"Hey, Hazel!" My best friend Renada called out. She was, as usual, in the center of a large group of people in the middle of the cafeteria. I tilted my head and locked eyes to let her know I heard and wanted to know what she wanted. She had a silly grin on her face and just beckoned me over. With a roll of my eyes I walked away from my small group of friends and over to her.

"Ok well, as you know Halloween is coming up." she paused to keep herself from squealing, then resumed.

"And as you also know every year Branden throws a party in the woods behind his house. It just so happens that he, Branden Hughes himself, quarterback, class president, homecoming king and lover extraordinaire, invited a friend of mine. And that friend told me that I could bring any one person I wanted, so naturally my mind jumped in a million directions at once and I thought-" I cut off her rambling with a jab to her ribs, indicating she get to the point already. She grinned again now rubbing her side.

"What I'm trying to say is…Would you like to go with me to the most exclusive 'All Hallows Eve' party of the year!" she screeched looking like she was about to explode with excitement. I blinked once, taking in what she had actually said and my own eyes grew wide. THE Branden Hughes's party? Chances like that didn't fall into your lap everyday, or every lifetime for that matter! I nodded wildly in approval and she squealed again hugging me tight.

"Oh but what will we wear?" she wondered aloud. I smiled. I knew it wouldn't be the best for the kind of party I was going to but this year I was dressing up as a forest sprite. I had done all the sewing and accessory shopping myself months ahead of time. Renada on the other hand loved waiting to do everything at the last second, therefore leaving her with 3 says till the party of our lives and with nothing to wear. We made plans to meet after school at the mall and scurried off to our next classes as the bell rang. I was never the best student but I usually didn't ignore the teacher completely to daydream, which is what I did for the rest of the day. As agreed after the 8th period bell rang I headed out to the mall. Renada wouldn't be there for another half hour or so due to the tutoring lessons she got everyday after classes but I wanted to go early so I had some time to look around for myself. My outfit, in my opinion, was great but there is always room for improvement right? With that in mind I entered the automatic doors and made a beeline for Hot Topic, they always had the best accessories for costumes. After a little browsing something caught my eye. In the cases by the counter was a green floral hairclip with a fake silver ring. They were a set and despite looking so different from each other they somehow just fit. The clip was a simple leaf green with a whitewater lily while the ring was made of small silver tendrils weaving in out and around. Needless to say I bought it immediately and left a happy teen.

"Hazel, wait up!" a familiar male voice called from behind me. I turned to see Darren coming toward me with a few mutual friends. I smiled.

"What's up? Doing some last minute Halloween shopping?" he asked eying my bag. I nodded.

"That's cool, what did you get?" he wanted to know. I showed them the jewelry and they gave it the necessary amount of attention before changing the subject to something that interested them a bit more. Soon after Renada showed up and Darren's group all made faces before bidding me farewell. Her 'group' and mine never really mixed since she was the prep and I was more the minor rebel type. Not to say that I did bad things all the time, I just got in trouble a lot for standing up for myself is all. People always seemed to pick on the quiet ones and I was just about as quiet as it comes. Despite all this though Renada and I got along perfectly for some reason. Maybe it was because we shared similar pasts? She and I wandered the mall for hours, scouring every single shop till she finally seemed to find something that she liked. It was a pink fairy costume.

'How original' I thought sarcastically but smiled and nodded outwardly. The thing was horrid to someone like me, Tiny little wings, short short skirt, and barely and thing covering her chest. Of course it came with a wand too and I'm sure she has pink ballet flats to match. Bleh. With that bought and the mall about to close we headed our separate ways. The days seemed to pass more quickly and ever and before I knew it, it was October 31st, Halloween. It fell on a Saturday this year so Renada came over at noon to hang out before we got ready; she also brought her costume so we could help each other with touch ups and the like. Taking an exceptionally long time on dressing was never my thing but this WAS Brandon's party…

'God! Just thinking about it makes me excited! 'I thought as 6pm approached. Renada seemed to notice the time also because she jumped up panicked.

"We have to start getting ready! We only have 2 hours!" she shouted and dragged me up from my bed. She grabbed the bag containing her costume and pulled mine out of the closet. She stopped for a moment to look at it, since I never showed her before. She seemed to approve and set it on the bed with a quick command for me to get changed. We both did so quickly and headed to the bathroom. She immediately plugged in her curling iron and set to work on making her hair look perfect. I on the other hand began braiding. One French plait and a 2 cans of hairspray later we were done…with hair at least. She moved on to makeup next, applying foundations, blush mascara, eye liner, lip liner, the works. I slowly backed out so I wouldn't be made into a geisha doll and, to my surprise, actually got away. I rummaged through my closet and grabbed out a pair of comfortable tan flats. After a moment of thought I also pulled out my overnight bag seeing as Renada had brought hers. With these kinds of parties most people don't get home till noon or later the next day for one reason or another, so it was really a smart move on our part. I grabbed my phone, keys and some eye drops, shoving them in my bag before putting on all of my accessories. A floral crown went on first, then the clip, ring, flute, and freshly picked daisy. I walked back into the bathroom to see Renada just staring at herself in the mirror lost in thought. I walked behind her and raised a brow. That seemed to snap her out of it because another creepily large smile lit her face and she looked to the clock. 7:50, perfect.

"Well My lady imp, shall we go?" she asked jokingly. I glared at the name.

"Ok, ok, sprite then. Geez." she corrected. With that we linked arms and set off in her car to the night of our lives and, ironically, the one that would change them forever.