Death May Disagree

Chapter 4

I do all my homework, study for my tests, and work the heck out of my body in preparation for next week's party. I figured that partying was what Milo meant by 'next time', so I gather whatever motivation I have to keep me pumped and focused. Olivia's head hurt like hell the next day, but by the end of the week, she was stoked for Halloween.

"Teenage college students scare me the most," says Doom. He's sitting in a chair inside my closet, away from view in case the door opens and Olivia walks in. I'm organizing my planner on the floor in front of him. Peering at the pink little post-it notes sticking out of the fore edge, Doom scoffs at its quantity. "I mean, do you have to go to that many parties?"

"I'm only going to the ones Demi is going to," I tell him. Which is a lie because I don't know which parties Milo is going to go to after Halloween so I need to go to as many as possible and make it seem like 'a coincidence' when I bump into him at one.

"Just be careful," he cautions.

As unfeeling and sarcastic Doom is, I appreciate the few instances of concern he allows me. Sometimes I like to elongate the concern as a tease.

"I might find me another Eric." Eric, the boy I went out with in highschool, and the boy Doom refers to as a basket case.

"Maybe, if you enjoy crying," says Doom, clearly unwilling to be teased.

"Weren't you a teenager once? How old even are you?" I ask.

"Too old."

"C'mon. You look like you could be 20 or 25. 30?"

"I'm older than time itself."

"So 40?"

Doom shakes his head. "You're a smart girl and a smart ass. But just be careful, alright?" He disappears before I can reply and I'm left to wonder what he sees in me, what it is about me, that makes him feel the need to be so protective all of a sudden.

That night, I don my 8th grade skeleton costume, which my parents gave to me at a size too loose then, but now it's altered to fit my size. Olivia is dressed as the Greek Goddess Aphrodite, arguing that the party on greek row practically calls for a bit of greek culture, even though the theme of the party has nothing to do with what either of us are wearing. Still, I'm all in and I paint my face like a skull the way I've always done.

Demi meets us at the front door when we arrive at Lambda Theta Alpha.

"Happy Halloween!" she says. She's dressed up as a sexy musketeer, in accordance with Lambda Theta Alpha's "All for one, and one for all" party theme. She hands us the two red cups in her hands, telling us to drink them before going inside. Olivia downs the drink with no problem, looks inside the cup, and laughs.

"What do they say?" asks Demi, referring to the bottom of our now empty red cups.

"Mine says 'take candy from a stranger'," says Olivia.

I look down my cup, and read the words, "'no trick, no treat'," which I'm sure is some kind of innuendo.

We walk into the house that's been converted into a spook fest. My attention is first drawn to the fake spiders, attached to their web-like streamers, that line the wall, and then to the broomsticks and baubles littered around every corner. There's a cemetery backdrop for photo-ops and a line of costumed students waiting for their turn at snapping pictures. Amidst the fog machines and ghost-image projectors, the dance floor is packed. Demi, Oliva, and I sidle up along the edge for a couple of songs, until we eventually find our way into the throng of everyone.

Demi refills our cups two more times, coming back with a sorority sister or two each time. Our group of three alternates between with-Demi and without-Demi, as Demi switches between us roommates and her sisters after every song. When the DJ lowers the music for the sorority president and the house mother, it's so that they can personally thank everyone for attending, and to let us know that the party's just getting started.