"Skeleton, or Alice in Wonderland?"

Sophia spun around in her chair, her phone held against her ear, music playing behind her.

A soft sigh came from the phone. "Look, Sophia, I don't know. I thought you and Michael were gonna do some sibling costume thing."

Sophia ran a hand through her brown hair, almost hitting it on her desk from the hairs length.

"He canceled on me, Hadley, he said he didn't want to dress up." Sophia groaned, then let out a tiny laugh. "Although i'm ninety percent sure he's gonna show up to the party as spiderman or something."

There was a sound of shuffling on the other end before Hadley spoke again. "Either way, the parties in four hours so either start your skeleton face or plan your costume."

Sophia sighed. "Fine, fine, I'll be Skelton Alice or something." She looked at the time on her phone quickly belfry placing it in her ear again, "I better go then. I have makeup to do."

After her words were spoken, Hadley said her farewell before ending the call.

Sophia stared down at the phone before throwing it onto her desk and leaving her room.

She jumped off the last step of her stairs and looked around. From her spot, she could see the vacant kitchen and living room, a normal sight for her household.

Sure, Michael was home most the time, but her parents were always absent, off on so called business trips. But they didn't know that every so often when they were gone, she'd see her mom or dad stumble in with their new hidden flavor. It's funny, both parents cheating yet neither were aware of the others affair.

"Mikey?" She yelled out. She knew there'd be no answer, but she didn't care, might as well try.

Sighing for the one hundredth time today, she walked to the door and reached into the small bowl filled with various keys situated on a tall yet small side table. She expected to feel the cool touch of metal but was instead welcomed by the sound of crinkling plastic and the feeling of old and cheap material.

She looked down at the vibrant colors of packaging, curled up her nose and furrowed her eyebrows, snatching her hand away.

Sophia didn't hate candy, just the type Mikey always bought for the kids who pass by their house on Halloween. It consisted of skittles, sour patch kids and some sort of lollipop.

She walked into the kitchen. As she thought, she saw a second bowl of keys on the white, pristine counter top.

After grabbing her house key, she left her house, locked the door and started to the convenience store down the street. Well, a few streets, but she thought she could use the air.

Walking down the damp pavement, she watched as orange and brown leaves fell from their trees right into the newly wet grass or murky puddles situated on the side of the road.

An unusually bright red leaf fell in front of her, killing her move forwards. It landed delicately in the ground ahead of her, it's few water droplets acting as tears shining dimly in the autumn sun.

Sophia bent down and picked it up, nearly letting her long hair get wet. As she stood up struggle, she examined the leaf carefully. A memory raised in her mind.

She remembered when her brother came home late one night. He had his hood all the way up and was trying to get up to his room swiftly. He seemed to forget he had a curious sister that would block his path. She had pulled him into the bathroom whine he wasn't looking and pulled down his hood. On his face, resisted two black orbs. An eyebrow piercing. She had laughed at first until she looked at his hair. It was not longer the blonde hair he shared with their mom but now, a brown, like hers. She was confused at first until she had remembered how he didn't love his hair before hand and often joked about dying his hair. She never thought he was serious though, he thought she was mad u rio she started to laugh and ruffled his hair claiming they were now those creepy twins from that one movie.

She smiled as she held the red leaf. Maybe he'd dye his hair red soon, I'd look cool, Sophia thought. She dropped the leaf, it soon catching in the wind ever so slightly, blowing away.

The wind that dragged the leaf picked up, blowing her hair back, sending an chip through her bones to her spine.

She flipped up the hood to her black jacket and wrapped her arms into a fold. She hurried the rest of the way down the street.

Once her journey down the first street was done with, she set off on to the second, only to be cut off by the soft buzz of an engine behind her.

She knew the familiar engine sound and turned around, still walking.

Through her brown eyes, she spotted a slow moving car and caught sight of the blue eyes opposite of hers.

She held her arms out as she continued to walk backwards, only tempting the boy more.

"Well, someone found lil' ol' me, huh?" Sophia called out. The car sped up oh so slightly before the engine cut. She stopped as well and went up to the window, knocking on it twice.

The window rolled down, revealing a pair of blue eyes, a smile, and blonde hair.

"Why hello there, Hemmings, how's your Halloween going so far?"

Luke smiled wider. "Pretty good, I'm in love with my costume, and if I'm guessing you're doing that thing where you get a last minute dis time change?"

Sophia rolled her eyes and grabbed the door handle. She tugged it open and hopped into the car.

"Correction," she started, "I'm actually getting the makings for my costume. Oh, and by the way, you're now driving me there."

Luke let out a laugh and started yo the car, speeding down the streets in mere minutes that would have taken her half an hour to travel down.

The blonde parked in front of a costume store instead of the convenience store she would have gone to.

He pulled his keys out of the ignition and stung them around his finger.

He and Sophia exited the car and went into the seasonal store.

Luke followed behind the brunette as she we turned into the various isles.

She shuffled through the cheap packages before she stumbled soon what she was looking for.

She pulled out the blue dress and turned to show Luke, but he wasn't there.

"Luke?" She asked to thin air. Sighing she mumbled, "I lost a guy with a lip ring and blonde hair, cool."

She turned to search for him only to be met by a person much taller than her masked in a clown face.

Sophia let out a scream and jumped back, nearly dropping her costume.

A familiar laugh echoed in her ears as Luke pulled off the colorful yet horrifying mask.

He placed the mask on a nearby shelf as Sophia let out a string of curse words, slapping the boy on his shoulder.

"Fuck you," she said pushing last him. "Fuck you."

Luke laughed again and followed behind her as she grabbed face paint and hurried to the cash register.

"Thirty eight-fifty."

Sophia pulled out the said amount and handed it to the lady ringing her items up.

As she handed it away, Luke spoke. "You really carry that much money around?"

She put the excess twenties and tens back into her pocket. "Yeah, I mean, I don't like wallets and I always seem to need to pay for stuff. So." She dragged out as she grabbed her things.

Luke hid his confusion as she turned on her heel and left the store. He ran after her, unlocking his car before she made it.

Only moments later, Sophia and Luke were sat on her couch, a Halloween movie playing in the background as Luke at skittles and Sophia did her makeup.

As she brushed on the white face paint the door clicked open. Sophia glanced at the door for a moment before continuing on ruining her face.

"Sophia, who's this?"

Her voice echoed in the room, causing Sophia to nearly drop the paint brush.

She looked last Luke's tall figure and spotted the women she called her mother.

"Mom?" She asked, confusing showing in every edge of her face. "I thought you weren't coming home in two weeks."

Her mother sighed and looked right under her daughter's eyes, preparing a lie.

"It got cut short," she said surely. "So, I came back to see my children, which one seems to be un present and the other is with a boy I've never once seen."

Sophia sighed and was about to answer until Luke stood up and smiled.

"Hello, Mrs. Clifford." He held his hand out. "I'm friends with your daughter and son."

Karen Clifford looked down at the hand and back up at the blonde. She ignored him and looked at her daughter.

"What on earth are you doing?" She asked angrily as she spotted the paint and brushes.

Sophia looked at the paint bottles. "Oh, it's for my costume."

Her mother marched over to the table and motioned to the white rug beneath it.

"You're going to get paint of the rug so I'd recommend you stop this instance."

Luke watched from a distance as Sophia stood up, grabbing the dark paint. She looked her mother dead in the eye as she tipped the bottle to the side. The black paint fell into the white carpet as her mother watched with fury.

Karen snatched the bottle out of Sophia's hand and squeezed it in her hand, it almost staining her hand.

The two began to yell and scream at each other as Luke felt the urge to curl into a ball grow larger.

Finally, as their screams grew louder, Mrs.clifford squeezed the bottle a little too tight. Jet black paint sprayed out of the bottle and peppered her pale skin.

Luke's jaw dropped with Sophia's lips widened and stretched into a smile of victory. Sophia delicately unlaced her mother's fingers off the bottle and placed it onto the table as she scurried to the bathroom to scrub off the paint.

"God," she muttered. She looked over at Luke, "Michael's gonna kill me."

Even though he future situation was dire, she laughed. Luke smiled at her and slung an arm around her shoulder.

After a few slow minutes, she set off on finishing the costume makeup and cleaning out the mess her mom caused.

Sophia buttoned up the last dark button of the form fitting costume. She was never one for tight or revealing costumes, saying she only dressed up as a cat or some superhero with her brother every year.

She smoothed out the silk like, light blue fabric, causing the laced ruffles to move in the slightest of ways.

As she fixed the curls in her dark hair, her door clicked open. Hadley walked in, clad in extremely pale blue fabric, the color close to white. Her dress was slightly tattered, giving her costume an old effect. Her tall black boots clicked against Sophia's wooden floors as she stepped closer to her friend.

They stood next to each other, staring at the others reflection. Hadley was proud of Sophia. She'd never go out of her comfort zone when it came to clothing. It was always black jeans, dark shirts, and the occasional flannel.

While Hadley stood impressed, Sophia stood amazed. Her friend was a master at costume makeup. Her face was two shades lighter and her lips were a perfect cold pink. Her cheeks had a slight light to them and gleamed under the black dots strategically placed on her cheeks.

A porcelain doll.

Sophia looked at Hadley and smiled, holding out her arm. The redhead looked down at the arm and hooked it with hers, pulling Sophia out of the room.

They stumbled down the stairs, spilling out a few laughs before a honk echoed into the house from the somewhat quiet outdoors.

Sophia grabbed her bag from the couch and slung it over her shoulder. The two left the house and spotted the white car that belonged to the one and only Calum Hood.

Sophia pulled open the door to the back and jumped in, Hadley getting in from the other side.

Hadley thanked the gods that Calum was in the back of the car, behind Sophia and Luke. She always found it weird Calum's car had three sections, not to mention the fact he never got to drive it. Ashton occupied the driver's seat while Michael sat next to him in the passenger seat.

Hadley sat down next to Calum, grabbing his attention. He smiled, causing his eyes to crinkle slightly.

"Hey," she smiled at him.

He looked at her, a warm feeling filling his bones. He had felt this before, a feeling of admiration towards the ginger, but he always passed it off as a fever. No, Calum hood wasn't afraid of love, or like? He was just confused. He had ever had a crush on anyone, and no one had a crush on him, that he knew of at least. Overall, he wouldn't accept the face he may have feelings for his best friend's, sister's best friend, such a long sequence, he thought.

He lazily draped an arm around her shoulder as she leaned into him. She had always did this, leaned on him when they sat next to each other. She had even done it the day they met.

He was at Michael's house when a bouncy lil' Sophia bounded in the door, her best friend in hand. They had only been ten, about, when Michael and Calum became friends, at the faithful edge of getting pounding hormones. When they met Hadley, they had been twelve.

Calum had watched as she stumbled in behind the younger Clifford, nearly tripping over the white, pristine steps. When Hadley finally stood on her own, she had looked around the simpler mansion in amazement, not even noticing the two boys.

He remembered how he was so busy watching Hadley that he never noticed Sophia running at him. She had clung onto him suddenly, sending them into the couch.

His gaze had been ripped from the new girl as he had to focus his attention on his brunette, other half, Sophia.

Calum had always gone over to Michael's house everyday since they met, Hadley doing the same with Sophia.

His situation was worsened the day Sophia had joined in on their antic, red joining soon.

As the years went on, Luke eventually joined, no one knew how, he kinda just, popped up.

A hand made contact with Calum temple, pulling the Scottish Kiwi from his reverie.

Hadley raised an eyebrow at him, in a mood confused manner. He simply shrugged and placed his head on hers, forcing her back on his shoulder.

As the two sat in each other's silence, Ashton watched the scenery pass.

The trees and roads blended together, a blur of color entering Ashton's hazel eyes.

He felt stuck, not in a horrible way but not a good one either. He broke up with his girlfriend of nearly two years just one month before and had healed too quick for his liking. He had loved her, yes, but it was shattered when he saw her drunkenly fucking some guy he never knew. He was beyond pissed, yet relieved. He broke up with her then, making her breakdown in tears.

To make matters worse, she was off her ass drunk, causing her to come to his house the next morning, hair thrown in a bun and a smile hung on her face.

He slammed the door in her face.

He knew she didn't remember but he didn't care. She hurt him without knowing it. Ashton eventually opened the door again and let her in, explains the whole situation. Her face had fell into a look of despair. She said she was disgusted with herself and understood why they were breaking up. Then she thanked him for stopping her from messing her life up and for the beautiful times they shared. She gave him one last kiss before she left through his door.

Now, a month later, he had moved on and still texted her. She was looking at colleges, she told him, and she had gotten a cat, a kitten to be exact. He told her one day he'd visit her and see her kitten. She said she love that.

It was mutual, he thought. Their relationship was great though, which is what confused him, most people would say they'd ignore the fact the other almost cheated but they didn't. They grew up, and faced the facts that there was temptation everywhere.

He turned a corner sharply, making Michael's side slam into the passenger side door. The boy groaned out and cursed out his curly haired friend.

As he rubbed his head, his phone buzzed.

He slipped the cool object out of his pocket and checked his messages. Opening up a certain someone's contact and reading their message, he smiled slightly.

The soft blonde's message glowed on the screen,
I'll find you at the party, how bout I finally meet your sister?

He bit his lip, he knew this would happen. He slid his fingers across the cold glass as he typed. As the message sent, he felt a small pit of regret carved in his stomach.

Sure :) I'll see you there x

Michael sighed and slid his phone into his pocket. He looked in the rear view mirror, spotting Sophia and Luke leaning towards each other showing the other something of their phone.

Sophia dragged her hand through her hair as her other hand held her phone. She found some sort of tumblr post she found funny and showed it to Luke. He peeked a glance at her phone and smiled at the post.

As Luke pulled away from her screen, Sophia leaned forward and poked Michaels head. He flinched and looked back at her.

She opened her mouth to speak but snapped it shut just before she snatched off his hat.

Sophia's jaw dropped.

"You little fucker!" She yelled out, pointing at Michaels newly red hair.

"Mom's gonna fucking kill you."

Michaels sighed but nodded, already accepting his fate.

Sophia crossed her arms and leaned back in her seat, faking her betrayal.

The blonde just smiled. Just as Luke was about to show her something, Ashton stopped the car and pulled out the key.

Both him and Michael climbed out of the car, Sophia following behind. Luke watched her figure leave. Once she was completely out of the car, he cut in front of Hadley and Calum and jumped out.

He swiftly caught up to everyone just as Ashton opened up the trunk.

"What're you doing?" Sophia asked.

Ashton pulled up the drunk door and pulled out some yellow material.

"Costumes."

In minutes, every had been stuffed into costumes, Ashton in a banana suit, Luke as a fairy princess, and Calum and Michael as a mariachi pair.

After Luke slipped on his fairy wings, he stretched out his long limbs. He stared up at the wooden house, the pulsing sound of music echoing in the streets.

Hadley clapped her hands together.

"Let's have some fun tonight shall we?"