October 14th
A hearty murmur of conversation provided the soundtrack to lunchtime in the cafeteria of Berk High School, a quasi-peacefulness that was disturbed by the cheerful invitation of the blonde-haired girl who'd just sat opposite him:
"Check this out."
The sophomore turned his emerald eyes away from his lunch and toward her, where they then flitted down to the sheet of lurid orange paper that lay atop the cafeteria table, emblazoned with the seal of the dual portents of doom and destruction: the Thorston twins.
The hallmark featured caricaturised representations of Rebekka and Tomi Thorston, surrounded by the comic sans-rendered claim:
Purveyors of EPIC parties since 2010
He let out a sardonic chuckle in reaction; the Twins' parties were infamous.
The silhouette of a grinning jack-o'-lantern dominated a large portion of the poster, nestled above a block of text rendered in a vaguely creepy font:
You are hereby invited to party down at Rebekka and Tomi's Halloween smash.
When? - Saturday October 29th
Where? - The Thorston House (26 Atlantic Street)
What time? - From 8 'til late.
BYOB and a buddy.
"'Smash' is definitely the right word, something will end up broken by the end of the night." he mused, before studying her expression more carefully. "You're not thinking of going, are you?"
She made a show of looking in two minds about it, and his suspicious were immediately raised.
"Astrid…"
"Just hear me out, you and I both know you're really good at making Halloween costumes, but you haven't made any the last few years."
"There hasn't been much for us to do for Halloween since we grew out of trick-or-treating." he responded.
"We could give this a try." she suggested.
"You know what their parties are like, something gets obliterated, and someone else also ends up obliterated, making a mess fit for Ragnarok… usually involving lots of puke." a deciphering look crossed Hamish's features again. "You've got an ulterior motive in making me go, you're unusually enthusiastic about this party."
She actually looked sheepish. "I don't know what you're talking about."
The realisation hit him like the school bell.
"No! No, no!" he shook his head. "You're not setting me up with some random stranger."
"Give me a little credit Hamish; I'm not going to set you up with a complete stranger. My cousin's family is planning to move to Berk and he's going to be staying with us around the time of the party. He officially came out a while ago and I think you'll find you both have things in common. I'm not asking you to marry him, just spend some time with him and see what happens."
He slunk a little back into his chair. "This seems a little one-sided; do I have any say in this?"
She gave him a bright smile. "Nope."
He let out a quiet groan. "Can I at least see a picture of him?"
She shook her head. "I'm not going to make it that easy." she playfully toyed with him as she considered the plan she evidently had been concocting for a while. "We could play this like a masked ball, you'll have an idea of what his costume is, but his face will be disguised so that you'll be judging him on his personality, not on his looks."
"Because I'm so shallow." he retorted.
"You're better than a lot of people, but I've seen the magazine you hide under your mattress. The one with Chris Pine on the cover." she good-naturedly teased, and his eyes suddenly looked anywhere but her face.
"Fine, point made." he groused. "Do I have any say in what costume I'm going to wear, or does it have to match his?"
She shook her head again, a more amiable expression on her face. "You can wear whatever you like. I'll let him know what you'll be dressed as so he knows who to talk to."
Hamish mulled it over. I can go as anything, huh? He let out an amused snort as an idea came to mind. "If I've carte blanche on what my costume's gonna be, I guess it's going to have to be something pretty memorable."
For the first time since she'd raised the subject of the Halloween party, and of setting Hamish up to meet her cousin, a flicker of dread danced across Astrid Hofferson's face; the chilled realisation she may have just bitten off more than she could chew.
