Author's Note: Please listen to "Little Romance" by Ingrid Michaelson for the beginning after Cole and Greer's first scene.
Greer pulled her jacket tighter around her shoulders as she shivered in the October air.
"You thirsty?" Greer asked, pulling out a beer from her cooler up on top of the roof at the school. It was late Sunday night, but Cole had snuck out to meet Greer at her thinking place. He was pretty sure that one of these days they'd get caught but he kept hanging out with her. Each time, it always scared the hell out of him, but it was worth it.
"I'm good, thanks," Cole replied, shaking his head.
"Wow, I'm working on my second," Greer chuckled.
"Yeah, and you should probably stop soon because you're the only one that knows how to get out of this place without setting off any alarms. Can have you drunk, now can we?" Cole asked, taking the beer can away from her.
"I was done anyways," she defended playfully.
"Good. Then I guess you won't be needing this after all," Cole said, chucking the can over his shoulder and off the roof. He could feel that there was still some liquor left in the can but he didn't care.
"Cole!" Greer exclaimed.
"I thought you said you were done," Cole said.
"I was," Greer said, crossing her arms over her chest. Cole leaned over the ledge to see the empty can on the ground and the spilled beer on the concrete in a perfect splat shape.
"Too bad it's gone now," Cole teased.
"Do you know how bad that is for the environment? You probably just killed two trees. Way to go, genius," Greer replied, crossly.
"Since when do you care about the environment?" Cole asked.
"Shut up," Greer replied, narrowing her eyes at him. She stared at him for a moment, still cross with him for taking her beer away, before going back to sit on the futon. She looked up at him. "Are you going to join me or not?"
"Okay," Cole chuckled, walking over and sitting down next to her. Greer leaned her head on his shoulder and Cole looked over at her, curious. Why had she done that? She wasn't usually "touchy feely" type so it just caught him off guard.
"What? I'm cold," Greer asked, the look on her face saying, 'are you really going to question this right now?'
"Okay," Cole replied, unconvinced. Instead of poking fun at her, he just slipped his arm around her shoulders, trying to warm her up a little. Greer didn't protest at all. This felt good right here. She just didn't know how long it'd be able to last. I mean, it hadn't even made its way up to anything yet, but whatever they had now was enough for her. It would be easier to say goodbye when the time came.
"You know what? I am freezing. Maybe if I just have another beer it'll warm me up. Damn, I should've brought some whiskey up here," Greer muttered to herself, beginning to get up.
"Uh uh. I think you have had way too much tonight," Cole said, grabbing her by her waist and bring her down to futon.
"Cole!" She exclaimed, struggling out of his arms.
"Uh uh. You are going to sit your ass down right now," Cole demanded.
"Thanks, Dad," Greer said back, sarcastically.
"Hey, I'm just looking out for you, okay? And myself. I'd like to be able to get out of here by the end of the night, okay?" Cole teased.
Greer laughed, "You're funny, Cole. I like funny guys."
"You do, do you?" Cole asked, charmingly.
"Yeah," Greer smiled. There was a silence between them where Cole didn't know whether or not she was going to kiss him. The two leaned in closer to each other, their face inching closer when suddenly, there was a strong wind that came out of nowhere. Greer and Cole practically sprang apart as Greer realized what had almost just happened. "Hey, I should get going." She stood up, brushing herself off.
"Is everything alright?" Cole asked, concerned. The boy was confused! One minute she was about to kiss him and the next she was leaving?
"Yeah, it's fine. I just… I need to go. It's late," Greer replied.
"Okay…" Cole trailed off. He didn't know how to do this anymore because things were getting so hot and cold between them. He just wished it would stick to one.
"You're in the mood for love/You're in the mood to dance/You're in the mood for a little romance/You're in the mood for love…"
The next day, it was almost a week before Halloween, and the whole school was lit up with excitement for their school's big Halloween event. Paige sauntered over to Flynn that morning in their first period class they had together. It was an English class and Flynn, Haley, and Victoria all had it together. Flynn was early to class and was looking over his notes before class started.
"Hey, you," Paige said, cheerfully, kissing Flynn on the cheek and then taking a seat next to him in the desk.
"Uh oh," Flynn said back with a small chuckle.
"What?" Paige asked.
"Someone wants to go to that silly Halloween masquerade party, huh?" Flynn chuckled.
Paige gasped, "Silly? It is not silly!"
"Yes, it is," Flynn replied, softly.
"Oh come on, Flynn. It'll be fun! We'll get to hang out with our friends and get all dressed up and slow dance. Everyone will be there! Sam and Kristy are going. Owen is going too and I think he was even thinking about asking Haley. Please," Paige coaxed, hopefully. She really hoped that Flynn would come around because she really wanted to go to this dance and she didn't want to go without him. Flynn sighed, turning to her. Flynn could tell how much she wanted to go.
"Alright, but I'm going to precede this by telling you that I'm a horrible dancer. You can say I didn't warn you when I step on your feet," Flynn said, giving in. He knew she really wanted to go and wouldn't mind since it was so important to her.
"Yes, thank you!" Paige smiled, her eyes lighting up.
"You're really excited about this, aren't you?" Flynn asked.
"Yes! Not only do we get to dress up, but we get to wear masks and everything, which is pretty cool, if you ask me," Paige replied.
"Alright, alright. Maybe it's not so lame," Flynn chuckled.
"I knew you'd come around," Paige smiled. Just then, Haley and Victoria walked into the room, taking their seats in class. The teacher was at the front of the class, getting ready to start class in only a few minutes. Haley sat in front of Flynn while Victoria sat in front of Paige. It was like their own little square in the middle of the room. "Hey, Haley, you're not going to the masquerade with anyone yet, right?"
"Uh, no, why?" Haley asked back.
"Just wondering," Paige replied, giddy with excitement. She loved this kind of stuff. She couldn't wait to dress shopping and everything. She also loved seeing couples get together just in time for the masquerade, or even at the masquerade. She was a hopeless romantic. She couldn't help herself. She was just glad that she had a steady guy to go with. She was really starting to like Flynn.
"I see you pressed those pants/I see you styled that hair/There doesn't seem to be much of it there/You're in the mood to dance…"
Victoria sat down in her fourth period class. Tyler was already there and he was just getting his notebooks out.
"Hey," she greeted, setting her stuff down and beginning to take out her stuff as well.
"Hey," Tyler smiled.
"Oh my God, I got this gorgeous purple dress the other day. So cute! Here let me show you a picture," one girl squealed as a big group of girls filled into the classroom, taking their seats behind Tyler and Victoria's lab table. Victoria rolled her, laughing a little. She thought this whole masquerade thing was a little dumb and hated how crazy girls got over school dances.
"What?" Tyler asked.
"Nothing. I feel like something's wrong with me. I just don't get the whole giddy, obnoxiously girly school dance thing," Victoria replied.
"I completely agree with that. I mean, I'm all for school dances but it's really not that big of a deal," Tyler concurred.
"Exactly! People are getting crazier and crazier," Victoria sighed, rolling her eyes.
"Yeah. So do you think you're even going to go to the masquerade?" Tyler asked.
Victoria shrugged, "I don't know. Maybe."
"Yeah, same," Tyler said, trying to get out the words that he actually wanted to say. He knew he had to take his chance when he could and right now seemed like a good chance.
"I don't know. It sounded kind of lame but then again it doesn't seem terrible. I always like a good excuse to get dressed up and be classy. It's just not a big deal to me. I don't sit there and think about it and talk about it every second of every day," Victoria said, the last part, sarcastically.
"What, like my sister?" Tyler asked, a smile playing on his face.
"I didn't want to say it, but yeah. She's been talking about it for weeks now," Victoria admitted.
"Yeah, she's like that. Has he asked her yet?" Tyler asked.
"This morning, Flynn told me that they kind of just agreed to go together," Victoria replied.
"You know, crazy idea, but maybe this thing wouldn't be half as bad if we went together. Like you said, it's an excuse to get dressed up and be classy and uh, we could dance; make fun of all of the other couples that are grasping on to each other like it's the end of the world," Tyler said, throwing some humor into his question. He knew that would reach Victoria.
Victoria laughed, "At least those cheesy couples serve one good purpose."
"Yes," Tyler laughed.
"Alright, yeah. It's… not the worst idea you've had," Victoria joked, biting her lip a little bit. "You're right. It will definitely suck a little less if we go together."
"Alright. It's a date then," Tyler said, chuckling to himself.
"A date," Victoria repeated softly to herself. She was 100% okay with that.
"Can I have this chance/to be your little romance?/Can I have this dance?/I'm in the mood for love…"
Renee was walking to her locker to put her stuff away at lunch when she stopped in the middle of her pathway, seeing John leaning up against her locker with a flower in his mouth a cheeky smile on her face.
"What are you doing?" she asked, trying to fight her laughter. She walked towards him, taking the flower out of his mouth.
"Well I figured since I learned how to tango I was allowed to do that. You know, like all those people do in the movies when they tango and shit," John said.
Renee laughed, "You are ridiculous, you know that?"
"Yeah, but you like it," John teased, leaning in to kiss her. He kissed her once before pulling away. He knew Renee wasn't a huge fan of PDA so he always tried to keep it to a minimum although all he really wanted to do was push her up against the locker and kiss her for the rest of the lunch period.
"I do," Renee giggled, pulling away from him.
"So I was wondering, now that you're free on Saturday nights, if you would go to the masquerade with me," John said, charmingly boyish as ever.
"So that's what this is about," Renee started.
"Yes," John said, handing her the flower.
Renee gasped, just realizing what kind of flower it was, "Oh my God. Gerber daisies! How did you know?"
"I may have asked your mom for advice," John shrugged.
"You are too cute, you know that?" Renee asked, leaning in for another kiss. John kissed her once before pulling away.
"Is that a yes?" he asked.
She giggled, "That's definitely a yes."
"So what's with this new turn around? I figured you wouldn't be keen on the whole masquerade idea," Renee said. The two began walking down the hall together. John slipped his hand in hers and they made their way towards the cafeteria, hand in hand.
"What? What're you talking about?" John asked Renee, as if she was crazy.
"Uh, last year at the school's big Halloween event, you and your friends showed up for like thirty minutes and then went to someone's house and got wasted," Renee pointed out.
"True, but now that I have a girlfriend I figured it'd be a better idea to take her to this silly dance thing instead of getting wasted with the guys. Besides, I'd much rather spend the night with a pretty girl instead of my drunk friends," John answered simply.
"Hah, I'm glad that I'm better than your drunk friends," Renee chuckled, rolling her eyes playfully.
"You definitely are," John smirked, looking Renee up and down.
"Ew, okay stop that!" Renee exclaimed, giggling and shoving him playfully. John's hand slipped from Renee's as he staggered sideways a little.
"What am I doing?" John asked, innocently, returning to her side.
"You're giving me that- that look where I feel like you're undressing me with your eyes!" Renee said.
"Oh, I am," John smirked, proudly.
"John," Renee groaned.
"Yes?"
"You are a piece of work, you know that?"
"Yes."
Renee sighed, "What am I going to do with you?"
"I can think of a lot of things," John said.
"Quit it," Renee said. John threw his arm around her as they entered the cafeteria, spotting the rest of the Winchesters as they went over to sit with them.
"I'm all dressed up tonight/I've waited all night long/When will they finally play your song?/I'm in the mood to dance…"
As Haley got to the lunch table, she spotted Owen sitting with them. He had been sitting with them and his friend Sam for a couple of days now and it was starting to turn into a habit. She tried not to think anything of it, but she had to be a little suspicious.
Haley sat down towards the end of the table, opposite end that Owen was sitting at.
"Hey, I'll be right back," Haley said, setting her stuff down next to her cousin and heading towards the lunch line to buy food. Halfway through lunch, Haley was talking to Victoria, deep in conversation when she felt something hit her head. "Ow!" She saw a folded up piece of notebook paper and picked it up, searching for the direction it came in. Owen looked at her, motioning for her to open it up. She shot him a funny glance but opened up the note anyways. It read: Go with me the Halloween masquerade? Check: Yes. No. Maybe.
"What is it?" Victoria asked, curiously peering over Haley's shoulder and looking at the note. "Oh my God, did Owen just ask you?"
"Yeah," Haley said. The two girls exchanged glances, looking at Owen. "No, don't look now!"
"Sorry," Victoria whispered. "Well, what're you going to say?"
"I don't know. I don't really know him that well…" Haley trailed off.
"Yeah, but you could get to know him. Besides, I don't want it to be stuck with going with just Flynn and Paige as a couple," Victoria replied.
"Wait did Tyler ask you?" Haley asked. Victoria blushed, nodding. "See? I knew he liked you!"
"Yeah, whatever, we're talking about you right now. I think you should say yes. The guy obvious likes you and he's cute. You could get to know him," Victoria pointed out.
"That's true," Haley said. She thought it over for a moment before checking a box, folding it back up and throwing it back at Owen, hitting his head.
"She's into a football and she's got good aim. I knew there was something I liked about this girl," the girls heard Owen say to Flynn. Owen opened up the note, seeing the answer. He turned around, smiling over at Haley and Haley shrugged a little smiling.
" If it's the only chance I get/If it's the only chance, then get/ready to throw your shoes away/for I will sweep, sweep, sweep/you off your feet/I will sweep, sweep, sweep/you off your feet/to be your little romance…"
After school, Cole found Greer curled up with a book in the courtyard. She sat on a bench alone, deep into the book.
"Mind if I sit?" Cole asked, scaring Greer. She practically jumped out of her skin when she heard his voice.
"Oh, no, go ahead," she replied.
"You okay? You seem a little jumpy today," Cole asked, concerned.
"I'm fine," Greer said, inching a little further away from him. Cole noticed this immediately and wasn't sure what to do.
"Can I talk to you about something?" Cole asked.
"Sure," Greer answered, hesitantly.
"I- uh, well there's this thing at school: the masquerade ball. I wasn't really thinking about going or anything but then I thought of you and wondered if you might wanna go…" Cole trailed off.
She sighed, "I'd love to. I would… I just can't."
"What do you mean you can't?" Cole asked. There it was again. The whole hot and cold thing. He didn't know what to do anymore about it but confront her.
"I just can't," Greer replied.
"Why? Is it-, is this about what happened last night, when we almost kissed?" Cole asked, reaching out to her. Greer jumped up, away from, desperate to get away from him. She knew if he touched her, she'd say yes and cave but she couldn't. She had to be strong. It was for his own good.
"It's not like that at all," Greer said, shaking her head.
"Then what is it like, Greer? Tell me!" Cole demanded.
"I-," Greer said, but she couldn't. "I'm sorry, Cole, but I just can't. I've got to go."
"What? You just-," Cole started.
"I'm sorry!" Greer said, cutting him off. She grabbed her stuff and hurried away from him, to her car. Cole just sat there on the bench, completely at loss. Maybe it was just time to give up on her. One minute she's into it and the next she's fleeing.
Greer let a big sob out as she got to her car. She couldn't do this anymore. She had to get out of there. There was no way she was going to lose someone else. She wouldn't put him in danger. Greer adjusted her rearview mirror in preparation to drive and jumped when she saw someone in the backseat. The man smiled coolly, looking at her reflection in the mirror.
"Hey, sis. We need to talk," was all he said.
Author's Note: I hope you don't mind that the majority of this chapter just jumped around to the different couples. That's kind of how I wanted it to go. By the way, the song in the chapter is Little Romance by Ingrid Michaelson.