How To Ruin A City

Chapter Thirty

Catalina

"I look fucking insane!" Nic hissed, gesturing to the red and white Hawaiian floral dress he was wearing. I brought my hand up to my chin like I was lost in thought, but in reality I was only trying to cover up my smile.

Nic looked down at my giant monster slippers, then down at his sandals. He looked back up at me with a deadpan stare.

"Maybe you should've bought a wig. But it really does wonders for your curves!"

"Listen up, you gothic motherfucker. I am not wearing this to the dance, and since you ruined our Men In Black costumes, we're going to need to find something else.

"Can we at least take pictures together before we change?"

Nic facepalmed and groaned, then hissed out a sigh. "Fine."

With the assistance of Nic's mother, we went to a pumpkin patch and spent thirty minutes posing for different pictures. A lot of guys walked by and laughed at Nic, then coincidentally slipped on patches of ice afterwards.

Nic sighed as his mother went to a nearby concession stand to get herself a caramel apple and some hot coco before she left. I hope she'd remember to text the pictures to me.

"Look at your shoes," he said, pointing.

I glanced down, staring at the mud caking the fake fur. "What?"

"You're a filthy animal."

I checked to make sure his mother was walking back to her car, back turned, before whacking him in the stomach. Nic groaned and doubled over, then tackled me back into the pumpkin patch.

"That dress is riding up your thighs," I commented.

"Stop staring at my legs, creep," he snarled, tugging the dress down before tickling my sides. I squealed and started flailing.

I was about to beg for him to stop when all of the pumpkins surrounding us exploded.

Nic stared down at me, both of us covered in pumpkin guts, eyes as wide as saucers.

"What...in the actual fuck," Nic whispered, standing up. He pulled me to my feet.

I started to shiver, then tried to stop and groaned. "Chloe."

We slipped out of the pumpkin patch, sliding on the chunky remains, to find Chloe and some girl with mismatched green and brown eyes snickering at us. Two little kids, who I assumed must have been her brother and sister, howled in amusement beside them.

Nic gave a mock laugh before flipping them off. I mimicked him before turning and running, struggling to get the pumpkin guts off my face. "It's going to take a really long time to get ready tonight."

Nic pulled stringy orange glop off his face and wiped pumpkin seeds off me before we entered a hay maze.

I froze each scare prop here and there, which included a giant tarantula, fake bats, and one scarecrow. After getting lost twice, we finally found the exit.

A train honked as it passed us, shuffling kids along a dirt path into a forest trail. There was some kids getting their faces painted not too far away and I pointed at the stand. "We could-"

"Boo!"

I screamed and turned to slap whoever was behind us, jumping back again when I realized it was Sofia, somehow even more terrified. Cassandra stayed behind her sister, gawking at me.

Sofia closed her eyes before opening them, and I swear for a moment her pupils were slitted. "Ow."

"Sorry," I breathed.