Chapter Ten

October came and settled itself neatly over the country, the temperature dropping and leaves littering the floor. Nothing overly news-worthy had happened since the Science accident, and Ivy hadn't spoken a word to Brent, and vice versa. Finn had gone quiet, Dana even more hyper, Lionel was focusing intently upon rugby practise, Jace had been holed up with Aunt Leah and Ivy was... well, Ivy.

That Monday morning, Ivy had awoke in a begrudging manner, hair tousled and exhaustion wrapping her up. Somehow, Ivy had managed to be persuaded into hanging posters for the Halloween Disco, which Dana had joined (Ivy knew this because Dana wouldn't shut up about it).

"What ya doing?" Ben appeared from behind Ivy, and she slapped the poster onto the wall, bitterly.

"What does it look like?" Ivy rolled her eyes. "I'm hanging posters for your girlfriend."

Ben blinked. "Girlfriend? Dana? Ew, no. That's not.. I'm not.. No!"

"Uh-huh." She tucked a strand of hair behind an ear. "You keep believing that, Stellar."

Without another word, Ivy turned and headed away, towards the Common Room. The moment she pushed the door open, Finn was at her side, dragging her to a couch. Ivy tried frantically to pull her arm from his grip.

"What are you doing, Finn?" Ivy growled. "Get off!"

He let her go and plopped himself onto the couch. "Top-secret mission." He grinned.

"Not very secret, is it?" Ivy gestured to the other students. "What is it?"

"You're hanging the posters." He pointed to a poster behind his head. "Halloween Disco! You know the tradition, right?"

The tradition. Of course. Ivy sighed and sat tenderly on the edge of the couch. Finn, being an undeniably mischievous prankster, had marked the Halloween Disco as the Night of Pranks. Every year, he would set out to top the previous year with the most spectacular whole-school prank. Last year, Finn dressed up as the Mad Hatter, gave everyone real rabbits and gave everyone tea, in the form of an ice-cold tea shower.

Ivy had no idea what to expect this year. "So what were you thinking?"

"Hm..." Finn placed a finger on his chin. "No idea. You?"

"I don't prank people." Ivy shook her head and shrugged.

Finn, however, seemed to already have an idea. He leaned forward. "No, actually, you "accidentally" prank people. You could be my new partner in crime, that stunt you pulled a few weeks ago! What do you say?"

"What?" Ivy blinked rapidly.

"The Bunsen Burner accident?" Finn raised an eyebrow. "Why not.. oh, get Brent back?"

She shook her head. "No way."

"Yes way." Finn nodded quickly.

"I was thinking," Dana held up a red and black ribbon. "Or maybe the green and silver?"

Ben jerked awake, his head slipping from his hand. He glanced around quickly and realized that Dana was staring at him. Adjusting his clothes, hair and appearance, Ben tried to make himself look casual, as if he hadn't just of fallen asleep. Why would he fall asleep?

"What do you think?" She held the ribbons forward. "Ben? Which colour scheme is better?"

"Uh..." Ben looked between the ribbons. "Black and red?"

Dana placed the ribbons and down and clapped her hands. "Good choice! I would have chosen the same."

"Um, Dana?" Ben asked quietly.

"Uh-huh?" Dana smiled. "Yeah, what's up?"

She shuffled around the numerous decorations, until she popped up with a box of fairy lights. Dana started trying to unwrap them, half-listening to what Ben was saying. He coughed and cleared his throat a few times.

"I was wondering.." Cough. "Do you think? We could maybe.. um..."

Dana put the fairy lights down and blinked. "Yes?"

"Could we go to the disco together?" He cleared his throat quickly. "You know, as friends."

"Oh, yes, sure!" Dana beamed. "That would be great!"

Cinder and Hazel glowered at Lionel as he tried (unsuccessfully) to gain their attention by showing off in the corridor. He ended up tripping and stumbling - making a fool of himself in front of half the student body.

Hazel sniggered. "Idiot."

"You could say that again." Cinder giggled.

The boy let out an annoyed sound and placed his hands on his hips, before being basically dragged away by some of the other boys in his rugby team. Cinder laughed quietly and Hazel rolled her eyes, as the two girls set off for English. On the way, they joined up with Dana, who was staring intently at pieces of ribbon. Hazel raised a curious eyebrow.

"I never knew that ribbon was so interesting." Hazel commented. "Care to tell us why you look like you're waiting for it to start speaking?"

Dana sniffed. "I'm sorting out the colour scheme for the disco. We decided on black and red, so now I'm trying to envision what we could do and what I'm going to wear."

"I know!" Cinder waved her hands excitedly. "How about a shopping trip on Sunday? I'm busy on Saturday, but I'm sure most of us are free on Sunday, right? We could drag some of the others with us and maybe meet up for coffee with the boys, if they're not content with wasting away in their own filth."

A harrumph came from Dana and she smiled. "I don't think all of the boys sit around in filth. Not Ben, anyway."

"Huh?" Hazel leaned forward.

"He asked me to the disco." Dana grinned happily. "Which is why this shopping trip is so important!"

Cinder let out a low whistle and then sighed. "I still don't have a partner. Still working on that."

The bell for their next lesson rang and they headed away to English, but they're minds were elsewhere as they tried to figure out what to wear and who they were going to ask to the disco.

Thanks so much for reading!

I haven't updated in AGES and I feel so bad. I'm incredibly sorry *hands out cookies*.

Anyway, I will try to update some more and free some time for this story because.. what can I say?... I love Warrior Cats, especially as humans!

Thanks for all the support ^.^

Kisses,

StarcrossedIvy x