Cady tugged her dress down on her legs. No matter how much she pinched and grasped and yanked at the fabric, she couldn't make it any longer. The hem of the dress was barely below her buttcheeks, begging to reveal her butt to the entire world.

She was supposed to be cotton candy.

On Thursday evening, Cady's mom had insisted that they go out Halloween-costume shopping together—"Our first homage to American customs!" she had squealed when Cady first told her that she was going to a costume party for Halloween.

They had gone to one of those terrible pop-up costume shops that always winked into existence in mid-September inside the hollowed-out corpses of abandoned super-stores. Cady had walked around the wire displays festooned with fake cobwebs and tinny-voiced ghouls and rolled her eyes at every potential costume her mother had proffered to her. She just didn't seem to get it; Cady was sixteen, she wasn't going to be caught dead dressed as a corpse bride or in a giant yellow banana suit.

Her perpetual anthropologist of a mother was thrilled at the cultural display of the costumes—from the appropriation of the Native American feather head dresses to the frightening dichotomy between the male costumes and the female 'sexy' costumes. Cady vaguely realized that it was probably shitty that her only options were horrifically ugly or so exposing her mom wouldn't allow them.

Less than ten minutes into the trip and she knew that she'd have to rely on Karen to save her from the terror of her mother, who had already picked out matching clown wigs for herself and Cady's father to wear for trick-or-treaters.

Thankfully, Regina had a teeth-whitening appointment Friday afternoon, so their regular mall-trip was cancelled. Cady had dragged Karen to the mall anyways. Originally, she had intended to piece together a costume from whatever she could find at Forever21, but Karen had laughed at her when she proposed that, and promptly led her to the nearest lingerie shop instead. Cady had blanched at the prospect of going inside, but she had to hand it to Karen; she knew her way around the scanty displays.

That was how she came to be dressed like this, in a tiny lavender silk slip with lace trimmed around the edges, threatening to reveal the bottom of her lacy lilac panties. She had thought the red in her hair would clash horribly with the color, but it actually brought out her strawberry tones and had her skin looking flawless. She had a massive lollipop that Karen insisted added to the cotton candy theme, a big pink puffy bracelet that looped around one wrist, and sky blue stiletto heels to complete the ensemble. She was insanely uncomfortable.

Karen had insisted that she needed yet another bra to perfectly fit the outfit, and while a gorgeous deep blue color, it felt like it was squeezing the life out of her chest. Plus, she was still inside in her toasty warm bedroom, but she already was shivering. When she had proposed adding a cardigan or something to the outfit, Karen had laughed.

"Alcohol is your blanket!" she chimed. "Three shots in and I promise you won't feel the cold at all."

Their shopping trip had ended at a grocery store, where Karen used her fake id to buy three bottles of blue raspberry flavored Svedka—"It tastes just like cotton candy," she had promised.

Cady's phone buzzed on the table beside her bed and she jumped in the air, shaken from her thoughts. It was a text from Damian—he and Janis were on their way to get her. True to her word, she was getting boorito's from Chipotle with them before heading to the party. She'd have her fun, tame Halloween fun with them, then she was planning on getting an uber or something to Aaron's—usually she'd depend on Gretchen for a ride, but she hadn't talked to her or Regina about the party since getting invited. If they hadn't wanted her there, then fine, she wouldn't mention it.

For some reason, Karen was always the exception to that feeling of discord; she was just so bumbling and care-free, Cady never felt any animosity or jealousy from her. That was why she had asked her for the costume help—she could trust her to pick something cute—unlike Regina—and to not start any drama about them doing something together alone.

Cady gave another glance in the mirror, then hobbled over to her closet and yanked out a black trench-coat like jacket—maybe alcohol would be her blanket later, but she'd be sober (and cold) at Chipotle. Plus, she didn't think Janis and Damian would look too kindly on her costume. With the trench-coat, she could be posing as a spy. A spy with sky-blue, stiletto heels, a giant lollipop, and a pink fluffy bracelet. Duh.

Even with her coat, the air outside was freezing. Damian had commandeered his mom's minivan again, and Cady was shivering when she slid into the back of it. She checked out Janis and Damian, but neither seemed particularly costumed.

"What are you guys dressed as?" she asked excitedly, warming her hands in front of the heating vents.

"I'm gay, what are you?" Damian shot back. He was wearing his usual jeans and t-shirt combo. "I'm a, uhh, a spy," Cady replied lamely. Cotton candy? Even she would need to be drunk for that to be funny. In the dark car, her fib went unnoticed.

"I'm a witch," Janis said. Cady looked her up and down in the dim glow of the street lamps they drove past. Janis shifted uncomfortably away from her as she did. She seemed back to her normal self—her make-up was dark and heavy-handed once more and she was wearing her usual fish-net tights with jean shorts and a black shirt absolutely covered in sew-on patches proclaiming different causes: they ranged from saving the whales to funding libraries to using people's correct pronouns and even honoring fallen firefighters. For her, it was nothing out of the usual.

"Here," Janis leaned around the seat and handed Cady a clear plastic bag with a nozzle attached. It was filled with a translucent liquid that she couldn't see the color of in the light.

"What is this?" she asked, taking the floppy bag from Janis's hands hesitantly.

"Wine bag! Drink up—gravity is your friend here, hold it above your head." Damian directed.

"Oh, I probably shouldn't do that," Cady held the bag gingerly, proffering it back to Janis in the front seat. "I read this thing that if you start the night with something with a low alcohol content and move up to a higher one, then your body absorbs the higher one at the same rate as the lower and you get wayyyy drunker. I'll be drinking liquor later, so I should probably hold off."

An awkward silence followed. Cady placed the wine bag on the ground by her feet. She sensed that her mentioning drinking had been a bother for Janis in some way, but she wasn't sure how.

They drove in the awkward silence for a few minutes before Damian plugged in his phone and started blaring some musical—an eighties movie knock-off where all the girls had the same name. His falsetto was impressive, and as the lead character belted out some ridiculously high note, he matched her perfectly, his face turning beet-red with the strain of it. Janis laughed and punched his shoulder, beginning to argue with him to let her play her music instead. Cady wished he would; she loved Janis's music, this angsty mix of EDM and alternative that always squeezed Cady's heart in some way.

"No!" Damian squealed as Janis finally yanked out his aux cord. "Veronica Sawyer would cry if she ever met you," he huffed, swerving to stay on the road.

"Whatever," Janis laughed, plugging in her phone.

"Aww, whaddya know, we arrived!" Damian pulled the car into a parking spot so fast it almost went up on two wheels. Before the first chord of Janis's song could even play, he killed the engine.

"Dam! You ruin everything!" Janis laughed. "Here, gimme that," she held out her hand to Cady. It took a second for Cady to realize what she meant, and she quickly grabbed the bag of wine off the floor and handed it to Janis, who put the nozzle in her mouth and flipped the little plastic lever. She squeezed the bag and Cady watched the muscles in her throat pulse as she swallowed.

"Whoa there sweet thang, don't you go puking before shoving a massive burrito into your gut," Damian laid a hand on Janis's arm gently. She sucked on the bag for another few seconds before flipping the nozzle back to the closed position. She held the bag for a moment, looking ahead with dazed eyes for a moment before letting out a massive belch.

"Here you go!" she said sweetly, proffering the bag to Damian.

"Aren't you driving later?" Cady asked worriedly, watching him put the nozzle in his mouth.

"Relax princess, we're eating a huge meal first," Janis waved her hand lazily at Cady as she dismissed her concern. Her cheeks glowed red beneath her foundation.

"Plus, I'm not quite what you'd call a lightweight", Damian held the nozzle out of his mouth momentarily to speak. He patted his stomach—which Cady had to admit wasn't flat—before putting the nozzle back in his mouth and releasing the lever. Janis reached out and squeezed the bag for him—he squealed as the flow-rate increased.

Cady watched her friends drink in the front seat and felt a strange mix of emotions—partly left out, but partly… pity? Here they were drinking alone in their car in a Chipotle parking lot. Later, she'd be drinking at Aaron's house, surrounded by everybody in the school that mattered. Janis always ranted about how much she hated the plastics, but in this moment, Cady knew that she would give anything to be one of them. She was a wannabe.

Damian flipped the nozzle and yanked the bag from his mouth, gasping for air. "You devil woman!" he snarled at Janis, laughing despite himself. Not even a moment later, he burped as well—a long, sustained low note. "Ok," he said, "let's feast."

Outside the car, Cady finally had a chance to see Janis's costume in full glory—she had a pair of Maleficent horns glued to a head band that increased her height by a good foot at least. With her make-up and dark clothes, she did look wicked.

The cashier at Chipotle was not a fan of Damian's and Cady's costumes. When Janis checked out, she laughed at the horns with her, but when Damian went she raised her eyebrows dubiously. She ended up giving him the discount, but it took much convincing on Damian's part—Janis had to squeeze his arm before he started singing Patti Lupone to prove his point. Cady tried her spy line again, but when the girl just looked at her, she mumbled "I'm cotton candy," pitifully, holding the lollipop up as though to prove her point. Janis raised her eyebrows in disbelief but didn't say anything. The girl eyed Cady's shoes and the puff on her wrist before shrugging and ringing in the discount.

"Cotton candy? Really sweetheart?" Damian sipped his lemonade and reached to grab Cady's coat. "What do you have on underneath this?"

Cady unbuttoned the top two buttons to show the lacy top of her dress, blushing. Janis stood behind Damian, watching her disapprovingly, just like Cady thought she would—which was why she hadn't wanted to tell her originally.

"It's just for the party," Cady found herself saying defensively.

"The costume's fine," Janis retorted. "I just don't see why you wouldn't tell us from the get-go. It's just a costume, Caddy." She rolled her eyes as she spoke in what Cady thought was an effort to lighten up the moment, but it didn't make her feel any better or less judged.

They all split off to get seats and drinks and utensils for their food. By the time they sat back down, Damian had already launched into a hypothesis he had about the extracurricular activities of their history teacher—something involving underground sex clubs and racism, Cady couldn't quite tell. Janis was studiously avoiding looking at Cady, and Cady was glad for it. It gave her a chance to alternate paying attention to Damian and watching Janis herself.

She still looked tired and somewhat haggard underneath all her make-up—or maybe the make-up was making her look more haggard. Cady still couldn't really tell with that stuff. She had thought that Janis would judge her for the costume she was wearing because it was so—what was the word, slutty? But instead she had judged her for not telling her about it in the first place. What Cady hated was that her friend had judged her at all; and the fact that she felt like she still would have judged her if she told about the costume to begin with.

Damian kept on going with his stories and theories, keeping up an exhausting pace. Cady realized he knew that if he didn't talk, it would lapse into one of those brutally painful silences they seemed to experience all too often now.

Cady's phone buzzed with a call and Damian fell silent, looking at it. Karen's name flashed across the screen and Cady felt Janis's and Damian's eyes on her.

"Well are you gonna get that?" Janis asked pointedly. Cady glanced at the phone for one more moment before picking it up.

The noise when she pressed the green 'talk' button was astoundingly loud. Thumping bass and screaming voices blasted from the speaker on her phone.

"CADY?" she heard Karen's voice on the other end of the phone, tinny against the background noise.

"Hi Karen," Cady held the phone away from her ear as she spoke.

"Oh my god Cady! You have to get here!" Karen said. Cady looked at Janis and Damian, who were both watching her, hearing everything.

"Are you ok Karen? Is everything alright?" Cady asked worriedly.

"Me? Oh my god girl, I'm thriving. Get here! I miss you! I love youuuu!" Karen's speech slurred, and Cady had to fight a smile. When she was drunk, Karen got even more lovey than she usually was.

"Uhh, ok Karen. I'm coming soon." Cady glanced at her watch—it was barely 8:30, super early for parties to be starting. She yanked the phone away from her ear again as Karen screamed directly into the microphone, then hung up.

Cady set her phone down and picked her fork up, avoiding looking at Janis and Damian. Everything felt even more tense now than it had before, if that was possible. She took a hesitant bite of her burrito bowl.

"Well?" Janis finally broke the silence.

"Well what?" Cady replied, her mouth still full.

"You've been summoned. The queen bitch awaits, right? Or should I call her your best friend now? You and Reggie, so tight." The bitterness in Janis's voice was overwhelming.

"I can eat dinner first. I said I would eat dinner with you." Cady measured her tone carefully, trying not to let the irritation she was feeling show. Why did Janis always have to ride her like this?

"Oh! Well, since you gave your word, and we all know how much that means. . ." Janis rolled her eyes and looked at Damian, waiting for commiseration. He just looked at her, not knowing what to say.

Cady looked up at her supposed friend, dark eye make-up ringing her tired, sad eyes. Why had Cady ever thought they held fire, held anything but the jealous misery that her friend was?

"You know what Janis? Regina never gives me shit about being friends with you."

"Maybe because she has no fucking idea that you are? You run and hide from us whenever she's around, you never invite us to parties or stuff with her, you keep us entirely separate!"

"I thought that was what you wanted!" Cady shot back. "You and your 'go spy on the plastics, Caddy' mantra! I was doing it for you!'

"Oh get off it. This is all for you. Nothing about what you're doing is spying."

"Ok, ladies, let's calm down," Damian broke into their argument before their voices could raise anymore. "Let's not say anything we don't mean. Janis, you're drunk. Cady, you're being a brat. Go hang out with the plastics. It's fine. We'll see you at school on Monday, ok?" He gave Cady a warning look and she stood up in a huff, leaving her half-uneaten burrito bowl behind.

Janis looked away, refusing to meet Cady's eyes.

Cady stood there, looking at her friends. Or maybe they weren't her friends. As Damian gave her one last warning look, she had a sinking feeling that she wouldn't actually see them at school on Monday. Something panged in her stomach, but she ignored it, whirling around and heading for the door. She wrapped her coat around herself tighter, departing the brightly lit restaurant into the chilly autumn air.