Are You Scared Yet?
Prologue
“Hey.”
I ignore the voice, keeping my eyes on the physical science book in front of me, trying to decipher what the hell the difference between regular electrons and valence ones. Was there even a difference, or am I making this up? Fuck.
“Hey!” Alex yells louder, right next to my ear now.
“Jesus Christ,” I yelp, slamming the book closed, “what the hell do you want?”
Alex grins at me, obviously happy about the small jump he got out of me.
“Look,” he says, shoving his phone in my face.
Frowning, I push it away from me.
“Can it wait until later? I have a test tomorrow, dude, and I have absolutely no idea what the Hell I’m doing.”
“No you don’t,” he says bluntly, directing the phone to me again.
Sighing, I take the phone from him; humoring him is probably the only way to get him to stop bugging me, anyways.
The phone has the school’s website open on Alex’s safari app. Furrowing my brows, I look back up at his excited face.
“Yes, Alex,” I say slowly, “this is the school we go to. Now can I please go back to studying?”
He rolls his eyes and snatches the phone out of my hands. I try to open my textbook again, but he finds whatever he’s looking for a lot faster than I thought he would.
Alex slams the book closed on my fingers, causing an extremely embarrassing noise to pass through my lips.
“This is what I meant, fuck face,” he snaps.
I take the phone again with a glare in his direction. I read over the headline of the page before handing it back to him.
“Closed for the next week and a half? Why?” I ask.
“Didn’t you read the whole thing, Jack? That storm we had yesterday caved the whole roof over the gym in, and they need to repair it and check the rest of it to make sure it won’t come down on a random class or something during the winter,” he says.
The storm he’s referencing had been a bit crazy, with high wind speeds strong enough to knock over trees. My family’s trashcan had been found three blocks over before the end of it.
“Damn. I guess there’s no reason for us to stay here, then,” I say, gesturing around the nearly empty library.
“That’s what I was hoping for,” Alex drawls.
Nodding, I slip my textbook back into my book bag. We both stand up and I sling it over my shoulder.
“What do we do now, then?” I ask, adjusting it so the weight of the book bag rests on one shoulder.
Alex thinks for a second before grinning wickedly again.
“The Optimist Club is doing their usual annual haunted hayride, and it starts tonight. You wanna go?” he asks, as we leave the library.
We both shiver as a small gust of October wind rushes past us. Biting my lip, I follow in step beside Alex.
“I don’t know. I’ve kind of become immune to them; they’re not really scary anymore,” I lie, with a shrug.
Alex shrugs too.
“That’s cool; we could go to Ghoul Mansion again. I hear they’re doing the Hooded Haunt again this year.”
I’ve never done the Hooded Haunt myself, but considering how much I hate being scared and the time when Halloween is nearing in general, I’ve made it a roll to avoid things that make everyone else talk about how scary it was, and the Hooded Haunt is definitely something I should be evading.
Fear curls in my stomach and I know I have to act fast.
“That doesn’t really scare me anymore either,” I say, hoping he can’t hear my voice shake.
I curse myself internally when he stops walking and turns to look at me instead.
“Are you telling me that nothing Halloween themed scares you anymore?” Alex asks, pulling his sleeves over his hands and crossing his arms over his chest.
“Um, yes?”
Alex stares at me for a few seconds before his frown becomes a determined smirk.
“Guess I’ll just have to make it my goal to scare you by Halloween, then,” he says.
My eyes widen as he begins to practically skip away.
“Wait, Alex, that’s not necessary.”
I jog to keep up with him.
“Oh, I know it’s not, but it sure as Hell will be fun,” he says before breaking out in run.
I run after him, a protest forming on the tip of my tongue, but I know Alex, and Alex always gets what he wants when he’s determined like this.
Well, fuck.
I ignore the voice, keeping my eyes on the physical science book in front of me, trying to decipher what the hell the difference between regular electrons and valence ones. Was there even a difference, or am I making this up? Fuck.
“Hey!” Alex yells louder, right next to my ear now.
“Jesus Christ,” I yelp, slamming the book closed, “what the hell do you want?”
Alex grins at me, obviously happy about the small jump he got out of me.
“Look,” he says, shoving his phone in my face.
Frowning, I push it away from me.
“Can it wait until later? I have a test tomorrow, dude, and I have absolutely no idea what the Hell I’m doing.”
“No you don’t,” he says bluntly, directing the phone to me again.
Sighing, I take the phone from him; humoring him is probably the only way to get him to stop bugging me, anyways.
The phone has the school’s website open on Alex’s safari app. Furrowing my brows, I look back up at his excited face.
“Yes, Alex,” I say slowly, “this is the school we go to. Now can I please go back to studying?”
He rolls his eyes and snatches the phone out of my hands. I try to open my textbook again, but he finds whatever he’s looking for a lot faster than I thought he would.
Alex slams the book closed on my fingers, causing an extremely embarrassing noise to pass through my lips.
“This is what I meant, fuck face,” he snaps.
I take the phone again with a glare in his direction. I read over the headline of the page before handing it back to him.
“Closed for the next week and a half? Why?” I ask.
“Didn’t you read the whole thing, Jack? That storm we had yesterday caved the whole roof over the gym in, and they need to repair it and check the rest of it to make sure it won’t come down on a random class or something during the winter,” he says.
The storm he’s referencing had been a bit crazy, with high wind speeds strong enough to knock over trees. My family’s trashcan had been found three blocks over before the end of it.
“Damn. I guess there’s no reason for us to stay here, then,” I say, gesturing around the nearly empty library.
“That’s what I was hoping for,” Alex drawls.
Nodding, I slip my textbook back into my book bag. We both stand up and I sling it over my shoulder.
“What do we do now, then?” I ask, adjusting it so the weight of the book bag rests on one shoulder.
Alex thinks for a second before grinning wickedly again.
“The Optimist Club is doing their usual annual haunted hayride, and it starts tonight. You wanna go?” he asks, as we leave the library.
We both shiver as a small gust of October wind rushes past us. Biting my lip, I follow in step beside Alex.
“I don’t know. I’ve kind of become immune to them; they’re not really scary anymore,” I lie, with a shrug.
Alex shrugs too.
“That’s cool; we could go to Ghoul Mansion again. I hear they’re doing the Hooded Haunt again this year.”
I’ve never done the Hooded Haunt myself, but considering how much I hate being scared and the time when Halloween is nearing in general, I’ve made it a roll to avoid things that make everyone else talk about how scary it was, and the Hooded Haunt is definitely something I should be evading.
Fear curls in my stomach and I know I have to act fast.
“That doesn’t really scare me anymore either,” I say, hoping he can’t hear my voice shake.
I curse myself internally when he stops walking and turns to look at me instead.
“Are you telling me that nothing Halloween themed scares you anymore?” Alex asks, pulling his sleeves over his hands and crossing his arms over his chest.
“Um, yes?”
Alex stares at me for a few seconds before his frown becomes a determined smirk.
“Guess I’ll just have to make it my goal to scare you by Halloween, then,” he says.
My eyes widen as he begins to practically skip away.
“Wait, Alex, that’s not necessary.”
I jog to keep up with him.
“Oh, I know it’s not, but it sure as Hell will be fun,” he says before breaking out in run.
I run after him, a protest forming on the tip of my tongue, but I know Alex, and Alex always gets what he wants when he’s determined like this.
Well, fuck.