Apparently, Nicole was lying a bit when she said hanging out with Tiegan would be a one time thing. We don't hang out with her EVERY recess, but too many of them for my taste and liking.

First, we try to find fish in puddles. Ridiculous. Then, we try to climb one of the sapling trees the school just bought. Ridiculous. Next, we do a race, but we have to pretend we're horses the whole way. Ridiculous, ridiculous, RIDICULOUS!

Honestly, how can my friends not see how weird Tiegan and her games are?  It's like I'm the only one who isn't completely oblivious to her "uniqueness". (Unique is just another word for weird in my opinion.)

And whenever I tell them what I think of her, they either laugh, (Ava), do an over dramatic eye roll, (Lillian), or sigh in disappointment that I still don't like Tiegan. (Nicole). 

So the only people I can complain to about her and ask advice from are my family members and Owen. Except I feel a bit uncomfortable talking to Owen about my problems. It's like our conversations only consist of snipes at each other and sarcastic comments.

So I decide to talk to Austin.
I stomp up the stairs and knock on the door to his room. I can hear him throwing his ball at the door inside. He doesn't hear me at first, so I knock louder.

"Read the sign!" He hollers.

I step back and see that there's a paper pinned to his door. I squint to decipher the scrawled words. In messy handwriting, it says: To enter, you must scream this sentence at the top of your lungs: Austin is better than Talia!

"I am SO not saying that." I grunt.

"Now let me in, buddy, or things are about to get bad for you."

I crack my knuckles threateningly so he can hear it even on the other side of the door.

"I'm not scared of you!" He yells, which is hilarious, since his voice ends high pitched, which proves that he obviously is scared.

I stifle a laugh and let myself in.

I shudder at how unorganized his room is. My room isn't that tidy either, but it's certainly better than this. Dirty clothes are strewn across the floor. USED (Ew) tissues litter his unmade bed. And his fake bugs are everywhere. If this is how every boy's room is, then when I get married, me and my husband will have separate rooms. 

And there's my little brother, standing in the middle of the chaos, a dirt covered ball in his hands.

Maybe he isn't the right person to ask for advice.

But I'm already here, so I decide what's the harm in trying?

I shove some tissues over and sit down on his bed. I watch him throw the ball for a bit as he tries to ignore me.

"I want to ask you something."

"What?" He demands aggressively.

"Jeez. I barely said anything yet."

"Fine. What is it?"

He smiles a huge, fake, cheesy, giant smile which I think is supposed to be his polite smile.

"Never mind, doofus."

"You're the doofus."

"Superb comeback."

I give up on talking to Austin. Besides, he's Austin. What does he know?

***

When I wake up the next morning, I've completely forgotten what day it is until Austin bursts into my room singing Christmas tunes with Halloween lyrics.

"On the first day of Halloween, a skeleton gave to me..."

It's Halloween? Oh, yeah. I even have a costume. (Hermoine Granger. Not that unique, but at least it's difficult to mock.)

I get out of bed and put on my costume. Austin is going as a hockey player, which I think is annoying for some reason.

At my school, the only rules for our costumes is that they have to be school appropriate with no weapons or masks. Does a wand count as a weapon?

When I walk to school on Halloween, it isn't the boring experience it usually is. There's so many costumes to guess! So many people to look at! Lots of people walk to school today because their costumes are too big to fit in the car. I'm thankful mine is just a robe and wand.

It's easier to find my friends than usual, since I just have to look for their costumes. I spot them at the rocks and wave. Nicole's wearing a vampire costume. That's even less unique than mine. Lillian's wearing a 'nerd' costume. Irony.... And Ava's wearing no costume. Hmmm. Wonder why. I'll ask now.

'Hey guys. Happy Halloween."

"Happy Halloween." They chorus back.

I turn to Ava.

"Why aren't you wearing your costume?"

She maintains eye contact with me, as always, never looking down.

"I thought we were all a bit too old to be wearing costumes. I would prefer not to be laughed at. Wouldn't you?"

Ugh, it looks like Ava's in one of her unpleasant moods. Maybe she forgot her costume. Or maybe she doesn't even have one. Who knows with that girl?

Once the bell rings, I put my things in my locker and gather up the courage to wish Jared happy birthday. Isn't it cool how his birthday's on a holiday?

Probably seems annoying to him, though.

I finally walk up to him. He's talking to Shay. Lucky her.

"Um..." I cough. "Hi."

Neither of them notice me.

I speak a little louder. "Hi."

Seriously? Still nothing? Are these people deaf?

"HI!" I try not to scream, but it comes out like that anyway.

They both turn to me, eyes wide, mouths hanging open a little. It would be funny if it weren't so humiliating.

"I just wanted to say happy birthday." I mutter.

"Oh, uh, thanks."

That's all I get for my troubles. A stammered thanks. No confession of his love for me. Not even an attempt at a smile.

Groaning, I trudge to my desk.

I take a glance around the classroom and my cheeks start heating up. I'm one of the only ones who wore a costume. The only other people are: Brennon as a mad scientist, Shay in a cheerleader outfit, and Owen as a hamburger.

I giggle when I see Owen's. I remember how he said hamburger was the best cafeteria food. Guess he definitely meant it.

I feel EXTREMELY self conscious right now. Even Mrs. Perashi isn't wearing a costume, and the teachers always wear costumes. Are costumes suddenly against the rules? Am I a rule breaker now? I better not be.

I shift uncomfortably in my seat. This robe is kind of itchy. I'm jealous of Owen, who looks very comfortable in his hamburger.

"Are you seriously wearing a costume?" Candice snicker-whispers behind me.
I straighten up stiffly. Don't let her get to you, don't let her get to you. She's always this mean to everybody. Remember? She's one of the bad kids. You're better than her.

But am I really? I'm obviously considered one of the immature kids now, showing up to school with a costume. I guess Ava WAS right about that. Why didn't I listen to her?

The rest of the day is the same. People whispering behind their hands, pointing at me when they think I'm not looking. Get over it people! It's just a costume! You'd think I had committed some sort of crime.

The one time I feel any calm that day is when I sit down with Owen, who I know won't be able to laugh at me, since he's wearing a costume too.

But that calm is almost immediately destroyed at recess. Tiegan's wearing a costume. Well, less costume, more pajamas. She always wears the same thing on Halloween. A unicorn onesie.

And people laugh at me? Please. They're just scared of her temper.

Maybe I should have a temper...

But that isn't even the part that annoys me. It's when this happens:

"So Talia, what's with the robe? Are you some sort of karate person?"

I wonder for a moment if she actually believes that. She would be that dumb....But I don't think she is this time.

"No, it's taekwondo." I retort.

"She's Hermoine Granger." Nicole sighs in exasperation.

"Who's that?"

And that's when I decide that I kind of hate Tiegan.

***

Tiegan's sisters aren't as bad as she is. She has two of them. She's a triplet, which I found cool at first, but it's just old news now.

In fact, I actually really like one of them, Annalise. She's Rheana's friend.
Rheana actually has a LOT more friends than I thought. (I thought she had none.) She has more than me. And if I didn't know better, I might call her POPULAR.

I met Annalise in Grade three. At first, me and Nicole just thought she was kind of prissy and a bit of a clean freak.

Anyways, after recess, Annalise went up to me at my locker.

"Hi Talia." She greeted me.

She may look a lot like Tiegan, with her long orange hair and freckles, (No bushy eyebrows on her), but she has a completely different personality.

Tiegan's a tomboy, Annalise is a girly girl. Tiegan's very immature, Annalise is responsible and mature. I hate Tiegan, I like Annalise. See the differences?

"Hey Annalise." I smile, but it's a bit strained, since for a moment, I thought she was Tiegan.

"Do you want to come to my house for Halloween? It'll be kind of like a party."

"Who else is coming?"

"I invited Rheana, Gemma, and Shay. And my sisters are inviting some people too."

Shay? I didn't even know they were friends. Shay's the 'popular' girl of my grade. She and Arit became one of those 'couples' I talked about.  She's very likeable and pretty, although we were never really friends. She probably ISN'T Annelise's friend, but she's just hoping she'll come.

And wait-did she say her sisters are inviting people too? That means my friends were probably invited by Tiegan. That encourages my decision.

"Alright, I'll come!"

"Great. See you at 6:00."

For the next few hours, I'm on a happy buzz. It's always a nice feeling to get invited to a party. I don't even care about the whole costume embarrassment now.

I practically skip out of school, and even Austin, the boy who notices nothing, notices.

"What's the matter with you?" He scowls. "Why are you so happy?"

"I got invited to a Halloween party!"

"Big deal. I get invited to tons of parties."

That probably is true. Unlike me, Austin's very popular and has lots of friends. When it infuriates me most, I always repeat to myself: "You're smarter than him, you're smarter than him." And then I usually feel much better.

Nicole catches up to us and I turn to talk to her. We talk happily about what candy we want to get tonight. I'm about to mention the Halloween party when something in my brain tells me not to. If she didn't get invited, then she'll feel bad if I tell her. And if she did get invited, then she'll bring up the subject herself.

So I wait, but she doesn't even stray NEAR the subject. Eventually, I just can't take it anymore.

"Did you get invited to any Halloween parties?"

"Nope." She replies immediately, shaking her head sadly. Her face is all scrunched up and her cheeks are turning red. 

Great. Tiegan was too selfish to invite her. Or me for that matter. Why didn't she invite me? I know I don't like her, but I thought she forgave me by now. We spend almost every recess together! Humph.

"Oh." I answer cleverly.

Fortunately, she changes the subject, and I never have to tell her that I got invited to a party and she didn't.
We bid farewell and I head over to my mom, who's waiting for us, tapping her foot impatiently.

We pile into the car and as always, we're peppered with questions about our day. The topics range from the things we learned to whether the cafeteria food was gross or not. I decide to tell her about the party.

"That sounds fun!" My mom gushes.

"So I can go?"

I raise a hand for Austin to high five and he reluctantly obeys. The boy can't resist a high five. It's his weakness.

"Sorry, but we're going with all the cousins, remember?"

Mom starts humming along to the song on the radio, as if she didn't just drop a giant bomb in my lap.

"You're kidding me, right?"

"No, I'm not. You made a commitment to them."

"That was before something better came along!"

I know I've crossed a line when I hear Mom's voice become low, stern, and dangerous. It's the voice usually reserved for Austin.

"I don't want to discuss this anymore Talia."

I want to throw a fit, some sort of temper tantrum. Something that'll show how angry I am. But I'd prefer not to sink to Austin's level, So I droop down in my seat and sulk as loudly as possible.  

"Then I'm only going trick or treating for as short as possible."

"You do that."

Three and a half hours later, I'm regretting my decision. Handing out candy instead of eating it is TORTURE. How do adults do it? When I have kids, I'm going to steal some of their candy while they're sleeping. It'll be good parenting on my part. Candy rots their teeth.

I trick or treated with five of my cousins for about twenty minutes. Then Mom let me leave. So I got a little bit of candy. But my plan to make it last throughout the year was foiled almost right away by my hungry stomach. Now all that's left are those healthy granola bars that I'm never planning on eating.

All in all, not my best Halloween.

I don't even bother wearing a costume. What's the point anymore? But I receive some sass from the little kids because of that. Who knew such chubby faces could say such mean things?

"Why is your costume so...blah?" Sniffs a little girl in a ballerina outfit.

"Is that a zombie face mask?" A Pikachu shrieks.

One of the skeletons just laughs at me.

If those kids looked closer at their baskets, they would've realized that instead of candy, I'd given them my granola bars. Happy Halloween kids!

I've always kind of been like that. Vengeful. When Austin scares me with one of his fake bugs, I place a real bug in his pillowcase. We have such a great relationship.

Just when I think all the trick or treaters are done, I hear the doorbell ring. It's probably some teenagers who are way too old for this holiday, but do it for the candy.

I'd really rather not waste the little candy we have left on some teenagers. So I turn on the TV to drown out the ringing. But they keep on ringing and ringing and ringing and ringing...It's driving me crazy! 

I open the door, ready to give these people a piece of my mind.

But it isn't teenagers.

Well, they're almost teenagers.

It's Nicole, Ava, Lillian, and Tiegan.

I slam the door closed.

This Halloween just became a whole lot worse.