We Only Come Out at Night

I groaned as I'm Not Okay by My Chemical Romance blasted out of my phone. I dismissed the alarm and it stopped mid-sentence. I rolled out of bed and ran a hand through my mane that I call hair. I stood up just as Yeah Boy and Doll Face by Pierce The Veil started to play. “I'm awake,” I mumbled and turned it off. I walked out of my room, down the stairs, stumbled into the kitchen and filled the kettle. I made myself a cup of tea just as a knock came from the door. Seeing a tall silhouette from the stained glass on the front door, I grabbed another mug, set it down and made my way to the door.
“Hey beautiful,” he said as I opened the door to reveal my best friend.
“You can keep saying that but it'll never be true,” I replied and stepped aside so he could enter. I walked back to the kitchen and took the coffee powder out of a cupboard. His golden eyes lit up as he saw it, quickly to be covered by his black hair that reached his jaw. I chuckled and he moved his hair out of his face.
“I know you too well, Chris,” I said, tilting my head back to see him. The lucky git is 6'2'' whereas I'm 5'4'', barely. I set it down and let him make it himself. We drank in comfortable silence until Chris decided to break it.
“Are you going to school dressed in that?”
I looked down at my plain black t-shirt and black leggings.
“Wouldn't make much difference, would it?” He smirked at my response and leaned back so I could pass. I dodged his long legs and ran up the stairs. I got changed into a My Chemical Romance 'The Black Parade' band shirt and ripped black skinny jeans along with my converse. I brushed my hair and put on black eyeliner and mascara. I grabbed my phone, earphones and school bag and galloped down the stairs. Chris shook his head at my childish behaviour as I ditched my bag and drank my tea. I smiled right back and heard a step on the stairs. My dad appeared and smiled at us.
“Good morning kids.”
“Morning,” we said in unison.
“How are you today Chris?”
“I'm good, sir, how are you?”
“I'm just fine.” Dad smiled and whispered to me, “At least you pick the polite ones.”
I rolled my eyes and Chris gave me a look. 'Later,' I mouthed. The sound of the kettle boiling filled the air again.
“You two realise it's seven thirty in the morning.”
“Yep,” I replied cheerfully.
“What do you even do to pass the time?”
“I told you, dad, Chris is in a band. We meet up with the other members and hang.”
Dad looked distastefully at Chris and muttered, “Right, the band, Motionless Black Romance, or something.”
“It's Motionless In White, sir.”
“Yeah, that one.”
I emptied the contents of my mug and Chris followed suit. We dumped the mugs in the sink and I kissed my dad on the cheek. Chris picked up his bag that he had set down when he came in and I mirrored him.
“I'll see you later, tell mum I said goodbye.”
“Will do.”
Chris and I walked out after I grabbed my dark grey leather jacket. The wind blew my hair away from my face like a slap and I hurriedly slipped into my jacket and huddled into it. Chris wrapped an arm around my shoulders as we walked side-by-side and I smiled gratefully at him. I felt a vibrate near my bottom rib and moved aside a little so Chris could get at his phone.
“Bloody giant,” I muttered and he chuckled as he unlocked his phone. He quickly read the text and said, “The guys are waiting for us.”
“When are they not?”
I felt his chuckle on my left and leaned into his warmth.
“Cold?”
“Ha ha, very funny. How the hell did you get to mine?”
“It's a five minute walk!”
“Still too long in this weather,” I muttered.
“Look on the bright side. It's Halloween in three days,” I knew my eyes had lit up, “which means we will be having a Tim Burton movie day soon.”
“Can't wait.”
We arrived at the edge of the forest which was a two minute walk from my house. We knew this place like the back of our hands.
“I've been meaning to ask. Do you know...um...how Ange's doing?”
Chris looked at me sympathetically. Angelo and I were close before...you don't want to know.
“He's doing good. He misses us a lot.” I sighed. “He loves you like his sister, you know.”
“Yeah, I love him too. But I miss him so much.”
He squeezed my shoulder as we weaved through it the trees that had fiery red leaves and dark trunks that looked like they were made of charcoal, towards the clearing where we knew the others were waiting for us.
“I'll help you find a new drummer, promise.”
Chris smiled appreciatively as we neared the edge of the clearing. I could faintly see three familiar figures through the thick and thin branches, stretching out providing cover from the outside. Chris took his arm off my shoulders and grabbed my hand, towing me through the trees towards our friends. We broke through the trees to see the three figures sitting in a circle. They turned and smiled at us.
“Hey guys,” I said and let go of Chris' hand. I sat down in between Ryan and Ghost. Ghost ran a hand through his Sweeney Todd hair and his dark eyes twinkled. I noticed none of them looked even remotely cold.
“Fricken' vampires,” I mumbled and they all chuckled.
Chris sat down between Ryan and Ricky and grinned at me. Ryan wrapped an arm around my shoulders and hugged me from the side.
“Thanks.”
“Any time, man.”
Two people stepped out from the trees gaining our attention. I recognised Balz's military cut hair and smiled. The wind blew and Maddie's short brown hair flew into her face covering her blue eyes. She moved it and sat down beside Ghost and Balz sat opposite me.
“So Ryan, how's Allie?” I asked.
We all grinned and Ryan blushed.
“Dunno,” he grunted.
“Really? Because a little birdie told me you saw her this morning,” I replied.
I winked at Balz and his blue eyes twinkled with mischief.
“Who was it?” Ryan growled, and took his arm off my shoulders, spinning me around to face him. I smirked at him, “How do you know it wasn't Allie?”
He hesitated and his face went blank. Then anger flared in his eyes. He let go of my shoulders and spun around. His long black hair hid the side of his face from my view but I knew he was glaring at the guys.
“Who did it?” he snarled.
Ricky cowered a little, it wasn't that noticeable but I saw fear flash briefly in his innocent blue eyes. I knew Ryan had a bad temper at times but he wasn't scary... or were they hiding something from me? Chris looked confused and glanced around. His gaze lingered on Balz and he smiled at the ground . Ryan looked at Ghost and then his brown eyes were on me. I smirked and he looked right at Balz.
“You little...” he growled as he jumped in the circle Balz up, shoved him and tackled him to the ground. Balz's laughter filled the woods as Ryan punched him playfully. They were play-wrestling and Maddie and I laughed at them.
“I bet Ryan wins!” Chris yelled.
“No way, Balz is gonna kick his ass!” Ricky shouted.
“I bet no one wins,” Ghost said, “what about you, Alyssa?”
I shook my head and watched them roll around, playfully punching each other.
“How the hell did you find out?” Ryan growled.
“I saw you sneak out, idiot. It's not very secretive with her standing outside.”
He smirked as he threw a playful punch to his jaw. Ryan punched him in the stomach and rolled over.
Balz laughed, “Get off me, you faggot.”
Ryan mocked shock and anger, then laughed and stood up. He pulled Balz up and they fist bumped. Maddie was shaking her head at them and moved so she was sitting behind the small gap between Ghost and me.
“Do you think they'll ever stop fighting?”
“Nope.” I grinned at her and she shook her head again.
“Wait, who won?” Chris asked.
“I think Ghost won this time.” I smiled at him and he looked triumphant.
Chris and Ricky forked over five bucks each, which was our betting limit, and Ghost gladly took it.
“So, how's Allie?” Maddie asked tauntingly.
“This is why I didn't want you guys to know, you like to tease.”
“I don't know why you're so gleeful, Mrs Preciadio,” Ricky counteracted.
She blushed and I nudged her.
“Which one's Allie?” Ghost asked.
“The really hot one,” Balz responded, earning a death glare from Ryan.
My phone vibrated and I pulled it out of my pocket. I had a text from Amelia, our best friend and Balz's girlfriend, saying 'Ivy and I are in the canteen.'
“Guys, time to go, we have fifteen minutes.”
“Is Amelia and Ivy waiting?” Maddie asked.
“Yeah.”
Ivy is our other best friend, she's fluent in Spanish which she takes advantage of. She always talks to Vic (her boyfriend), Mike (Vic's younger brother), Tony (we call him Turtle) and Jaime (Maddie's boyfriend) in Spanish.
“Hey, Alyssa, you're the only one who's single now,” Ryan pointed out.
He was right. Maddie and Jaime, Ivy and Vic, Ryan and Allie, Balz and Amelia, Ghost and Kylie, Ricky and Jessica, Chris and Chloe, and I know Turtle and Mike have secret girlfriends. Which leaves me, single. I wasn't complaining, don't get me wrong, but it can get lonely when they'll all out on dates, single and double. The guys have pretty cool girlfriends though, except Chloe, she's a total bitch but Chris doesn't see it. Unless you've seen it you have no idea how much it hurts to see your best friend completely in love with the worst bitch ever. You have no idea how many times she's slapped Maddie behind Chris' back and how many times I've almost punched her but Chris appears. The rest of the guys know but they've never seen it. That bitch is too careful.
I hadn't realised I had fallen behind until Ricky said, “You okay?”
I blinked and noticed we were the only ones in the woods.
“Yeah, just thinking.”
He nodded and walked beside me. When we reached the edge the guys were waiting for us.
“What held you two back?” Maddie asked in a tone I didn't recognise; it was almost teasing.
“Got sidetracked.”
I knew I looked confused and there was a twinkle in her eye I didn't understand. We walked to school and arrived just as the bell rang. Chris waved goodbye to us and set off to the college that was joined to the school where Vic would be waiting for him. Ange normally went with him. I shook that thought out of my head and walked into the school. We said goodbye to Ghost and Ricky, who were in their last year of high school along with Mike and Turtle. Maddie, Ryan, Balz and I were in the year under them with Ivy, Amelia, Jaime.
The four of us made our way through the crowd and received the usual looks from ignorant students. I was shoved and heard, “Move it, emo faggot.” I rolled my eyes and continued walking. Maddie glanced at me and I smiled to show I was fine. We slipped through the door and saw Ivy, Amelia and Jaime. Balz immediately walked to Amelia and Maddie and I grinned at each other. Maddie sat next to Jaime and I smirked., sitting between Ryan and Ivy. The teacher came in and glanced at us disgustingly. I smirked at her and looked at Ryan. He smiled evilly at me and I returned it.
The teacher started to call out the register, “Joshua Balz.”
“Here.”
“Ivy Blanche.”
“Here.”
“Amelia Evans.”
“Here.”
“Peter Ferguson.”
“Here.”
“Madeline Logan.”
“Here.”
“Carrie Mitchell.”
“Here.”
“Abigail Norman.”
“Here.”
“Jaime Preciadio.”
“Here.”
“Jake Ryan.”
“Here.”
“Ryan Sitkowski.”
There was a silence. I nudged Ryan who had fallen asleep.
“Here,” he said sleepily.
“I'd prefer if you stay awake Mr Sitkowski.”
Ryan rolled his eyes and I lightly chuckled.
The teacher sighed and continued, “George Tenement.”
“Here.”
“And Alyssa Williams.”
“Here,” I yawned. The bell rang and we got up for our next class. This was going to be a long day.