56. The Halloween Party

I sit back on the couch and sigh as Loren attacks my hair with a brush and a teasing comb.

"I can't believe you're doing this to me! And you!" I look at Aron. "You don't like parties!"

"Uh.. I don't like parties per say but I love the oppertunity to show you off as my official boyfriend." He beams.

I roll my eyes.

"That's called Instagram." I sigh.

"You can't wiggle your way out of this, Sky. You're going." Loren smiles.

It's funny how close Loren and Aron have gotten. I didn't expect them to get along so well. After Loren's pregnancy and after our million fights she just kind of lost the energy to hate him. After all, nothing that'd happened had been his fault.

Now they share a common goal: Torturing me.

They're forcing me to go the Halloween party at school. As if normal parties aren't stressful enough, they're forcing me to dress up!

"Ah, ah. No! Loren, get that thing out of my face!" She's trying put makeup on me.

"It's just special effects!"

"I don't care what it is, I'm not wearing makeup!"

"Aron, hold him down!"

Before I know it, Aron's holding my arms behind my back.

"Aron!" I whine.

"I'm sorry, mi amor. It's for the common good. You'll see." He whispers before giving me a kiss.

I sigh as my cheeks heat up. Damn him.

"You guys are so cute." Loren smiles.

She looks genuinely delighted. How ironic. A year ago she would've barfed.

Aron lives at my place for the time being. Until he can find somewhere to rent. Apparently he's already saved up enough money to get his own place over the years. I'll never admit this to anyone.. but it's nice always having him around. We take showers together, eat meals together.

I watch his face light up as he laughs at something Loren just said.

Without noticing I smile a little too. I can't help it.

"Oh my God, he's starting to look so good!" Loren squeals.

"Ten layers of makeup later, gee thanks, Loren." I say sarcastically.

"Don't whine, you know you're hot." Loren says.

I sigh. Again.

After a long time of sitting still and being attacked by makeup brushes, I'm finally done. It's fully dark outside now and the party's almost starting.

"Ready for the big reveal?" Loren asks.

I'm standing in front of a mirror with a pink veil covering it.

"Hurry up, Loren."

"Eek!" She squeals before taking off the pink veil.

My eyes widen. I'm wearing a white dress shirt with Victorian type frills at the collar. It's ripped in several places with patches of blood on my skin. Not to mention, Loren ripped all the buttons off so I wouldn't be able to close the fucking shirt. I'm wearing light blue contacts (apparently they're glow in the dark, woohoo) and my eyes are rimmed with a dark red color. She teased the life out of my hair and even added some blood-red streaks.

I open my mouth and there they are. Fangs.

"I'm not going out like this." I protest.

"What? Are you kidding?! Do you know how long this took? I had to.."

Loren keeps on ranting about how much labor she put into me but I can't hear her. Cause Aron walks into the room and he looks.. damn hot.

He's wearing a black dress shirt with rips and patches of blood all over like me. Dark blue pants and brown boots. He has fake hair covering parts of his arms and neck and he has bright yellow contacts in.

"Wow." We say simultaneously as we stare at one another.

Aron takes my head in his hands. "You look fucking hot." He muses while he leans in.

"Shut up, I look ridiculous." I sigh.

"You're cute when you're clueless."

"Now, you look hot." I smirk as I lean in to kiss him.

"Alright, lovebirds. I have to get ready for the party, ooh and I need to see if my date listened to the dress code. See ya!" Loren waves and leaves.

"Date?" I say after she closed the door.

Aron shrugs.

"Wanna go?"

I groan. "Not yet."

"Sky, the longer you put it off—"

"The shorter the party wil be." I smirk.

Aron sighs. "I wanna show you off. Let's go. Now." He grabs my arm.

"Wait." I pull him back and kiss him.

He tries to fight it at first but he quickly gives in.

***

Our school is plastered with toilet paper, fake blood, black and grey garlands and bits and pieces of fake (I hope) bones.

Even though this isn't my thing, I have to say it looks pretty spooky.

And pretty dumb too.

Aron's holding my hand proudly and he stands tall as he leads me through the hallways, right into the gym.

Everyone stares at us when we enter. Despite being a supposed vampire, I can feel the blood rush though my body and blush spreading over my cheeks. This is so embarrassing.

At the entrance the photographer takes pictures and after, we're met by our friends.

"Sky and Aron.. You guys back?" Shawn smirks. He's dressed as a mummy.

"Yeah. We are." Aron pulls me close. It's a little less embarrassing being the center of attention since he's here with me.

"Awesome! You guys are like the power couple of the school." Mikey cheers.

"I'm happy for you guys." Evan smiles.

I look over at Jimmy. He stares at us blankly. Then he smiles.

"So am I." He says.

I never thought I'd feel so happy to have his blessing.

I give him a hug.

"Thanks. You'll get there." I whisper.

I pull away and Shawn says: "LET'S PARTY!"

We all head to the dance floor and despite the fact that I can't dance for shit, I'm still having fun. Aron's a dance god, not very surprising, it makes me feel lucky to be next to him.

"Let's slow things down, guys.." The DJ says.

I melt into Aron's arms as we slow dance to the beautiful song playing. I lean on Aron's chest.

"I'm so happy." I say to him.

"Me too." Aron caresses my back.

I sigh. I can't believe I can be so happy. I've never felt this way before. So at peace and comfortable. I hold Aron tightly and enjoy our dance.

When it's over I pull away.

"I'm going for a drink." I say in his ear.

He gives me a kiss and I make my way to the table with drinks.

"Sky," Evan grabs my arm and pulls me aside.

"Hey. Nice outfit." I laugh. He's dressed as Spongebob.

"Thanks." Evan smirks. "You seem happy." He says into my ear while the loud music blasts through the room.

"I know, who would've thought?" I laugh.

"I'm happy you're still here." Evan smiles softly.

I'm taken aback by that. Then I smile.

"Thanks. So am I." I squeeze his shoulder. "Thanks for not telling anyone. You're a great friend."

He leans in and hugs me.

"Evan?!" Some girl who looks like medusa grabs his arm. "Dance with me!"

"Duty calls," Evan gives my arm a squeeze and follows the girl to the dance floor.

I smile and think about how far I've come since that terrible day last year.

My heart beats faster as I notice Chase standing by the drinks table, his back turned to me.

"Chase!" I say. He doesn't hear me.

I grab his arm and turn him around.

"Chase. Hey." I smile.

We haven't spoken in weeks. He still won't call me back or answer my texts.

He looks a bit different. Taller.

He blinks a few times when he sees me. Then his eyes scan my body and my ridiculous outfit.

I blush as more embarrassment washes over me. Damn Loren and Aron.

"Wow." He says.

"I know. Aron made me—" I stop mid sentence because Chase looks away in pain.

"What are you dressed up as?" I change the subject.

He's not really wearing a costume.. I think.

He thinks about it for a moment.

"Disappointment." He laughs darkly.

I don't laugh. I feel horrible hearing him talk about himself that way.

"It's just a joke."

"It's not funny." I look at the floor.

He starts to walk away.

I take a step closer and grab his arm. "Can we talk?"

Chase looks away, trying to find any excuse not to be near me, I'm sure.

"Please." I press.

He nods and I grab two drinks and head out the gym with him.

We're in a quiet hallway. It's kind of dark here. There are fake spider webs and other cheesy Halloween deco all over the lockers. We sit down on the floor and lean against the lockers.

"Here," I hand Chase his drink.

"I wouldn't drink that unless you wanna get drunk. Someone spiked it." Chase says before taking a big sip.

"Oh." I put mine down.

Then.. why is he drinking it?

"How are you?" I ask earnestly.

"Fine." Chase shrugs.

I know what 'fine' means. It means 'help'. I'd know.

"You?" He takes another big sip from his drink.

"Um, good." I say quietly.

He raises his thumb with a dry smile on his face.

"Are you gonna drink that?" He points to my drink.

I shake my head.

He grabs my drink and gobbles it down. His behavior makes me wonder how many drinks he's had.

"Are you drunk?" I lean forward. His pupils are totally dilated.

"No." He says defensively. "Why would I get drunk? I have no reason to wanna forget any of my problems." He says sarcastically.

That stings.

"I'm sorry." I whisper.

"So I've heard."

"So you still hate me, huh?" I look away.

"I don't hate you. I hate your boyfriend."

"None of this is his fault." I defend Aron.

"It isn't yours either."

"I shouldn't have treated you so badly." I say.

"Well, that's life, isn't it?" He says darkly.

The way he's talking makes me really nervous.

I look at him again and he's watching me too.

His eyes go from my eyes down to my lips. Then he blinks and looks away. He sighs as he bangs his head against the locker.

I notice his cheeks are super red and he's sweating.

"Why are you wearing a sweater to a dance?!"

"Because I want to. Can't you see it's my new look?" He laughs.

"Put your arms up." I say.

He does as I say and I start to take off his huge black sweater.

"Oh, now you wanna take off my clothes." He teases.

I chuckle at that.

Under Chase's sweater he's got a black T shirt with some band I assume. 'As It Is' is scrawled in big red letters.

"Better?" I ask.

He nods and closes his eyes for a second.

It's only then that I notice the cuts on his wrist.

I grab his arm.

"Chase.." I say horrified.

He opens his eyes and looks down at his arm in my hand.

"Shit." He pulls his arm away.

I don't even know what to say. I feel my eyes tear up at the idea that he's hurting himself. I know I'm not supposed to think it's my fault.. but if I hadn't led him on..

"Why would you do that to yourself?" I ask softly.

Chase refuses to look at me. He just stares into the distance in anger.

"Chase—"

"You wouldn't get it." He mumbles. His eyes harden. "There's no use explaining it cause you won't understand." Chase gets up, holding onto the lockers for support.

"I tried to.." It's hard to finish that sentence.

Chase turns back to me.

"I tried to kill myself."

His eyes widen.

"Last year."

Chase slowly sits down next to me.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know." He says.

I lean forward and grab his hand.

"I know how you feel." I make sure to look into his eyes as I say this.

His eyes soften and he leans his head against mine.

"I'm just so tired of everything, you know?" He whispers.

I open my mouth to speak again but I'm interrupted as the door to the gym opens abruptly.

Aron walks into the hallway, he seems to be looking for someone.

The second Chase sees him, his eyes turn to acid and he lets go of my hand.

He stands up.

"Every fucking time!" He screams.

Aron looks in our direction.

"What the hell is going on? I was looking for you." Aron says to me like Chase isn't even there.

"Hey! I'm talking to you!" Chase screams, coming towards Aron.

Aron just stands there and looks at him with frustration in his eyes.

"I'm so sick and tired of you always ruining everything!" Chase gives Aron a hard push and I'm scared Aron's gonna do something. But I can't get up. I'm nailed to the floor in shock. I knew Chase wasn't doing so well but I never thought he'd be cutting. A tear streams down my cheek. The thought of losing him hurts more than I ever thought it would.

"I hate you!" Chase yells, giving Aron another push.

Every push I'm worried Aron's gonna do something to hurt Chase.

But he doesn't.

He just takes every push with a straight face.

Chase pushes him back again. This time he doesn't take his hands off Aron's chest and his head falls down. He begins to cry.

"It hurts.." He says through his tears.

To my surprise Aron grabs his shoulders.. and pulls him close.

"I know." He says. He understands how it feels to be hurt by me. And they both seem to be in pain as they sit in their emotions together.

Aron rubs Chase's back while he cries into his chest.

"I know." He says again.

Then he looks back at me and gives me a sad smile.

***

Chase is sleeping in my room.

Aron and I are sleeping in Rose's room on a mattress on the floor.

The moonlight shines in through the window. Rose is already asleep.

"You hugged him." I say in disbelief.

"I think I finally understood him. I know what it's like to love someone and have them not love you back."

I look at him wondering who he's talking about.

"Or at least.. thinking they don't love you back." He smiles softly.

"I felt bad for him. I saw the cuts on his arm and the pain in his eyes.. and I felt bad. I guess I didn't realize how much pain he was in. Or.. I didn't care to realize it. I don't know.. since getting therapy I've been feeling so calm. Even when Chase started pushing me, or when you told me what happened with my dad.. Normally I would've gotten physical in both of those situations but now.. I just didn't need to. It wasn't necessary. It's like there's more distance between me and my emotions and I can see clearly now. It just feels so freeing. And it's all because of you." Aron looks at me with the most loving look in his eyes.

I smile. "I'm proud of you."