Ness' Comet

Ch 36: Halloween

It was the day of the dance. The entire school day was filled with people wearing half baked costumes or Halloween themed clothes. I surmised that nobody wanted to go full out with a costume during the day since the dance was later that night. I was informed by Lizzie that every year the high school students went all out for the Halloween dance. There were prizes for "best costume" or "best group costume," or whatever other silly thing like that. I thought it was cute but I wasn't interested in winning anything. It occurred to me that-that was probably the reason Jared was so disappointed I didn't want to participate in a couple's costume with him. "Too late now," I thought to myself guiltily. I didn't know at the time, otherwise I might have said yes, though I wouldn't have enjoyed it.

    The day went by in a haze. With the exception of halloween themed cookies in the cafeteria and the fact that my History teacher took a day out of class to teach us about the Salem witch trials, I almost forgot it was Halloween while I was sitting in class. I always thought the Salem witch trials being so romanticized or used as a Halloween "thing" as it were, was a bit ridiculous. Did everyone forget the whole point of the witch trials was that in the end there were NO actual witches? It's a bit inappropriate if you ask me to insinuate otherwise for the sake of a silly holiday. But, then I reminded myself that no High School student reads that deeply into something like that and I should just stop taking everything so seriously.

    Jacob picked me up when school was over. For once I wasn't as anxious to see him. I was so distracted by all the various things I had to accomplish before Lizzie and her entourage came to pick up me and Jared later.

    "How was your day?" Jacob inquired in the car.

    I shrugged. "Quite boring really."

    "You're excited for tonight right?"

    "Of course I am."

    Jacob peered at me out of the corner of his eye. "You don't sound so sure. Look Ness, if you don't want to go you can always stay home. We'll watch a movie or something in the cottage if you really want to get away from your parents for a few hours. I don't want you to force yourself to go if you think it's stupid."

    I shook my head. "I appreciate the offer Jake, but I do actually want to go. I just feel kind of bad..." I regretted the words as soon as I said them.

    "What do you mean?"

    "Nothing, it's dumb. Forget I said anything."

    "Ness," Jacob said, sounding almost hurt that I didn't feel comfortable talking to him about my problem. "You can tell me anything! Since when are you so secretive with me?"

    "Jake, please don't put me in this position. It's not your fault. I'm just dealing with some things right now. High school drama, you know how it is." I tried to assure him, though in truth so much of my unhappiness stemmed from him, so in a way it was his fault. I knew I was being childish. I wanted to go to the dance with Jacob, but that was an impossibility. Besides, I was going with Jared, who was my boyfriend now apparently. I cringed even thinking the word. It wasn't because of Jared, but it didn't feel right coming out of my mouth or even echoing in my thoughts. I had avoided ever actually using the word "boyfriend" in reference to Jared, despite the fact that he'd been using the term "girlfriend" very freely with me. A part of me would have felt more guilty if I didn't already know about his preference for Katie. I suspected in some way that he was using me (not maliciously) as a way to make her jealous. I'm not ignorant and I knew I was not only a novelty, but very attractive.

    Jacob sighed. "Alright. But please tell me if you need something, okay? I'm not like your parents. I know you're not a kid anymore and that you don't want to be treated like one. I don't intend on reprimanding you even if you tell me you did something wrong. I couldn't judge you even if I wanted to."

    The sincerity of his words nearly caused me to melt. I simply nodded in reply, unable to make out any words without either bursting into tears or confessing everything to him. Neither of which I wanted to do. At least not tonight.

    When we arrived home, I knew I still had a bit of time before I needed to start getting ready for the dance, so I intended to get some more homework done, and catch up on my reading. The minute I walked through the door, Bella stood in the hallway holding a Sephora bag. I raised my eyebrow at this and she quietly handed it to me.

    "Guess what Alice sent you?" She smiled.

    "What on earth do I need this for?" I demanded, though I couldn't suppress a light chuckle.

    "What else? She thought you might want to look like all the other girls and put some fun makeup on for the dance. It is a costume party after all."

    I sighed, a smirk crawling its way across my face. "I'll call her and thank her for it later," I informed Bella before going upstairs to my room. When I finally had a minute to examine the contents of the Sephora bag, I found way too many things for my inexperienced-with-makeup brain to handle. There were all manner of brushes, blushes, expensive makeup palettes and lip colors. I rolled my eyes, though in an amused way, at Alice's extravagance. She always went over the top with everything .

The day past on and eventually I decided I should put my costume on. I looked in the mirror and actually smiled. This was going to be fun. I found a YouTube video on good witch makeup which was surprisingly helpful. The end result looked way better than I thought it would. I looked at my phone and saw that Lizzie and everyone would be here soon. They decided it was easier to pick up Jared on the way over, which I had no problem with. I walked out of my room all dressed up, feeling good about myself. Jacob saw me and immediately laughed, as I predicted he would.

"Aren't you the wrong kind of monster?" he commented.

I rolled my eyes before laughing with him. "I considered that when I bought the costume actually."

Bella and Edward soon walked in, anxious to see me of to my first dance no doubt, like a couple of parents watching their kid walk into kindergarten. I couldn't blame them for feeling that way. I tried to let them indulge in the their parental sentimentality. It would be selfish of me to do otherwise since not everything I did was about me.

"You look great, honey," said Edward with a proud smile.

I grinned back. "Thanks Dad," I replied.

"Don't forget when they get here, no running away before we take pictures. You know Charlie will want to see them and I don't want to neglect documenting my only daughter's first dance."

I wanted to respond with "mom, don't be ridiculous, I'm literally mentally and physically at least 21," but I didn't want to hurt her feelings so I just smiled and nodded. Unfortunately for me, there was a ring of the bell, and I knew everyone had arrived. And everyone would get to meet my pet werewolf in the shape of a jacked college student looking guy, and my ethereally beautiful "cousins" who they would never know are my parents. Everything would be just... okay?