Random Short Stories

True North Part 1

DISCLAIMER:

This is a Halloween edition, with two parts (part two coming out soon). All branded material mentioned is not sponsored. I know the title picture is from All for the Game, but it works.

The last bell rang and the hallways were folded by a crowd. Even if it was a small town, most of the population was made of students, and since it was Halloween, everyone was eager to get home quick to get ready for this weekend's party. I made my way to the change-room and got ready for practice. The rest of the team was already there. We started to practice and soon we had an audience. Most of the girls at our school would come and watch us play football. I hated that. It was unnecessary as well as distracting. As we took a break, Jennifer Brown came up to me.

"Hey, Emmett." The way she said that, all stretched out and high pitch, it made me cringe. Jennifer was your typical bitchy mean girl. The perfect definition of her personality. She touched my arm and said, "Whatcha doing this weekend?" I started to walk away. I was sick of her. But she grabbed my arm tighter.

"I was thinking you could come with me to the par..." I interrupted her by yanking my arm away aggressively.

"Jennifer. I'm not interested. Not now, not ever again." I snapped at her. I can't believe I ever agreed to date her. Now, when I mean 'dated', she just used me to make some other guy jealous. Now she just wants to be closer to me because I'm more popular than before, whatever that means.

She looked shocked, but then her face went serious: "Ugh. Fine... Whatever. But I'll have you know, you, and your fucking..." I walked away before I could hear what she said next. She really was a pain in the ass.

"Hey. Don't worry about her, Red. She's a bitch." Margot said as she came up to the field. Margot is my best friend. She's also the one who gave me the dumb and unbelievably common nickname; Red.

"You coming to the party this weekend?" Another teammate asked.

"You already know my answer to that!" I was super excited to go. Halloween is my favourite holiday. You get one night to be someone completely different than who you are, like taking a break from your own self... except for I had no clue what I was going to be. Margot and I walked home together from school. She wore fishnet tights and a checkered skirt, with black boots. In the middle of October. She can't feel cold, I swear.

"What are you going to dress up as?" She asked.

"I have no clue... I'll probably just buy a fake wound and use last year's bloody shirt."

"Pffff. Lame" she retorted, "Here, what are your thoughts on... Oh! Ghostbusters! We could do that together!" Before I could answer, I heard a squeal behind me. Just as I turned around, I was trampled by a set of white Adidas sneakers (#notspon). I looked up from the ground to see Margot hugging Jackie. That was Margot's girlfriend, who apparently just got back in town.

"When did you come back?"

"Just, like, five minutes ago. I really missed you!"

"Hey! Hi!" I said passive-aggressively.

"Oh! Emmett! Sorry! I didn't see you there!" She said as she offered me a hand up. I took it, hesitantly. I didn't really know her, and after my mom left, and Jennifer stabbed me in the back, I developed some serious trust issues.

"Do you want to come to the Halloween party with me and Red? That's okay right?" Margot turned to me.

"Yeah, um, sure. Ghostbusters?" I stuttered.

"You guys are dressing up as ghostbusters! That's awesome! Though I don't want to impose on the twin costume thing..." Jackie said. She was so energetic and nice, it was kind of imitating.

"No, no it's okay," I said. Margot looked at me with relief on her face. I might've looked like a super confident jock, but I wasn't. It was weird. Socially weird and awkward. Not with the people I knew, though. My image to them was a stereotypical American teen. Even Margot didn't know that. I'm always with her, so, she's never seen me by myself, or with people, I don't know. But the thing is, I am a stereotypical teenage jock... at school, just not anywhere else, or without my friends. I don't know. It really doesn't make sense.

"Emmett?" Margot said, interrupting my thoughts.

"Huh? What? No... Yes?"

"We're gonna go costume shopping tomorrow. That good?'

"Oh, yeah, yeah. Sure." I answered. Margot and I walked home (we were neighbours) and Jackie went home with Margot.

The next day, the three of us went to 30 different thrift stores and spent the whole day trying to find anything that looks remotely like a proton pack. Finally, the day was over, and we looked like authentic ghostbusters. We were 100% ready for the next day.

I drove us to the party in my pickup, and before I even turned the corner of the street, I could hear the music shaking the windows and blaring down the road. The party was loud. It was really loud. You could've guessed the whole school was there.

"Drink, Red?" I turn around to see Margot, a beer in hand already.

"Same as you. Hey, um, have you seen Jen yet?"

"Why are you worrying about her? She's just a mean giraffe." She slurred, already mildly drunk, no surprise there. The guys from the team just got here and were joking around with her.

"But no, I haven't seen her." She handed me my beer, and I took a big chug. While the guys messed around, and Margot walked her drunk ass around the party, I looked around. The lights were blinding and the music was deafening, blurs of people moved around the room in every witch way. I followed Margot with my eyes and spotted her clinging to a blonde-haired, freckled guy in the middle of the crowd, wearing a Men in Black suit. I'd never seen him before. Before I knew it, Margot had dragged him over to where I was. She arrived so brutally, I almost fell backwards.

"RED!! Red, hey Reeed. I want you to meet... what's your name again?' She turned to him and slurred, "ACE, Ace, that's it. I want you to meet... Ace." He crossed his arms like he was pouting, and he looked annoyed. I pushed Margot away and told her to sober up.

"So..." I started. He interrupted me.

"Yup, I got to the same school. No, you don't know me. Yes, I hate Halloween. And I don't want to be here. See ya." He started to walk away.

'this is why I don't talk to new people' I thought. It didn't matter anyway. I didn't even know him! I retreated to the fire pit in the back yard of god-knows-who's house and found my teammates, Margot and Jackie.

"So? Make a new friend?" Jackie asked me, Margot must've filled her in.

"No, I didn't. Margot shoved me into him and he left pissy." I sat down by the fire, drank, and completely forgot about my issues.

A few hours later, we were playing hide and seek, spook edition. As Margot counted, I wobbled over to a tree and hid behind it. A few minutes passed, and the counting stopped. I slid down the tree, with my back against it, but then I stood right back up after hearing a rustle in the bush nearby. The rustles continued, and then I saw him. It was Ace. I would've thought he left hours ago.

"What are you doing here?" He asked, startled.

"I'm playing hide and seek with a bunch of other people. What are you doing here? You said you hated Halloween, and, uh, this." I said, gesturing towards the people-filled house.

"My friends aren't leaving until morning, so I came here to be alone. And away from people." He emphasized the 'alone'. Ouch.

"You know," I started, "you said I didn't know you, but how do you know me?"

He crossed his arms and he smirked. We were all alone. I didn't know what possessed me to do so, but I grabbed the knot of his black tie and pulled him into a kiss. And surprisingly, neither he nor I pulled away. I was baffled by my actions, but his lips felt so good, as if i needed him. It all happened so fast. Then, Ace ever so slightly pulled away, and looked to his side, to see Jennifer. She saw the whole thing.

Shit.