ILLUSION, ELI HALE

six | halloween night

"No, Eli, you look great. It's me that she's going to have a problem with."

Currently, the duo were standing outside the door of Madison Hayes's house. Well, Eli was standing, his hands stuffed in his pockets as he watched Nadia pace back and forth around Madison's lawn, attempting to get the courage to enter the party.

The Halloween Bash was currently in full swing. Madison's parents were out for the weekend, the blonde claimed, which meant that she had the whole house to herself for the school to come. Music was blaring inside the house, and it could be heard from down the block. Outside, there were decorations on her lawn: fake spiders, big pumpkins, toilet paper on the trees, and floating ghosts on the porch, the lot. Couples were making out on the lawn, that of which had red cups filled with alcohol strewn across it.

Nadia thought she was okay with entering the house of her demonic former best friend, but now she was beginning to have second thoughts. Her dress was too tight, it seemed. Maybe she needed to go home, rip it up and never come back.

"For the love of...stop, Nadia!" Eli gripped her hand and made her stand still. "Will you relax? I've never seen you pace this much in my life. What happened to the girl who could care less about what other people thought?"

"You turned me soft." Nadia stopped pacing and pointed her finger at Eli. "Your fault."

Eli pretended to bite her finger and gave a satisfying smirk when it brought a smile to her face. "My apologies for turning you into a nice human being. Nadia, you look stunning. If anything, Madison's going to be jealous because all eyes will be on you."

"Really?" Nadia nervously pulled on the green scarf she'd tied around her neck. "Are you sure? I feel a bit silly."

Eli shrugged and slid his hands into the pockets of his blue slacks. "Yeah, Daph, you're total eye candy." He was lucky that it was dark outside or else the girl would see his cheeks pinken.

Nadia bumped him on the side. "You don't look so bad yourself, Fred."

They did come to win for the nonexistent couple's costume. While Nathan was in the shop with their father learning how to change a tire in under three minutes, Nadia was being taught how to sew. Her mother taught her everything she needed to know about creating an outfit. So, that's what she did. Her dress was made from an old curtain she found in her basement, and the orange tie on Eli's shirt used to be a hand towel. Cute costumes made from household material. Trendy and environmentally friendly.

With newfound confidence, Nadia pushed past this senior couple making out on the front steps and rang the doorbell. Seconds later, Madison opened the door. She was dressed as a sexy nurse, it seemed. The blonde had a tight white and red dress on complete with the stethoscope and the oldies nurse cap. A sickly sweet smile filled her features as she faced Nadia.

"Nadi!" Madison greeted the girl with a sweet tone, but only someone who truly knew the girl (i.e, Nadia), knew that the tone was filled with venom. It was as if she hadn't expected her current nemesis to attend the party of the year.

And Nadia didn't know what had overcome her, but she mimicked the fake girl's greeting. Every sense of popular girl brainwashing had come back to the front of her mind almost as if it didn't take her two years to get over that sickness. "Happy Halloween, Mads! You look perf."

It took everything in Nadia to not gag after the girl pulled her into a hug. Madison eyed her costume and gave her that evil fake smile. "Stop it. That's all you!" The fake nurse then turned to Eli. "And look at you, Eli. Props to you for completing the costume. I was surprised that Nadia managed to weasel you into matching with her. You look handsome."