Paul never called. All day Saturday while I was hanging out with Drea, and then during my dad’s birthday dinner, I kept hoping that he would call. I was checking my cell phone compulsively by Sunday morning. Finally by Sunday afternoon, I worked up enough nerve to call him. First I tried him at home and the phone just rang. Then I tried his cell phone and got his voice mail. I was crushed to say the least.

I had really hoped that Paul and I would get to spend some time together. I thought that him showing up to see me was a sign that maybe things were going in the right direction for us, but then he stood me up. I couldn’t believe it. He was even the one who suggested we hang out. I didn’t understand it, but I tried not to let it get to me.

I wound up spending the day shopping with Fleur. When I told Fleur that Shalee and I had been talking about pooling our limited funds to buy a mini-fridge for our room, Fleur insisted upon buying us one that very afternoon. I knew my dad would probably throw a fit and told Fleur as much, but she assured me that the money would come from her own private account, so he couldn’t complain.

I really loved Fleur. I knew she was my step-mom and by some unspoken rule I supposed to hate her for being young, beautiful, and married to my dad, but I really couldn’t. Sure she was young, but that made her fun to be around. I could talk to her easily, and she was my friend despite that fact she was married to my dad.

After shopping we went back home, and she, dad, and I went out for dinner before heading back to the campus. I kind of felt bad that they had to drive me two hours there and then two hours back. I had tried to reason with my dad that it would make more sense for me to just drive back in my car, but he had insisted that he and Fleur take me. Fleur had then mentioned that I’d need dad to help get the mini-fridge up to my dorm.

He threw a fit about her spoiling me for a good twenty minutes of the drive. During that time, I listened to my iPod so I wouldn’t have to listen. I hated when they argued over things like money, but I especially hated it when it was caused by me. I knew my dad and Fleur loved each other though. The next time I turned my music down, dad and Fleur seemed to have come to an understanding of some sort.

Shalee was ecstatic when I arrived back at the dorms with a fridge for the two of us, and she even hugged my dad and Fleur and offered them her soul for being so generous.

The next couple of weeks of October quickly passed by and before long, the only thing people were talking about on campus was Halloween and which party they were going to. I wasn’t overly interested in the whole holiday spirit. I never really cared for Halloween. What with being afraid of the dark and an all around chicken shit, the holiday never really appealed to me.

Drea loved it though. The whole idea of dressing up really excited her. She’d spend months beforehand deciding what she was going to dress up as. I usually just bought some lame costume at Wal-Mart and was done with it. I even carried a flashlight with me when we went trick-or-treating. It was pathetic. Drea told me as much, and I knew it was true. I quit carrying the flashlight when I was fourteen though. I still didn’t care for any of it, but at least Drea couldn’t nag at me about being a wuss.

A few days before Halloween Shalee cornered me and insisted that I come with her and Danny to Trey’s Halloween party. I had been telling her for days that I wasn’t sure about it, but finally she put her foot down.

“Judith Ryland,” she said in a serious tone. “If you don’t agree to come at your own free will, I will be forced to drag you there by any means necessary. And I assure you it won’t be pretty.”

“Shalee,” I rolled my eyes. I appreciated that fact that she was trying to get me to be more social. I had a sneaking suspicion that Emmy had managed to sneak a call to her behind my back and encouraged her to force me to get out more.

“Listen, Jude, it’s just a party,” she said. “And you don’t have to worry about going alone. Danny and I will be with you. And Eric, Danny’s roommate, is going too. Ooh I just had a brilliant idea!” she shrieked. I didn’t really like the sound of things, but I waited for her to go on. “You and Eric could go together. It would be a double date.”

“Shalee, I don’t …” I began, shaking my head, but she quickly cut me off.

“Come on, when was the last time you went on a date?” she asked. “I haven’t even known you that long and I’m venturing to guess that it’s been a while.”

I rolled my eyes. I knew it was bad when someone I barely knew could tell how pathetic my love life was. Part of my wanted to tell her that I hadn’t been on a date because I liked someone else, but when I thought of Paul, it annoyed me to think of how he had blew me off so easily.

“Eric is really cute too,” Shalee said. “I think you’ll like him. And it doesn’t have to be anything serious. We’re all just hanging out.”

I stared at Shalee dully for a moment as she pouted at me. “Pretty please? For your favorite roommate ever?” she pleaded.

I groaned. “How do you even know Eric wants to go with me?” I asked.

“Pft, are you insane? He’d have to be out of his mind not to want to go out with you,” she grinned. “So, will you go?”

I sighed and shook my head in disbelief. I couldn’t believe I was giving in. I couldn’t believe I was going to do it, but I knew that Shalee probably wouldn’t let it go until I agreed, so finally I nodded. “Fine, I’ll go,” I replied. “But I’m not dressing up in some slutty costume.”

Shalee grinned and pulled me into a hug. “We’ll go shopping for your costume tomorrow after class,” she squealed as she grabbed her purse. “I’ve got to go talk to Danny. I’ll see you later.”

Once she was gone, I groaned out loud and fell down against my bed, wondering what on earth I had gotten myself into.

A few days later I found myself dressed up as Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz and feeling like a complete idiot. When Shalee and I had gone shopping, she had kept trying to get me to look at some of the sexier get ups, but I had refused to even consider it. I had no intention of going to a party looking like some wanton hussy. However, when I put on the costume, I discovered that it was much shorter than I anticipated, and I found myself tugging it down every ten minutes, fearing it would ride up and my ass would be on display for everyone at the party.

Danny was dressed up at Jason from the Friday the 13th movies. Instead of wearing the standard hockey mask though, he had ordered the deluxe mask online, which came complete with the gory, decaying face beneath the mask. I couldn’t help but cringe every time he lifted up his removable mask to show everyone what as beneath, and he kept waving his fake machete around in front of my face. Several times I considered taking it from him and beating him upside the head with it, but I didn’t think it seemed appropriate. After all, I didn’t want to ruin Shalee’s great time.

Shalee was thrilled with dressing up, and her costume nearly caused my jaw to drop off. She said name of her costume was Sponge Bath Betty, but she thought that Sponge Bath Shalee sounded better – Danny did too, but I tried to ignore the innuendo. Her costume consisted of a very short candy striper dress that puffed out below the waist and white fishnet pantyhose with a nurse’s hat. I was sure she was going to break her neck walking around in six-inch stilettos. Shalee had never struck me as the particularly girly type, so seeing her scantily clad was a bit of a shock for me, but Danny – or everything other guy at the party for the matter – didn’t seem to mind though.

My date for the evening, Eric, wound up wearing a costume of the Spartan Male Cheerleader from Saturday Night Live. The costume in itself was fine, but then he started cheering as we walked over to Trey’s apartment, and by the time we got there, he was already on my nerves. Sure, he was nice looking, but it couldn’t mask the fact that he was obnoxious to say the least. When he wasn’t cheering, he was busy trying to feel me up, which I quickly put a stop to, and not five minutes after we got to the party, I spotted him huddled up in the corner, talking it up with some girl who had dressed up as a wanton hussy. Go figure.

The first half of the party I was pretty much a wallflower. I didn’t really know anyone except the people I came with, but I did see Trey a few times and after passing by me a few times, he asked me to dance. Actually, the question came in the form of “argh, dance with me, lass.” Naturally, he was dressed up as a pirate. Between my laughter I started to say no, but I really didn’t feel like standing against the wall, feeling stupid for the rest of the night, so I agreed.

After a few dances, we decided to get something to drink, and I spotted Shalee for the first time since we arrived at the party. She was seated at the kitchen table on Danny’s lap, talking with some friends. I didn’t realize it at first, but after a second take, I realized it was Zac and Taylor and another guy, who I recognized from pictures as Isaac.

Taylor looked like he was supposed to be dressed up as some kind of a prince from a Disney movie, though I couldn’t say which one, as they all looked the same to me. Zac was wearing some ridiculous black wig and fake mustache with a rainbow colored tunic. I couldn’t see his legs, so I had no idea about the rest of the costume, but I guessed that he was supposed to be some kind of a hippie. Isaac appeared to be wearing plain clothes, but he was holding a sword.

“Hey,” I smiled as Trey quickly said hi to everyone and threw me a soda on his way back out into the living room.

“Hey Jude,” Shalee grinned. “Having a good time?”

“Now that Eric’s not trying to feel me up, yeah,” I replied.

“Sorry, I think Shalee forgot to warn you that he’s hornier than a three peckered billygoat,” Danny apologized.

I shrugged it off and Zac introduced me to Isaac just as something flew through the kitchen, causing half of the people in the room to screech. I looked around, feeling dismayed as I spotted a rubber bat lying on the floor. I rolled my eyes.

“What the …” Shalee exclaimed, but quickly stopped speaking and glared over my shoulder. I turned and looked behind me, but I didn’t see anything amiss. I did recognize Natalie, who was dressed up as Snow White, entering the kitchen though. With her hair and skin tone, the costume looked perfect on her. Another girl with dark hair and eyes was by her side. She was wearing a tie-dye halter-top with tight jeans that started flaring at the knees. I couldn’t tell who she was supposed to be dressed up as though.

Natalie smiled at me and said, “Hey Jude, how have you been?”

“Pretty good,” I smiled. “You look so pretty.”

“Thank you,” she laughed. “You look adorable.”

I blushed and tugged at my dress again. “Thanks,” I replied.

I noticed the girl standing next to Natalie nudge her slightly and Natalie jumped. “Oh, I forgot you two haven’t met,” she laughed. “Jude, this is Kate, Zac’s girlfriend. Kate, this is Jude, Shalee’s roommate.”

At the mention of Shalee’s name, I noticed Kate’s demeanor change. Her face looked pinched as she forced a smile. “It’s nice to meet you,” she said. I could tell that it wasn’t true though. I hadn’t really believed things were as bad between her and Shalee as Shalee had claimed, but if just the mention of Shalee’s name caused her to turn cold, I could easily tell that Shalee had been telling the truth.

“I like your costume,” I smiled.

“Do you even know what is it?” she asked. I was a little taken aback by her icy tone, but I tried not to let it deter me.

“Um …” I began. I glanced at Natalie, and I saw her lips moving. I had never been good at reading lips, but my mouth got ahead of my brain and I said what I thought she was saying out loud. “Cher?”

“Zac’s supposed to be Sonny Bono,” Natalie commented. “Doesn’t he look like a dork?”

I laughed, feeling relieved that Natalie was easing the tension that had quickly filled the small space between the three of us.

“Hey, Nat,” Taylor yelled from behind me. He motioned her over to him to, apparently, ask her a question, and I turned and glanced at Shalee, who was still staring daggers at Kate. I walked over to the wall behind hers and Danny’s chair and leaned against it.

“Isn’t she a bitch?” Shalee commented, glancing at me over her shoulder. I looked around and saw Kate watching us. I glanced the other way and noticed Zac was looking between Shalee and Kate.

“Um, Isaac, what are you supposed to be?” I asked, avoiding Shalee’s question.

Isaac looked up when I said his name, and I repeated my question, and a smile grew across his face. “I am supposed to be a sword swallower,” he laughed, holding up his sword.

“They were out of good costumes,” Taylor noted from beside him.

“So, are you the fire consuming type?” I inquired, smirking.

Isaac laughed and shook his head.

“I bet it would take a lot of practice to be a sword swallower,” Danny commented. “I mean, how does someone even discover they can do something like that?”

“Maybe they do a lot of deep throating?” Zac mused.

“Kate would know all about that,” Shalee muttered under her breath. I felt my eyes grow wide, and it looked around to see if anyone else had heard. Apparently Kate had because her face was quickly growing red, and she looked like she could have killed Shalee with a single look.

“Oh, Zac, seriously,” Natalie sighed, shaking her head.

“Where’s Trey?” Taylor asked. “He needs to kick this party up a notch.”

“I think I heard him say something about digging out that old Twister mat,” Isaac commented.

“People can’t play Twister in costumes like this,” Shalee commented, rolling her eyes.

“So they could just take them off,” Danny shrugged.

“Naked Twister!? Heck Yes!” Isaac and Zac both exclaimed in unison.

“Well, we know what’s on your minds,” Taylor mused.

“Sex, obviously,” Natalie rolled her eyes while biting back a smile.

Although I was listening to the conversation going on around me, I couldn’t help but watch Kate out of the corner of my eye. I had a bad feeling about all of this. I don’t know how Kate had heard what Shalee had said about her. There was music playing, and I had just barely caught her words. Although I had a feeling Shalee might have attributed her good hearing to her “Dumbo ears.” I felt bad even remembering the things Shalee had said to me about Kate over the past few weeks, but so far Kate was doing little to prove Shalee wrong. She had been ice cold to me just because I knew Shalee.

After a few more minutes of hanging out, Taylor and Natalie decided to go dance, and Isaac went to go see if Trey had anymore beer – he’d checked the refrigerator, but it was empty. Zac motioned for Kate to come and sit beside him, and I suddenly wasn’t so sure I wanted to be there anymore. It was just Danny, Shalee, Kate, Zac, and I at the table. There were a few other people hanging around the kitchen, but they were all off in their own conversations. From the looks Kate had been shooting Shalee for the last few minutes, I had feeling that something was going to happen.

Danny and Zac started talking about some of the costumes they had seen, and Shalee was listening to them, completely ignoring Kate’s existence, but then it seemed to happen in slow motion right before my eyes. Kate reached out to pick up one of the plastic cups on the table. She picked it up with the tips of her pointer finger and her thumb and I watched in horror as her hand opened and the cup fell, falling forward and landing in Shalee’s lap.

“JESUS CHRIST!” Shalee screamed and jumped up off of Danny’s lap. She grabbed a stack of napkins and glared at Kate. “You bitch! You did that on purpose,” she shrieked.

Kate was up on her feet at once, and the next moment they were standing toe to toe, staring each other down. “Who? Me? No, I was so preoccupied with thinking about deep throating I lost track of what I was doing,” Kate spat.

Zac looked thoroughly confused and Danny looked liked he’d seen a ghost. I knew he had heard Shalee’s comment as well, but like me, he probably thought that no one else would be able to hear.

“Kate,” Zac said, stepping up behind her and placing his hands on her shoulders. “Katie, calm down.”

“No, I will not calm down,” she glared. “I am sick and tired of that bitch making snide remarks about me every time I’m around.”

“Well why don’t you go back to Georgia then?” Shalee replied.

“Shalee,” Zac glared, looking completely shocked and torn. “Ya know, I’m fucking sick of this. If the two of you want to fight like little kids, fine. Go for it, but I’m not going to stick around and put up with this bullshit,” he yelled before he stomped out of the kitchen.

I frowned after him before I looked back to Shalee and Kate. Shalee was busy trying to wipe her costume dry, and Kate was standing there looking confused. I couldn’t help but feel sorry for Zac. Shalee was my friend, but she hadn’t exactly been on her best behavior – not that Kate had exactly been friendly either. I probably would have stomped out of the room if I were in Zac’s shoes.

I noticed a few of the other people hanging out in the kitchen begin to make their way out of the room, and after a moments debates, I followed. I’d decided that I’d had enough partying for one night, so I made my way through the crowd and to the front door and headed back to my dorm to get some sleep.