Melodies

I pulled in at Courtney's street, parking a little away from her house. I'd arrived early, because she'd told me to, but there were already a lot of cars there. I didn't hear any music yet, and it wasn't even dark out, so I figured it was just the other girls, and probably Kell.

I'd planned on picking Kell up and us going together, but when I brought it up, Courtney hurried to tell me that Kell would be at her house already because she had to help him get ready. He grimaced, but agreed with her, telling me we'd meet at the party.

I walked into Courtney's, wearing torn up jeans and a fake-dirty, torn t-shirt, covered in fake blood. Mom had even insisted on helping me by rubbing eyeshadow and shit on my face, to make me look more "undead." I'd wiped some of it off in the car, but a reasonable amount still remained.

Kim, Brittany, and Elizabeth were all standing around the kitchen, talking and putting the finishing touches on their costumes. Brittany turned to greet me, sticking on fake eyelashes, dressed like some sort of stripper. It took me a minute to understand that she was actually a really slutty sailor.

"Sydney, your costume is so lame."

I leaned against the wall, raising an eyebrow at her. "At least I'm not dressed like some amateur porn star."

"It's Halloween. Give me a break."

Kim was dressed as a really made-up Cybil Bennett, helping Elizabeth with her eye makeup. It was actually kind of sweet watching how careful and gentle she was with Elizabeth, softly whispering for her to look up, or shut her eyes, or whatever.

I didn't get a clear look at Elizabeth until Kim moved away from her. She was dressed like a dancer, a ballerina. I didn't get it until I saw the ballet slippers on her feet, with the ribbon winding up around her ankles. She just had on a short, fitted, strapless pale pink dress. Kim had helped her out on a little makeup, but it was nothing dramatic. It was practically nonexistent in comparison to Brittany's face.

I was still arguing with Brittany over which of our costumes was worse while I was watching Elizabeth and Kim out of the corner of my eye. Kim said something quietly in Elizabeth's ear. Elizabeth giggled softly, smiling big at Kim and twirling around in her shoes. It looked way too graceful for someone who was just dressing as a dancer.

"Elizabeth, do you actually dance?"

She and Kim both looked at me in surprise. Elizabeth nodded. "Yeah, I've been in ballet lessons since I was two."

Kim wrapped her arms around Elizabeth's waist. "The costume's kind of an inside joke, because dancing isn't really about dresses and prettiness as much as everyone think it is."

Elizabeth nodded, smirking. "It's about dancing on a broken ankle for two months and never eating anything with sugar."

"So you play cello and dance. Do you sing or anything else?"

Elizabeth laughed. "God, no. I do play violin, though. And viola. I can't play viola nearly as well as Kell, because it's so difficult to read, but I'm okay with violin."

"Why do you do so much?"

She shrugged. "Scholarships. I read 3 clefs, I'm a dedicated dancer. I'm willing to do anything considered even remotely artistic as long as it will get me a scholarship for something that doesn't involve math or science."

"Did you ever get asked to do that engineering class that they're doing throughout the state? Kell did it for a year. I was going to, but it didn't work with my schedule."

"They wanted me to do it, but I didn't want to. I did the summer camp, but not the class."

Brittany chimed in brightly, "I did the summer camp too! I did it when they offered it at county schools the year before high school. They didn't ask me to do the class, though."

Kim smiled. "Didn't we do that together? That feels like it was so long ago."

"Yeah, I think we did. Those were the worst two weeks of my entire life. I don't know how you got any of the work done. Everything had to be so specific."

"It was pretty bad. I only did it for the college credit."

Brittany looked like she was about to reply, but Courtney yelled from the staircase. "Is anyone else here?"

Kim yelled back. "Alex and Ashton left to get ice. Sydney's here."

I heard a pair of heels making their way down the steps before Courtney finally came into view, wearing a generic fairy costume and a huge smile. "Oh my god, Sydney, you have to see Kell."

Kell whined from the staircase where I still couldn't see him. "Sydney, she bet me I wouldn't do it, and I really really want to get tickets for this concert, so I did it. But it's so bad."

"Let me see you."

There was a pause as we all waited. "...no."

"Kell."

Brittany teetered over to the stairs in her massive heels. She squealed as soon as she saw Kell, reaching out to drag him down. "You look like a doll!"

My eyes widened as soon as I saw Kell. He blushed and looked away, fidgeting with his outfit. Courtney had really gone overboard with this.

Kell was wearing a white-was that a fucking leotard?- thing, with a tiny white apron that fastened around his waist and behind his neck, a big red cross over his chest. He had white ballet flats on, with white fishnets going up to his thighs. I swear, he was even wearing hairclips, bright red ones holding his hair just out of his eyes. I was thankful I could see his face, because Courtney had apparently made him wear makeup. His eyes were lined perfectly, making his eyes look even more huge than normal. Overall, he looked unmanly as fuck, but adorable and intriguing.

"Kell, did she dress you up as a nurse?"