Sooo sorry for the delay. On vacation :)

Anyhoo, this is a Halloween exchange for the lovely Angela (our colourful fingernails). Hope you enjoy it. Hate that your leaving fanfiction :'(

Happy Halloween everyone!

Five more minutes. I tapped my foot anxiously under my desk, eyes glued to the clock that was moving at an excruciatingly slow rate. Just five more minutes.

Mrs. Ling was at the whiteboard, drawing a parabola even though no one was paying attention. It was the last period of the day, which would be make it hard enough to pay attention under normal circumstances, but top it off with Halloween and the beginning of the weird weeklong break we for some reason have, it was downright impossible.

I looked down at my math book guiltily. The page was filled with some really bad and lopsided pumpkin and zombie doodles. I know I promised my dad I would pay more attention in math and try harder, especially after that progress report card catastrophe, when I got a B- in math. I know now that's an unforgivable crime in the Lyons household, punishable by cell phone take awayage and whatnot.

I turned my head to look at a desk two rows over, where my best friend Layne sat, because I just knew she was looking at me. It's like a sixth sense. She was and when I met her eyes, she put her hands to her face (showcasing her black and neon orange nail polish) and made a big O with her mouth, which was either her I'm-so-pysched face or her the Scream impersonation. With Layne, it could really be either.

She was coming over to my house today around eight to have a scary movie marathon, which was the only way to truly celebrate Halloween. It was going to be great because my dad was at a conference in Chicago and my mom had to go with Todd trick-or-treating to supervise him, because last time he tripped over his too long Batman cape and ended up breaking his arm.

I shot Layne back a thumbs up before I got distracted yet again. This time it was because of the people sitting behind me. Massie, Alicia, Kristen and Dylan. The Pretty Committee. At least, that's what the B-Lister's will tell you. The so-called Losers, like myself, consider them the Shitty Committee. Those girls are so fake, they might as well be mannequins in the shops they love so much. I may just have one friend here, and she's definitely more than a little eccentric, but I genuinely like her. These girls barely even get along.

If Massie and Alicia are in the bathroom, they bag on Dylan. Alicia and Dylan sit together in art, they tear Massie apart. Kristen and Massie are in PE, they bitch about Alicia. It's terrible. Um, well, not for me because I kinda enjoy it because they're total bitches and enjoy it, but it's terrible for them.

Either way, Alicia Rivera's high-pitched squeal got my attention. If you've been picked on as much as I have, hearing a group of pretty girls laugh is the kiss of death. You never know if they just made up a rumor to destroy you life and are filled with evil glee or if they just think the lunchlady's hairnets are hysterical.

"Ehmagawd, this is so exciting," gushed Dylan Marvil.

"What are you going to wear?" asked Kristen Gregory.

Massie tittered. "It's so not that big of a deal, guys."

"Um, excuse me, did you not just hear me say that Chris Plovert is going to ask you out today?" Alicia asked, enunciating every word in the last part. They echoed around in my head and my vision swam.

Riiiiiiing

All twenty-eight girls shrieked and rushed to the door, talking non-stop and swinging their Prada bags carelesslz. I could still hear the Shitty Committee talking about how cute Plovert and Massie would be.

But I stayed where I was. Because Chris Plovert was going to ask out Massie Block. And I wanted to die.

"Wow, why so glum, chum?"

I slammed my locker shut and spun around to come face to face with Layne slurping an Otterpop.

"Nothing," I said, looking over at where Massie's posse was huddled.

"Is this because Plovert is going to ask Massie out?" Layne asked sympathetically.

My eyes snapped to hers. "What? How did you know about that?"

She shrugged. "I'm here. I hear things. Kinda like a sixth sense."

"Um, no, that's actually one of the five," I informed her. "And why is he going to ask her out?" God, couldn't someone find her ugly, just once.

"Clairebear," Layne paused to take a long slurp of Otterpop, "I told you when you first told me you had a crush on him that while I fully support you, he's more than a heartbreaker. He's a hot heartbreaker, which guruantees that he will never notice losers like us and will notice someone like Massie, therefore "breaking" your heart."

I glared at her. "So not helpful."

"It's the truth." She tossed her empty Otterpop plastic in the vague direction of the trashcan and missed. "He's a heartbreaker. But you'll fourteen. You'll get over it." She heaved her back up on her shoulder. "See you later, after I do my homework and eat my mac-and-cheese. Gotta jump, grump."

I sighed, looking over at Massie again as Layne walked away waving. Smart, charmed, beautiful. She had everything I wanted, including the heart of the boy I'd been obsessing over since I moved her. Damn.

It was worse than coming in second. I wasn't even coming in at all.

When I got home, Mom and Todd were getting everything ready for our annual tradition of making jack-o-lanterns. I tried, like really tried, to get into it and at first I was all keyed up because gutting out an innocent pumpkin with a knife would be the ideal way of taking out all my frustration without getting sent to jail. But then Todd spilled Mr. Orange Smiley's internal organs all over the carpet-and we're talking gross, smelly, orange slim and Mom went beserks and all of a sudden the house seemed to small and crowded for me.

So I escaped to the park.

The park was two minutes away from my house, always looking out of place surrounded by clusters of suburban houses. Normally, a lot of kids from school hung out here, guys from Briarwood came to skate on the graffittied half-pipe and girls to watch them and giggle. Today, luckily, there was no one around.

I sat down on a swing and toed the mud underneath me. Stupid rain. It been a downpour since I left my house, plastering my bangs to my forehead in an unattractive way. It was crappy weather for trick-or-treating.

"Contemplating the meaning of life?" a voice behind me asked. I jumped and gave a little screaming, my brain thinking of everything from rapists and kidnappers to ghosts and vampires.

"Whoa, chill," the voice said and, like in a dream, Chris freaking Plovert sat down the swing next to me. Like right next to me. Right freaking next to me! "I was just saying hey."

"What are you doing here?" My voice was oddly high-pitched.

He shrugged before jerking his head in a heartthrobbing way to get his wet bangs out of his eyes. "It's a public place. Needed to gather my courage. Like walking around in the rain. You know." I didn't but I nodded anyways. Right next to me. I felt like my heart was doing 360s in my chest. "What are you doing here, Lyons?"

How the heck does he know my name? "My house smells like pumpkin," I said automatically before mentally kicking myself in the head for sounding so stupid. He laughed, though, and that just made me blush harder.

"No wonder why you look so stressed," he commented.

"I'm not stressed." I looked at him strangely and stopped my swing.

"Yes, you are. Your forehead has little lines across it."

I rolled my eyes and started toeing the ground again. "Just had a bad day."

"Ahhh," he nodded measuredly. "You know what helps? You gotta find a way to let it out."

"Let it out?" I repeated.

"Yeah. You gotta let it all out. All that stress and emotion crap. Just take it out on something." He fished around in his pocket. "See, I'm stressed about asking Massie out, which is why I'm gathering courage, but anyway." He pulled out a phone and then before I could stop him, chucked it at the half-pipe, leaving a pile of shattered, broken parts at the bottom.

"Oh my God! Why did you do that?" I shrieked.

"Told you. Relieves stress." He exhales. "I feel so much better now. Somehow...lighter. Free of stress. Stressfree." I wondered for a minute if he was insane.

"You threw your phone at a wall. And it broke. You broke your freaking phone for no reason!"

"Whatever."

I rounded on him. "Whatever?"

"Yeah. It was an old model. Already broken. Accidentally dropped it in the toilet."

"First, ew," I said, making a face, "and two, why did you have it with you?"

He shrugged. "Why not? It's nice to have random stuff to screw with."

"You're so weird." I gripped the chains on the swing and leaned back, trying to catch raindrops on my tongue.

"What's that?" He looked at my wrist imploringly.

"What's wha-oh." I sat upright, looking at the temporary tattoo on the inside of my left wrist. Layne and I had done them yesterday. "Temporary tattoo."

"Yeah, but what does it say?"

I looked at him, directly in the eye, which was hard, because he was wet and curious and it made him look so damn perfect. "Hope."

He met my eyeline for the longest minute of my life and then shook his head. "Lyons...you're one hell of a girl."

I blushed, even though I reminded myself that he wasn't flirting with me, that this was Plovert, who made every girl feel like he was flirting with them when he was just being friendly. And, most importantly, that he was here to gather courage to ask out Massie Block.

"I hope the sun comes out," I said quickly, trying to make the awkward pause a little less awkward, but failing entirely, "because the sun is really nice and it makes everything warmer and it's so wet right now, we could definitely use a little warm and it's so nice and yellow and I really like yellow, it's my favorite color and you know, it's just the sun. Symbol of happiness," I rambled. Stupid, stupid Claire. Talking about the freaking sun.

"I can't stand the sun, even if it is a symbol of happiness," he said gravelly and for a minute I saw sadness in his eyes and I wondered what piece of his life I was missing, what he was hiding behind his playful facade.

I shivered and looked at my phone. "I should go home now. But it was nice talking to you."

"I'll walk you home."

I shivered again. "Nah, it's fine. I live two minutes away."

Plovert looked at me and the playfulness was back in his eyes. "It's Halloween, Lyons. Someone might attack you."

I looked at him skeptically. "I'm pretty sure there are no demons hiding out in the bushes chowing on free candy, waiting to jump on me and scream "BOO!" when I walk by."

"No, no, I'm talking about ferocious little kids trick-or-treating."

"I think my chances of being jumped by a demon are greater than my chances of being jumped by a little kid," I laughed, standing up. We walked to the edge of the park.

"Don't be so sure," Plovert said as we crossed the street. I peeked a sideways look at him. His face was lighting up, excited about what he was talking about and I was glad. I would do anything to keep that painful look out of his eyes. I never wanted to see it again. "You see, demons took this vow that they would never hurt anyone on Halloween, because you know, all the little kids dressing up in honor of them and all the free candy. It was logical to think that if there were too many deaths on Halloween, no one would go trick-or-treating and then no one would buy candy for trick-or-treating and therefore there would be no candy for the demons."

"I'm so glad demons have a sense of nobility," I said dryly. "I'll sleep so much safer tonight."

"You may laugh now, Lyons, but then..." Chris plunged headfirst into an outrageous tale of demons and knights and big chested German girls, dragging me with him. Before I knew it, we were in front of my house.

I waved goodbye and turned to head up my steps before pausing and turning around, the words "I had a great time." on the tip of my tongue. But he was already gone, walking up down the street, looking just like normal, friendly, Chris Plovert.

My phone buzzed in my pocket. Layne.

Layne: Remember: Heartbreaker!

That girl was like a pyschic. But I hope she didn't know that I spent all the time until eight o'clock humming and dancing in my room, listening to Taylor Swift and smiling to myself. So he was a heartbreaker. I could take it.

Back in the park, the rain had stopped and a ray of sunlight broke through the clouds. Hope.

So that was my Halloween exchange. Hope you enjoyed it, Angela! Sorry about it being late :/ I really wish you weren't leaving Fanfiction.

My first Claire centric fic! So proud, because I don't really like her character, but I kinda liked writing her. Shrugs. Reviews would be nice.

Happy Halloween! :hands out nonexistant Halloween candy in front of a badass haunted house:

xx

Bree