Annie's POV
On Halloween, I went as my mom. My hairdresser accidently cut my quills too short, so I looked like a purple version of my mom with curved blue quills and my purple bang slanted across my forehead. Mom and I died my quills pink to match hers the night before and I still couldn't believe how much I looked like my mom. We cut my bang into bangs just like my mom's. It was a little weird at first to have my bangs hang over my face like that, but I got used to it.
Mom and I were prepping in my room. She was going to go as a scarecrow and was already in a pair of jeans, an oversize sweater with a fake leaf sticking out, and a straw hat.
I changed into the dress Aunt Rouge made for me while Mom made herself busy with makeup. Aunt Rouge also made a matching sweater for me to wear if I got too chilly. I slipped on red leggings to match the dress and the boots. Mom was about finish with the fake stiches around her face and mouth when I asked her, "What do you think?" I stepped into the room.
She gasped. "O-o-o-h. It's like looking in a mirror. Look at you." She said as got up and bent down to be on my level. "You look so cute. Oooh, let's see the hammer." She squealed.
"Okay." I pulled out the hammer Uncle Tails made for me from my right glove pocket. It doubled as my candy pale.
Mom giggled and clapped her hands together as she jumped up and down. "Now, pose."
I held the fake hammer like she taught me.
She squealed. "I love it. I love it. Sonic get in here!" She called out to Dad.
"What! Is it another-" He stopped at my door when he saw me.
"Hi Dad." His mouth hung open as he stared at me.
"I knew this day would come." He looked up. "Please help me."
"Oh Sonic, quit being so dramatic." She shook her head. "Doesn't she look great?" Mom beamed.
He looked at me funny, at first. "Yeah…" Then he smiled. "Yeah, you look great Princess."
"Thanks Dad."
"Mommy! Daddy! I'm ready!" Flash called as he made his way into my room. "Whoa." He said when he saw me. "You're a mini-Mommy. How'd you do that?" He asked he pointed at me and looked at my parents.
Mom and I laughed.
"Don't get too close Flash and don't make her angry." He waggled his finger in front of him.
"Or what?"
"Or she'll chase you with her hammer." Mom tugged at the fake hammer in my hands and forced me to hold it above my head.
"Nu-uh." He ran away and mom and we laughed.
That Halloween was the first time I went trick or treating by myself with my friends. Caleb got special permission to come out and trick or treat with us so were totally fine. Plus, Mom and Dad were nearby, so no worries.
"Finn, Marigold, this is Caleb, my friend who goes to another school."
"Hi."
"Hey there."
"It's a pleasure." He shook their hands as he said his hi.
Finn was dressed as a quarter note while Marigold wore a pith helmet, khakis and a whip at her side. Caleb was a skeleton. He told me he felt ridiculous, but I told him that it was either that or no candy. I wasn't about to have him come out with us and not get candy. That would've defeated the whole point of trick or treating. We were in one of the more… prosperous neighborhoods looking for candy.
"So, the plan is, we go to Connor's so we can share the loot, right?"
"Uh-huh." I said, as we walked up to the first house.
"So, Caleb," Finn started after the first house, "what's your school like?"
"It's a school like any other."
"But you live there, don't you?"
Caleb nodded. "I do."
"Sounds like a dream come true." Marigold gushed.
We hit the next house.
Caleb tried to avoid talking about his school the whole night. He only answered direct questions about his school with the least number of details but answered the questions.
"So, what's it like living there?"
"It's fine. We go to classes every day like you do and then we have a separate building where we have our rooms and bathrooms.
With our bags mostly full, we started to walk towards Connor's house. We hit up a few houses to get our bags actually full.
When we got to Connor's house, we saw that the house across the street went all out. There was a group of adults standing outside in dinosaur skeleton costumes. The yard had palm trees filled with spider webs, bats and witches in the windows. They were handing out goodie bags. We took the quick detour to get some goodie bags.
"Hey kids," I heard from a lady dressed in a skeleton costume with a weird hat. It was a crest that curved down from the top of her head.
"Ms. Sandy?" We asked. She smiled at us. I didn't recognize her with the makeup she had on.
"Are you supposed to be a Parasaurolophus skeleton?" Marigold asked.
"Ha, you betcha. Are you ready to see Connor?"
"Yeah." We told her.
"Come on." She said before looking over her shoulder. "I'll be right back."
We followed her to the house and walked in to see Connor on the couch with his grandparents. They were watching some Halloween specials.
We gave our hellos to Connor and his grandparents before Connor suggested we hang out in the basement. Normally, we would but…
"Oh, I don't know Honey. You shouldn't be going up and down stairs." Ms. Sandy said.
"I can carry him." Caleb said.
"What?" Everyone looked at him funny. I didn't see anything wrong with this at all. Caleb was the strongest thirteen-year-old I knew.
"If you'll allow me, I can help you." Caleb offered to Connor.
"I don't need to be carried. I can do stairs." Connor insisted.
"Yeah, um let's not go to the basement where people die on the most haunted night of the year." Finn said.
"What are you, scared?" Marigold teased.
"Hey, you're the one who insisted on getting that tome of phantasms and ghosts and demons and everything." Finn pointed out. She took of her back up and pulled out a book.
"It's just a book."
"A book of evil." He said as he crossed his fingers in front of him at her.
She rolled her eyes at him, and we had a laugh. She said, "Scaredy cat."
"I'm not scared." He squeaked. "I'm concerned we might invite unwanted company."
"So, I guess, it's a no on the horror film marathon on every other channel." Connor asked.
"Unless it's kid friendly, nope."
We chuckled.
"Let's just hang out in Connor's room." Finn suggested.
"Mm, I vote the basement." Marigold smirked.
"I vote the basement and to not be carried." He looked over at Caleb.
"Then I vote no stairs and we hang out in Connor's room." I replied
"I second Annie's motion."
"Three to two. Connor's room it is." Finn sighed in relief.
"Have fun kids. We'll be right here if you need anything." His grandma said. She was wearing a witch's hat and wore a purple dress. His grandpa was in all gray and wore a hat on his head with a gray face. It looked like a robot-like human.
"Okay, so if Finn gives his taffy to Marigold, then Marigold gives her hard candy to me and then I give Finn the chocolate with the coconut, that's fair, right?" I asked.
"Yeah, that'll work." Finn said.
"Ditto." Marigold responded.
We traded.
"Say Caleb, trade you the truffles for some of your peanut butter cups." Finn offered.
"Take them all. I never was a fan of peanut butter and chocolate in the same treat."
"Okay, half my truffles aaand do you like nougat?" Finn asked.
"I do and that is fair."
They traded their candy.
"Okay, Connor sweet rope for a full bar?" Marigold offered.
"Hmm." He took some time to think. "Sure."
"Annie?"
"Hm?" I turned to Caleb.
"I asked if you would like dark chocolate truffles. Your favorite."
"Sure, whatcha want for them?"
He brought up his hand with the truffles. "Nothing at all."
"I can't just take your truffles." I shook my head from side to side and pushed his hand away.
"It's fine Annie, I want you to have them." He offered them to me again.
I looked at him and then at the truffles. "No, here." I grabbed the first pieces I could reach from my pile and held them out to him.
He sighed. "If I must."
We simultaneously reached for each other's hands for the swap. It took a little longer than I thought to make the switch. He kept his hand over mine, not wanting to take the pile in my hand. I pushed my hand further towards him and said, "Come on Caleb, it's only fair." He smiled a little before he finally took the candy from my hand.
"Hey Annie, can you help me in the kitchen to grab some sodas?" Marigold asked.
"Sure." I responded.
"Any requests?"
"No, thanks."
"A cola."
"Same."
As soon as we entered the kitchen she asked, "So… those picture you showed us do not do him justice."
"You mean Caleb?" I asked as we made it to the fridge.
"Yup."
"Told you he was cute." I'm not blind. I always knew he was cute. The light blue stripe in his hair was always so striking. His hair started off straight but curved to make it look like had had a wave at the top of his head. His voice, well it sounded funny at the time, but before that, he had a voice that could make anyone melt. His eyes though… always looked a little different. Sometimes, I swear I could watch them change into different blues and grays.
"Oh, he could be a model if he tried."
I giggled. It was nice to be… a girl with Marigold. I never had a girlfriend my own age and I had to admit, it's been so fun. We talk boys, girl problems…I mean I tell him everything but… not everything with so much detail.
"How are things with Sirius going?" Sirius was a boy she met that past summer at her museum day camp. They hit it off and have been texting and hanging out ever since.
"We're going to go and do that sleepover thing at the museum."
"That's great. I can't wait to hear about it."
"I'm so excited. I hope he asks me out soon."
"I can't believe you can't just ask him out yourself."
"I told you, I freeze up. I don't know why. I'm great at public speaking but when it comes to this, with Sirius, I just can't get the words out."
"Yeah, Mom made it sound so easy."
"Your mom was seriously brave and persistent. I wish I had her confidence so I could just tell him that I like him already."
"Uh-huh." I agreed. Mom liked telling us the story of how she and Dad got together, and she had no doubt they were meant for each other. Sure, Dad always turned her down, but she was forever hopeful. She never gave up, even when she stopped running after him and started the café, she always believed Dad would love her in return. And she was right. After a while, Dad started to develop feelings for her. He hung out with her sometimes in the kitchen and actually started to invite her along on runs. One thing led to another and here we are, Mom and Dad have been happily married ever since.
We left the kitchen with sodas and when we walked into Connor's room. The boys paused what they were talking about and looked at us.
"Is everything all right? You two were gone for a long time considering you were only supposed to acquire sodas." Caleb said as I handed Connor his cola.
"Fine. Everything's fine." I smiled and sat down next to Caleb on the floor. He looked at me like he always does, waiting for me to go on. "Really, just a little girl talk. No big deal."
"Girl talk?" He asked.
"Yeah, girl talk."
"I don't understand."
"What do you mean?" Finn asked.
"I mean, what is girl talk? What makes it different from any other conversation?"
"It's…" we all started but couldn't finish.
"Uh, it's…"
"Well…"
"You can…"
I looked at Marigold who was looking up, trying to think. "It's just talking about stuff that's mostly between us, stuff we can't really talk to you guys about." She said.
"You're keeping secrets?" Caleb turned to me.
"No, no ,no secrets." I waved my hands around.
"Then, why not tell us? Why not tell me?"
"It's… complicated and private." I looked at Marigold, pleading for help.
Marigold was about to say something when Caleb said, "All right. I suppose I can respect that."
I looked at him with a sigh of relief.
"Thanks Caleb."
He nodded "Of course."
The rest of the night went well. We finished swapping candy and we watched some specials. Before we left, Marigold excused us to throw out the cans.
"So, anyone catch your eye yet?"
"No not yet."
"Really? Cuz it kind of looked like you and Caleb are more than best friends."
"What?" I looked at her like went super.
"Yeah, you two were holding hands off and on all night, he offered you your favorite candy for nothing in return, you stare at each other in a special way." She clasped her hands together and batted her eyes.
"Well sure, but that's just how we are."
"Really? Even the hand holding."
"Ha-wha-I mean, okay, that one is actually new-" I started to feel warm all over my face.
"Ha." She pointed at me in victory.
"Ab-but-but…" I took a small breath. "But with everything that's been going on, holding my hand can't be that weird. I mean robots coming after us, it would make the getaway a bit easier, wouldn't it?" Right?
"I don't know…" She sort of sang. "Sounds like you're just making excuses."
"Uh, um, I AM NOT." I didn't know what else to say, I was panicking.
She stared at me for a second. She sighed and shrugged her shoulders. "Fine, if you say so Annie."
"Thanks." I told her, feeling less weird about this whole thing.
"But let's play this out, if he asked you out, you'd turn him down?"
"Uh… well." The truth is, even though I loved having Caleb as a best friend, the idea of him being my boyfriend freaked me out… in a good way. We were already so close so the idea crossed my mind once before but I never sought that kind of thing out with him. If I ever ended up liking him, I figured it would be obvious and I could just tell him. So far, I don't think that I like him like that, but… "It wouldn't be awful if we did go out, right?" We wouldn't be torn apart by a breakup; our friendship was too strong for that. It might get a little weird, but we'd get passed it.
"Of course not, he's nice and you know each other pretty well, so I think he'd make a great first boyfriend."
I smiled at Marigold feeling happy that she thought so too.
"But, let's say someone else liked you, someone you're not as close to but is totally sane, nice, and smart, would you give him a chance?"
I thought back to something my mom said when we had our mother daughter talk about puberty and boys.
It's up to you who you date. If he seems nice and makes you smile, then I say go for it.
Then Dad came into conversation. But if any part of you says no, then you say no. You don't own anyone anything.
"Depends on who he is, I guess. If I don't feel weird about it then I'd say yes. Why?"
She smiled, "Just curious."
A little late for a Halloween but I'm still in the ballpark. Hope you guys liked it.
I thought a little get together with Annie's friends would be fun. See how they interact with each other and Caleb on THE Holiday for children.
Marigold is onto something but Annie's not having it. We'll see how it goes.
Later,
Annie