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"Alright assholes," Jack started as he got himself comfortable on Alex's couch with a bowl of popcorn and a Pepsi in his hand. "It's officially Halloween season and since everyone's hanging out together this year, we're not spending it watching movies and eating my mom's candy."
It was a Monday afternoon and the gang had spent their entire weekend at Jasey and Jack's respective houses, so now it was Alex's turn. The kids were all squished onto Alex's basement couch, with only Zack sitting in his own chair. Though it was only October first, Alex's entire house had already been decorated for the holiday and all the kids were excited for the weeks to come.
"Why not?" Alex tried to ask Jack, but before he got an actual answer, Rian had piped up.
"That's whatyou guys have been doing?" He laughed. "You're joking, right?"
Alex Shrugged. He liked the fact that they got to spend Halloween goofing off at Jack's house every year. But retrospectively he guessed it did seem a lot like every other day of the year. Plus, the candy was supposed to be for the trick or treaters, not them. Jack's mom didn't particularly approve of the fact that they ate literally all of it.
"Well you two always spent it with Jase and we didn't really know what else to do," Jack responded angrily.
This put Jasey and Rian a little on edge. Their favorite holiday to spend together without a doubt had always been Halloween. Neither one of them had realized that their actions had made Jack so upset. Both felt apologetic but didn't dare say it out loud.
"Yeah, I mean, it's not like we're good at planning this shit." Alex added to Jack, "but this one year we went trick or treating and like, we saw Brady and long story short, we went to get my little sister." Alex explained with a shrug as she shoved a handful of popcorn in his mouth. Jack shifted the bowl to the other side of him, earning a laugh from Jasey Rae who was sat on the other side of Alex with Rian on her other side. "But that was still by far the best one."
"T-T-That's dumb." Jasey snapped. In special classes there also weren't any bullies, so this whole mean-kid thing was another brand-new situation to her. However, so was this weird feeling in her stomach. At the time, the past Halloweens, she truly never even realized Jack and Alex were real people with real feelings of course. How could she have hurt them like this without even knowing them? Did she do the same to more of Rian's friends too?
"Right, well anyway," Jack tried to veer the conversation over a bit. It was beyond true that he had never felt happy being ditched by Rian every year for some girl, but that wasn't his point right now. "We have to do something big and extravagant this year."
"Like what?" Zack asked. He figured that meant pull an all-nighter consisting of eating pure junk food and telling scary stories. That's usually what Jack's idea of fun was. Not that he was going to object. It sounded perfectly fun to him.
"Like, maybe I have a surprise or two up my sleeve." He sputtered out too fast while cackling a bit. That made Rian laugh so hard his own Pepsi started to drip out from his nose, leaving him sticky and uncomfortable. Jasey had completely missed that though. She accidentally zoned out and already assumed the worst when Jack said that. She already figured out what he had in mind. Though it had been a few months into their friendship, Jasey had him figured out entirely. He wasn't hard to read, after all.
"I-I-I won't go uh unless I k-know where I'm g-going." She stammered out. Alex looked down at her. He felt a frown encase his lips.
"Ditto. Jack if you don't tell us where your bitch ass is planning on taking us, then Jase, Zack, and I will go do something else." Rian added. Full disclosure, he didn't even mind where the hell they went. He didn't know exactly what Jack had in mind, but he didn't think it could be that bad. Jack was harmless after all; only looking for fun. And Rian wanted nothing more than to spend his favorite holiday doing something fun. He only said that to make Jasey feel at least a little bit less scared. He did mean that he would bring her somewhere else if she wasn't comfortable, but he secretly hoped it wouldn't come to it.
"Babies," Alex mumbled.
Jasey elbowed him hard.
The boys laughed as Alex winced in mock pain.
"Fine. I decided that I will be taking you guys to the abandoned house on Smith." Jack informed proudly with a wide smile. "Maybe we can even stay there overnight or something." His smile was disproportionately wide now compared to Jasey's frown. "I heard Joey and Leena, you know the twins on Alex's street? Yea, I heard they literally threw a party in that house last year!"
This was true; they threw a small party- maybe 100 kids- and stayed in the house until the cops were called. Everyone fled, leaving behind empty cans and red solo cups. Rian was invited but didn't go.
Jasey picked at her cuticles. Her dad, while he let her do almost anything she ever wanted without any problems, probably wouldn't like it if she stayed in some random creepy, old, abandoned house overnight with four boys. She figured that would be her great excuse to worm her way out of this.
"Jack, stupid idea unless getting killed is the goal, and Jasey, calm down?" Rian looked at her with concerned eyes and raised eyebrows as she stared off into space. Her face went red though as she felt everyone's eyes switch onto her. She hadn't realized that her fear was outwardly showing. It was just, she didn't like to think of that house very much.
"Jasey, just because he had this idea doesn't mean we're gonna do it," Zack added.
Alex looked at the girl sitting next to him with his own pair of wide eyes. He felt his own concern lace through his body. He desperately wanted to stay in that house overnight just for the pure thrill of it, but what if Jasey was too scared? What if something happened while they were there? Then Alex suddenly found himself only worried about her thoughts and not even whether they would stay in that house or not.
Jack was the only one not looking at Jasey Rae with a concern or even a little bit of sadness. He rubbed his neck with his hand and looked up to the ceiling. A small groan of anger escaped his lips. Nobody paid any attention to him as he brought his head back down and let go of his neck. Jasey's eyes dashed up to meet his. Their eyes locked together. Her heart skipped a beat as realized what she was about to force herself into.
"N-No. Let's d-d-do it." She pushed. "Sounds l-like f-f-fucking fun." All she could think about now was how the boys constantly treated her like their delicate little friend, and how that usually ended up ruining their plans. Despite not wanting to go, she wanted to give the boys the best Halloween yet. She did in fact owe Jack this much. Flashbacks from every past Halloween races through her mind; all the fun they had, everything they did- all while Jack was bored and getting fat.
"Jasey, shut up," Rian ordered. He could practically smell her nervousness.
"N-n-no. I-I-I'm serious."
"Fuck yes!" Jack exclaimed. He bounced up off the couch, causing a handful of popcorn to spill into Alex's lap. "This is gonna be the best Halloween yet. I'm telling you guys." He laughed as Zack agreed.
But Alex and Rian couldn't shake the fact that Jasey's leg was bouncing up and down and that her fingers were still picking at a hangnail.
