Asked to Compromise

By the time I’d worked off my punishment and was allowed to go back off campus, it was almost Halloween. That meant that I’d been here for almost two months. Halloween was my favorite holiday and I always spent it with my friends. This year I wasn’t, and I wondered what they were going to do without me and what I was going to do without them. My friends were like the only people I’d ever known.

“So what do you guys do for Halloween ‘round here?” I asked while we sat in the cafeteria for dinner.

“I think they have like, some huge party or something,” Kelly said. “I wasn’t here last Halloween, but Eric knows.”

“Eric knows what?” He asked curiously, coming around the table. He sat down with another slice of pizza.

“The Halloween party,” Kelly explained. “Priscilla wants to know what it is.”

He shrugged, “It’s a Halloween party… with Halloween stuff, you know.”

“Don’t listen to him,” A high pitched voice chimed in. Allie sat down with a bowl of something yellow and a spoon. “Eric thinks he’s too cool and does the party absolutely no justice. Their Halloween parties are pretty fucking awesome. There’s even a haunted house.”

“You’re telling me there’s an epic party here?” I asked, raising an eyebrow and scrunching my nose. “I’ve gotta see it to believe it.”

“Well, you’re going,” Allie said. “Sanders and the others are pretty into Halloween which is believable because they’re all covered in tattoos.”

“How’d you find out they were into Halloween?” I asked, picking at my pasta.

“Easy, just talk to them. They’re actually some pretty chill dudes at the end of the day when they’re not being all teacher-y and authoritative,” Allie explained.

It seemed like some of the others agreed.

“That is, if you’re not on their shit list,” Allie continued. “I learned to play nice after Baker kicked my ass.” There was a pause before she spoke again. “You ever had the banana pudding? It’s delicious.”

I shook my head at her love for the banana pudding. I stood from my chair to throw out my now cold pasta and go straight for the desserts. I picked a slice of chocolate cake and put a spoonful of the banana pudding on the side.

“It’s okay,” I told Allie after trying the pudding. I never really liked bananas or a lot of fruits, since I was allergic to apples and strawberries. The chocolate cake was delicious, though.

After a while it was almost curfew and we all split to go to our rooms. I stayed up thinking about what my costume would be and if this party was really as cool as Allie said it was.

-

Halloween came up pretty fast the next week. The janitors and a construction crew worked on building everything for a party during the school day while we were in class. The area was blocked off until tonight so no one could get any first looks at the decorations and the haunted house that was supposedly set up.

It was a little after six while I put on my costume and did my makeup. I decided to dress up as Angelica from Pirates of the Caribbean seeing as it was one of my favorite movies. A knock on the door let me know Allie and Kelly were outside my room.

“Coming!” I called out to them. I quickly zipped up my black boots and put the jacket on. I grabbed my hat and looked at myself in the mirror one more time.

“Pirates of the Caribbean?” Allie asked when I opened the door.

I nodded, “Best movie ever.”

I looked at Allie’s costume. She wore a skin tight skeleton suit with her leather jacket and black ankle boots. It was actually stylish and cute. I had thought she’d have a witch or vampire costume on. Kelly was dressed up in the shortest Minnie Mouse costume dress I’d ever seen with the headband and all. The dress codes for Halloween were a lot more lenient than on the average day.

“Well, let’s get down to the party,” Allie said, starting down the hallway.

-

I’d be lying if I said there weren’t some really cool decorations at the party. There were random jack-o-lanterns everywhere and lights hanging up on the tree branches. Fake spider webs were hung up and the fog machine definitely did its job. Once we got through the long entrance way, we got to the main area where the party was.

There were even more decorations and lights. The benches and chairs were made to look like skeleton bones and draped with spider webs. There were tables full of gross-looking but edible foods. Music blasted through the DJ’s speakers.

“I told you Eric think he’s too cool,” Allie said.

I glanced over at Eric to see him dressed in a black t-shirt and jeans with a black cape on.

“Eric, you’re supposed to dress up,” I told him. “It’s Halloween.”

“What are you talking about? I’m Batman,” He shouted.

“Sure, you are,” I said sarcastically.

-

“Okay, I’m never going in there again,” Allie said as we emerged from the exit of the haunted house that was set up on the first floor of the school. “I was scared as shit.”

“Me too,” I said. I normally wasn’t very scared of a lot of things. However, it was a damn good haunted house if it creeped me out.

“But you gotta admit, it was fucking sick,” Eric hollered as I rolled my eyes.

“I literally think I peed on myself a little,” Kelly whined.

“What?” I looked at her, laughing hysterically. I quickly forgot all about all the gory blood and stuff of the sort we’d just seen.

“I’m so serious,” She said with a straight face.

We all laughed until we had tears in our eyes. I made my way over to the food and drinks table. My throat felt dry from screaming so much back in the haunted house. There was a choice of either a green drink or a blood orange drink. I shrugged, going for the blood orange juice and pouring it into a cup.

I stood by the tables, sipping my drink. It was fruity and tasted like mango and orange. I tapped my foot and nodded my head to the familiar music of Slayer. I made a disgusted face at the many girls that tried to dress up sexy, but ended up going for trashy. I rolled my eyes at the few girls that were crowded around Sanders, obviously flirting with him. There’s no way that these guys could be that attractive and haven’t slept with any of their students.

“Enjoying the party?” I heard a familiar voice ask from beside me.

I turned to Haner and refrained from telling him to fuck off. He was dressed casually and looked at me with that arrogant grin.

“It’s alright,” I shrugged nonchalantly.

“Just alright?” He asked, raising an eyebrow. “You think I don’t know when someone’s lying?”

“I’m not lying,” I said. “It’s just a Halloween party.”

“Alright, well then enjoy the rest of this ordinary Halloween party,” He smirked, walking away.