'Do both things. But, ...that would require Bayley being in two places at once. ...Two places at once,' Sasha thought before blurting "That's it!"
"Huh? What is, Sasha? What's it?" Bayley asked, feeling quite surprised by the magenta-haired Gem's sudden outburst.
Taking a quick look over her shoulder to see that Seth was still at work preparing dinner, Sasha leaned in close to Bayley, with the ponytailed brunette doing the same, and lowly said "I think I may have come up with a way for you to be able to be here and with your friends at the same time."
"Really? You do?" Bayley asked, feeling surprised to here this. Seeing Sasha nod, Bayley asked "Well, what is it, Sasha? What is it?"
Many apologies for being so late with this. I've had to deal with some crazy family stuff, so that's been at the forefront of my focus on things. So, hopefully, this late (and out of season (not that I care, as it's never out of season to have some spookiness in your life XD )) update will be a good read for you all. Read on to find out what happens next and enjoy, my loves. =)
The October days seemed to pass by as, before anyone knew it, Halloween descended upon Emerald Pines the last Saturday of the month. And with it came a range of activities: From an early day Halloween parade to a street fair that ran even into the night to the children of Emerald Pines all going out trick-or-treating, everyone was spending the day having fun in their own ways. ...But, unbeknownst to everyone, a certain group of teenagers had their own plans for the evening. Plans that wouldn't have been all that okay, had any of the adults knew what they were up to.
"I still think it's pretty neat that your dad and your uncles let you come with us tonight," Becky said as she, Bayley, Paige, Finn, and Sami made their way through town to where AJ, Punk, and their friends were all gathering to head to the Bearer house.
"Yeah, well, they decided that it's okay that I spend the year with my friends for once, so it was no big deal," Bayley said, in spite of the nagging bit of guilt she started to feel over her lie. "I'm just surprised that AJ, Punk, and the others are okay with us coming with them."
"You all have me to thank for that," Paige piped up. "I used my masterful conversation skills and convinced them to let us all tag along."
"Meaning, ...you begged for a bit before threatening to let any of the adults know?" Finn teasingly asked.
Knowing that Finn was right, Paige said nothing as she looked away to hide the slight blush that had climbed up her cheeks and as her friends laughed at this.
Continuing her walk along with her friends to where they were going, Bayley talked with her friends some more as she found her thoughts drifting back to her house. 'I just hope Sasha's able to keep things under control there.'
Back at Bayley's House
"You all be safe heading back home now," Seth smiled as he waved off their latest pair of trick-or-treating visitors. Heading back inside, Seth said "Well, I guess we're almost at the end of getting our yearly visitors."
"Yeah, good thing, too," Dean said from he was sitting on one of the couches in the living room with Roman and watching a movie while eating some candy he had bought earlier in the day. "It was getting a bit annoying hearing knocking at the door every few minutes."
"Come on, Dean. You know that's to be expected every Halloween," Seth pointed out as he set the almost empty candy bowl on the kitchen island.
"Yeah, I know," Dean agreed with a shrug as he opened and then ate a piece of chocolate and Roman took a piece for himself, which resulted in Dean giving the brunette Gem a slight glare and Roman simply grinning with a shrug.
Laughing a bit, Seth walked over to where Sasha was sitting on the far side of the kitchen island. "So, how goes things over here, girls?"
"Everything's going fine, Seth," Bayley smiled up at the two-toned Gem. "I'm just finishing up my dinner before I come watch movies with you guys."
"And I'm just over here to give her some company as she eats," Sasha smiled.
"OK. Well, once Dean's done with his horror movie, we're going to watch The Addams Family next," Seth said.
"OK. We'll be over after Bayley finishes eating," Sasha said. Watching as Seth nodded before heading over to the living room area, Sasha let out a sigh of relief. 'Thank goodness Seth didn't notice anything off with Bayley. I just hope she won't be gone for too much longer,' Sasha thought as she thought back to just a few hours ago.
...
A Few Hours Earlier
"OK, Sasha. I'm supposed to be meeting up with Paige and the others soon, so it's time to put our plan into motion," Bayley said as she stood in the living room area of the pretty much empty house with Sasha earlier that day after Dean, Seth, and Roman had left to go take care of a sudden Gem emergency.
"Right," Sasha nodded. Closing her eyes and taking a breath in before letting it out, the magenta-haired Gem soon found herself enveloped in a light purple glow that emanated from her Gem, said glow later splitting into two identical Sasha-sized forms. The light then slowly faded away to reveal Sasha standing in the bathroom...along with a mirror image double of Bayley.
"Wow!" Bayley surprisedly said as she walked forward and looked at her double. "I still can't believe this is something that us Gems can do."
"It's nothing really," Sasha smiled with a shrug. "When the time comes for you to practice more Gem abilities, I'm sure you'll learn to do this."
"It'd definitely come in handy," Bayley said as she stepped back. "So, you're sure this double of me will be enough to fool Seth and the others?"
"I'm positive it will," Sasha assured the ponytailed brunette. "Just try not to be out too long tonight. It's been a while since I last really used any of my abilities, so I'm not sure how long I'll be able to keep this double of you up."
"OK, Sasha, I won't," Bayley nodded. "Thanks again so much for doing this for me, Sasha."
"It's no problem, Bayley," Sasha smiled. "Now, just remember what I said."
"Right. Don't be out too late tonight. Got it," Bayley nodded. "Well, I'm about to take off. Wish me luck!"
"Have fun with your friends, Bayley," Sasha smiled, waving the real Bayley off. Turning to the Bayley double, Sasha asked "So. How would you like to watch some TV with me, Bayley?"
"That sounds fine to me, Sasha," the Bayley double said with a smile.
...
Back to the Present
Looking over to see that the Bayley double was just scraping her fork across an empty plate and bringing the empty fork up to her mouth, Sasha said "Bayley. Perhaps we should go join the others for our movie watching now."
"That sounds fine to me, Sasha," the Bayley double responded with a nod.
Climbing down from the stool she was sitting on with the Bayley double following suit, Sasha walked over to the living room to join the other Gems for their Halloween movie watching...as she silently hoped that she'd be able to keep the double up for just a bit longer.
At The Bearer House
Looking up at the large house that lied ahead of her and the others in the group, Bayley swallowed a bit around the nervous lump that had started to gather at the back of her throat.
Looking over to see the look on Bayley's face, Sami said "Don't worry, Bayley. I'm sure it won't be ...too scary inside. This house looks to be in pretty good shape, so I think we'll all be okay in there."
"Y-Yeah. I'm ...sure we will, too," Bayley nervously nodded. While Bayley had a good feeling that Sami was right, there was still a part of her that was feeling nervous to even think about setting foot inside. It wasn't until she felt Sami take hold of her hand that she started to feel a bit reassured about their trek into the Bearer house.
"OK, now. If everyone's ready, let's go explore us a creepy house," Punk grinned as he rubbed his hands together.
Well, now. It looks like things are developing quite interestingly this Halloween, huh? What with Bayley and her friends set to explore the old Bearer house and Sasha having to keep up a Bayley double back at the house with the other Gems, ...yeah, this may not end well for all sides involved. Just what will come next with Halloween in Emerald Pines? That shall be revealed in the next chapter. So, until then, which I promise won't be too far away, don't forget to R&R please. =)
(xXLadyRachelXx, if you're reading this, a bit of your review on the previous chapter helped give me a bit of inspiration here, so I hope you don't mind me borrowing your idea, dear. ^^, )
(One last thing from shiki: Can you all believe that new episodes of Steven Universe are FINALLY goimg to air soon? Talk about a great early Christmas present. =D )
