The cafeteria was full, the grey sky and weatherman’s promise of thunderstorms had driven nearly everyone inside. Willow hoped he was right. The humidity was a physical presence on her skin, weighing her down, and with the added body heat of most of her fellow students, the cafeteria left her back slick with sweat.
Rune caught her eyes and made a face, his skin shiny in the harsh fluorescent lights overhead. “This has to be one of the longest summers I can remember. I never thought I’d say this, but I’ll be glad when it’s over. I’m actually remembering the middle of winter with something approaching fondness.”
Willow nodded, stowing the last the crumpled plastic wrap into her bag, eyes on the table. “I’m looking forward to the cooler weather. It’s not even that I mind the heat. It’s the humidity that kills me. With it like this, I can’t even climb the ridge. The trees trap the heat and the physical exertion it takes to get there… I’d sweat myself into a mummy.”
“Damn. I was going to ask you if we could head out there. But if it’s worse than here… We should hit the lake this weekend or something, or go anywhere with air conditioning. Preferably high-powered air conditioning. There’s that mini-putt place or even bowling. And as my skeletal physique will tell you, I’m awful at anything that even resembles a sport.”
She had to smile at that. “I’m good with whatever. We can decide then. For now, I’m praying for a thunderstorm. And not just because I like to watch them.”
Rune grinned. “Me too. Especially at night, with the lights off, so you can see every fork of the lightning when it hits.”
“You know it’s a good hit when your whole house shakes because of the thunder.”
“That-”
Rune was cut off by the ping of an imminent announcement, the sound cutting through the dull roar of conversation that filled the cafeteria. “Hello WASS Bears!” came the high, cheerful voice. “This is your dance committee, reminding you that next week is your last chance to buy tickets to the Halloween-Back To School Dance at the early bird prices. Get your tickets before they go up!”
The second chime has conversation resuming slowly, the volume gradually surging back up to its previous level. Willow looked back at Rune. “Well, I’m glad that wasn’t pointless or anything. Not like we didn’t hear about it this morning, or even like the halls are plastered with posters for the dance,” she replied, her sarcasm acidic.
Rune chuckled. “We live in a bureaucracy. Of course it’s filled with redundancies. And careful, you know Mr. Marsden wants us to cover the dance.”
Willow snorted. “Like I could forget. So, you wearing a costume?”
“I’d thought about it. You?”
“Probably. Don’t know what I’ll go as though.”
“You could go as a werewolf,” Rune asked, his eyes steady on her face.
She chuckled. “A werewolf? That’s be hard to make look good, and to be honest, I wouldn’t care enough to do that. Which would end up making me look more like a molting dog or something.”
Rune laughed as well, his eyes crinkling up. “We could be super cool and match costumes.”
“Oh-ho. Let me guess, this was your plan all along. So, what is it you think we should dress up as?”
“If it weren’t the fact that no one would get it, I’d suggest we do Firefly, but since I doubt there are more people other than me and you who’ve seen the show, we should try something more mainstream. How would you feel about being superheroes?”
Willow’s eyebrows went up. “Depends on who you’re talking about. If you’re trying to convince me to go as Batgirl or Mary Jane or someone like that, I might just hit you.”
“You know I wouldn’t do something like that to you. I was thinking maybe we could do a Joker-Harley Quinn pair, or even, if we could manage it, Black Panther-Storm pair.”
“If we’re going as super heroes, I’d rather be Deadpool.”
Rune snorted. “I checked him out after you told me about him. You are aware he’s a guy, right?”
Willow rolled her eyes. “Ever hear of rule 63? Besides, with Deadpool, you can get away with that. If anyone asks, you claim to have always been a girl and say the other person’s the crazy one.”
“Hmmm…I suppose I could go as Wolverine then, since they’re both out of the Weapon X program. And that’s not a hard costume to do. Hell, I’ve already got a leather jacket that’d work. It’ll just be the claws that I’d have to work out.”
“One of my more girly abilities is that I can sew. I can probably make myself the costume. It’s just the belt I’m worried about. The buckle mainly, since I think I can cobble together a tactical belt if I can’t find one for cheap. I figure I can spray paint guns easily enough, and I’ll see if I can’t find some plastic swords.”
Rune looked her over, a frown tugging at his lips for a moment, then grinned. “You’ve been wanting to make a Deadpool costume for a while, haven’t you? You just needed an excuse.”
Willow felt her cheeks heat up. “So what? He’s my favourite comic book character.”
“I get the feeling this dance is going to be more fun than I thought. Ah! I should also figure out someone to go as who I have to wear a mask for. Then we can both be anonymous as we wreak havoc. And Mr. Marsden won’t be able to pin it on us.”
Shaking her head, Willow still pulled up mental lists of masked possibilities. While she wouldn’t admit it out loud, she liked the sound of the chaos Rune was aiming to create.
YOU ARE READING
Silver Bound Girl
FantasyWillow's a Byron and they aren't just your average family. Not just because there are so many of them, but because they have secrets and traditions far outside the norm. Like spending as much time outside as in, and doing everything to keep rumours...
