Henry sat upside-down on his couch, bored out of his mind. His sneaker clad feet hung in the air threatening to fall or kick somebody. Whatever came first. He groaned. When would Charlotte get here?
Suddenly the door- bell rang. Henry leaped up onto his feet and dashed forward to open it. "I'll get it!" he muttered hastily, wrenching the door open. "Um hey-" she was cut off by Henry who grabbed her wrist and tugged her inside. He grinned; letting her sit on the couch.
Charlotte looked around the living room. It was decorated with cobwebs and fake battery-powered candles. One of those plastic pumpkin shaped bowls sat on a stool nearby filled with candy. Charlotte smirked. "Wow, getting in the Halloween spirit? Henry, Halloween's in a week. I thought you said you like to prepare last second."
Henry shrugged. "Well… yeah. But I just wanted to start early!" Charlotte rolled her eyes. "Speaking of Halloween, are you still gonna try and scare me? Like you have been for the last five years?" She asked sarcastically and emphasizing the number five with hand gestures. Henry groaned. "No need to rub it in!" he muttered crossly.
Charlotte smirked triumphantly. "Face it Henry. You've tried scaring me for the past five years. Every Halloween. Why?" Henry crossed his arms and pouted. "You know why!" he exclaimed. Charlotte's face scrunched up in confusion. "Um… no, I don't know why." Henry scowled. "Because! Grade three?"
"Oh…" Charlotte burst into laughter as she recalled what had happened. "That was so funny. You should've seen your face!" She slapped her thigh. Henry continued to scowl. "I did see my face, because it was all over Splash Face!" he exclaimed angrily. Despite his attempt to be scary, Charlotte continued to laugh. His face burned like a tomato.
Henry grabbed his watch in anger. "I'll shoot you with my laser toy, I really will!" he exclaimed; clinging onto the laser button. Suddenly, they both heard a thunder-clap come from outside. The power flickered out and Henry shrieked in fear, throwing his whiz watch into the air. But then the power came back on again, revealing Henry's terrified face. His whiz watch landed with the bowl of candy, and Charlotte began to laugh again. "You know," she began, talking in between breaths and fits of laughter, "I thought Halloween was supposed to be scary. Not funny!"
Henry leapt up from the couch. "Ok. That's it-" He was interrupted by screaming. Piper thumped down the stairs. "HENRY! THE WIFI WENT DOWN AND NOW-" She stopped shouting when she reached the doorstep. Piper eyed Henry's whiz watch in the pile of candy warily. She picked it up hesitantly, dangling it in front of Henry and Charlotte. "What the heck is this?" she asked. Henry snatched it from her. "It's my watch. Now go, were busy."
"YOU CAN'T TELL ME WHAT TO DO!" she shouted, her lips closed tightly together to make a frown. Then, a momentary look of confusion appeared on her face. "What were you two laughing about? I could hear you from my room." Henry scowled and stood up. "I wasn't laughing."
Charlotte stood up too. "I was!" she exclaimed cheerfully. Piper snorted, taking this as her cue to sit down. "Why?" she asked.
Charlotte smirked and grabbed a piece of candy from the pumpkin bowl. She plopped down beside Piper as Henry groaned. He walked towards the kitchen; and grabbed a juice-box from the fridge.
"It all started in grade three…"
*flashback*
Little Henry, Charlotte and Jasper sat in the grade three classroom. It was Halloween; and they were dressed in cheesy Halloween costumes. (Such good times.) Henry was Captain Man (it was fate!), Charlotte was a princess; and Jasper was a basket of laundry. Their teacher; Mrs. Squared; was handing out candy corn and such. Soon, the bell rang and the grade threes filed out of the classroom. Henry and Charlotte were the last to go into the schoolyard.
But Charlotte had been planning to scare Henry since they got to school. Now was her time to take action! When Charlotte thought Henry wasn't looking, she hid behind a vending machine. Meanwhile, Henry was happily munching on his candy; until he realized he was alone. Then he got a little nervous. "Charlotte?" he called out hesitantly. Then, a door slammed closed. He yelped worriedly.
"Char? Um… this isn't funny…" Suddenly, he heard an eerie clack clacking sound. He whipped his head around. The noise was coming closer! "Charlotte!" he practically screamed. The noise was getting closer and closer by the second! And then, it turned the corner. Henry got his first glimpse of the so-called monster. He screamed. It was tall with an elongated blue face; sharp spines down its back; and… High-heels? Henry screamed, ignoring the shoes and ran out into the schoolyard.
Charlotte giggled and ran out of her hiding spot. Sure enough, there was a monster. The monster removed its mask; and turned out to be… Mrs. Shapen! The clack clacking sound must have been her high heels. Charlotte giggled some more. her costume looked so realistic, no wonder Henry was scared!
*flashback ended*
Piper and Charlotte burst into giggles as Henry continued to scowl. "You guys hurt my feelings," he muttered.
"But I can't! I dunno how!" Henry said as he perched on the round colourful couch in the Man Cave. He was talking with Ray about how Henry couldn't scare Charlotte. "c'mon, it's easy. You just hide. Wait for the person to walk by. When they do, jump in front of them and say boo! That's all there is!" countered Ray. Henry scowled. "That's not all when it comes down to Charlotte. No no no. that girl is a… a, beast! I've been doing that for the past five years. She has never been scared!"
Ray rolled his eyes. "Please. I've seen you scare. Show me what you got." Ray went through the Sprocket door and disappeared as Henry began looking for a hiding spot. He crouched beside the elevator and was shielded with a large rolling cart. Then Ray came back. "Henry," he called out. Once he was inches away from the elevator, Henry leaped out and let out a shrill shriek. Ray yelped and covered his head; much to Henry's delight.
"Ok kid, you got game." Ray said, stroking his chin. "But Charlotte must have game too if she's so scare proof. Henry snorted. "You bet she is. It's like her Uncle Roco's been training her to not be scared." Ray smirked. "How can a fat bald dude train Charlotte?" Henry laughed. "You haven't seen him, have you? The guys so dang creepy!"
Ray nodded thoughtfully. "Ok then…" the two continued to think of a way to scare Charlotte. A wave of awkward silence washed over them. Then Ray snapped his fingers. "I got it!" Henry looked confused. "Got what?" Ray resisted the urge to Face-palm. "A way to scare Charlotte, you nitwit! I thought you were helping me think of a way to scare her!"
"… ooohhh. I was just thinking about pizza! My mom makes such good tomato sauce…"he trailed off, licking his lips. Now Ray really did face-palm.
It was Halloween night. Classes were well over and kids had taken to the streets with buckets and sacks of candy. Henry was grinning ear to ear. Hopefully, his and Ray's plan would work. This was their plan:
Henry would dress up as a pirate.
He'd tell Charlotte that he had a real cutlass which he had bought at Junk-and-Stuff.
Ray would scare Henry.
He'd accidentally swing the cutlass, and accidentally chop off his arm. Right in front of Charlotte.
What would really happen was that Henry had a fake arm tucked under his sleeve. The cutlass would be real, but it would only cut the fake arm. Best prank ever; am I right?
Henry was in fact dressed up as a pirate right now. The cutlass hung at his side. Charlotte would join him on his little trick-or-treat expedition. Five minutes later, Charlotte came. Forgetting his little prank for a moment, Henry didn't waste a moment asking, "what are you dressed as?" Charlotte smirked. "I'm the girl version of Dr. How." She explained matter of fact-ly. Henry nodded. "and I'm a pirate!" he exclaimed proudly. "And, I have a legit cutlass. Straight from Junk-and-Stuff!" he added, showing it off. "you wanna see it in action?" he asked as he drew the wicked blade from his belt. Charlotte backed up a bit. "I don't trust you with that Henry."
"Why. You afraid?" he taunted. "No, because I have a brain. By the end of the day, someone is probably gonna die." She retorted as Henry wielded the blade. He pretended to be fighting another person. He feinted to the left, stumbling slightly. But then, Ray jumped out from behind a nearby garbage can, wearing a mask. Henry faked a piercing scream, almost throwing his blade. It cut through his fake arm.
Charlotte screamed, rushing over to Henry. His 'severed' arm was off to the side covered in red. "Henry! Oh my god!" she continued to scream. Then, he pretended to faint. Charlotte caught him and laid him down. She seemed unsure of what to do; what with his severed arm off to the side and Henry passed out; and Ray just laughing while wearing his mask. But then, Henry just jumped up, holding up his stump of an arm. Charlotte continued to scream, throwing her candy everywhere.
But then, Henry and Ray burst into laughter. Charlotte's scream died in her throat as she realized what had just happened. Her eyes widened with anger. "you… You idiots! Nitwits! Twerps! A-"
"Calm yourself." Said Ray with fake sympathy. Then he and Henry began to grin. "You just got owned! By who? By Me!" exclaimed Henry, doing a little happy dance and throwing candy everywhere. He hopped around excitedly. "Best Halloween-" He shrieked. He had stepped on the cutlass! The three froze, staring at Henry's feet.
"Um… I think I'll call the ambulance…"