The Serpent Queen

Esqueleto | Part Three

Miguel sat on the dojo mats putting on his socks and shoes. He had successfully kicked through a bunch of boards, along with Phoebe. She had disappeared to put on her outfit for the dance. "I wish I could show my mom what I did to those boards, but if she knew where I was right now, she would kill me."

"I'd be dead before I could even make the dance if my parents saw me right now." Phoebe walked out of the bathroom after changing into the actual costume she was going to wear and not the one that she told the adults she was going to wear.

Miguel just stared, "You're not a monster hunter, Phoebe." He stated. He had seen her monster hunter costume. What she was wearing wasn't it.

"This is better and more dance worthy especially since I have a date."

"You can get Eli's attention without wearing that."

"Everywhere is covered. Okay? It's not like I'm wearing like a skimpy bikini."

Johnny came out of the office dressed in his black gi, quickly glancing at her and then his attention went immediately to Miguel. He groaned from the outstanding unpaid bill in his hand.

"What's wrong with you?" Phoebe asked sitting next to Miguel.

"Nothing. Put your costume on." He directed to Miguel, "I'm driving you both to that dance, and we're gonna pick up some more students."

Miguel stood up and took his costume out of his bag and proceeded to put it on.

Phoebe looked so confused at it. It wasn't Deadpool, that was for certain.

"What the hell is that?" Johnny asked.

Miguel wore a patchwork grey hoodie costume. The cape and the arms were made from a near shower curtain material and had bright orange flowers on it. A hat like mask was sewn onto the top of it and two eye holes were cut out of it. "This is my Halloween costume. My yaya made it. It started off as Deadpool. Then I think it was Spider-Man, and then it just kinda became some generic superhero."

"Yeah, a poor one at that. You're Poor-Man." Johnny joked.

"Yeah." Miguel sadly sighed.

Phoebe tried so hard not to laugh. She succeeded a little, but failed a lot. She knew Miguel knew that she wasn't being mean.

"Well, I can't let you go out like that. We have a reputation to uphold."

"What do you suggest?"

"Phoebe, how good are your makeup skills?"

"Um...quite good I guess."

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Johnny had changed into his normal clothes before driving the teenagers to the dance. As they walked through the corridors of the school, they heard booming electronic dance music come from the direction of the gymnasium. The closer they got, the more the music got louder.

Miguel and Phoebe walked through the thick smoke from the machine pointed towards the door they entered from. Since it was a Halloween dance, a witches cackling sound effect could be heard, just under the volume of the music. Decorations were scattered around every wall and every surface, different coloured lights hung from the ceiling and the walls. The students of the school were dressed in every Halloween or other variety of costumes imaginable. In the corner of the gymnasium, sat a table filled with a punch bowl, a variety of snacks and plastic bowls, plates and cups.

They approached Demetri and Eli, who were waiting for them. Instead of his 'Poor Man' costume, Miguel now wore a skeleton costume with white gloves. The two learned that it had been Johnny's when he went to school here in 1984. Phoebe helped paint his face stark white and used black makeup to cover his lips, nose and eyes.