"I have to make preparations in the Art Room," Trident said as he headed for the doors. "Kindly stay here and wait for my return, okay Ravine?"
She clung to his leg, "No! I can't! I needsth ya!"
The boy rolled his eyes and shook her off. "Go gush over the baby squids or something. I need to do help the faculty set things up."
Ravine made puppy eyes. "Awww...okay!" She giggled and waved as Trident left her alone for the Art Room.
"Hrm..." Now that she was solo, Ravine looked left, right. She tried to disicern what she would do next with her ample free time while her friend was busy.
"Hey Ravine!"
The blue girl turned around.
She saw two more inkling girls. One teal, the other a maple yellow. They both wore matching jerseys to represent Inkblot's Basketball team.
"One, Three-
"-Five, Nine!"
"What team kills it every time?"
After the chant, something inside of Ravine clicked to make her finish it. "Inkblot Brushesth...?"
The pair giggled and walked over to her. "What's up, girl? How ya been?"
"...Oh! I remember you guyth! Barbette!" When Ravine said the name, the teal inkling girl nodded, "and...Nulka!" It was the maple girl's turn to nod. "It'sth been stho long!"
"Like, I know right?" Barbette said with a valley girl twang in her voice. "It's been like, forever since we talked to each other!"
"I can't agree more!" Nulka shouted in a bold fashion with a raspy, brutish voice. "It's high time we got back toghether and hang, ya know?"
"Yeth!" Ravine nodded in agreement. "I wasth actually here to help Trident with the Art Contesth."
Both of Ravine's friends exchanged knowing smirks.
"No. NO. Don't even sthay a word!" She insisted, "It'sth justh for moral sthupport. I kinda disthlike modern art anyway."
"Uch, like right?" Barbette groaned, "It's like, a buncha scribbles and splotches on a board. EVen a baby squid could totally like, do that too."
"You ain't kiddin'. Say, while you're waiting why don't we go catch a movie?" Nulka suggested and showed a set of three tickets in her hand. "We were gonna ask Dreadnought if he wanted it. But he said he had to take care of some business with his Hockey Mask team."
"Oh, cool!" Her expression went from excitement to worry as she started to think about Trident. "Oh but, I'm supposed to wait for Trident's art thing to start. I dunno if-"
The doors of the Art Room swung open. "Okay, slight problem," Trident stood between the open doors with a sticky brown liquid dripping from his person. "SOMEONE thought it would be a good idea to make a flipping volcano. And if that wasn't bad enough, they filled it with diet Tentacola and mints!"
"Ooh...that must sthuck. Oh hey, you remember Barb and Nulk, right?"
"Like, hey!"
"Sup?" They both greeted him.
Trident was too busy rubbing himself with a towel to notice. "Yeah, yeah. Hi. Look, Ravine. Why not go ahead and do something else? This is gonna take a while to clean up off the floor so go on."
"Are ya sthure...?"
"Yes. I didn't mean to drag you all the way over here so go. I'll test you when things are ready to go. Gah, of all the dumb art projects...what happened to good old clay..."
The doors slammed shut behind him, and the three girls looked at each other with wide, toothy grins.
They made their way down the sidewalk together with Ravine between her old friends.
"Stho, what movie we gunna see, Barb?"
"Like, only the most raddest one to come out-Splaturday the 14th!" The teal girl announced, which prompted a smug grin from her dark yellow friend.
"Heck ye-heah! I love me some good spooks. Especially since Splatoween is around the corner."
Ravine's knees wobbled a bit. "Um...I'm not really into scary moviesth...but I'll give it a try!"
"Heh, that's awesome. Cuz to be honest..." Nulka leaned in and whispered to her friend. "I'm kinda scared too."
"So am I!" Barbette also leaned in and whispered beside Ravine. The trio of girl's faces mashed together.
They all stopped to laugh with each other for a moment. And in a few more steps, they arrived at Guplink Rank X Theater in the middle of Inkopolis. A busy, yet quiet movie house with red carpets along the floors, a giant snack bar with all of one could dream of, a soda fountain with every kind of Squid Cola, and the legendary Golden Popcorn Machine.
"Wooooah..."
The girls were amazed at what they saw. Their eyes and mouths widening with amazement.
"Now this is what I'm talkin' about!" Nulka shouted with her arms folded.
"Like, totes, you guys! They even got like, that golden popcorn machine!"
Ravine stopped to put her hand under her chin. "What'th so specthial about it?"
"Whhhaaa?" Both her friends gave her a perplexed look.
"It's made of like, real gold," Barbette explained. "Like, totally Goldie Salmonoid Scales and stuff."
Nulka spoke in agreement. "She's right! Popcorn that comes from that machine tastes like the buttery goodness of the gods!"
"I sthee...well, letsth go check it out." Ravine felt a buzz in her back pocket. She paused and took out her Squidphone to open up the text. "Hm..."
From: Tory
'Hey Ravs. Be on the lookout for some Hockey Masked weirdos who go around and steal people's stuff.'
"Like, Ravine, hurry up!"
"Oh, right, coming!" She put her phone away, but couldn't shake the thought of some Hockey Mask crew that caused trouble. It spun her head around as she gave it some hard mental attention. "Where have I heard that before...?"
After they purchased their overpriced snacks, the girls all went and sat down in the dark room. They all chattered and spoke quietly among each other as the lights dimmed down. The theatrical presentation was set to begin.
However, things got much more uncertain as the lights continued to dim beyond their intended level. To the point where they were shut off completely and left the room in pitch black darkness...
"H-huh?" Nulka sat on the edge of her seat. "W-what in the heck?"
"Like, chill out, Nulky. They prolly like, wanna make it totes extra spooky in here~" Barbette responded.
From behind them, the theater doors locked up with a clink.
Ravine shivered in her seat. "...Guyth...I don't think that'th what'th happening..."