from my hand, falling back onto the pillow. I was asleep before he could even reply.

When I peeled my eyes open the next morning the first thing I did was flip my phone over to see he had replied only moments after I had.

‘Lol.’

‘Goodnight.’

‘Sleep well, Jet.’

The second thing I did that morning was smile.

-

The Friday before Halloween flew by so quickly I barely noticed it. Around half of the students at school were wearing costumes, but I wasn’t. I guess I forgot that people usually dress up for Halloween the last school day before if Halloween lands on a weekend. Whoops, my bad. But even Sebastian wasn’t wearing a costume today, so I was probably off the hook. 

Midway through fourth period did my neck and back began to ache, so I slipped a hand into my backpack and pulled out my usual painkillers, quickly tossing them back with  a sip of water.

Every time I had to take my pain meds in class did I worry someone was watching me and would assume I was doing drugs, but nothing like that had happened yet so I was sure it was fine. Besides, whatever nosy ass kid would see that and snitch would be displeased to know they’d wasted everybody’s time on off-brand Tylenol anyway.

Twenty minutes passed, the bell rang, yet I still ached. My Uncle claimed that off-brand worked as well as regular, but I swear it never did for me. Maybe it was just in my head.

Though just like every day, as I threw my backpack over my shoulder I saw Sebastian approach, gaze warm and focused on me.

“Hey.” I breathed, speaking before he had the chance to.

“Hey.” He smiled. 

“I know I say this like, daily, but I can’t wait for the weekend.” I chuckled, sliding between two desks and walking towards the door.

He laughed. “I don’t blame you, I can’t wait either.”

“Yeah, but you can’t wait because it’s Halloween on Sunday. I can’t wait because I hate school. Different reasons.” I grinned, holding the door open for him to step out after me.

“How dare you assume I don’t hate school. I’m offended. You’ve gravely misjudged my character.” He frowned, crossing his arms in mock offense, but his eyes were shining with amusement.

“Yeah yeah, whatever, Mr. Every-Teacher-Loves-Me-And-I-Do-Tutoring-For-Them.” I joked, rolling my eyes.

He grinned. “What can I say? It’s not my fault teachers like me. Guess I’m just likable.”

“Yeah, whatever.” I laughed, but then we fell silent. 

His grin fell quickly and he closed in on himself, tugging at his hoodie strings as he avoided my gaze. “I know you’re probably busy but I figured I’d ask anyway. Uh, wanna have lunch together today? It’s fine if you can’t I know you have stuff to-“ He started to say, but I cut him off.

“Sure.”

“-do today so it’s not that big of a-oh. Oh! Really? You don’t…you don’t have to if you don’t want to, I don’t mind.” He said nervously, smiling softly. “I don’t want to bother you…”

Wow, what a 180 he pulled here.

From joking banter to suddenly insecure.

I honestly didn’t know why I was saying yes.

I shouldn’t, I should’ve been distancing myself again, but…

Having lunch with him one time wouldn’t kill anybody, probably. Maybe. Potentially.

I just….I dunno. I wanted to keep talking to him.

I mean, what I really wanted to do was take his hand, wrap my arms around him, then pull back and beg him for an explanation for what happened four years ago. I wanted to drag him down to the river and stare at the sky through the trees and reminisce on our wonderful memories together and feel like nothing had ever changed. I wanted to lie next to him on the forest floor like we did when we were kids, I wanted to hold tight to the joy I felt when I was with him, just like I did then. 

But I couldn’t have that.

I was angry with myself for even wanting that, but I did anyway.

But I…well…it was his favorite holiday!

The least I could do was keep him company. And he always looked so sad when I said no!  What else could I do?

“I wouldn’t say yes unless I meant it. But uh, can we not eat in the cafeteria? I know you usually go over there but I…kinda hate it.” I then said, and he nodded.

“Of course. We can go anywhere you want.”

“Alright then, come on. I’ve got the perfect place.” I smiled, grabbing him by the sleeve of his hoodie and dragging him along.

He stumbled at first but managed to keep his balance.

The moment the library doors came in sight I turned and dragged him down the opposite hall, slipping behind the lockers and into a tiny little alcove with a door to the janitors closet just next to us.

“I usually eat here.” I said as I dropped his sleeve, watching as he immediately stepped forward and tested the knob to the closet. 

“This is cool. I’ve never been over here before.” He smiled softly, like he hadn’t just tried to walk into a very off limits room like he owned the place for no reason.

“Yeah, I think it’s neat. I found it my first day and I’ve been chilling here ever since. It’s nice because nobody ever comes back here.” I said, sliding down the wall until I was sitting on the floor. “And the janitor doesn’t come by until after lunch.”

He did the same, tugging his backpack off and opening it up to pull some snacks out.

We ate quietly, and before I knew it lunch was almost over. Not like it took long, our lunch periods were notoriously short.

“I still can’t believe you of all people aren’t wearing a costume.” I grinned teasingly, and he rolled his eyes.

“I’m not wasting my real costume on some random Friday. Besides, I am technically wearing a costume.” He said, pointing to his head where he was wearing a headband with colorful cat ears on it. 

Huh, not sure how I didn’t see that. Must’ve been tucked into his hair. 

Y’know, it kinda looked like a headband I had awhile back.

“Wow, that’s…wow. Where did you even get that?” I laughed.

He just shrugged. “Someone left it at my house a few years ago.”

I fell silent. 

Oh my god, was that my cat ear headband? As in the cat ear headband I wore for Halloween when we were eleven and lost two weeks later? I thought he said he checked his room for it after it went missing! That liar. Terrible job at looking, Sebastian!

I squinted to get a better look, and what do you know, it totally was!

“Oh, heh, cool.” I said, suddenly hyperaware of myself. 

What if because I brought it up, he thought back to where he found it and remembered me and realized who I was and-

ABRUPT TOPIC CHANGE!

“So, why did you text me about the party last night?”

He shrugged. “I dunno. Chris invited me and…ugh. I’m not a….I don’t really like parties. Too many people…too much…sounds and stuff.”

“I get it.”

“But I didn’t want to be rude and like, not go. I just…ugh. I wish he didn’t invite me.” He groaned as he pressed his hands against his face.

“Well…wait until the day of then. If you feel like going, do, if you don’t, don’t. Or…show up, say hi to him, and then leave. Not like there’s a requirement for how long you have to stay at one of those things.” I shrugged, still a little on edge, and he glanced over at me. 

“You’re right. I might do that, then. Are you going?” He looked up at me, almost hopefully. 

I shrugged. “Dunno. I can’t imagine it would be very fun. I’m also not a party guy. I’m a…sit at home and play video games guy.”

“Heh.” He laughed. “Yeah, I could see that. What kind of games do you like?” 

“Oh, uh…” I stammered, trying to think up a lie. What was I going to say? I could tell the truth, but then he might ask me more details about the games and most of the ones I enjoyed were kinda cheesy and embarassing to talk about. But what if I lied and said something random and he happened to also play it and called my bluff and-

The bell rang and I nearly let out a sigh of relief, abruptly startled away from my ridiculous overthinking. 

Saved by the bell, now I didn’t have to continue spiraling. 

And then I remembered what class I had after this, and my sigh of relief turned into a sigh of ‘ughhhhhhh you’ve got to be fucking kidding me….’

Sebastian frowned. “Aw man. Well…I should get to class.” He sighed, pushing himself to his feet.

I stood up as well, but paused as I tugged my backpack on.

Slowly glancing behind us at the doors to the library, an idea blossomed in my head.

“Hey, Sebastian?”

“Hm?”

“How much do you care about this class?”

“I don’t. Care about it.”

“How much trouble would you get in if you missed it?”

“Probably none, why?”

I met his gaze and leaned a little closer to him.

“I bet if we went into the library and pretended to study we wouldn’t have to go to class.” I grinned as I looked up at him.

He frowned for a second, looking over at the library doors and narrowing his eyes. 

Sigh…he was probably gonna say no…

“Hm…yeah, alright.” He then shrugged.

I nearly laughed. “And here I was expecting to have to convince you!”

“Well here I am again telling you, you misjudge me!” He smiled. “Besides, I skip this class all the time. Gym sucks.” He sighed as we strolled over, throwing the doors open and walking inside.