Newcomers

Earlyween

For the next week, Cody acted like nothing had happened. Though he liked being around Seojun, whatever Seojun wasn’t telling him was definitely starting to put a damper on their friendship. Both of them could tell, but they weren’t going to talk about it yet.

In the afternoon during Biology the end of the day announcements from the class president came on. To Cody it was just “Blah blah blah.” until she said. “And the Earlyween dance is next saturday the thirtieth, so be sure to show up in your best costumes and get ready for a night on the dance floor.”

Now Cody was excited, he always looked forward to Earlyween, and now he could finally go to the dance too! All of his siblings (even Graham) had good stories from their highschool dances, and now it was his turn to make one too!

Without thinking, he turned and tapped Seojun on the shoulder. “Hey Seojun, are you going to the Earlyween dance?” Cody asked. Seojun looked confused for a moment, until he realized Cody was actually talking to him.

“Me? Oh. I don’t know. I’m not really sure about it.” He said. “How come?” Cody asked curiously. “Well for starters, I don't even know what Earlyween is.” Seojun said. ‘How- Oh yeah! I forget that’s really only a Griffin Rock thing.” Cody said. “So what is it?” Seojun asked.

“Okay so, it gets really cold around here and by the time that Halloween actually comes around it’s way too cold for all the festivities so we celebrate it early when it’s warm so we don’t freeze in our costumes. So we call it Earlyween.” Cody explained. Seojun nodded. "Oh, that makes sense I guess.” He said. “So are you gonna go?” Cody asked. Seojun shrugged. “I don’t know. I haven’t thought of a costume yet.” He said. “Me and Frankie are going, you should come along. It’ll be fun.” Cody said. “Okay, I’ll think about it.” Seojun said, turning back to his work.

Seojun had also been more quiet recently. Though he was usually pretty quiet, he had a different energy. He was more stiff, closed off and always lost in his own thoughts. He still talked to him though, so at least that was almost the same.

"I'll see you later Cody." Seojun said. "Bye." Cody replied as he walked out of the door with Frankie.

As soon as they were gone, Seojun immediately rushed home from school. He ran wildly through the woods and slammed the gate to his yard, ignoring his mother’s yelling. He jumped over a chair and scaled the ladder up to the tree house where his brother and sister Kyree and Jiwoo sat playing uno.

He slammed his backpack down on the floor, pulled off his compression patch and leaned against the wall. Kyree raised his eyebrow at him. “Um, what’s this about? Coming in all crazy like something’s chasing you?” He said.

“Yeah, what are you doing Ju?” Jiwoo asked. “Uno, out!” Kyree shouted. “Fuck!” Jiwoo yelled, slamming down all twenty-two of her cards. "How do you lose so bad with only two players?" Seojun laughed. "Shut up!" Jiwoo said, throwing a handful of cards at him. Kyree laughed at her as Seojun shielded his face, though he quickly got back on track once he caught his breath. “But, anyway. Why did you run up on us like that?” He asked.

“Okay so you guys know Halloween right?” Seojun asked. Kyree and Jiwoo slowly gave each other a “wtf” look and turned back to him. “Yeah?” They both said. “So over here they do that thing, like a month early and I’m not prepared at all!” He said. Kyree shrugged. “Who cares? The whole holiday’s just a big costume party.” He said. Seojun scratched his scalp and folded his lips into his mouth. “Well, um.” He murmured. Kyree jerked his head and rolled his eyes. “Oh God, is it about that one human you’re always going on about?” He groaned. Jiwoo shook her head. “You know it is, look at his face.” She said. Seojun then responded by making a face at them like something stank.