𝒔𝒘𝒆𝒆𝒕. ♡ 𝒋𝒐𝒉𝒏𝒏𝒚 𝒄𝒂𝒅𝒆.

xii

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"he got out on good behavior," jahanna happily announced over the phone one afternoon. trish was sitting at her dining table on the other line, balancing the phone on her shoulder while doing social studies homework.

  "oh wow," trish mumbled with half of her attention engaged in the conversation, "just in two weeks?"

  "yeah. it ain't the first time tucker's gotten out of the cooler for not starting any fights though," jahanna admitted.

  "really now?"

"yup."

  "hey do you know the... 17th president?"

  "no."

  trish stared at the worksheet in front of her before shrugging and marking off "Woodrow Wilson" with her pen, finishing her assignment. she set down her pen and carried the phone with her to the couch.

  "anyway," jahanna dragged, "y'know that pumpkin thing pony and johnny were talking about before tucker got arrested?"

  it took a moment for trish to register that was a real sentence about someone she knew casually getting taken under custody, but then switched to squinting at the living room wall in recollection.

  "um... yeah?"

  "well we're going. after trick-or-treating around the 'hood for a bit, that is. some of the gang is stopping by yours and going 'round with us, too. tucker and ponyboy and johnny; the usuals i drag you along with. i'm sure you won't mind, won't you?"

  trish found the chance to meet with the boys from the gang quite a joy to hear, in fact. mostly because they were the closest thing to friends besides jahanna she had in this town, after all.

  "oh my, well," she tried to control her excited grin, "when is this again?"

  "tomorrow of course! 'round, 5?  then the pumpkin thing is after the candy gatherin', 'round 7?"

  "oh, jahanna, i don't even have my costume yet, and i gotta make mrs. madeline's batch of peanut brittle today," trish sighed. jahanna scoffed on the other end,

  "well then i'll take you thrifting for one before we go tomorrow!"

"jahanna!"

  trish heard jahanna's mom holler in the background. after a second jahanna briefly began speaking again.

"gotta go. i'm picking you up at 1 tomorrow okay? i'm dressing up as lucy, from peanuts? you'd be great as a snoopy, yeah?"

"um... alright, fine. sure!"

"alright, see ya!"

"bye."

click!

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"guys, those are for the kids!"

"aw, come on, smiley, it ain't that many," johnny defended, chuckling. ponyboy tossed a jolly rancher from trish's decorative bowl across her dining table to dallas.

"maybe... 3 or so," he added while popping his 6th one in his mouth. dally popped in his as well while jahanna was in the chair next to him cutting eyeholes out of a white sheet.

"please just save some for the neighborhood kids," trish begged.

"sure thing specs," dallas laughed as he was unwrapped yet another hard candy that seemingly came out of nowhere. trish huffed and continued cutting at the two sheets stacked on top of one another she had in front of her on the table. there was a piercing slap on the wooden table.

"done!" jahanna suddenly shouted. she held the blanket out, now with eyeholes, for a mere second for the rest to view before randomly throwing it over dallas' head without warning.

"the hell, jay?" dallas sneered, removing it from his head to properly look at it. trish suddenly stood from her seat soon afterwards as well.

  "and voila! here pony, johnny, i just cut yours at the same time but it actually worked out!" she contently chimed while sliding the two's respective sheets across the table. ponyboy and johnny mumbled "thank yous" and started inspecting their crude ghost costumes too.

"i guess trish and i should be gettin' ready now, we'll be back in a few," jahanna announced starting to drag trish to her room to get ready. the boys absentmindedly hummed back.

soon enough, trish and jahanna emerged in their homemade costumes. as they stepped out trish's bedroom, three blurs of cotton fabric rushed up to them.

"BOO!"

the lackluster prank earned a yelp from jahanna and a flinch from trish.

  "go to hell," jahanna remarked. the boys laughed lightheartedly in their success but trish suddenly chuckled under her breath.

"w-what's so funny, now?" the shy voice of johnny resonated in the hallway.

"you all just look, so— like just such idiots, really. b-but you really pull them ghosts off!" trish stuttered out.

  "but i'm sure them kids out there'll sure won't find these funny when they see what's under this get-up, won't they?" dallas maniacally laughed. he darted for the door and jahanna followed close behind. ponyboy, johnny, trish stood outside trish's bedroom door worriedly watching as jahanna grabbed a mask she had brought from the couch.

  "tucker, don't start scaring kids without me!"

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  "you sure are lucky that lady didn't call the fuzz up on us after scarin' her kid, dal," ponyboy muttered in the passenger's seat. dallas rolled his eyes and curved a right on the road.

  "why did you take off your costume, anyway?" jahanna interrogated while leaning over from behind the driver's seat.

  "thought it be a good scare to the kid, worked though didn't it?" dallas retorted.

  "the whole point of having the white damn sheets was so nobody would know y'all were actually white, innit?" trish grumbled under her breath in the middle of her and johnny's tactical halloween candy trading in the backseat.

  "what'd you say, specs?" grunted dallas.

  "oh, just how i hate all these damn tootsie rolls i got, that's all," she half-lied, pulling out a handful of said treats from her bag of candies. johnny leaned over and pointed at the bunch,

  "i'll trade them theres for these sticks of bubblegum."

  trish dropped the tootsies in the boy's lap,

  "as long as you'll be getting them out of my sight, you have yourself a deal, cade."

  "hey johnny, can i have one of those?" ponyboy looked back to ask. however, as johnny held one out for the taking, the car suddenly jerked to a halt and the tootsie roll fell in between the seats.

  "and here is," dallas announced despite the candy tragedy that just ensued, the car parked on the grassy outskirts of the event, "the jack'o'lantern festival."