"Come on Haze! We have to get you a Halloween costume before it's too late," said an eager Paige Michalchuck as she and her best friend Hazel Aden walked up the white concrete steps known as the Degrassi Community School. The weather was brisk and snippy as the bronze colored leaves ran across the grass in the gray swoops of wind.
"I know, I know," said Hazel as the girls entered through the double doors where they were met by Spinner and Jimmy.
Paige instinctually walked up to both of the boys saying, "You two better have Halloween costumes planned for the Halloween Dance or we are so finding other dates."
"Relax, we got it covered. We're going to dress Spin up here as a girl, since that won't be hard, or maybe a can of cheese whiz either one. And I'm going to dress up as Ryan Nelson," Jimmy said making an attempted scary face.
"Ryan Nelson?" asked Hazel as the group of four started to walk through the halls of Degrassi.
"Wow Hazel, you don't know who Ryan Nelson is?" asked Paige causing Hazel to shake her head no.
"He is only the most famous Degrassian ever," Paige said annoyed.
"Here let me take this one," said an unusually quiet Spinner, "Back when Degrassi was first built in the '60s, something…. Something happened … and it was bad and Ryan was killed, okay? That's all you need to know."
"Way to tell a good ghost story, Spin, bravo my man," said a very sarcastic Jimmy.
"Tell me more!" said Hazel, excitedly.
"Well hun, since Spin here just completely ruined it for you, it's no fun. Ryan died tragically and is said to haunt these very same halls we are walking through now MUAH HA HA HA," Paige said laughing evilly and running away.
"Well, if he haunts Degrassi, why haven't we seen him before?" asked Hazel.
"Oh you have. He's the whoosh you hear when you're walking in a hall alone. He's the kid everyone's swirling around in the cafeteria. He's the one hiding the chalk, when Ms. Kwan can never seem to find it. He's all around us. HI RYAN!" said Jimmy very dramatically and he walked around himself in a circle.
"Haha shut up, you're such a jerk," said an uneasy Hazel. She looked around her half expecting Ryan to come out and say boo. Stop it. She thought to herself. You're much too old for ghost stories. Stop scaring yourself. But somehow she couldn't stop thinking of him. After first period Hazel caught back up with Paige. "Hey Paige, so tell me more about this Ryan fellow."
"I don't know much about him hun, just that he died and is suppose to haunt us, but I don't believe that, though I think Spinner knows an uncanny amount about him, let's go ask him."
"Alright, if you say so," Hazel had noticed the uneasiness in Spinner's voice when he was asked about Ryan earlier today.
"Spin! Honeybee, tell us more about Ryan. What did he look like? What did he dress like? Was he single?"
"I don't know, leave me alone," replied Spinner.
"Fine," Paige said as she walked off to catch up with Ash.
"Spinner, please I want to know. How did he die?" asked a nervous Hazel.
"Leave me alone would you!" Spin said angrily. He walked over to his locker and shoved a book in, slamming the door when he was finished. Hazel followed right behind him. Spinner saw the hurt look on her face and decided to continue, "He was electrocuted, alright? There are you happy now?"
"No."
"It was suppose to be a Halloween trick. They were going to install orange and black lights on the football field. It didn't work out."
"Oooh. How come you know so much about him?"
"I don't know. Just lucky I guess. Go check it out in a yearbook, 1964 if you're that interested." Hazel didn't know why she was so interested, probably because it interested her boy friend enough to dress up as him for Halloween. Sure, it was a great ghost story and she felt bad for this Ryan Nelson, but what good would it do to root up the past? Not now, maybe later, she thought. As she walked away from Spinner and walked into Media Immersion, one of two classes in which all of her friends had together. Ryan Nelson left her mind, but he did not leave Spinner's.
Why did Jimmy have to bring him up? Who would want to dress up like something like that anyways, thought Spin to himself.
"SPINNER! THE WORKSHEET PLEASE!" a familiar voice ripped through his thoughts.
"Uh sorry honeybee," he mumbled to Paige as his picked up piles of worksheets he was suppose to be passing down, passed one down to Paige and kept the rest. He then noticed what he did and took one for himself and gave her the rest.
"Geez, Spin what's the matter with you today?" she asked with no real concern.
"Tired."
"Good answer."
"Thanks," he said with little emotion in his voice.
"Hey. I was thinking the four of us could come over to my house and we could work on costumes and make sure we look fab for the dance, okay?"
"Sure."
"Alright, I'll tell you more about it when Hazel and I figure it out."
"Yeah." Paige ignored his brief comments and started planning the perfect evening out in her mind. Hazel had mentioned the Ryan disaster to her and Paige was intrigued. Wouldn't it be cool to see him? She asked herself. Or if that wasn't possible, at least freak everyone else out. She was going to pull the biggest trick on her friends in Degrassi history. Her checklist included: Boyfriend, Best Friends, Sneaking in the Field, and Ryan, real or not. The perfect scare.