3

I can't even talk to Emilie or Laura. I pick them up like usual, but they talk to themselves and glance at me uneasily. I sit in class and stare at the front, absorbing nothing. I sit in a bathroom stall for lunch, and then repeat my stare tactics in my last classes.

At my locker I get lots of pats on the back from people I know, excited for tonight. Chris, who I used to have a huge crush on, chats me up and tucks a piece of hair behind one of my ears and promises to be precisely on time.

My heart feels a little lighter—even though the dance sucked, the party will be great, and everyone will forget my little mishap.

Emilie, Nessie and Laura pile into the car after school. Nessie keeps the conversation alive, and I stop worrying about the dance the day before. Maybe they just didn't notice, or felt too awkward to tell me.

They all ooh and ahh as we move through the front yard. I park the car and they hop out.

"Okay, let me turn the lights on and get the candy out and then we can do makeup and all that jazz. I need to order the pizza too…" I trailed off. Nessie and Emilie moved sacks of candy and chip bags to the front porch and I went to plug in the lights and flip the switches. It was a cloudy day, so it was already getting pretty dark. I turned on the 'ambient spooky noises' track and we sat on the porch and did each other's makeup before changing.

Around 5PM children began to show up. We turned the music up a little louder and lounged around the porch, trying to look spooky.

"I was looking up real ghost stories to tell," Emilie said. "Since Chris always tells the same ones."

"The lady with the ribbon? Ugh, I'm over it." Said Laura, stealing a tiny caramilk bar and popping it in her mouth.

"What's that?"

"The most boring ghost story ever." Laura said, before launching into the sparknotes version for Nessie's sake. I popped inside to grab some blankets as it began to get a little windier.

9PM rolled around eventually and Nessie helped me drag boxes full of food into my car.

"I just worry about mice getting them in the garage or something." I said. "And I'll drop this off tomorrow, anyway."

We set the can of monetary donations in the trunk, snug amongst the other boxes.

Then the teenagers started to show up. And the pizza. I ran out and paid as Emilie set up the movie, and when I came back there were at least 30 people crammed into my living room already 10 minutes deep into Silence of the Lambs. We had agreed on Psycho this year and I frowned, but took a seat near the back.

It was like scream dominos—if one person screamed, it made others jump or scream. And then we would laugh, and it was hard to feel too scared. Especially since I was grumpy and thinking throughout the movie instead of enjoying.

Before the ending I left the group to grab the box of flashlights. I tested them in the kitchen and found the few that worked just in time for the stampede.

"C'mon ladies!" Chris called, leading the charge.

"I'm just going to let out Freya and then put her in my room," I told Laura, who nodded absentmindedly as Dennis took her arm and pulled her towards the back door.

The front yard was a deserted fake graveyard, still lit up with purple lights and little lanterns. I waited shivering for Freya to finish before I brought her to my bedroom. Since I was the host I had the luxury to shrug out of my costume and put on jeans and a thick sweater.

Naturally, all the flashlights were gone, but I didn't really need one—the path to the water was well-worn, even if it did take about ten minutes to walk. I tried to hustle, but I secretly hoped that one of the boys had taken the initiative to start the fire.

I was getting closer down the dirt path when I heard them all talking.

"I know, that was hilarious. It was like a sausage bursting out of its casing."

"It was sooo embarrassing to be with her." I heard Laura say. "We kept trying to move away and she kept following, like, take a hint, y'know?"

There was a smattering of laughs.

"Hey guys," Chris said excitedly. "I have a new story this year. Once there was a desperate and ugly fat girl. Once a year she would lure her classmates to her house on Halloween night,"

I could see that the fire was starting, and the wind blew the smoke towards me. I felt tears in my eyes.

"And then," said Chris. Everyone was silent. "She'd pretend like they were her friends!"

There was a roar of laughter, and I felt my heart sink.

"What do you think, Nessie?"

My breathe caught in my throat.

"I mean, she's the nice one out of all of you for sure," she said with a lot of passion. And then there was a pause. "But her body is, um, repulsive."

"Hey hey hey," said Laura. "You guys don't know how hard it is to take one for the team. If she thought she really didn't have any friends she'd probably be a real psychopath."

I felt like a psychopath. I wanted to run up to the fire and beat them all with a stick, preferably one that was one fire. It felt hard to breathe.

Two hands clamped down on my shoulders and I screamed.

"Easy there,"

I didn't recognize the voice. I could hear whispers from the fire pit and flashlight beams broke through the forest.

"Jacob, use the flashlight you idot." Said a girl in the distance. Jacob let go of my shoulder and turned on a phone, lighting up his face.

"Um, we're here for Nessie, but no one was at the house. She said something about a fire at the lake, so…"

He looked at me and I rubbed my eyes quickly and turned to find Nessie crunching her way through the leaves.

"Jake, you're early."

"It's already midnight."

"I said I'd call when it was over." She argued.

"We better go home now," said Jacob. "Tell everyone to go home. Carlisle said there was a bobcat attack in the woods about 8 kilometres away from here."

"Oh shoot." She said, which was an odd reaction. She looked at me and then looked away.

I heard the crunch of leaves and the random female approached, looked at me, and then continued on.

"Party's over kids. There's a bobcat loose around here." She said, her voice monotone. There was a chorus of awwws, and then the path was full of people moving back to the house.

"Oops," said Josie as she shone a beam of light in my face.

"Oh my god, she probably heard," Ashley whispered to her.

Generally, people didn't make eye contact with me, and I ended up trailing Jacob and the stranger girl back to my own house. No one thanked me as they got in their cars and drove off, and then I was alone. More alone than I'd ever felt.

More Cullens next chapter, I promise!

What do you guys think about the 'bobcat'? ;) leave a review!