Halloween

Chapter 3

 As they all trekked further towards the school, Sasha let out a deep breath she'd been keeping in through the entire encounter. "Oh my gosh, that was totally awesome! Even if I didn't say anything- It was still totally cool!" She excitedly clapped her hands together, unable to keep in her excitement. "Who's next?! Are there more people my age here?"

Victoria thought for a moment. "Uh.. there's actually quite a few people near your age here. Like.. Elias and Romeo, Maverick.. Gabby's sisters.. Joel, I guess.. Percy.. Apollo." She made a annoyed face after saying Apollo's name. "Eh, there's really no one that interesting."

Henry popped his head in between the girls. "What about my age? It'd be fun to make some new friends!"

"No, there's no one here that's 10. Or.. however old you actually are," Victoria replied. Henry frowned in response.

The gang of ghouls and girls eventually made it to the main event- the street outside of the school where everything was set up. Victoria's mother, Melissa, could be seen in the distance. She was manning a baked goods booth. She could be seen raising a brow, but nonetheless waving to her daughter in the group. She then turned to Percy's parents and began conversing with them.

Victoria waved back, but didn't dare go up to her mom, especially with Rune visible. She then turned to Katy and Gabby. "I think tonight we have to have some kind of game plan or something. If we run into Kat or Keaton, it's like, game over. Agreed?"

"I mean, the most Keaton will do is start yelling and probably follow us around all evening, but Kat definitely poses as a threat," Katy replied, surfing her eyes over the sea of tables and decor that lined the school's halls. Faint music muffled through the walls surrounding the cafeteria. "I'm betting everyone's in there."

Almost on cue to her words, the cafeteria door busted open. Orange light emitted into the bright wash of the hallway, and at the threshold of the grimy tile stood none other than Gabby's sister- Kat Clove.

"We're doomed," Katy whispered.

"There you all are! I've been wondering where you all ran off to after school," Kat grunted, walking towards the group in her bigfoot costume. "I just wanted to know what's been going on, and-" she looked up at the group that had come along and glared at them with extreme suspicion. "So... you found yourselves some friends now..." she commented, circling the group like a lion overlooking its prey. Stopping at Rune, she touched his arm, running a finger along the crystal structure. "This is... a really realistic 'costume.' Mind telling me where you got it?"

"Oh my god, Kat, could you like, not interrogate my friend's extended family here?" Gabby commanded, eying her sister down.

"What? I just think it's a liiitle too good to be true. Are you sure you're not hiding any cryptids from me?"

While the two went back and forward bickering about over the state of the ghosts, Sasha just couldn't keep herself still anymore. She watched for an opening, and when the three girls had their backs turned, she slipped away, heading straight for the open doors to the gym.

Inside the gym stood Mutiny Matrimony and their groupie, Percy, conversing with one another. They were all coincidentally dressed up in fun 80's party attire, almost a perfect parallel to Sasha's own clothes.

Suraya put her hands on her hips mid conversation. "And then I was like, 'What do you mean we ran out of avocados? Avocado is literally in the restaurant's name!' And then I had to tell Mr. Keaton of all people that he couldn't have any guacamole. He was totally pissed and left the restaurant blaming aliens or something. But then I got to go to some farmstand in Oregon with Josie for like, two days picking up a bunch of ingredients for the restaurant, so it was kind of worth it," she rambled. "I even got a sick avocado patch for my jacket! It's like a Medal of Honor.. but for the Avocado Pit."

"Dude, that's like, lowkey metal. Petition to make avocados a new punk symbol." Dana stood beside Suraya, a cup of pink punch in hand. Her neon blue hair cascaded color down her equally as bright ensemble; the members of Mutiny Matrimony now looked more like the members of Jem and the Holograms. Ashley and Anika were behind the punch table with Percy, pouring some cups.

"Why does this punch have glitter in it?" Anika lifted her clear cup into the air and shook it around. "Not to mention the plastic dinosaurs. Do you think it's cause they couldn't afford ice?"

"No, it's because it's spooky!" Ashley replied, shrugging her shoulders. "You know, like... boo, dinosaurs. And lead poisoning."

Anika just scrunched up her nose and poured her cup directly back into the serving bowl.

"Alright, these tracks officially suck," Dana sighed, crossing her arms. "Who's in charge of the music?" She squinted her eyes and began to scan around the emptied cafeteria. Guessing that she'd see someone like Russell or Apollo furiously fiddling with the DJ set, her eyes instead fell upon a girl she'd never seen before. She stood in the cafeteria doorway, dressed in attire to match their cheesy chic costumes. "Hey, who's that?" she asked, turning to the rest of the band. "She looks sick."

"Beats me," Anika nodded as the rest of the group peeled their eyes in the direction of the door.

"Well she definitely needs to hangout with us!" Ashley stood on her tiptoes and began waving her hands in a welcoming motion. "Hey, 80s girl! Come over here!"

Sasha's eyes lit up as she saw who was motioning for her. A group of five girls all decked out in authentic clothing from her time period instantly made her squeal with joy. Barely containing her excitement, she bounced over to the area where the biker girls were hanging out. "Hello! Oh my gosh, it's so nice to meet you, you all look so great!" She spoke quickly, waving her hand frantically at everyone.

"Hell yeah! I love that spirit you got!" Percy commented, making her way over to the new member. "I don't think I've ever seen you around before! I'm Percy, and you are?"

"Sasha!" The bubbly girl immediately replied, shaking Percy's hand for an extended amount of time. "I'm from out of town, but my family decided to spend Halloween here soo... that's why you never see me, aha," she laughed nervously.

"It's a funny coincidence we ended up dressing up as the same thing," Percy chuckled.

Sasha laughed a little too hard in response. "Haha! It sure is! Yep, but a good thing, I think. Right?" She hadn't had any social interaction like this in a long time. Trying to adjust to other people her age made her a little tense, but she was hoping that they'd warm up to her throughout the night.

"Yeah, definitely!" Suraya replied as she fixed the bow in her hair to match Sasha's. "You've really got the whole 80's vibe down, girl! It's pretty impressive, if you ask me," she smiled. "I'm Suraya, by the way. We're all part of a little homegrown band called Mutiny Matrimony that plays around here, and Percy is our awesome groupie!"

"What Suraya said, you look wicked, dude!" Dana smiled and extended her hand for a shake as well. "I'm Dana, the pink one is Ashley, and the little angry one is Anika."

"Nice to meet you!" Ashley smiled. Anika nodded in acknowledgement.

"We were just about to head over back to my place to grab all our equipment, we're doing a bit of a gig tonight for the town. Wanna come along?" Dana asked, placing a hand on her hip.

"I would absolutely love to!" Sasha exclaimed, clapping her hands together. "You guys seem really nice! So thank you for this." She turned her head back, looking at the rest of the ghosts who were still outside with the girls. Thank goodness they didn't notice her leave. Maybe it was for the best. "Let's just... take the back door though! If you don't mind... it's just that I haven't explored this school enough!"

"Sure thing! Let's get going, then!" Suraya smiled, leading the way out the back doors. The gang of girls left without anyone noticing; especially Katy, Victoria, and Gabby, who were still in the hall bickering with Kat.