ON THE DAYS APPROACHING HALLOWEEN, Mariella had told the boys multiple times she would not wear a costume to school. That she would not show up to school dressed up as Dana Barrett! They insisted and insisted yet she didn't budge.

And so, she bikes into the school yard alongside Mike, Lucas, and Dustin who hummed to the Ghostbusters theme song as they slid their bikes into the rack. "You guys are so..." She starts, cut off by them singing out, "Who you gonna call?".

"Ghostbusters!" Will shouts out from behind them, the boys turning to him excitedly as Mariella locks her bike into place.

"Hey, Spengler!" Mike shouts out,

"Egon! Yeah!" Lucas shouts out, hugging Will with an excited smile.

"Venkman!" Will shouts back, returning the hug.

"Whoa, whoa," Mike starts, pointing at Lucas' name patch.

"What?" Lucas asks.

"Why are you Venkman?" Mike says.

"Because I'm Venkman," Lucas defends, shaking his head.

"No, I'm Venkman!" Mike argues, pointing to his patch and Mariella walks towards the group and listens in.

"Why can't there just be two Venkmans?" Will butts in, attempting to coax the situation.

"Because there's only Venkman in real life. We planned this months ago," Mike answers. "I'm Venkman, Dustin's Stantz, you're Egon, and you're Winston!" He goes on. "Mars is Dana Barrett, obviously," He adds gesturing to Mariella who listened in with an amused stare.

"I specifically didn't agree to Winston!" Lucas argues. "And you only wanted to be Venkman because he's in love with Dana!".

Mariella scoffs, shaking her head at the thought. Yet, she couldn't help but wonder if it was true. She hadn't even remembered until now that Dana and Peter were love interests. Oh golly!

"Yes, you did! And no! Venkman is just the best! It has no connection to Mars being Dana. We're just—" Mike argues, shaking his head at Lucas while Will and Dustin begin to laugh. Mariella's cheeks slowly burning red at the thought.

"Just friends who fall asleep holding hands! No one wants to be Winston, man," Lucas argues back, shaking his head as he recalls all the sleepovers the party has had, recalling all the times Mariella was leaned onto Mike's shoulder with their hands intertwined and all the times Mike fell asleep with his head in her lap.

"What's wrong with Winston?" Mike asks defensively, ignoring the comment about 'just friends'. He didn't have anything to say about that. It was true. He couldn't deny it. Mariella's cheeks were burning now as she hid behind Will hoping that no one would notice how flustered she was getting. Will did. Will could read her like a book. It was hilarious, he thought, how Mariella and Mike were so obviously whipped yet they just chose not to admit it.

"What's wrong with Winston? He joined the team super late, he's not funny, and he's not even a scientist!" Lucas responds, listing off reasons and scrunching up his nose.

"Yeah, but he's still cool," Mike's voice cracks as he looks around the schoolyard, shrugging.

"If he's cool, then you be Winston," Lucas says, pointing to Mike's name patch and nodding his head.

"I can't!" Mike shakes his head.

"Why not?" Lucas asks.

"Because..." Mike stutters out, looking around the party who watched curiously. Mariella peeking over Will's shoulder.

"Because you're not black?" Lucas mocks Mike's uncomfortable stutter.

"I didn't say that!" Mike defends himself.

"You thought it," Lucas fires back, shrugging his shoulders.

At this point, Dustin had turned to head, heating the screech of the school bus tires and he stared in horror at the kids who jumped off.

"Guys... Guys. Guys!" He called to them, Mike and Lucas too indulged in their disagreement and Mariella and Will too interested in seeing what they would be firing at one another next.

Mike and Lucas stop, turning their heads to Dustin curiously, Mariella and Will following their gaze. They watch as kids exit the bus dressed in their regular clothes. Mariella lets out a laugh.

"Oh gosh!" She sputters out between laughs, nudging Will and Lucas as they watch kids stare at the boys.

"Why is no one else wearing costumes?" Dustin asks, their faces falling.

If the stares they got from the kids on the bus were bad, entering the school was just awful. Kids stared at them while laughing, pointing, and saying "Oh, my God!".

Mariella trailed behind them with a small giggle about the erupt from her mouth before she asks them, "Did any of you bring and extra set of clothes?".

Dustin shakes his head, no. The others mumbling out 'No's' as well. Mariella shakes her head with a laugh.

"I can lend you one of my cardigans in my locker," Mariella says to Will jokingly, whose probably the only one who would fit into size small clothes.

"No thanks, Mars-Bar. I don't really want to be running around school in your clothes," Will shakes his head as Dustin grimaces.

"When do people make these decisions?" He asks in embarrassment.

"Everyone dressed up last year," Will adds, quietly, looking around the halls meekly.

"It's a conspiracy, I'm telling you!" Dustin whispers to them.

"Just be cool," Mike says, leaning into Will.

"Who you gonna call? The nerds!" A boy shouts at the party as they walk past him and his friends.

"Buzz off!" Mariella calls back to him and sending a glare his way as she following after the party, her plaid tennis skirt puffing up from behind her.

♧

They begin home on their bikes, Will as always, picked up. So, on the road, it was only Mike, Dustin, Lucas, and Mariella who spoke of their plans for the night and Dustin continued to express his disbelief.

"Really, everybody dressed up last year," He says as Mike plays with his bike bell, ringing it continuously.

"I told you not too!" Mariella shrugs. "It wasn't that bad," She adds as she looks to Dustin.

"Uh, yeah, it was," Lucas scoffs at her. "You just didn't feel it cause you're only friends with us, you weren't dressed up,".

Mariella giggles, shrugging as they continue on biking. Not noticing the revving up of a car from behind them until Dustin looks to them, "Hey, guys," He says looking back.

They all turn back and see a blue car speeding towards them and instantly they begin pedalling faster. "Go, go, go!" Lucas shouts out.

"Mike, you need to haul ass!" Dustin shouts to Mike who trailed behind them.

"It's getting closer, just swerve off!" Mariella screeches, pushing her handlebars to the left and onto the leaves, her skirt flying up. The boys following her as the car speeds passed them.

Mike hurriedly grabs her hands and pulls her up, dusting the leaves off of her before himself. Lucas and Dustin staring at the car.

"Holy shit! Was that..." Dustin shouts as he squints at it.

"Mad Max," Lucas finishes as they all stare at the car eyes widened in shock as the car speeds off.