The Monsters of Blessing Street (Halloween Special 2023)

Chapter 9: The Question

October 19th, 1989.

George's Pov.

After a while, we managed to secure one of the cafeteria tables—the ones with the booth inside. I could finally relax because of it. Rather than having to sit in the stuffy, noisy courtyard outside or the extremely uncomfortable stairway within the cafeteria, we were seated at a cozy, leather-covered booth in the center of the food court. I can't deny that it was still noisy, but it was also worth it because we were finally seated in a cafeteria booth.

"You know how nice it feels to be sitting in the cafeteria? Sure, it's noisy, but finally, we have a booth!" Franklin said as he reclined in the middle of the booth, holding a Coke in his hand and tipping his head back to face the ceiling.

"Cheers to that." Afterward, Tony said while lifting his Coke into the air and sipping from it. We were seated in the cafeteria's Coke section, which had a large banner with the Coke logo hung on the wall. There was a banner with the Pepsi emblem hanging on the wall on the Pepsi side of the cafeteria. Pepsi wasn't all that great for me. My preference was more for Coke. I guess it just tasted better.

"Hey, guys, can I ask you something?" I put that to the three of them. They all turned to face me at the same time, Milo pausing midway to take a bite out of his food. "What's up?" Franklin looks at me and takes a long sip of his Coke. "Would it be cool if Krovlenka came to the party?" Franklin looked a little surprised when I asked him. "Sure, I did say she could." Still giving me a bewildered expression, he replied, "She's Russian but, if you say she's cool then yeah, she can come." He kept sipping from his Coke.

"That's not the reason why I'm asking, you know." Franklin and the others didn't grasp my question for a minute until it finally dawned on them. "Oh! Do you want to know how to invite her to the party? Or do you want her to say yes?" As he asked questions, I nodded. Franklin decided to give an explanation when he finished his Coke. He paused briefly as if considering what to say before continuing, "Okay, so here's what you're going to do: the first thing you're going to do is that you're going to go to her and ask her if she wants to go to the party with you. It's all clear to go if she says yes. Not that she has to, but if she wants to, she is welcome to wear a costume. If she turns it down, either find another female to go to the party with, or just spend time together with the three of us. The only bad thing she can say is no."

I considered Franklin's words and decided that after I got home, I would ask Krovlenka if she wanted to come to the party with me. I assumed it was going to be simple, but I knew it wasn't going to be. It was the same as asking a normal girl to a high school dance; it takes guts to do so, and Krovlenka was no exception.

She looked like a human, but she wasn't. She was a monster from another world, but even so, she looked so much like a normal human girl that it was difficult for me to think about inviting her out to the party. But, in the end, I mustered the bravery to approach her. She had to say. I'll admit it: I was slowly falling head over heels for her.

Either my young mind was playing tricks on me, or I was already falling for this monster from another world who had taken on the look of a lovely human female. I wasn't sure what to believe, but I simply needed to know if I was falling for her or if it was just an infatuation. But I knew deep down that it wasn't a crush. I knew I was falling in love with her, but I didn't know how to tell her.

How could I tell her that I had feelings for her? We've only known one other for a month, but I feel like we've known each other for much longer, and in only one month, I feel like we've gotten closer, and I don't mean as friends, I mean far more than friends. She laughs at my stupid jokes, which are unworthy of a laugh. She hugs me anytime she gets the chance. She even kissed me on the cheek once, but it's disputable whether she was trying to demonstrate her feelings for me or not.