╔.𖥸. .════════════════╗

𝗖𝗟𝗔𝗥𝗜𝗧𝗬

chapter two
happy halloween

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ALYSSA SAT AT the usual table in the cafeteria. She was chewing a piece of gum, absentmindedly blowing a bubble once in a while. One of her knees was tucked into her chest as she stared down at her science homework on the table, trying to figure out what the hell it all meant. She often did homework at lunch instead of waiting to do it at home because Eli and Demetri could help her with the things she would get stuck on.

Currently, Counselor Blatt was giving some speech about cyberbullying. Alyssa wasn't really paying attention — clearly. She was chewing gum and balancing equations. Other people weren't paying attention either. They were whispering with their friends or scrolling through their phone in boredom.

"Sending a cruel message to someone online can be just as hurtful as saying it to their face," Counselor Blatt said. "I'm not gonna name names, but the other day a mother called me because her son was crying after some kids online made fun of his facial deformity."

Alyssa's gum bubble suddenly popped and she stopped writing on her worksheet. She slowly looked up, a frown appearing on her face. Eli was looking around the cafeteria nervously, lifting up a hand to cover his scar like he usually did. Alyssa looked around the cafeteria to see that people had started to stare. Flashbacks of holding Eli on his bed as he cried flew through her mind.

He didn't deserve this. He didn't deserve any of it. And Counselor Blatt might've thought she was trying to help, but in reality, she was just making everything worse.

Alyssa reached forwards and took the hand covering his scar. She gave him a soft, sad smile and lowered it under the table. Usually, she would squeeze his hand and let it go, reassuring him that it would be okay. But not today. Instead, she interlocked their fingers together and held onto him tight. Eli didn't let go, and neither did Alyssa.

"But today, our goal here is to make this school a safe space for all students," Counselor Blatt continued.

Miguel looked over at Eli. "You know, if you're sick of getting bullied, my karate dojo's looking for recruits."

"I didn't know you did karate," Alyssa said.

Miguel shrugged. "It's new."

"Yeah, right," Demetri replied sarcastically. "You hear that, Eli? A little karate training, and you're gonna kick some major ass."

Alyssa rolled her eyes in annoyance. "Shut up, Demetri."

"I'm serious, Demetri," Miguel insisted. "All right, my Sensei's the real deal. I'm sure I could get you three discounts."

"As enticing as that sounds, I think we'd rather spend our afternoons playing Crucible Control than getting hit in the face," Demetri responded.

Alyssa scoffed. "Speak for yourself."

"You want to do karate?"

"No, dumbass. I don't want to play Crucible Control."

"Oh, and one last thing," Counselor Blatt stated. "While we're all looking forward to the Halloween dance, let's make sure our costumes are culturally sensitive. For example, instead of sexy nurse, maybe try gender-neutral hospital employee."

That statement made the cafeteria erupt in laughter. Alyssa slightly laughed to herself before looking back down at her biology homework. Counselor Blatt was starting to give ideas of more costumes, but Alyssa paid no mind. Nobody was going to follow that, anyways.

Alyssa suddenly felt her hand get squeezed. She looked back up to see Eli staring at her, his blue eyes slightly wide. Alyssa gave him a questioning look for a moment.

"You still haven't told us your costume," Eli voiced.

"It's a surprise," Alyssa told him. "You'll see it at the dance."

"You're not going to tell me?"

"That's the whole point of a surprise, sweetheart." Alyssa was too busy from looking back at her worksheet and grabbing her pencil to see the light blush that coated Eli's cheeks. "It's cool, though. At least cooler than Demetri's costume."

"You don't even know what my costume is," Demetri protested.

Alyssa gave him a knowing smile. "But I already know it's lame."

"You're lame."

"Ooh, you really got me there." Alyssa rolled her eyes. "Anyways, do any of you know how to balance this God damn equation?"

· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·

ALYSSA WALKED INTO the high school the night of the Halloween dance, following the sound of loud music. No matter how much Eli begged or how many times Demetri insisted her costume was the lame one, she still hadn't told either of them what exactly she was dressing up as.

For her costume, she decided to dress up as Fire Nation Katara from Avatar: The Last Airbender. She had been forced into watching the show by Demetri, and to be honest, she had really liked it. It was actually her little brother's idea to dress up as Fire Nation Katara because he claimed that Katara reminded him of Alyssa. Or maybe it was because he liked the color red. Nevertheless, it had been a genius idea.

She had on a pair of red flowy pants, paired with a red crop top that only had one shoulder. There was a gold cuff bangle on each of her wrists and gold arm bands on the upper part of her arms. To go along with those were a pair of gold hoop earrings and a red choker. Half of her hair was tied up in a half bun, and to really get the point across, she put three red dots in the shape of a triangle underneath her right eye to have a fire emblem. Just for some shoes, she had on a pair of red Converse.

Alyssa honestly thought she looked pretty cool.

She continued to follow the loud music, which got even louder once she got closer to the gym. The reason Alyssa was arriving alone was because she made an agreement with Mrs. Moskowitz. Mrs. Moskowitz said that if she drove the boys to the dance so they wouldn't complain about Alyssa taking too long, Alyssa could drive them home.

Alyssa walked into the gym. It was decked out in full Halloween decorations with fake fog rolling across the entire room. Everybody in their costumes were either on the dance floor or standing off to the side. Alyssa looked around for a moment before she spotted her two best friends standing by the punch bowl. She smiled to herself and walked up to them.

She extended her arms out to the side, spinning around once to show them the full costume. "Hey, what do you think? Cool, right?"

"Fire Nation Katara?" Demetri asked. "Why couldn't you dress up as Water Nation Katara?"

Alyssa gave him a look that said seriously?. "Do you always have something to complain about when it comes to me? And what are you, a sorcerer? Gonna put me under a spell, or something?"

"I'm a necromancer!"

"Whatever." Alyssa then turned to Eli, her eyes turning sad and her look turning knowing. "Let me guess. A plastic surgeon?"

Eli nodded, glad the mask he was wearing was covering the blush on his cheeks. "You look cool, Lys."

She smiled brightly. "Thanks."

Miguel then walked up to them, dressed as a skeleton. Alyssa looked over at him and nodded in impressment.

"Oh, skeleton," Demetri commented. "Classic. nice."

"Thanks," Miguel replied. "I like your sorcerer costume."

Alyssa instantly pointed at Demetri and laughed at him. "I told you."

"Sorcerer?" Demetri repeated. "Please, I'm a necromancer."

"What?" Miguel questioned.

Demetri gestured to his chest. "Didn't you see the amulet?"

Miguel ignored him and looked at Eli. "So, are you a regular doctor, or—"

"Plastic surgeon," Eli cut in. "I fix lips."

Alyssa slightly frowned at that. She wished the other people at school didn't make Eli so insecure about his scar.

"Nice," Miguel said. He then turned to Alyssa. "Hey, you look cool. And you are . . ."

"Fire Nation Katara," Alyssa supplied. "Have you ever seen Avatar?"

"Ally!" a new voice then called.

Alyssa looked around for the source of her name. She found it to be Sam LaRusso, who was standing on the edge of the dance floor, away from Yasmine, Moon, and Kyler. Sam waved at her, and Alyssa smiled back.

"I'll be right back," Alyssa told Eli, Demetri, and Miguel before walking up to Sam. "Hi, Sam. You look great. A Laker girl? Very cute."

"Thank you," Sam responded. "And you look like a total badass as Katara."

Alyssa's eyes slightly widened. "Wait, you know who I'm dressed up as?"

"Yeah. My little brother Anthony used to watch it a lot." Sam then gestured to the dance floor with her thumb. "Um, I wanted to ask you if you wanted to come dance with me and my friends?"

"Uh . . ." Alyssa glanced back at Eli, Demetri, and Miguel, a sort of longing to stay with them. Plus, she would rather stick a fork in her eye than hang around Yasmine and Kyler more than she needed to. "I'm just gonna spend some time with my friends, but maybe later? If they put on a song I like I'll be sure to find you."

Sam nodded in agreement. "Will do. But, hey, maybe we should hang out soon."

Alyssa blinked in shock, but she quickly recovered. "Yeah, totally. I'd be so down."

"Cool. Stay fiery."

Alyssa grinned as she turned around and walked back to her friends. She must've had a dazed look on her face, because Demetri snapped his fingers in front of her. Alyssa was shocked out of her trance.

"You're best friends with Sam LaRusso now?" Demetri demanded.

She shrugged. "She just asked me to hang out sometime soon. I don't know what kind of alternate universe we're living in right now, but I'm not complaining." Alyssa moved to stand next to Eli, crossing her arms across her chest. "You can admit it now. I'm cool."

"I'm never admitting that because it's not true."

"Fuck you."

A little while later, the group of four was still by the punch table. Eli, Demetri, and Miguel were staring at these three girls on the dance floor that they wanted to ask to dance. More so Demetri and Miguel — Eli kept sneaking glances over at Alyssa. Alyssa still had her arms crossed, looking up at the ceiling in boredom. She still hadn't forgotten about her dance with Sam, but to be fair, she hadn't heard a song she really liked yet.

"Okay, are we ready?" Miguel asked. "Let's ask the dragon queens to dance."

"Slow your roll," Demetri stated. "We got time."

A boy then walked up to one of the girls, asking her to dance. The girl immediately accepted.

"No," Miguel complained. "Shit! We just lost one to Doctor Who."

"I have to go to the bathroom," Eli revealed.

"Yeah, me too," Demetri agreed. "That punch is going right through me."

"Didn't need to know that, but thanks," Alyssa responded, her gaze still on the ceiling. She only looked down when she felt the presences of the boys leave her side. "Really? You're just going to leave me here?"

"You'll be fine," Demetri insisted.

Alyssa rolled her eyes. "Whatever. I'll be waiting here when you come back."

The boys then completely left. Alyssa sighed and uncrossed her arms, letting them drop back down to her sides. She glanced around the room, only to see somebody looking at her from across the room. It was a boy with floppy brown hair, dressed up as Clark Kent. His tie was swept to the side and his glasses were crooked. Half of his shirt was unbuttoned, revealing the Superman logo on his chest.

Alyssa tilted her head slightly at him. The boy must've caught her staring back, because he cleared his throat and looked away. Even from so far away, Alyssa could see his face turn the slightest shade of red. Alyssa let out a small laugh and looked back down in the punch bowl.

Should she go over there? She probably should.

Alyssa had just about hyped herself up enough to go to the opposite side of the room when her phone chimed. Her eyebrows knit in thought as she pulled out her phone. It was a video from Yasmine, displaying a girl named Aisha Robinson eating Cheetos at the snack table. There was a pig nose on her face, and the caption read THE BUFFET TABLE IS UNDER ATTACK!!!!!

She let out an incredulous scoff and glanced up from her phone. Everyone was laughing while Aisha just looked crestfallen. Aisha then completely left the room. Alyssa then looked over to see Sam standing by Yasmine, who was giggling with Moon. She gritted her teeth, completely done with everything.

Alyssa walked out into the hallway, clutching her phone and her car keys. She was on the way towards the boy's locker room to get the boys, only when Eli and Demetri came sprinting down the hallway. Her eyes slightly widened as they came barreling straight at her.

"Hey, hey, hey, what's going on?" Alyssa questioned, giving Eli a confused look as he clutched onto her arm. "Why are you running? Why is it only you two? Where's Miguel?"

"Kyler and his friends are hurting Miguel in the locker room!" Demetri exclaimed, breathing heavily. "We had to go or we would end up like that too!"

Alyssa's eyes widened. "You left him?"

"Did you not hear me when I said we would end up like that too?"

"Yeah, dipshit, I did. But Miguel is our friend now, and friends don't abandon friends. So you can either come with me to the locker room and see if Miguel lived to tell the tale, or I'm not driving you home."

Demetri and Eli sighed. They nodded under the intense gaze that Alyssa was giving them. Together, the three of them approached the boys locker room. Alyssa knocked on the door, hearing no response. She pushed the door open anyways, peering around inside.

"Miguel?" Alyssa called. "You in here?"

It was quiet. The three of them looked around the locker room, but there was no sign of Miguel. Alyssa's veins filled with worry and she went on her phone, texting Miguel. She continued to text him as they walked out of the school into the parking lot. Alyssa shook her head, opening the drivers side door and sitting down.

"He'll text back soon, Lys," Eli reassured her as he slid into the passenger seat of her car.

"Unless he's a ghost now," Demetri piped up from the backseat.

Alyssa turned to look at him. "Seriously?"

Demetri raised his hands in surrender. "I'm just saying."

She rolled her eyes and faced back towards her steering wheel. Alyssa started her car and turned on the radio, which instantly connected to her phone's Bluetooth. She shuffled a Halloween playlist that she had made on Spotify and put her phone in the cupholder.

"I can feel you coming from a mile away, my pulse starts racing from the words that you say."

Alyssa nodded at the song, reversing out of her parking spot.

Demetri scrunched his nose. "What is this?"

Alyssa scoffed. "This song is a Halloween classic. Haven't you seen Girl vs. Monster?"

"No."

"You're a disgrace." Alyssa raised her voice. "That I'm signed, sealed, delivered with a stamp on you!"

Eli laughed and looked over at her, his eyes glinting as she belted out the song and how Demetri was covering his ears. Demetri kept complaining, but Alyssa would only turn up the volume and sing louder. He couldn't believe he was friends with someone like her.

•─•°•❀•°•─•

DO NOT FORGET ABOUT THE BOY WHO WAS LOOKING AT ALYSSA ACROSS THE ROOM HE WILL COME BACK I REPEAT HE WILL COME BACK

okay now that we've got that out of the way

in case you wanted to see miss ally's costume here it is <3

have I ever seen avatar? no. did I pretend that I knew what I was talking about while writing this chapter? yes.

anyways the amount of times I keep typing athena instead of alyssa and ej instead of eli is too damn high my hsmtmts fics are literally burned in my brain at this point it's actual muscle memory