Halley had slept at Eli's house because she couldn't remove his body from on top of her, but early in the morning before Eli even woke up she left for her house so she could get ready for school. When she was ready she picked up Eli and Demetri for school.
She decided she wouldn't leave Eli's side unless necessary, so for all of the classes until lunch Halley had run out of her classes to walk Eli to his next class, the boy had already stated that it was not necessary, but Halley was determined.
When the school counselor walked in the lunchroom with a microphone in her hand Halley new it was gonna be bad
"Cyberbullying is not a laughing matter. Sending a cruel message to someone online can be just as hurtful as saying it to their faces" absolutely no one was paying attention to her little speech "I'm not gonna name names" Halley was constantly looking at her best friend making sure he was okay "But the other day a mother called me up because her son was crying after some kids made fun of his facial deformity" Halley never wanted to punch someone so much in her life. Naturally every single person turned to their table, whispering and laughing
Eli covered his lip with his hand, looking down at the floor, Halley put her hand on his knee and gave it a soft squeeze to let him know she was with him. She turned around and glared at everyone that was looking at their table until they looked away. Both Demetri and Miguel shook their heads, feeling bad for their friend
"But today, our goal is to make this school a safe place for all students"
"If you're sick of being bullied, my karate dojo is looking for recruits" that got Eli's attention, but Demetri shut the idea down immediately
"Yeah, right. Hear that, Eli?. A little karate training, and you're gonna kick some major ass" Halley kicked him from underneath the table giving him a glare
"I'm serious Demetri. My sensei's the real deal. I'm sure I could get you three discounts"
"As enticing as that sound, I think we'd rather spend our afternoons playing Crucible Control than getting hit in the face" Eli looked discouraged after Demetri's outburst, they didn't notice, Halley did, so she made a mental note to ask miguel more about his dojo, knowing Eli wouldn't do it himself
"One last thing" the brunette rolled her eyes when her attention was back on the counselor. "While we are all looking forward to the Halloween dance, let's make sure our costumes are culturally sensitive. For example, insead of 'sexy nurse' maybe try gender neutral hospital employee' " if Halley didn't already had her costume prepared, she would've come as a sexy nun just to be petty
♢♢♢
Dances weren't really Halley's thing, she didn't like crowded places, but she had been planning her costume for a month, and she was excited about it. She was dressed as Mary Stuart from Reign, she had binged watched the show and was obsessed with it for the longest time. Getting into her car without ruining her dress was for sure the hardest thing of her night, but she managed.
When she got to the gym, the music was too loud, which bothered her, but she said nothing about it and went to stand besides Demetri and Eli. She saw her uncle in a corner of the gym, and remembered how Sam had spent an hour complaining about her dad being there. Miguel walked up to them in his costume.
"Oh, skeleton. Classic. Nice"
"Thanks. I like your sorcerer costume" Halley knew he had made a mistake because it was the same one she had made a couple of weeks ago wen he showed her the costume
"Sorcerer?" he scoffed "Please, I'm a necromancer"
"What?" they were all nerds, but Demetri was in a whole other level
"Didn't you see the amulet?" That cleared nothing for Miguel, but he pretended like it did nodding slightly
"So, are you a regular doctor or-"
"Plastic Surgeon. I fix lips" Halley smiled sadly at her friend
"Nice" he then turned to the girl "Princess?" he asked referring to her costume
"Mary Stuart, from Reign" she could tell he had no idea what she was talking about "It's from a show. She's the queen of scotland"
♢♢♢
Miguel showed them the flayer of his dojo, that made Halley's body tense, the name was Cobra Kai, that was a name the girl was very familiar with, she spent every day in middle school learning Karate with Daniel and listening to his stories about Cobra Kai and Johnny Lawrence and how they made his life a living hell, if her uncle saw that the dojo was back he was gonna be livid
Demetri, Eli and Miguel had spent 15 minutes trying to gather enough courage to ask some girls out, well, Eli really didn't wanna dance with those girls, he had been trying to man up all night to ask Halley to dance with him, and when the song changed to a slow one, he decided he had to do it in that moment
"Halls" he said almost too soft in the very loud gym, thankfully the girl listened and looked at him
"Yeah?" she asked when he didn't said anything for a few seconds
"Do- do you maybe....wanna dance with me?" he was ready for her to say no, however the girl smiled brightly at him, she had been waiting for this moment all night, if he didn't asked her she would've done it herself
"Of course" She grabbed his hand and pulled him to the dance floor, and he thanked all the lords above that he was wearing a mask, because he could feel his cheeks heating up.
Miguel and Demetri looked at the two surprised that Eli had actually asked her to dance, they had talked about it the day before, but they didn't think he was actually gonna do it, Demetri felt ecstatic he had been hearing Eli fawn over Halley for years, and Miguel felt like a proud mom, he had known the three for a short time, but he was rooting for those two since day one
"They'll be together in less than two months" Miguel said still looking at his friends, both of them smiling and and looking in each others eyes, you could tell they loved each other by just looking at them
"I'll give them till' the end of the month" Eli's arms were resting softly around Halley's waist, and her arms were around Eli's neck, she was obviously guiding him as it was his first time dancing with anyone
"Bet you 20 dollars" Said Miguel
"Deal"
♢♢♢
After Halley and Eli danced, the three boys left for the bathroom, leaving the girl alone. She sat in a chair looking around and drinking her punch. She took her phone out of the pocket of her dress when it ringed, she opened the video and she saw Aisha in the food table and it said "THE BUFFET TABLE IS UNDER ATTACK!!!!", she looked around and saw the girl who had already seen the video, and then Halley turned around to see Yasmine laughing, she rolled her eyes and walked towards Aisha
Halley and Aisha were never close, they both knew each other through Sam, but they never hung out alone, or had a proper conversation.
"Ignore them, they're all bitches" Aisha turned around facing Halley, smiling sadly
"Yeah, tell me about it"
"You seem uncomfortable, do you wanna leave?"
"That would be amazing, but my mom's supposed to pick me up in an hour"
"I'll take you, my car's outside" Aisha seemed relieved to finally leave the school
"Yes, please" She texted Eli what had happened and that she was leaving. Demetri's mom was gonna pick them up anyway so there was no problem with her leaving
The ride to Aisha's house was full with talk, Halley hadn't realized how nice Aisha actually was, and she was glad she got to know the girl a little bit better
⚘
Hello, hello
This was a longer chapter than usual, just because I wanted to fit everything about the party in one chapter. Also, writing Eli and Halley dancing had me screaming in my pillow, I will never get tired of saying how cute they are