Chapter 21: Halloween Party

Disclaimer: I Don't Own Ben 10 Or Any Of The Characters. I Don't Own The Rights To Nathan Black Or Any Associated Characters, The Rights Go To annihalator2015

Disclaimer: This Series/Story Has Nothing To Do With The Ben 10: Ultimate Alien Cartoon Series. Any Similarities That May Pop Up Aren't Intentional

Author's Note:

* Hello and welcome to Chapter Twenty One!

* All I can say about this chapter is that it will be an interesting one.

* Anyway, with that being said, let's get right into the chapter!

Earth-6101

Wednesday, October 25th, 2017

Grandpa Max and Grandma Verdona's House

Ben

Tonight was the night. I still didn't know how Gwen had gotten me to agree to go to this Halloween Party with her. Naturally, I was able to talk Nathan into going with us. To be honest, I didn't really think going to school parties were a big deal to him, so long as we were with him. I was going to go tell Lucy that I was leaving, but she still wasn't speaking to me since what I had said to her last week.

Most students usually dressed up a little bit for school parties, but the thing about this party was that you could wear a costume to the party. That is, as long as your costume was appropriate. If they deemed your costume inappropriate at the door, they wouldn't even let you in. I wasn't wearing a costume to the party, I was just wearing casual clothes. Blue jeans, a long sleeved brown cotton shirt and tennis shoes. I entered the living room to tell my grandparents that I was leaving.

"Grandma, Grandpa, I'm leaving for the Halloween Party at school." I said.

"Okay." Grandma Verdona replied. "You are to be home before nine o'clock."

I looked at the alien watch on my wrist, which was currently in wrist watch form. It was almost seven.

"Okay. Well, I'm heading out. Bye, guys."

"Have fun." Grandpa Max replied as I walked out the front door.

I shut the door behind me and walked down the stairs toward the sidewalk, where my friends were waiting. Nathan just gave me a nod like always and Gwen had her eyes shut with a toothy grin on her face, as she waved at me. Nathan was wearing a black leather duster, and not only did it look fitted, but it looked real, so that couldn't have been cheap. Under that, he wore leather riding boots, a pair of denim jeans, which were around in the particular time period that he was emulating, a denim overshirt with a standard cotton undershirt, as well as a rancher's hat.

You could consider him to be dressed as a cowboy and an accurate representation of one at that. He was also wearing a leather holster on the right side of his hip and a leather scabbard for a hunting knife on the left side. They were empty of course, the school, just like any other in the United States, had a no weapons rule, not even fake ones.

As I got closer to them, I got a good look at Gwen. I saw what she was wearing and came to a stop. She was wearing a green sweater and a purple skirt, that was the normal part. She had dyed her fiery red hair black and on her head, she was wearing a pair of blue cat ears. As I looked at her, she twirled around in a circle so that I could see the matching blue tail that she had strapped around her waist.

"So?" she asked once she was facing me again. "What do you think?"

I just stood there, before I finally sighed after finding the words.

"What are you supposed to be?" I asked with confusion.

"I'm a catgirl." She said as she playfully batted her hand at me. "Meow."

I facepalmed.

"It's okay, man." Nathan said as he walked over and patted me on the shoulder. "She surprised me, too."

I looked back up at her.

"What even is this?"

She cocked her head just like she had done last week with a confused look on her face.

"I don't get what's not to understand here. I told you what I am. I'm a catgirl!"

Well, at least she didn't hit me with that meow again, I thought.

"Yes, I understand that you told me what you are." I spoke once more. "But I don't understand the relevance behind it. I seriously don't know what this is all about!"

"Ben, haven't you ever watched anime?"

"Anime? What is that?"

"It's a style of animation, hand-drawn and computer animation originating Japan. Have you ever seen Sword Art Online?"

"No."

"What about Rising of the Shield Hero?"

"No."

"How about—"

"Gwen," I cut her off. "I haven't seen any of them."

Gwen let out a sigh as the smile dropped from her face, now replaced by an annoyed look.

"You don't have any taste, you know that, Ben?" she asked.

I let out a sarcastic chuckle.

"I think you knew that from the moment we first met, Gwen."

"Oh, a self-burn!" Nathan spoke for the first time in a while. "Those are rare!"

"Thanks." I grumbled. "Listen, are we going to stand here all night so you guys can continue verbally attacking me, or are we going to go to the party?"

"We are not verbally attacking you." Gwen said with a chuckle.

"No, you are. This is abuse. Straight up."

She began laughing and shut her eyes as she did so.

"We do not abuse you!" Nathan chimed in with a joking tone.

I could tell from their tone of voices that they were just going along with me on this, just joking around. Gwen spoke as her laughter began to settle.

"Okay. I don't know why we got onto talking about this, but if we don't get a move on soon, then we'll miss half of the party."

"You're right." I spoke in a serious tone once again. "We should probably get going."

And with that, the three of us began to walk down the sidewalk together. As we walked, Gwen began to speak again.

"I still can't get over that you didn't get what a catgirl is!"

Really? We're still going on about this?

"You can't tell me that you don't know what a Neko is!" she continued.

I let out a sigh and when I still didn't respond, Gwen continued on.

"Neko, Neko!" she spoke in a weird sing songy tone.

I let out a sigh.

"Please stop, Gwen. That's beginning to get annoying."

"Aw, you're no fun." She replied, but nonetheless did what I asked.

Sometime Later

Madison High School Cafeteria

Once we finally arrived at the Halloween Party and got into the cafeteria, Gwen immediately found a few old friends and left Nathan and I to go talk to them. So, Nathan and I stood with our backs up against the cafeteria wall, avoiding the crowds of people in the cafeteria.

"Hey, did you notice that as soon as we got here, Gwen found a couple of her friends?" Nathan asked.

"Are you suggesting that she planned for this to happen?" I replied.

"What? No. No, that's not what I was saying. I just think that it's a little odd that she's the one who wanted to go, she got us to come with her and the second we get here, she finds a few of her friends and ditches us."

"She did not ditch us! Maybe she just hasn't seen them in a while. Don't worry about it."

"Fair enough, I guess."

A few seconds of silence passed between us before he spoke again.

"So, I told my mom and dad that I want to be a photographer."

I turned to look at him with a bit of surprise.

"Okay." I said as I found the words. "And uh, what did they think about that?"

"My mom seemed pretty happy about it, but my dad wasn't so wild about the idea. But he eventually relented after I told him that I wasn't crazy and that I wasn't looking to get myself hurt."

"He wasn't so crazy about the idea of you being a photographer." I repeated.

He shrugged as he began to rub the back of his neck.

"I don't know what his issue with it was. I mean, you got into freelance photography too, and your grandparents don't seem to mind."

Oh, yes they do, I thought.

"I hate to burst your bubble Nathan, but my grandma would actually prefer it if I took pictures of less threatening things. Like birdwatching or people playing chess in the park."

"It's not like I'm crazy and I told him that. I just want to spread awareness about how bad crime in the city is. Bellwood is going to Hell and the police force don't seem interested in doing anything about it."

I sighed.

"Nathan, I'm sure that crime in the city is bad. But if I'm being honest, my intentions aren't to spread awareness about it. I have my own reasons to be doing this."

He turned to look at me looking a bit surprised.

"You do?"

"I'm doing this because I feel like I need to. Say something happens to my grandpa and he can no longer support us. My grandma is retired and she has two mouths to feed, with me and my cousin, along with having to pay the bills. If one day, Grandpa Max just dies or something, we won't have anything to fall back on. And if I can do anything to help them pay bills and what have you, that would make me feel much better about myself."

"For me, it's not about the money, that'd just be a bonus, but not one I really care about. What happened to your parents, has happened to a lot of other people over the years, and now with these super-powered maniacs, like the one that just attacked the school, the police are undermanned, under equipped, and underfunded. If I can bring more awareness to just how bad it's getting here, the police might actually be capable of pushing back and making a difference again once they start getting support from the public, as well as support from the higher ups in law enforcement."

Him mentioning my parents caused a chill to go down my spine.

Why did you have to mention my parents? As if I've already felt enough guilt. Also, "it's not about the money, that'd just be a bonus, but none one you really care about"? I can't help but feel like you didn't hear everything I said. And I guess it's not about the money, for me, either. It's about me doing all I can to help so that we don't end up on the street in the event something happens to Grandpa Max and because Grandma couldn't afford a roof over our heads or feeding us. I don't want that to happen!

I gritted my teeth as I let out a low growl. Nathan visibly noticed this and turned to look at me.

"Everything alright with you, Ben?" he asked.

"Yeah, everything's fine." I lied to him. "Totally fine. I'm going to go up to the punch bowl, do you want me to get you a cup?"

He took a second to reply.

"Nah, I think I'm fine, actually. You go on ahead."

I shrugged.

"Alright, I'll be right back."

And so, I walked away from Nathan and toward the concessions table at the other end of the cafeteria. Unfortunately, as I approached, I saw that Kevin was standing at the punch bowl, as if he were waiting for me. What happened between us at the last dance resonated in my mind.

Why does he have to be standing there?

I let out a sigh and continued approaching the table, until I reached the punch bowl. As soon as I got there, Kevin began speaking.

"Quite a party we got here, huh Tennyson?"

"Sure." I said without turning to face him, trying to tell him that I wasn't interested in conversation.

He didn't get the idea.

"Well, cheers buddy!" he spoke as I saw him lift a cup out of the corner of my eye.

"Cheers." I replied, again without looking at him.

I grabbed the ladle at last and began filling myself a cup of punch. As I put the ladle down after filling a cup for myself he spoke again.

"So, tell me Tennyson, how did you get that picture for the paper?"

You're still barking up that tree, huh?

I stepped away from the punch bowl with my drink in my hand as I drank from the cup.

"Sorry, Kevin. A magician never reveals their secrets." I said as I began to walk away. "Have a nice night."

As I was walking away, I eventually heard a quiet crunching, followed by the sound of something dripping onto the floor. I stopped and turned around to look at Kevin. He was giving me an angry look and I saw that the cup he was holding had been broken, and fruit punch was dripping from his hand.

My response must have made him so angry that he crushed his cup in his hand!

I turned back around and continued walking back to Nathan, with a grin on my face as I went.

"What's gotten you so happy all of a sudden?" he asked as I got back.

"Don't worry about it." I said as I placed my back against the wall.

Despite what I said, Nathan seemed to see right through me.

"Did he give you any trouble?"

I shook my head.

"No." I replied.

"Good, good."

We were both quiet for a minute or so, before Nathan spoke again.

"So, uh, you think anyone will come up and ask us to dance?"

I chuckled before finishing off my punch.

"Come on, man." I said as I tossed my cup into the nearby trash can. "We're wallflowers, me and you. I mean, you might be pretty handsome yourself—"

"Um, thanks?" he responded in a confused tone.

"—but why would anyone want dance with a revolting nerd like me?"

"Sure, you're a nerd, but I don't know about revolting! Come on Ben, be nice to yourself!"

I snickered with some sarcasm. Before I could say anything else, I felt someone grab my right shoulder. I let out a cry of surprise as I turned to see Gwen standing to my right, who didn't react to my cry.

"I might be unable to make Nathan dance, but I can make you!" she said as she began pulling me toward the dance floor. "Now come on, I want to dance!"

I looked back at Nathan for help, only to see him waving at me with a toothy grin on his face. The message on his face was clear to me: You're on your own, pal. I sighed and looked back at Gwen, as we got onto the dance floor. As she pulled me closer, she spoke.

"Just like last time, we're going to waltz."

I took a breath as she grabbed my left hand with her right.

"Just relax." She said in a soothing tone. "This isn't something to get so worked up over."

"Yeah well, the last time I danced with you with you, it ended with me being drenched in fruit punch."

"I promise that won't happen this time."

She shifted a little bit on her feet.

"And I had nothing to do with that." She playfully remarked.

"I never said you did." I said as I placed my right hand above her hip on the left side before she could.

She looked at me with a bit of surprise.

"You remembered!" she spoke with a tone of surprise.

I shrugged.

"Yeah, I guess I did."

After a minute or so of dancing, she spoke again.

"You know, for saying you don't want to dance, you're actually doing pretty well."

As she said that, I felt the urge to make a quip for some reason.

"Well, you know, there's more things in my mind than algebraic functions and scientific formulas."

She started laughing in response.

"Okay, wise guy, let's see how you handle me throwing in a new technique. Twirl me."

"Technique? Twirl?" I asked with confusion.

She rolled her eyes, which was a little rude, but began explaining to me as we continued to dance.

"I know it can be difficult for someone who has never danced before, so I'll help you. Here, you take the hand that's holding mine like this—"

She lifted our hands slightly up as she spoke.

"—then using that hand, you give me momentum and spin me around in a 360. Try it."

"Um, okay." I replied in a nervous tone.

I did as she instructed and used my hand to spun her around in a 360 fashion until she faced me again. She smiled at me as we continued to dance.

"Not bad for a beginner." She replied.

And so we continued dancing with me occasionally spinning her. A few minutes had passed of us doing this, I began to feel that familiar pain in the back of my head and neck. I had a pretty good idea of what was about to happen. I decided that I would try to trust my instincts. I shut my eyes and let go of Gwen's hand, moving it to the small of her back and sidestepped, taking her with me as I spun. I heard the splash, however I didn't get wet like last time.

I opened my eyes and Gwen looked surprised when I saw her face. The next thing, I heard the squeak of the cafeteria floor, followed by something clattering on the floor and someone grunting with pain. Gwen and I pulled apart to see what had happened. I saw Kevin, lying on the cafeteria floor, in a puddle of punch. The punch bowl was lying on the floor next to him, so that's what the clattering sound was.

As we noticed him, other people began to notice him too and a crowd began to gather. Most of them began laughing after seeing what had happened. But Gwen and I weren't laughing. She wasn't even giggling. I snuck a quick glance at her face and saw that she was casting a worried glance at Kevin. When I looked back at his face, I saw an angry look on his face, which was directed at me. And it was a very uncomfortable feeling.

One Hour Later

The Suburbs

After we left the dance, Nathan parted ways from Gwen and I, leaving us to walk by ourselves. I was still thinking about what had happened with Kevin. I just couldn't get it out of my head.

"What do you think will happen with Kevin?" I asked as we walked.

Gwen came to a stop in our path and so I did as well. She turned to look at me with a bit of a frown on her face.

"I don't know why you're worried about him." she replied. "Just like Nathan told you, he had it coming."

"I know, I know, but it's just that he looked at me with a really angry expression. I'm worried that he might try to get back at him."

"You didn't do anything wrong! And for the last month, you've proven that you're not afraid of him anymore!"

"Well, he's not exactly bullying me anymore..."

"Then you shouldn't have any problem with standing up to him if he tries something!"

"Okay, okay, you're right." I replied, mainly because I wanted this conversation to be over.

And so, we continued walking after that. After maybe thirty minutes of us just walking and chitchatting about school and our lives outside of school, we came to a stop outside a house. As we finished what we were talking about, she turned to me with a bit of a nervous look on her face.

"Well, this is me." She replied.

I took a closer look at the house that we had stopped in front of.

"You live here?" I asked with surprise.

She looked back at me a straight face.

"Is something wrong with that?"

I shook my head.

"No, not at all. It's just... big."

She gave me a sheepish look.

"My parents are kinda rich." She repeated what she had said at the arcade that day.

I continued looking at her house.

"You said that you guys don't live in a mansion." I replied.

She turned to look at her house as she spoke.

"But I told you that I don't live in a mansion, it's just a nice house!"

I gave her a skeptical look, even though she wasn't facing me.

"To you it might be just a nice house, with you coming from a rich family, but to other people, it might as well be a mansion."

I took a look at her house once again. It was at least two stories, maybe three. A decently sized front yard with a medium length driveway and sidewalk path up to the house. Speaking of the house itself, it had several windows on each floor and I had a feeling that the inside looked really nice. I couldn't really see into any of the windows, which were all decently sized. It definitely looked like a rich person's house and it definitely didn't look like a place that someone living a pretty normal everyday life like Gwen would live in. She turned back to me, now with an annoyed look.

Stop pestering her, Ben, Nathan's words from that day echoed in my mind.

I lifted up my hands in as a way of giving up.

"Sorry." I said.

She just rolled her eyes before replacing the annoyed look on her face with a smile.

"Well, do you want to come inside for a while? I've told my parents a little bit about you and they're interesting in meeting you."

For some reason, a chill went down my spine as I heard her say that. I quickly found myself answering her.

"Um, no, that's okay. I'm still a little warry of meeting new people."

She gave me a disappointed look but responded pretty quickly as well.

"Oh, okay. I'm sorry, I should have been aware that you're still a little anxious. Maybe another time."

Yeah, I thought. Maybe another time.

I just nodded at her.

"Well, okay then. Good night, Ben."

"Good night." I said as I gave her a little wave.

I watched her as she turned and walked up the path to her front door and as I did, I noticed something. Standing at one of the windows on the first floor, I thought I saw a little girl looking out at me. But as soon as Gwen passed by the window, the girl disappeared. I was dumbfounded at what I had just seen.

Did Gwen have a little sister that she didn't talk about? No, that wouldn't make sense. Why would she refuse to talk about a little sister if she had one?

I decided to just let it go and get home before it got any later. At this rate, walking home would get me back home after the time that I was told to get back. I looked at the alien watch on my wrist. I had an alien form that would get me back home pretty fast. It was like a velociraptor with the amplified abilities of a cheetah. I called it Accelerate. I made sure that no one was looking in my direction and then I activated the watch to transform. Then, I was on my way.

Author's Note:

* And that's it for this chapter, I hope you guys enjoyed!

* So, what did you think of this chapter? What were your thoughts on Gwen's getup for the party? Did you like their conversation as they danced (Ben and Gwen)? Do you think Kevin will try to get back at Ben for embarrassing him? And what were your thoughts on Ben not being comfortable with going in to meet Gwen's parents? I'm really curious about what you may think.

* Anyway, that's going to do it for me. I'm going to go though, so have a great day and bye.

Review Responses

Guest Review (Chapter 20): :When will Ben encounter Vilgax? Will Gwen still use magic spells despite there being no anodites in this fic? And what other supporting characters should we expect?

Hey, another review! Thanks so much. To answer your questions, we'll start with the Vilgax-centric question. Ben will encounter Vilgax pretty soon, in Chapter 32, but Ben will not be aware that it is Vilgax. Vilgax's bigger appearance will be in Chapters 35 – 39. Gwen will not be using magic spells. Remember that Ben and Gwen are not related in this story and even if they were, she wouldn't have Anodite blood, since Anodites or Anodyne don't exist anyway. And we can expect Kai Green, Julie Yamamoto, and Cooper Daniels (I believe that's his last name) will pop up in the future, though I can't say exactly when they will appear in the story. Thanks for the review, as always.

Next Chapter: Ben's English class is given a big assignment. While doing research for his project, Ben begins to uncover a closely guarded secret.