Spooky

Chapter 27

-Shadow's POV-

The fact that the school doesn't seem too terribly concerned about Scourge's broken nose is both surprising and not surprising at the same time. I guess he gets in fights often enough that no one really questions it; maybe the school would only care about it if he got arrested. Seems likely to me. Scourge tells me neither students nor faculty even ask him about it, not even the slightest bit curious. Steel seems to instinctively know what happened, or maybe Scourge told him, but he doesn't ask either, just grins any time he sees the two of us together. Our relationship isn't 'public,' nor do I think it ever will be, because both Scourge and I agree that it's really our business and ours alone—no need to make some kind of special announcement to everyone. We don't care about the opinions of anybody outside of Rouge and Steel, and besides, it's still too new to know if it will last. All I know is right now, I'm happy, and he seems to be happy; I really hope it all stays that way.

The week flies by, a whirlwind of activity, days spent bored in class, afternoons and evenings with Rouge and Steel and Scourge—and now, sometimes Blaze and Silver—at the ice cream parlor or elsewhere in town, the nights spent sleeping in our dorms, though sometimes Scourge and I stay up a bit later than we should, too busy talking to be tired. The barriers I had put up, my fears of rejection, of losing a friend, of making things awkward, all dissolved so quickly. I think maybe he had a few walls as well, because lately he's been much more verbose than before. We talk about anything and everything and all things in-between, sometimes all the way to four in the morning. I keep falling asleep in class, but of course I keep passing all my tests because this school is a damn joke to me. None of my teachers are happy, but they can't even touch me; my grades are nice enough, and I don't give a shit—it's still pretty early on in the year, kinda. By mid-November, maybe I'll give a half a shit, but I know I'm gonna ace my midterms anyways. I don't mind.

Today is the Friday before Halloween, and Scourge and I are sitting on the floor together, him FaceTiming Steel and me FaceTiming Rouge because it's past curfew and none of us want to sneak out, get caught, and end up serving detention on Halloween. "So," Scourge says into his phone, sitting with his back leaned up against the nightstand, scratching at his left eye, "we meet at the parking lot out back at, what, seven P.M.?"

"Yeah." Rouge pipes up from my phone, propped up against my book-bag far enough away to see us both properly. I'm cautiously trimming my claws to look sharp, but actually be blunt, because they're somewhat a part of my werewolf costume. I don't want to hurt people, though, so they have to be filed down. "HalloScream starts at seven-thirty, but parking is gonna be a nightmare. My mom's willing to drive us."

"Is there enough room for us all?" I ask, surprised. From what I can recall, her car only seats five people in the back, and her dad always tags along, but this time our group is six people plus her parents.

"They have some secret bonus seats in the trunk," she answers. "You know, the collapsable ones that disappear into the floor?"

"Really?" I blink at her. I never knew that.

"Yeah, we hardly ever use it, but my mom thought it'd be a good idea to buy a car with fuckin' eight seats for a family of three." She laughs. "Sure, we do family road trips and stuff, but even then..."

"Maybe she just wanted all the extra trunk space." Scourge answers. "I've heard those things are real behemoths of cars." I nod sagely, carefully examining my thumb-claw.

"You heard correctly," she answers with another laugh. "It'll fit all of us, for sure."

"Who gets the aux cord though?" Steel finally chimes in, and I snort.