The Novak Dolls

Break a Vase, It's Halloween

Halloween was coming up fast, and that meant one thing.

They had to have a Halloween party.

Anna seemed to be the only one aware of the severe importance of having a Halloween party, and it was important because HOW ELSE WAS SHE SUPPOSED TO MAINTAIN HER SOCIAL STATUS, HONESTLY.

Not that she qualified as popular. No Novak did- popular people were shallow. But she and Balthazar were well liked enough that it was expected that they'd do SOMETHING for a holiday as important as Halloween and that SOMETHING was obviously to throw a party!

But Chuck normally didn't let them throw parties at the house because it wasn't particularly big, he saw it as an invasion of privacy and that things would get broken, and frankly he wasn't a big fan of teenagers trashing his house. Well, teens outside of the ones he lived with, that is.

So there was only one way to convince him to change his mind.

Beg like hell.

"PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE-" Anna crowed, following Chuck around like a loyal puppy. Chuck rubbed at his temples, willing himself to stay strong and not give in.

"What are we begging for?" Hannah asked. "Is it a later curfew? If so PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE-"

"You already don't follow the curfew we have," Chuck reminded her. "NONE of you do."

"And that's a sure sign that it's too early and therefore should be extended."

"No, it's a sure sign that I raised children who are rebellious to a healthy level because you all stay out too late but nobody does drugs." He paused. "Balthazar doesn't do drugs, right?"

"No. People are never convinced by that answer, but he really doesn't."

"Wonderful." Anna inhaled, preparing for another ambush of PLEASE. "Anna if you REALLY want to have a Halloween Party, I'm going to need a more logical explanation for why I should let you have one and less of PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE."

"Well in that case- it'll be a great chance for us to socialize with our friends, it's fun for the whole family, I promise we won't break anything valuable and we'll keep people out of any rooms you don't want people to go in and we'll clean up afterwards so you don't have to do anything!"

"WOAH WOAH WOAH," Hannah interrupted. "Who is this 'we' you speak of? Cause I don't care if we have a Halloween party or not, so I'm not gonna be roped into cleaning it up." Anna glared at her and Chuck shrugged.

"Well I'm definitely not cleaning," He said. He sighed. "FINE. You can have a party."

"Really?" Anna said excitedly.

"Keep it under fifty people, would you?"

"YES! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU-" Anna hugged him and ran off to start planning.

"And NO MORE MANTRAS!" Chuck called after her. "They get stuck in my head too easily." Hannah rolled her eyes. "What?"

"You're letting Anna throw a party."

"And?"

"And that means all hell is about to break loose."

****

Hannah had always been good at predictions. By the time the Friday of Halloween rolled around, Anna had turned the house upside down. She, along with her brothers thanks to significant bribery, had cleaned the house, moved the living room furniture to open up dancing space, bought countless amount of chips, soda, and other party snacks, and had prepared a master playlist to keep the party running for hours. Now the only thing left to do was invite people.