~Toga's POV~

Blood! There was so much blood in all those movies. Though it looked very obviously fake. It was still invigorating to see, but nowhere near as mesmerizing as seeing real blood, or even Iris' blood red eyes. The entire theater had been filled with people who enjoyed blood and gore. Everyone cheered, laughed and gasped in unison at various parts of the movie, they'd probably all seen them many times. Iris had mentioned they were 'classics'. Every time Jason appeared on screen Iris' parents would start giggling and Iris would look really embarrassed. Her face turned bright red.

It was the best day I'd ever had. Iris and her parents really seemed to enjoy the gory movie, none of them made me feel weird or ashamed to stare at the screen at the extra gory parts. It felt so strangely freeing to just exist and not have to focus on maintaining an image I struggled everyday to keep intact. I didn't feel disgusting, for once. I felt welcome. I felt free. I felt happy.

After the movies, Iris' parents took us to a restaurant that looked like something straight from the set of Grease. It was like an American 50's diner with burgers, shakes and fries. Her parents shooed us away to find a table as they put in our food order and went to scope out what music the old fashioned jukebox had on it.

"Having fun?" Iris asked me with a smile as we took a seat at a booth near the front windows.

"The most fun." I beamed.

Her eyes darkened a little but she shook it off and held her smile in place, "I'm glad. I had a feeling you'd like the movies."

"I didn't know there were so many of them or so many other people who liked those kinds of movies." I said in awe.

Iris' parents returned with a tray of humongous milkshakes in a variety of flavors. "Alright,it's the end of the world, horror movies are real life. Which killer is on your team?" Iris' Dad asked the table in a very serious tone as he set the tray of milkshakes down.

"Freddy." Iris' mother answered without hesitation.

"Good choice." Iris beamed.

"Leatherface for me." Iris' Father added.

"Seriously, chainsaws? That's so boring, there's no finesse and they're big, bulky, heavy you can't get any precision." Iris scoffed.

"True." Mrs. Kan agreed and threw a teasing look at her husband.

"But, chainsaws are scary." Mr. Kan defended his choice.

"Yeah watching a masked man who probably reeks of livestock rev an old ill maintained chainsaw praying it's going to start would strike fear in anyone's heart." Iris said sarcastically, sending her mother into a laughing fit. Before I knew it, a giggle had escaped me as I imagined leatherface struggling to start his chainsaw while Iris tapped her foot impatiently in front of him before elbowing him away and taking over, showing him how it was done. My imagination began to run away and I imagined Iris dressed up as various killers from all the movies we'd seen. I felt my cheeks begin to burn.

Mr. Kan sighed at his daughter and wife's teasing, "how about you, Toga, who are you choosing?"

"Maybe Ghostface?" I offered. I liked that they used knives.

Iris smiled. "Since there are multiple, that would be a plus."

I looked to Iris, "what about you?"

"Jason!" her parents blurted simultaneously.

"You two are the absolute worst." Iris groaned and buried her face in her hands, "I'm taking Chucky, he's small, crafty and quick."

I looked at Mr. and Mrs. Kan curiously, "why Jason?"

They both snickered.

Iris groaned in embarrassment and laid her head on the table. "You're both dead."

Her parents laughed at this. "It's the cutest story, really."

"It's not cute." Iris groaned.

A server on rollerskates came to Iris' rescue and delivered a tray of burgers and fries to our table. Her parents stopped teasing her and we all dug into the greasy food. My parents would never take me to a place like this, they'd think it was unhealthy and disgusting. Everything was disgusting in their eyes, even me. I shook myself from my darkening thoughts and glanced upward to find Mrs. Kan smiling at me.

"I'm so glad Iris found such a good friend. Thanks for looking after our little girl, Toga." She offered me a warm maternal smile, something I'd never seen my mother do. I felt something I'd never felt before with the Kan family. I felt accepted.

"Really Mrs. Kan, it's me who found a good friend." I piped up softly and glanced over at Iris.

Her cheeks flushed with heat and she nearly choked on her milkshake dipped french fry.

Mrs. Kan chuckled, "I think you both found a good friend and that makes me happy."

"Here, here." Mr. Kan raised his humongous chocolate milkshake and started chugging it. When he pulled the glass away he'd ended up giving himself a hilarious whipped cream and chocolate syrup mustache in the process sending me, Iris and Mrs. Kan into a fit of laughter. We spent the rest of our evening discussing classic horror movie killers and laughing at various plot holes and over-exaggerations of gore.

I couldn't remember a time I'd laughed so much, genuinely laughed. I don't think there was one before now. As much fun as it was, I should have known it wouldn't last. Once I returned home, that safe, secure, happy bubble I'd been in, popped. My parents were lying in wait the moment I shut the door behind me.

"That girl is a delinquent, Himiko and you will not be spending any more time with her." Mother glowered before I'd even had a chance to take off my shoes.

"I agree with your mother, a girl like that would only make your disturbing malady worse." Father agreed. The words 'disturbing malady' echoed in my mind on repeat.

Malady. Not only was I 'disgusting' now I was sick. No matter how much I tried to be perfect, no matter how much I tried to be the daughter they wanted, to fit in their picture perfect little box, I would never be good enough.

"Iris is nice to me." I piped up softly. I'd never talked back to them before. I'd always bowed my head and accepted their lectures promising to do better, but I didn't like them speaking badly about Iris.

"I don't care if she's nice to you. I spoke to the other PTA members, that girl is one more incident away from criminal punishment. She has hospitalized several people, the fact she's not in jail where she belongs is astonishing to me. Me and several other parents will be contacting the school board about this." Mother huffed.

"No!" I cried. "You can't, she's my friend."

"I forbid it!" Mother snapped. "Go to your room and contemplate how a good daughter should speak to her parents. Such an ill mannered child. What did we ever do to deserve a child such as you?" She hissed the words she knew had always hurt me the most.

For some reason it didn't sting nearly as badly as it usually did. I thought of Iris, her mesmerizing blood red eyes lighting up as she smiled at me.I imagined never seeing that smile or those eyes ever again and something inside of me snapped. "What did I ever do to deserve parents like you?" I retorted back.

SMACK!

I heard the slap before I felt the sting on my cheek.

"Go to your room now!" Father roared.

I stared blankly at my father, his hand raised in anger. I turned and headed toward my room. As I passed the kitchen, the glint of light reflecting off a drying carving knife drew my eye and I felt my steps falter before coming to a halt. The knife called to me.