If Nabila hadn't cut off her path, Aimee might have marched into the cafeteria and started World War Three.

Damn Nabila!

Aimee hissed at her, "If you're trying to talk me out of going, save it. I need to teach that asshole that I'm not someone to be fucked with."

Nabila stood still, bearing the brunt of Aimee's scorching looks. "No, I'm not going to 'save it.' Aimee, think about what you're doing. You can't just go in there and start yelling his head off!"

I nodded. "I agree with Nabila, you can't just go marching in there."

Nabila exclaimed, "Thank you!"

I smirked. "Oh, it's no problem at all. After all, Aimee's revenge would be a lot more effective if she takes some time to plan it."

"Wait, what? That's not what I meant!"

"No, Angelo is right," Aimee growled. "I'm not going to march in there like some butthurt bitch and embarrass myself. No, that asshole deserves much worse!"

"Wait, Aimee-"

But Nabila was too late because Aimee was already stalking down the staircase.

Before following her, Nabila glared at me. "Gee, thanks for your help!"

Still smirking, I stuffed my hands into my pocket. "Believe me, it was no trouble."

. . .

Dylan's name often found its way into our practice sessions that week. Some of his mentions were just darn amazing. I mean, Aimee somehow even managed to bring up his name in an argument over the best flavor of skittles.

"Oh, you like the purple ones, huh? Well, you'll be glad to know that you and that dickhead have one thing in common!"

Yep, that was Dylan's new title: Dylan the dickhead.

After the first few sessions, I got fed up. "Do I need to tattoo it on my forehead before you realize that I'm tired of hearing Dylan's name?"

An awkward silence and a glare later, the practice ended.

That happened on Thursday, the day before Friday the 31st -Halloween.

During school hours the next day, the things closest to representing Halloween were Miss Delane's tight black dress and the witch she had on her desk. The witch ended up flying from the classroom window down to the quad. Miss Delane had stammered through her lesson after that, ridden with guilt for killing the witch. After all, it wasn't the witches' fault that it kept popping in cackles about every twenty seconds.

It was actually quite a sight to behold. It sort of went like this:

"Good morning, dears. Today we will be talking about-"

"He he he!"

"-Shakespeare's use of-"

"Hi hi hi!"

"-emotive language to create-"

"Ho ho ho!"

"-Aargh!"

That was the most interesting thing that happened that school day. At last, the school day was over, and I was zooming off to my house. Part of the reason why I was so eager to arrive home was because of the costume party scheduled for the coming night.

The first person that noticed when I dashed into the house was Annie. She called out from the living room, "Angelo, is that you?"

I paused my ascent up the stairs. "Yeah. Good afternoon."

"Same." She poked her head through the living room door, her dark hair messily swinging over an eye. "Where's the fire?"

"Close by, I better make it to my room quick."

"Wow." Annie rolled her eyes. "Anyways, since today is Halloween, would you like to have a movie marathon with Max and me?"

I narrowed my eyes at her. "That's a Christmas thing. Are you trying to usurp Christmas?"

"What? No-"

"Good." Turning away from her, I began walking up the stairs again.

"Wh- just say you don't want to come!"

"Alright then, I don't want to come!"

"Why you-"

I slammed shut behind me, blocking her off. I bet she hasn't even notified Max about her plans. Plus, it's unlikely that he'll be home early anyway.

Shoving the incident at the back of my mind, I bounded across to the room and flung open the closet door. I scanned my eyes over my costumes section until they landed on the outfit I wanted.

. . .

"Angelo, y-you look...damn! You really didn't pull out any stops, did you?"

I scoffed. "Naturally. You only get this once a year, after all."

Still wide-eyed, Seth breathed, "I m-mean, how did you even pull this off?"

I was dressed as Dracula, with fake fangs in my mouth and a tailcoat suit covering my body. I also had a cane in one hand.

"With a mix of elegance and style." My eyes wandered over the red-and-white striped jumper he had on. "I can lend you some if you'd like, Waldo."

Laughing, he slung his hand over my shoulder. "C-classic Angelo, always w-with the jokes!"

Shrugging his hand off, I replied, "Haha, true, but not this time, though!"

Seth burst out laughing again, the alcohol in his red cup splashing dangerously.

Despite the weather, scantily-clad people were all around me. Some were dancing to music booming from the speakers on the setup stage, others playing games in groups. There were also the couples sitting at the edge of the beach, letting the waves caress their feet as they kissed.

"Yo, Angelo! You look sick, man!"

My attention locked onto Andy as he strolled towards me with his girlfriend behind him. He was dressed like he was on a summer vacation in the Bahamas. There was nothing visible on his girlfriend other than an oversized white shirt.

Clearly, the wind isn't doing a good enough job harassing them.

Despite my reservations, I nodded at him. "Thanks."

His girlfriend smiled at me. "Hey. Nice to see you again."

"Same...Katy?"

"Cassie. But you're forgiven," she added with a wink.

Andy frowned. "So we were just about to head over to the bonfire, we dropped by to say hi."

Seth, in his usual obliviousness, exclaimed, "B-bonfire? Cool, we'd l-love to come!"

For once, he isn't wrong.

Andy shot Seth a dirty look before grumbling, "Sure, whatever."

. . .

The party was wild, to say the least.

From the people running to the ones making out, something was going on all around. As for me, I participated in a group game of 'Would You Rather' mostly because it was one of the only games going on that didn't require drinking.

It was about ten minutes into the game that Aimee showed up with Dylan. Unlike Dylan, she had on a costume.

My eyes widened. What the fuck, what is Aimee doing with Dylan? And why would she wear a white, greek-styled dress to the beach? Then again, I am wearing a suit...

Cheers broke out as they both settled themselves down in our circle.

Nabila wasn't far behind them. After some prompting from Aimee, she settled herself in the circle as well.

Smiling, Aimee said, "So, I was thinking, how about we have a round of 'Never Have I Ever'?"

Nabila sighed. "Aimee, you know I don't drink."

"Fine, no alcohol involved, I promise! We'd use the old-fashioned fingers style instead." Her eyes scanned over everyone, but she avoided my eyes. "So, there's fifteen of us altogether-"

"Make that sixteen." Serena settled herself down beside Andy, ensuring she didn't sit on the train of her full-length, flaming, Arabian-styled dress.

Aimee's smile faltered, but she said, "Fine, whatever, sixteen. Anyways, there'll be sixteen rounds, so we all get to speak. Obviously, we'll use toes also. Who wants to go first?"

. . .

Four more rounds to go, and I still had six fingers left.

Up till then, the game had been going good. The teasing that came about as people revealed embarrassing things contributed to the vibe. Hell, I'd even joined in teasing Dylan when he'd said that he'd stopped bedwetting at 13. For once, everyone seemed to be hanging out together without tension hanging in the air.

Well, until Serena happened. When her turn came about, it didn't take her five seconds to say the words that destroyed the game.

"Never have I ever cheated on someone."

At once, Dylan and Aimee were the centers of attention. It was so bad that hardly anyone even noticed when Andy dropped a finger, except Cassie. She stormed off. Andy hurried after her, trying to reassure her that he hadn't done so in their relationship.

That was the first casualty of the question.

After a few awkward moments, Serena asked, "Well, Dylan? Are you dropping a finger or not?"

Dylan, who'd been fidgeting for the entirety of the time, leveled a glare at Serena. "Go to hell, bitch."

Brushing her bangs out of her face, Serena replied coolly, "Why should I? I'm not the one who couldn't keep it in their pants. At least have the balls to own up to what you did to poor, poor Aimee."

Dylan made to speak, then froze when Aimee grabbed the face of the guy beside her and kissed him.

My jaw dropped, alongside everyone else's.

Dylan shoved the unknown guy away from Aimee, shouting, "What the fuck?"

Wiping her lips, she smiled. "What's wrong? Am I wrong for not wanting you to feel alone in your admittance?"

"I-" Taking a deep breath, Dylan ran his hands through his hair. "I thought you said you didn't care about what I did?"

"You must have been pretty fucking stupid to believe that!" Aimee exploded. "It's bad enough that you cheated on me. But it's worse than you think I'm some desperate bitch who'd remain with you!"

Dylan groaned. "Oh, here we go, the classic 'make the guy look like the villain!' How about you, huh? Didn't you tell me you couldn't come to my party because you were 'doing homework?' So why did Daniel see you climbing out of that fucker's car that same night?" He jabbed a finger in my direction.

The dinner on Friday night flashed through my mind. Oh!

"Honestly, am I the only one not surprised that Aimee cheated-"

Before Serena could finish her statement, Aimee lunged at her and sent her falling onto her back. Straddling her, she punched her in the face.

If anyone hadn't been observing the scene before, they were by then.

"Aimee!" Nabila rushed forward and yanked Aimee backward. She yelped as Aimee elbowed her nose and struggled to break free.

Serena crawled backward, screaming, "Y-you're fucking insane! Go back to whatever ghetto you crawled out from!"

Aimee yelled, "Who the fuck are you saying is from the ghetto? My dad can buy you and your family and still have enough money to hit the club every Friday!"

Many onlookers gasped, then began snickering.

Dylan gets dumped on the same day as Serena gets the shit slapped out of her? Could the universe really be so good to me?

Unfortunately, several people began switching their attention to me. So when my phone vibrated because of Andy's text asking me to meet him at a shack at the end of the beach, I bolted.

. . .

When I got into the small shack, the only thing in the dimly lit room that met my eyes was crushed cans and Cassie.

I frowned. "Hey, have you seen Andy?"

"I sent him off to get me something. He'll be back in about half an hour."

"Half an hour?" I clenched my fists, imagining wrapping them around Andy's neck.

"Mm. So, I suggest we get this over as quickly as possible."

I blinked. "What?"

Just then, I noticed that Cassie had shrugged out of her shirt. She stood in nothing other than her dark bra and panties.

She strolled over to me. "Look, let's cut to the chase. I like you, you like me. So-" She pressed her body against mine, whispering, "-how about we do something about it?"