Cassie (Book #1 of the "Cassie" Series)

Chapter #22: The Halloween Switcheroo

October 26, Wednesday, 12:30 pm

"I come bearing good news!" Hope exclaimed from across the hall, skipping merrily across the room to our table with her lunch tray.

"You know, I doubt that, I really do." Naya muttered monotonously, shifting up the bench to allow Hope to sit next to her. "What is this good news you're so excited to share?"

"Max invited us to his Halloween party on Saturday!" Hope clapped her hands together excitedly. I couldn't hide my discontent. Yet ANOTHER Max O'Connor party, what the hell was Hope doing to keep getting invited to these.

"Since when are you so friendly with Max? And Halloween's on Monday?" I asked, both Chad and Naya turning to look at Hope.

"He's not having a party on a Monday night, that's lame. And we've become friendly since you started straddling his best friend." Hope shot back bluntly. I nearly choked on my ham sandwich.

"Straddling? Really?"

"Would you prefer fu-"

"Alright, enough!" I interrupted. "Why are we even invited? I thought I'd be barred from any future Max O'Connor parties after snatching Azealia's clip-on ponytail off and throwing it in the pool last time."

"Apparently that was the most entertaining thing that's happened at any of his parties, and that includes the time Tyler Johnson mistook hand sanitizer for vodka and had to have his stomach pumped."

"Wow, what a high honor." I responded sarcastically. "Ryan actually invited me to the party last week but I said I might skip it, especially after last time."

"Last time, you got a date with him, who knows what could happen this time?" Naya shrugged and smirked.

"Should I tell Max to lock his bedroom doors?" Hope joked.

"Very, very funny." I said calmly, not looking Hope in the eye. It had been a few weeks since the time Ryan and I very nearly had our first time together in my room. Since that moment, things hadn't gotten that heavy again. It stayed how it was before, innocent kisses, cute makeout sessions, cuddling, and overall just early relationship puppy love. I still didn't feel ready to bring that forward, for now I'm cool with just being all cute and shit like that. I didn't speak about it with anyone, not even with Ryan, and I didn't know whether he'd told anyone else.

"So are you two gonna do couple costumes and all that cheesy couple shit?" Chad laughed.

"I'm just saying, you two would make a cute Rapunzel and Flynn Rider." Naya pointed her fork at me. I shrugged, I didn't feel like I needed to do a couple costume thing. Couple costumes sometimes just felt like a way to announce to the world "I'm in a relationship" and I didn't feel like I needed that.  Besides, Hope and I have our own Halloween costume tradition.

"You know Hope and I are going to do our own little tradition, right?" I responded, holding out my hand for Hope.

"Oh, yeah, of course." Chad chuckled. "Halloween is your "Let's Confuse the Fuck Out of Everyone Day" isn't it?"

"You better believe!" Hope said excitedly. 

So, my Halloween tradition with Hope. It's well established we're identical twins, in case anyone forgot, I mean it's not as if I mention it aaaaaall the time. For the most part, Hope and I have different styles. I'm more tank tops and jeans, she's more short skirts and crop tops. I have long hair that's blonde and pink, she keeps her hair short in a little bright red shoulder-length bob. I'm a girly girl, she's more punk rock. Our styles are what tell us apart, but the one thing that isn't different about us is our face. When we were kids, we used to use this to our full advantage. I remember one time - before we started altering our hair - in the second grade, we went into school with our normal clothes on, and changed during recess. We used to call this The Switcheroo. We went to each other's classes, hung out with each other's friends, and just impersonated each other for a while. We used to do this a lot, until Hope got into a fight while dressed as me and now I have a permanent stain on my record, thanks Hope. But every school Halloween party, or any Halloween event, we bring The Switcheroo back in a new way. Same costume, down to the makeup, hair, minute details, everything. Just to fuck with people so they never know which twin they're talking to.