MARIELLA LET OUT AN ANNOYED SIGH, sitting in front of the mirror as her mom stood behind her. Carefully, her mom tugs the curlers from her hair. "Ouch. Mom," Mariella groans as the ringlet falls down perfectly. "Mom, hurry. I'm already late," She goes on as her mom begins to take another one out.

"You're so fussy, Marlie," Emma sighs, beginning to work quickly — tired of her daughters continuous complaints. Hurriedly, taking out the last one and brushing out the ringlets out with her fingers and carefully pinning some to the side of her head and smiling. "There, beautiful," She mumbles. "Anyone special at the dance?" She asks as Mariella stands, adjusting her baby pink dress.

Letting out a sigh, Mariella shakes her head. "No," She mumbles. Despite the fact that her mind crossed to Mike, that moment on Halloween. When they nearly... Never mind, that. She told herself. Tonight was about having fun. Not about her feelings for Mike. They hadn't even talked about it... Oh, gosh! Stop it.

She shook her head again. "Nope. No one special," She plays it off, shrugging her shoulders nonchalantly as her mom fussed over the dress sleeve.

"You sure?" Emma laughs softly as she pulls away from the sleeve and smiles at the job done. "Okay. We can go. We just have to take photos!" She forgers her question, taking Mariella's hand and leading her downstairs where her father waited with the camera.

♧

Brushing a piece of a loose curl from her face, Mariella pushes the gym door open. Being welcomed with the sight of dozens of bustling kids, dancing to a song happily and she couldn't help but feel out of place in the middle of the crowd as she leaned on the top toes of her Mary-Jane's searching for her friends, finding them after a moment of eye-searching at a table, messing with Dustin's hair.

She walks towards them to the beat of the song, messing with the sleeve of her dress nervously as she walks towards her friends, careful to make sure none of them see her. She wasn't sure why felt so nervous, she thought to herself as she wipes just above her lip, ensuring there was no excess lip gloss where it shouldn't be.  "Is there a bird nesting in there?" She hears Lucas ask, touching Dustin's hair.

"What do you mean, "What's wrong"?" Dustin asks defensively as Mariella sneaks up behind him. "There's no bird nesting in here, asshole. Okay?".

Mariella throws an arm around his shoulder with a smile. "I think you look dashing, Dustin," She says, the group looking to her in shock.

"Thank you, Mars," Dustin smiles to the girl, pushing her arm off his shoulder at poking her in the ribs.

"Where did you come from?" Will laughs, surprised at her unexpected appearance, nudging her shoulder.

She shrugs a small smile on her glossed lips as she adjusts her hair again. "Magic trick. For me to know and to never ever find out," She replies, winking while pointing a finger at her best friend. Moving her head to the music as she looks to each of her friends. "Aw, we all look good!" She smiles softly as a slow song begins to play.

All of them looking out to the crowd, kids pairing up and beginning to dance together. Lucas exhales sharply, looking to Max. "Max... Hey. Um, it's nice, right? You want to, um... You want to, like... You know? Like, just you and me?" He stammers, stumbling over his words as the rest of the party looks to him curiously.

"Are you trying to ask me to dance, stalker?" Max leans in, raising her eyebrows curiously.

Lucas shakes his head nervously. "No, of course not. Unless you want to," He mumbles.

Max scoffs lightly, a smile on her face. "So smooth. Come on," She shakes her head, taking his hand and leading him to the dance floor.

The boys watch, Mariella letting out a small giggle. "Ah, young love," She says as if she were any older than them.

Will looks to her, lips parted and eyes squinted at her. "You're the same age as them," He scoffs, nudging her before a girl catches the groups attention.

"Hey, Zombie Boy," A girl with teased bangs approaches the group. "Do you wanna dance?" She asks.

Will looks to his three friends, shrugging with a lost expression on his face. "Um... I don't..." He begins, Mariella mouthing 'Go!' And Mike nudging him. "I mean... I mean, yeah. Sure," He nods, following after the girl onto floor.

"And then there were three," Mariella comments, watching as her friends slowly get picked off.

Mike and Dustin staying silent before Dustin nods his head confidently, adjusting his jacket and taking a deep breath. "Nope. Two, wish me luck. I'm going in," He looks to Mariella and Mike who watched him curiously.

Nodding her head, Mariella let her bottom lip fall over her top. "Knock 'em off their feet," She smiles, patting his back as her begins walking off. Leaving Mike and Mariella alone.

They stand there silently for a moment. It was their first time alone since Halloween. Mariella shifting shyly from one foot to the other before Mike inhales softly. "I didn't say it earlier but, you look beautiful, Mars," He speaks up looking to the side of her face.

He smiles at the sight of the light eyeshadow brushed over her eyelids and the gloss on her lips. She smiles back, looking to him. "Thanks, Mikey," She responds. "You look lovely as well," She adds, hand reaching out and adjusting the collar of his shirt. A simple gesture but Mike felt butterflies in his stomach flutter about.

It goes silent again. Not really knowing what to talk about, all they could both think about was Halloween. All Mike could gaze at were her glossy lips, all Mariella could do was fiddle with her fingers nervously. Looking around the gym before speaking up, her voice soft and hands shaking. "We never talked about it," She looks up to him.

He looks down at her, eyes glazed over curiously. "Hm?" He hums not really hearing what she had said, she had said it that quiet.

She takes a deep breath. "We never talked about," She repeats, playing with the hem of her patterned pink dress. "About... You know," She sucks her bottom lip under tip nervously, hoping her just finish it for her.

Mike takes a deep breath, nodding. Understanding what was going on, "Halloween," He mumbles, his hand brushing against hers shyly.

Gulping, she nods. "Yeah. That," She whispers, brings her hand closer to his and brushing them against one another again.

"D'you wanna... Uh, y'no. Dance?" Mike asks her abruptly, his voice loud in the beginning but suddenly going soft at the end.

Biting her lip once again, Mariella nods timidly. "Yeah. Sure," She agrees, Mike taking her hand in his and softly pulling her to the dance floor.

There was a moment of awkwardness, his arms finding her waist as she places her arms on his shoulders, finding a comfortable distance and trying to find anywhere to look besides one another's eyes before finally accepting it and just letting brown eyes bore into blue.

"Is this okay?" Mike asks her, his hands adjusting themselves on her waist.

She nods, slowly. "Yeah," She replies, smiling at him in assurance.

Smiling back, Mike and her sway softly to the sound of the music. "About Halloween," Mike starts, Mariella shaking her head.

"It's okay, Mike. You don't have to explain anything. There's nothing to be explained," She cuts him off, the feeling of his hands on her causing her stomach to do somersaults. Terrified of what'd he say next, wishing she hadn't opened her mouth at all.

"No. Mars, listen—" He goes on, scrunching up his nose and Mariella couldn't help but want to 'boop' it softly.

She shakes her head again, closing her eyes. "Mike, I'm serious. There's nothing to—" She cuts him off, him cutting her off after.

Mike opens his mouth to say something, closing it as the song changes to another slow song. "I— Uh, listen. Mars. Mariella, I—" He stumbles over his words, unable to find what to say.

"Don't call me that," Mariella scoffs lightly with a small laugh. "You know I hate it. It's too—" She goes on, getting cut off suddenly.

And, it doesn't seem to fully register, why she was cut off. Until, she realized how her eyes slipped shut and the feeling of warmth on her lips. He was kissing her! His lips were a bit chapped and tasted of mint? 'Oh, golly,' She thought, a smile forming on her lips as he pulls away. It was only for a moment, awkwardly done and unexpected but a first kiss it wasn't bad. Not bad at all.

His eyes wide, matching hers. Her hand leaving his shoulder and brushing her lips before she bites it shyly. "Well," She whispers. "Not what I expected when I said we didn't talk about Halloween," She goes on.

"Was that okay? I'm sorry if—" Mike stumbles over his words, sputtering out an apology. She shakes her head rapidly.

Smiling at his nervousness and leaning her head onto his chest, hand back on his shoulder. "It was fine. It was perfect actually, Mike," She replies, poking his cheek with her finger while she continued to lean her head against him. "More than perfect,".

Mike smiles, leaning his head against the top of hers, hands still on her waist. "Good," He whispers out breathlessly, eyes wide and lips a bit red as he smiles even wider to himself. Pressing a kiss to her forehead and wishing that he could stay like this forever.

But, of course, they couldn't.