Chapter Ten

Monday, October 31st

School lasts the same amount of time as it usually does. The party/haunted house will take place after school. That disappointed me when I was informed of this. The least the teachers do is let everyone who is participating in the haunted house is let us out twenty minutes early.

All the guys crowd around in the bathroom to change into a plain white T-shirt and whatever pants we chose to bring. I just grabbed a pair of jeans. I don't care which ones et fake blood on them. If it doesn't wash out then that's too bad and they will go to a different use like helping Dad work in the car or painting or whatever.

Mom may not be pleased to arrive back from her and Dad's anniversary vacation to see I "ruined a perfectly good pair of jeans," but the whole point is that Mom and Dad are not in Chicago.

As the time draws near for everyone to get situated in our rooms, I exit the bathroom and walk casually to room 136, which does not have any students in it at the moment. Tris arrives a minute or two after I do. Her face is smeared with fake blood and her clothes are practically soaked in the stuff too. I just splattered myself with a handful of it. I smile when she enters the room, but I always do, so what else is new?

"Ready?" I whisper. She nods, smiling in return. She slightly bites her lip and it is the most adorable thing I have ever seen. Now is not the time to think about her light-inducing smile. I need to focus. On the haunted house.

Yeah like that's going to happen.

Tris lays down on one of the tables and waits for the students to walk through the room. I have an advantage since I get to keep my eyes open the whole time and stand at the back of the room, so I'll know when the kids come by.

As the other students are let into the room-once being told that they need to be quiet and respectful going through the rooms because it is rude to wake sleeping creatures-I try not to smile, for many reasons. One, I would not be scary if I was laughing. Two, Tris has the most beautiful smile ever. She is the main reason I space out in class or why I sit at the table with what my mom describes as a look of nothing while doing homework and asks if I need help, not that she is good at math anyway.

Anyway... I need to focus on what I'm doing. Tris jerks into a seated position and screams resulting in a group of juniors shrieking out of pure terror. They mutter anxiously to each other as they continue through the labyrinth we created with the desks.

While I'm not jumping out at them, I stand in the back with a fake noose around my neck. It's not right and it hangs loosely from the ceiling, but I decide to sway slightly to freak them out even more.

Okay, I think to myself, just keep this up until Christina comes in to get us.

I have no idea how long I am "hanging around." I chuckle to myself. I am more than likely the only person who finds my dark humor funny.

Huh. I wonder if I would look more sinister if I was smiling...

By the time I decide to keep my face as neutral as possible, Chris comes in to retrieve us. She tells us that was the last group and we are to go to the bathroom and wash our makeup and blood off. I nod to her though I don't know if she sees since the room is so dark.

Tris sits up slowly and angles her body to see what I did to make the kids scream so loudly. I hadn't actually decided what I was going to do until this morning. When she sees me, she stumbles getting off the table, like I shocked her with my methods of terrorizing people. It takes her a moment to see that I am not actually hanging and the rope is not at all choking me. She blinks and exhales what I can only imagine is a sigh of relief. If we had reversed roles I would be more than terrified to see her like this.

"Great job," she says. "You look awful." I laugh. "No, I mean you look great, but-"

"I understand. Great job, Tris!"

I remove the rope from around my neck and toss it over my shoulder. It swings wildly, only slowing down each time it hits my back until the swinging comes to a complete stop.

"Thanks. You too."

Together we walk out of the dark room, only following the light of the lone flashlight. I manage to get to the door before she does even though she's closer. I open the door for her since it's polite, but also because I really like her and will do pretty much anything to tip the crush scale in in my direction.

She smiles and walks out of the room. I step out behind her and lean against the wall of lockers casually. Do I look cool? Do I look like James Dean? Probably a scary James Dean, but...

I stand like this as long as my back can take the dial on the locker digging into my back. When it becomes too uncomfortable I have to straighten up. moment later he straightens up. I wouldn't want the dial on a locker digging into my back either. Would it hurt him? He looks like the kind of guy that has a nice back. But I wouldn't know. I will never know.

"Great job kids." We look down the hall to find Mr. Eaton walking our way with a smile. "When you're done cleaning yourselves up, will you put the room back the way it was?"

"Of course," I say.

Mr. Eaton congratulates us again and slaps me on the back. I wince at the pain. Mr. Eaton is really strong. Damn. I hope those rumors aren't true.

I cross the hallway once Mr. Eaton has turned to the corner. I lean in close to whisper to Tris, "he is surprisingly strong." A concerned look crosses her face for a moment before we briefly part ways to wipe the fake blood from our faces. When we're clean, we go back inside to tidy up the room.

"Any plans for tonight?" Tris asks as she turns off the flashlight and puts it in the box. I finish taking the ghosts down as I respond.

"No, I'll just be home alone."

"Why?"

"My parents are in Hawaii for an anniversary vacation, so I am home alone."

"You can come to my house!" I am so surprised by her offer I spin a little too quickly and nearly miss the box I mean to toss the sheet in.

"I don't know if your parents would like me staying at your house until Thursday. They might get a wrong impression of me." Probably wouldn't even let me in the door. I wouldn't let some weird guy stay at my house for almost a week just because he's friends with my daughter.

"Well, at least come to my house for dinner."

"Thank you, Tris, for the offer, but I'll be okay."

"What are you having for dinner tonight?" I am embarrassed to admit my plans for tonight, but I tell her.

"Ice cream," I mumble.

"Really. We'd love to have you for dinner. It's not a big deal. Please."

I am about to kindly decline the invitation, but she cuts me off. "Humor me." I have to look at her for a while to catch the seriousness in her eyes before I finally smile and give in.

"All right. Thank you."

"Any time."

Tris and I fix up the room nicely before heading out. By the time we get outside, it is dark. We walk carefully across the street and down the sidewalks even though I manage to trip over nothing.

We talk about how we think the haunted house went as we walk to her house. When we arrive, Tris stops and looks at her watch.

"Stay here for a second," she says. I nod and she walks up the walkway to the front door. She sticks her key in and turns it and then the butterflies return.