As an exchange student from Scotland, a whole new world opens up to Darren Green when he moves to the United States. He'll live with a host family, start at a new school, and he'll have to make new friends. However, what won't be a part of this new...
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HALLOWEEN IS OF ORIGIN A Celtic tradition, but in modern-day culture, it has crossed the Atlantic, and Americans have adopted the festival. The addition of pumpkins made it feel like the festival had always been part of their heritage, and those same pumpkins had been inescapable the past few days. Everywhere Darren went, a pair of empty holes cut into an orange pumpkin followed him. Tomorrow morning, it would be over, he told himself. He wasn't the least bit a fan of Halloween, and especially not this manipulated version kids used to get candy and teenagers used to dress up in costumes with the least bit of fabric on their bodies.
And yet, he found himself at a party. The music had welcomed him from miles away, and still it hadn't prepared him for the mere magnitude of the party. When he arrived, he had to drive at a turtle's speed not to crash into any partying and semi-drunk teenagers, and the first parking spot he could find was three blocks away from the party scene. As he made his way to the actual site of the party, he wondered how he'd ended up at a party for the third time this year, breaking the record of the number of parties he'd been to in his entire lifespan.
He knew how, of course: Adelaide had called another favor in and had asked Darren to pick him up since Aimee had her own party to go to, and Adelaide and Isaiah were visiting friends. Liam couldn't go home by himself as he was still bound to his wheelchair, which was how Darren found himself having stayed up long after midnight and in a neighborhood much too crowded to pick up his host brother. He didn't even understand why all these teenagers were still out: technically, Halloween was already over. When the clock had struck twelve, October 31st had ended. They should be getting rid of all the pumpkins at this point.
But another thought occupied Darren even more: how was he going to find Liam among all these people? Not only was the party huge, everyone was dressed up beyond recognition.
Darren wandered around, his eyes searching while his body was trying to avoid direct contact with the sweaty teenagers. He had to jump to the side to avoid bumping into a wavering girl dressed up as Jessica Rabbit. She laughed loudly while held up by a friend when she noticed Darren's move, a realization that took a little longer than normal, and called out after him. He couldn't hear the words, but had seen enough to not ask the girl to repeat her words and instead walked on.
As the number of drunk teenagers and sexy costumes increased, the music got louder and Darren got closer to the party site. During his quest to find Liam, some teenagers clamped at him to keep their balance, and he was thrown a Batman mask and someone put bunny ears on him.
He grabbed the bunny ears and took them off, while admiring the teenagers at how easily they could let themselves go. He hadn't ever drunk alcohol, savoring the moment for a special occasion, and here was a group of teenagers who wouldn't even wait until they were twenty-one to start drinking.
Shrugging the thought off, he took a turn and arrived. He kept his eyes open for someone in a wheelchair, but in the crowd that consisted of the entire city, people of less-than-average length drowned among the people and were impossible to find. There was nothing to do except blend in.
