Lights Up

It's Like the Internet, Only in Person, and with Candy

Hello hello hello beautiful people. Author here. The above pic has no relevance to the story, but I thought it was funny.
On another note, does anyone have a good Bandstand bootleg? The one I watched got taken down 😭. If you have one, could you please comment with what it's called?
Anyways here's the chapter.

Dia's POV

Halloween is one of the greatest holidays in existence, only second to Christmas. I mean, how do you go wrong with dressing up as fictional characters, staying up until three in the morning (ish), eating way too much candy, then watching everyone at school fail miserably at everything the next day because they're either on a sugar high or a sugar crash? And this year, to make it even better, I get to go to the annual Drama Club Halloween Party with my friends in the auditorium. According to Damien, it's "classier than the TONYs, where we blast showtunes as loud as possible, eat way too much candy and the cookies that Grace's mom makes every year (Grace's mom, Ms. Novitski, is the choir teacher. She also apparently makes really good cookies), have a costume contest, and overall have way more fun than at any Plastic party". Sounds good to me. I'm going as Supergirl, like from the CW show, because it's my favorite tv show in existence. It's pretty good if I do say so myself. Ms. Laurens took Janis, Frances, and I thrift shopping to find pieces of our costumes. I've got blue leggings from Goodwill, a red skater skirt from my closet, a blue long sleeve shirt from Frances's closet with the Supergirl emblem painted on it with fabric paint, and a red cape from a party store. The boots are what I'm most proud of. They're knee-high, and they were black, but Janis loaned me a can of red spray paint and I put three coats of that stuff on them. Boom, Supergirl boots. Frances is going as Nymphadora Tonks from Harry Potter, and I honestly don't know why Janis went shopping with us. Her "costume" is a button that she pinned on her jacket that says " This Is My Halloween Costume''. The boys wouldn't let any of us know what they are going as, saying that "it would ruin the fun". So, naturally, we didn't tell them what we were going as either.

I just finished putting on the finishing touches to my costume in the bathroom. Yes, I'm changing into my costume in the bathroom. I couldn't ride the subway dressed as Supergirl, so I'm changing in the bathroom. I'll change back at Frances's house later, because Janis and I are staying over. I walk out of the bathroom and head towards the auditorium, where the party is. Phillip texted me earlier that we were all meeting stage right, cause there was a little space there among the sugar high theatre kids and apparently Crutchie wanted us to meet someone.

I make it to the auditorium and immediately spot my friends. Why? Because Damien is wearing a giant inflatable dinosaur suit. Of course. There's Frances with her pink Tonks wig, Janis looking the exact same. Apparently Janis and Connor had the same idea, because he's just wearing a t-shirt that says "error 404-costume not found" on it. Jack is dressed as Bob Ross, which does not surprise me at all. Crutchie's in a Stitch onesie, you know, like the kind they have at Target that are technically supposed to be worn as pajamas? Evan is wearing a Hufflepuff robe, but I don't think he's dressed as a particular character. Phillip,(from what i can tell, he's turned away from me) has some kind of button up shirt on, but something's weird with the front. He turned towards me, now I can see he's wearing glasses and-oh no.

"Cool costume Dia!"

I can hear Jack laughing behind me, and I can also hear Crutchie smack him with something, but I'm a little preoccupied. Because Phillip is dressed as Superman. He's got the Clark Kent glasses, and his shirt's pulled back with safety pins to reveal the Superman emblem. Phillip is dressed as SUPERMAN. And I'm SUPERGIRL. Why does this have to happen to me? What do I say, what do I say?

"Thanks, I like yours too. Kind of a coincidence?"

Alright, that sounded ok. I can do this, just gotta breathe. Crutchie clears his throat, drawing everyone's attention away from me and my disastrous social skills. I shot him a grateful look.

"Hey guys, so most of you aren't aware of this, but I moved in with my aunt and uncle not too long ago. They just moved here and got custody, so, um, yeah. Anyways, this is my cousin Jesse, who's starting here on Monday. Jesse, this is Evan, Connor, Phillip, Dia, Frances, Janis, and Damien."

He gestured to the boy sitting next to him, who I apparently didn't notice due to my internal costume struggle. Jesse, who one, looks a LOT like Crutchie, which is kind of weird, and two, is dressed as a chimney sweep from Mary Poppins.

"Jesse Tuck, at your service. It's nice to meet you all."

Damien proceeded to lean on a prop box, chin in his hands, which looked very awkward because, once again, he was in an inflatable dinosaur suit.

"Alright, spill the tea. I want to know all about Crutchie's mysterious cousin."

"Um, I'm not really mysterious. At least, I don't think so. I'm seventeen, a junior. I moved here from New Hampshire, aka the most boring place in existence. I have a girlfriend named Winnie, uh, I play the viola. I like climbing trees? I have an older brother named Miles, he's in college. And I, um, I really like Mary Poppins? That's about it."

He gestured to his outfit, causing a few people to laugh. One part in particular, though, had caught my attention.

"You play the viola?"

"Yeah, since sixth grade. Why?"

"Well I'll see you in orchestra then. I play the violin. It'll be nice to have someone there besides the teacher who won't be racist or make fun of my instrument."

"Oh, wow, that's cool. I'll see you there I guess. It'll be nice to see a friendly face."

After that exchange, Damien abruptly declared that he was "Done with small talk" and that he wanted to "go and stuff his face with Ms. Novitski's cookies". I had no idea how he was going to get the cookies through the dino suit but there was no stopping him. Frances pulled me onto the makeshift dance floor as Helpless from the Miranda soundtrack blasted through the speakers.

Ooo, I do I do I dooooo, heeeeey

Our other friends soon joined us, a group consisting of two superheroes, a witch, a wizard, an alien, a chimney sweep, Connor, Janis, a dinosaur, and Bob Ross.

Boy you got me helpless

I accidentally made eye contact with Phillip from where he was standing a few feet away, making me blush.

Look into your eyes and the sky's the limit I'm helpless

He made his way over to me and spoke, just loud enough so that I could hear it but our friends couldn't.

"I meant it when I said I really liked your costume. You look really pretty. And you definitely pull off the Kryptonian look better than I ever could."

He smiled, then turned and walked away to say something to Frances. Was he blushing? It kind of looked like he was. I know I was. Did he really say that? Cause that sounds like something you would say to someone you liked. But he doesn't like me, right?
Either way, I felt like I was flying the rest of the night, like Phillip's words had actually turned me into Supergirl. I ate way too much candy, rapped Guns and Ships with Damien (who's dinosaur was beginning to deflate), and blushed every time Phillip looked at me. But I know for a fact that he said it, which means I might have a chance. And that's good enough for me.

Down for the count and I'm drownin' in 'em

Aaaaand done. Hope you enjoyed, and don't forget to keep on smiling and keep on surviving everyone.
Peace Out ✌️
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1306 words