Sofia and I were sitting under the gazebo with our lunches, and looking out at the empty park. We've been talking about the worst pranks played on us while we were bullied. Not such a fun topic, but it was something we both had in common. It was something I didn't have to hide when I usually talked to people.
"You know, you have to come to my house sometime," she said. I choked on my chocolate milk and swallowed.
"Um, maybe not...now. I'm kind of busy for the next...two months," I said. I just really didn't want her to see Lucas and to know he's babysitting me for two months.
"Oh, um, okay," she said, looking at me. "If you're still scared around me, you don't have to worry."
"No, it's not that," I said, slurping from my straw. "So, do you know anything about our school's Hot Topic section of the newspaper?"
Sofia nodded.
"Really?"
"Yeah, I used to take over that section last year. I quit because it can be a lot of work," she said. "And plus, I joined other clubs and stuff.It's a little tough."
"Well, I volunteered and I'm stuck doing it," I said. "It's kind of hard to know every cool thing that happens at school. I'm the loner, anyways."
"Not anymore," she said smiling. "And tell you what, I'll grab anything cool I witness and share it with you so you have more ideas. Surely it would decrease the amount of thinking."
"Thanks," I said. Suddenly, I heard noises coming from a distance. "Is someone coming here?" I said, looking at the catwalk.
"Cyrus's group comes here when they're done their lunch," she said. I widened my eyes‐ what? "I suppose we should hide, right?"
"Yes!" I hissed. We packed up as quickly as we could and I slung my bag around my shoulder. "Let's go!" I said, looking at the shadows and hearing the voices come closer. We found a bunch of nearby bushes and trees and crawled through them. I managed to look through a few chinks of the leaves as the group entered the park. I saw Brigit, Becky, Zac, Aspen, Cyrus and Lucas and Dexter following from the back. I briefly closed my eyes, wondering why we had to get stuck in this situation.
"Listen," Sofia said. I shifted in the bushes and everything went silent. We didn't move a muscle.
"Did you hear that?" Becky said. "Is it a squirrel or something?" Lucas looked our way, and it felt as if he was looking right at me.
"Yeah, and it's gonna come and get you," Zac teased. Becky rolled her eyes as the group came to sit at the benches. They were awfully close and I could hear them crystal clear.
"When is the party anyways?" Dexter was saying. "I'm want to be Gollum from the Hobbit and scare the shit out of you ladies." Aspen slapped his arm playfully and put her elbow on the table.
"Luckily, Halloween comes exactly on a Friday," Becky said. "The party's going to start an hour after school and end at midnight. Don't forget the plan for dressing up in pairs."
"I want to be Gollum, I don't want to dress shit with Aspen," Dexter said."Dexter!" she said like she was accused. "I thought we were going to be Mickey and Minnie."
"That's so childish, dude!" Zac said, laughing. "Becky and I are gonna be Cinderella and Prince Charming. I think, isn't it?" Becky smiled dreamily and looped an arm through Zac's.
"That's equally childish, bro," Dexter said, clucking his tongue. "What about you?" He turned to Lucas.
"I'll be dressing however I want," he said, raking a hand through his hair. "Couple dressing is so lame on Halloween. You guys need to get a life." I covered my mouth from smiling because he was so correct.
