Dear Dakota | Academic Rivalry Story

Eighteen | Haunted House 2.0

N Y L A D Y L A N S

"There's a bunny chasing me with a machete!"

Delaney runs past the four of us at lighting speed. I am the first to look back then turn right back around. Sure enough, there is a scary-looking bunny with horrifying makeup chasing people. Delaney looks back and sighs of relief when she sees the bunny gone. She walks back to us, completely out of breath.

"Fun, huh?" I say, not sparing a glance at the scary characters. I keep my eyes on the loose gravel underneath our feet and fiddle with the bottom of my shirt. When I hear another kid start screaming their head off, I too get a bit nervous.

Ten-year-old Nyla wouldn't even flinch if she saw these characters. She would know it's all fake and it's their job to scare people.

Seventeen-year-old Nyla is like a baby and gets scared to get water from her own kitchen.

See the difference? Same, me too.

We leave the scary part of the fest, knowing we will be back when the fog machines and haunted house are open. Dakota takes one of the maze maps, analyses it quickly then puts it back.

"Listen up boys. I am very disappointed in you two." Delaney begins.

Dakota and Atlas look at her, not understanding what they have done wrong. It makes me smile when Delaney starts to complain about how every guy but them are wearing flannels and jeans.

"It's umm..." Dakota starts but can't seem to find the right words to finish his sentence.

"Stand out." I finish.

"Oh come on Ny, don't be on their side."

Atlas is the first to interfere. "I thought I made it clear that I am not wearing jeans."

That has me thinking. Have I ever seen boys dress in jeans willingly? My answer is no, but who knows what type of phases they had in middle school.

Anneliese wouldn't let her kids out of the house if they don't look at least 5% presentable and I know there is no way in hell Julian would let At wear a neon outfit to school, so I guess my five-second middle school outfit crisis has come to an end.

His fussing comes to a stop when Delaney shushes him and peaks around the corner. "Our favorite sophomores are here." She says as quietly as possible. I peek around the corner as well to see a group of about five girls, the blonde one standing out the most.

Atlas chokes a laugh. "Same person. Different font."

I push him back. "Shut up."

"Dakota, go say hi."

Dakota goes to walk the other way. "See you later. I am not talking with them. They scare me!"

As the three of them go back and forth about who will go and scare the five, I sneak around the opposite corner and walk to the haystack area. This part has bean bag tosses, and pretty much eerie festive fall activity one could imagine.

I take a seat on one of the available hay bales. This half of the festival feels ten times safer than the other. I think it is the kids laughing instead of them screaming.

A mom with three kids sits on the bale across from me and sets her toddler next to her. She already has one toddler on her hip and the newborn is on her chest, using those baby wrap things. The toddler tries to move his locks out of his eyes but is failing miserably. His big brown eyes look like they're growing tired.

I can see a set of fraternal twins and automatically think of the Reid twins but these two are scarily similar. Boy and girl. The boy has curly hair, the girl does not. The boy is calm and his sister is crazy hyper and trying to run all over the place.