✓ 𝐖.𝐈.𝐓.𝐂.𝐇. | ʜᴏᴄᴜꜱ ᴘᴏᴄᴜꜱ

𝗼𝗻𝗲

"POOR THACKERY BINX." mrs. evans told us. "neither his father, his mother, nor anyone else ever knew what became of him those 300 years ago."

i had heard the tale hundreds of times. whether it be a family story, during school, from friends, the tale of thackery binx and the sanderson sisters lived on in our small town in salem.

"and so, the sanderson sisters were hanged by the salem townfolk," she continued. "now, there are those who say that in halloween night, a black cat still guards the old sanderson house, warning off any who might make the witches come back to life!"

"gimme a break," said max dennison, the new boy from california.

mrs evans turned towards the boy slowly. "we seem to have a skeptic in our midst." she laughed. "mr. dennison, would you care to share your california, laid-back, tie-dyed, point of view?"

"okay." he grinned, and i immediately knew he was about to say something stupid. "granted that you guys here in salem are all into these black cats and witches and stuff."

"stuff?" i said louder than i probably should have. "who does this guy think he is?"

"everyone here knows that halloween was invented by the candy companies," said max. "it's a conspiracy."

"it just so happens that halloween is based on the ancient feast called all hallows' eve," allison said from behind him.

theodore seemed to agree. "it's the one night of the year where the spirits of the dead can return to earth."

max took defeat and instead started to write something down on a piece of paper. secretly, i hoped it was a counter of the number of times he had been totally mutilated in front of a class full of judgmental teenagers.

max got up with the paper and started going towards allison.

"how much you wanna bet it's his number?" i whispered to theo before max could say anything.

he nodded. "oh, it's definitely his number."

"well, in case jimi hendrix shows up tonight," he handed allison the paper. "here's my number."

theo and i locked eyes and started laughing loudly. but we stopped quickly in order to hear how allison would react.

the bell rang and everyone got up from their seats. theo made his way over to the boy and put his hand on max's shoulder.

"you've got a fat chance, lover boy."

***

"that max kid was so weird, al," i told the girl as we all walked home together. "acting like he knew everything about halloween when we are the town geeks."

"yeah, come on," said theo with a nod. "my family has lived here for as long as i can remember."

"and there comes whats-his-face, thinking he owns the place." i crossed my arms and grinned softly. "that rhymed."

theo nudged my shoulder. "speak of the devil."

"allison!" he called.

riding close to us on a green bicycle was max dennison. his green cargo-looking jacket sat on his shoulders being pushed down by the weight of his bookbag.

"hi," said allison, and i couldn't quite tell if she was interested in conversing with him or not.

max slowly stepped off of his bike and pulled it beside her. "hi. look, i'm sorry. i didn't mean to embarrass you in class."

to this, i actually laughed out loud. it was probably the funniest thing i had heard in a while. theo and i had to bite our lips to keep us from snorting.

"you didn't." allison stopped on the sidewalk.

"i'm max dennison." the boy put his hand out for her to take.

she grabbed his hand and shook it. "you just moved here, huh?"

"yeah, last week," max replied.

"it's a pretty big change for you, huh, california?" theo said, slinging his arm around the boy.

despite looking uncomfortable with theo, max clearly didn't want to ruin his chance of making some friends (if you could call us that).

"yeah," max said. "that's for sure."

"you don't like it here?" allison asked him, their eyes meeting.

theo and i nodded to each other, knowing that it was time we left. we told allison we'd meet her at her house later and that was the end of it.

*

"you gave him his number back?" i laughed into my hand. "i thought you liked him. like, i thought you thought he was chill."

"kids a jerk," allison told me, fixing her costume. "it's like what you and teddy said."

i opened her door so we could go down and meet the party. "and what is that, exactly?"

she followed me out of her room. "we're the town geeks."

we walked downstairs and met theo in the parlor. he practically skipped towards us in his costume, grinning ear to ear because of how proud he was.

"you like it?" he asked through the grin. "i'm a poor guy on the titanic."

al and i locked eyes. "that's not the theme, teddy," she said to him. "the theme is 18th century america."

"wasnt the titanic in 1812?" he asked, and i could almost see the gears turn in his head. "shit, it wasn't."

"either way," i told him, "the 18th century is the 1700s. you're like a whole 200 years off."

he took the sketchbook and pencil he had in his hand, and threw it to his side. "jack dawson wouldn't stand for this."

"who the hell is jack dawson?"