Halloween was always a special holiday for Marcus. He, Drew, and Melody used to wear a group costume and scare the children on the neighborhood. It was a tradition that they did yearly, until this one. Last school year, Drew passed away two weeks after they spent their last Halloween together. Marcus couldn't imagine having fun this Halloween without him. It felt evil to celebrate without him. Two days before Halloween, his mom asked him what he and Melody were going to do for their costume and he almost had a complete breakdown.

Melody was fine with not doing their tradition this year. It was honestly too hard for her as well. Instead, she and Marcus were just going to fuck around with their family members and eat a bunch of candy.

"I can't believe my mom made us come to this stupid ass festival. Everyone in town is here." Melody complained as she walked down the street, handing everyone in sight the Halloween safety manuals her mom was making her and Marcus pass out. "This isn't as bad as the shit my sister has to do." Marcus told her. Melody laughed and looked to her side. "Speak of the devil, isn't that her?" Melody asked while pointing to the face painting table. Marcus chuckled lightly. She was there working with all of her friends, Ginny included. He had to go over there now.

He made his way over to the table, Melody following and trying to walk at his pace. "Slow your ass down!" She shouted as he made it to the table. He sat down in the open seat in front of Ginny. Melody rolled her eyes and quickly mumbled, "Marcus Baker you stupid idiot.".

Ginny looked shocked to see him. "What do you want?" She asked him. "A heart." Marcus told her after looking and pointing at a paper full of pattern choices. Ginny rolled her eyes and sucked her lips before asking, "Seriously. What do you want." Marcus leaned in slightly and told her again, "A heart.". "Come on Marcus. Get up." Ginny told him, annoyed. He just sat completely still and raised his brows slightly, indicating that he wasn't leaving. Finally, Ginny caved and picked up a makeup crayon. "So, you're all popular now. Is that why you've been ignoring my text?" Marcus asked her, making Melody raise her eyebrows in surprise at her best friends boldness. Ginny looked to see if anyone in MANG heard. "Be quite. Not here." She told him harshly. Marcus smiled, "you still have that voice in your head? Criticizing you? Or did that shut up now that you're so cool?" Marcus asked, getting everyones attention. "What?" Max asked. "Ginny knows what I'm talking about." He told her. Melody wanted to drag him out by his ear. "Not the time or the place dude." Melody whispered. Ginny finished and grabbed the mirror to show him. Melody bursted out laughing along with all of MANG when they saw the big red penis that Ginny drew on his face. "Oh Marcus, why don't you just go sniff cold medicine or whatever your hobbies are?" Max asked him. He looked at Ginny up and down before saying, "Nice sweater." And leaving the table.

Melody continued laughing at the drawing the entire time. "It isn't that funny." Marcus told her. "Yes it is bubba." She said before breaking into another fit of laughter.

Later that night, Max was at a Halloween party and Marcus was at home with his mother, who decided it'd be nice to bake Halloween cookies with him to cheer him up a little about the day. Melody was at home watching horror movie with her grandparents.

"Marcus can you set the oven to 400?" Ellen asked her son while rolling the cookie dough out. He walked across the kitchen and turned set the oven for her. When he did that, he sat down at the table and lay'd his head on the table sadly. He was really missing Drew today and it was very clear to everyone just how saddened he was by the day. His mom got the cookie dough cut into pumpkin shapes and put them in the oven before going to comfort Marcus. "I know today is hard for you baby. Would you like to talk about it with anyone? If you'd like to talk to Dr. Young, I could schedule you an appointment for tomorrow afternoon." Ellen told him. He shook his head and sniffed, "I'll be fine mom. Dr. Young told me that the first holidays without them are always the worst." He told her while wiping away any fallen tears from him eyes. Ellen rubbed a hand up and down his back slowly and kissed the top of his head.

Later that night, Marcus was minding his business and scrolling through Instagram when he heard loud noises from Max's room. He tried ignoring it until he heard her words slurring and immediately knew what was up. He ran to her door, making sure his parents didn't reach her first. "Max, what the" Marcus started before stopping when he saw just how drunk she was. "Shit." He whispered as he watched Ginny take Max's shoe off. "Marcus? Max? What's going on?!" Their mom asked from her room. Marcus quickly ran to the door. "Sorry mom! I was just uh, trying to... trying to scare Max." He told her. "Don't scare your sister." Ellen told him. "Yeah." He responded. "Goodnight!" He shouted before closing Max's door. "Jesus, how much did she have to drink?" Marcus asked while taking her boot off. "She didn't like me Marcus." Max told him. "Who?" He asked. "Sophie.." Max told him. "I blew it." She finished. "Nah, you'll be fine. If anyone can bounce back it's you." Marcus told her, making her roll her eyes at him. "Loser, sleep on your side. Come on." Marcus told Max while helping her onto her side. "Thank you, ok now there's a bucket here just in case you need to be sick ok?" Marcus told her. "Ok." Max responded. He kissed her forehead gently and stood up. "Come on." He whispered to Ginny as they walked out.

"Hey Marcus, I'm sorry about earlier. You were right I was avoiding you. I was being a dick I... I just didn't want them to find out about..." Ginny explained. "It's ok, it's ok. It doesn't matter." He whispered to her. "No it was.. shitty. I know it wasn't all you. I sent the photo. I just... I don't wanna mess up everything with Max and everyone." She told him. "I get it. We'll be friends, yeah?" Marcus told her, putting on a painfully fake smile. "Friends?" Ginny asked. "Pals? Good buddies?" He said while laughing softly. "Oh Ginny? Yeah she and I go way back." Marcus said in a strong confident voice. Ginny laughed, "Oh Marcus? Yeah we're tight." Ginny said. They smiled at each other. "You should probably go. I gotta look after Lindsay Lohan here." Marcus told Ginny nicely. As soon as she walked away his fake smile disappeared. "Marcus? Marcus! Marky mark." Max called. Marcus rolled his eyes and entered her room. "What?" He asked. "I don't feel so.." Max said before shaking violently. "Oh my... Come on." Marcus said as he went to help her. She suddenly stopped and laughed, fake blood pox from her mouth. "Gotcha!" Max said making Marcus annoyed. "A little joke." "What's wrong with you?" "A little jokey joke!" "What wrong with you?" The two told each other at the same time. "You cares about me. Awww my little-" Max said while patting Marcus's cheek. "You're the worst." He told her, "you... you're the worst." Max said. "You are the worst the actual worst." Marcus said while walking away. "You know what? How about this?" Max asked making Marcus face her. Fuck you. She signed, he signed it right back to her and went back to his room.