Paper Thin

• 42: This is Halloween •

Melody

In English class, Carson sat beside me once again. Mr. Garcia gave us a curious look, but decided against saying anything, before he handed out work sheets on essay writing.

"Oh, right I'm supposed to send people down to the auditorium for the costume contest!" Our teacher exclaimed suddenly. "Hmm..." he mused looking around the classroom. "Jackson, Elijah, Kylee, and Nora stand up."

The four had very interesting and different costumes. Jackson was dressed as a serial killer, with a play on the words. He was a 'cereal' killer; as in he wore a bunch of cereal boxes with fake knifes stuck in them and fake blood dripping out of them. Elijah was a very convincing astronaut, which looked awesome. I wondered if he'd made the costume himself or bought it. Kylee was a paper bag princess, which was cute. Though I'd be very stressed to wear a brown paper bag to school, but her red hair cascaded down her back and across her shoulders and was crowned by a pink and yellow paper crown. Nora was wearing a blue jumpsuit with her hair tied back and a red bandana. She was the 'We Can Do It!' girl and it was quite cute.

"Okay, now that everyone's had a good look, who are we sending down for the single competition. Votes for Jackson raise your hands." Mr. Garcia stopped to count. "Votes for Elijah raise your hands... okay votes for Kylee? And votes for Nora." Our teacher smiled and continued. "Awesome! Elijah and Nora are the winners, so you guys can go down now. For pairs..." Mr. Garcia looked around and stopped at Carson and I. "That's clever." And he looked over at another pair. "Okay, Carson and Melody versus Zoe and Owen." They were dressed as Jack and Jill with buckets that said their names on them and overalls. It was cute, but in the end Carson and I ended up going down to the auditorium.

I rubbed my hands together anxiously. "Are you okay?" Carson asked. I nodded and smiled. Carson slipped his arm around my waist. I held my breath slightly, hoping he wouldn't feel my fat or anything unpleasant. "Don't be nervous," he said softly. "It'll be over before you know it."

And it was. We got second place to a couple that was dressed as Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake at the 2001 AMA Awards in their matching denim outfits. An iconic tragedy. It was a very clever outfit, which had everyone smiling from ear to ear. We got a little pumpkin bucket filled with various candies and a fifty-dollar gift card to Olive Garden.

As we headed back to class, I mumbled, "I, um, brought a lunch today." I glanced at Carson, to see that he looked a little surprised, but his features settled into a small smile.

"That's good. Do you want to sit in the cafeteria today? I would say we could go outside, but I don't want you to ruin your white dress."

"O-okay."

"It won't be too bad. We can observe the colourful costumes people wore today... and hold hands under the table." Carson took my hand in his, making my lips curve into a smile. "We can even sit with your friends. It makes sense since we're going over to Emma's house today."

"Okay." I forced a smile. Eating with a crowd? I wondered how good or bad this would be.

***

"Oh my gosh is that Melody and Carson?" Emma exclaimed as we walked towards their table at lunch. Noah, Alani and Cora were also seated at the table dressed as a group of hippies. It was pretty neat, though I felt a pang of jealousy that they were so close knit. I smiled and waved, as I sat down next to Emma. Carson slid in beside me. I looked around quickly at the cafeteria to see surprised glances aimed towards us.

"What have we done to have your grace us with your presence?" Alani teased us.

"No, really what have we done?" Cora muttered, glaring down at her rice. Noah nudged her slightly and Emma and Alani glared in her direction.