Crimson Echo (14 page)

“I’m Harmony.” She giggled and tossed her long blonde hair behind her shoulder— a typical cliché of a blonde bimbo.

“My name is Kane, it’s a pleasure.” He smiled.

Harmony had the floor and her minions sat quietly around her. “What brings you to this lonely little table?” Her nose crinkled as she darted her eyes at me. “You do realize that this is the reject’s table, right?”

            I expected something crude to come out of Harmony’s mouth, but I didn’t think she would insult us right away— it made it even worse because Kane was sitting with us today. I thought about ‘accidentally’ dumping my tray of food all over her, but reconsidered. Calm and collected, I eased back in my chair and decided to just let Harmony make a fool of herself, she didn’t need me to help her any.

“Pardon my ignorance, but if this is the reject’s table than why are you sitting here?”
Kane asked bluntly, but with an innocent smile. By then a dozen more people crowded around the table to find out what was going on.

“What?” She gasped and looked around at her robots. “We were just… Well, I was going to invite you to a Halloween party that I’m throwing at my house. It’s going to be the talk of the town. There will be a haunted house and everything.”

“A haunted house, I’m down!” Jeremy Sutter, a boy from the basketball team cheered. “I’ve always wanted to go to a haunted house. This is going to be epic!”

“Eww, no one invited you, you freak show.” She said
, disgusted by his mere presence. “Anyways, what do you say? Will you come?”

“Are my friends invited or was the invitation just for me?” Kane looked around the table at Chelsea, Everett, Faith and I.

“I was just inviting you silly. I’m sure they have something really nerdy to do that night.” She placed her hand on his and smiled. “I promise you’ll have a good time.”

Kane slid his hand out from under hers and grabbed mine. “Actually we’re having a Halloween dance here, but you and your friends are more than welcome to come.”

“Uh!” She flung her hair a final time and stormed away disappearing into the crowd that had formed around us.

“Are we really having a Halloween dance?” Faith finally spoke.

“Why not? It just kind of came to me, but I think we can pull it off. I’ll talk to my mom and get it approved, but in the mean time I’m going to need some help with decorations.”

“Done.”
Everett smiled so wide I was pretty sure I saw every tooth in his mouth.

“I don’t care for that girl. She’s not a very nice person.” Kane whispered to me.

“Tell me about it.” I whispered back.

“I wasn’t too mean to her, was I?”

“Nope, I think you enjoyed that more than you should have though.” I laughed.

“I’ll never tell.” He squeezed my hand.

           We spent the better half of the next two weeks getting the dance approved and organizing the decorations. Chelsea proved to be quite handy with a paintbrush, while the rest of us hung streamers and lights around every inch of the exterior and interior of the school. Near the end of the second week Kane relieved us of our duties and promised to finish up the final touches before the dance.

                                                                 Chapter Six

                                                                   The Dance

            
After a long day at the hairdresser getting poked, prodded and coifed I was exhausted, but the day wasn’t anywhere close to being over yet. The only thing that kept me awake was sheer anxiety now. I couldn’t wait to see Kane in his costume and the rest of the school for that matter. A dance was just what we all needed to boost morale. Regularly I would be against going to a dance, but it seemed so important to Kane and after all the work he had put into it I couldn’t flake out on him.

           
Faith and Chelsea decided to meet at my house to get ready for the dance, it just seemed logical since I had a car. Chelsea arrived first with her costume in a black garment bag and her hair in wild curls. She draped her dress across the arm of the sofa and headed to the kitchen to talk to my parents who were commenting on her interesting hairdo.

           
Faith showed up not long after carrying a barrage of makeup, hair tools, four dresses and three pairs of shoes. She dumped it all at the door and squealed with excitement about going to her first dance. My dad had to hush her twice in fifteen minutes, although it didn’t seem to do any good.

“I can’t wait for t
onight!” She jumped up and down. Her hair didn’t budge. It seemed to be cemented in place by some kind of alien space glue. It stuck out in all directions in even spikes and was coated in a heavy layer of glitter.

“Me either!”
I giggled. “Let’s get ready. I’m dying to see your costumes!”

           We escaped up the stairs to my room and gathered our arsenal of cosmetics and crowded in front of the bathroom mirror. Chelsea swiped green eye shadow across her lids as Faith drew a thick cat eye up into her temples and then went back over it several times until it was caked on.

           
I struggled and failed at several attempts to get the look I wanted and then started fresh again after washing my face. I was ready to give up when Chelsea grabbed the eye shadow wand out of my hand and gave me a knowing glance.

“Here, let me.” She smiled and dabbed at a lilac square in her palette.

“Thank you.” I sighed.

“You’re a nervous wreck, aren’t you?” She whispered as her eyes darted to Faith, who was in her own little world puckering in the mirror
like it was supermodel fashion hour.

“A little bit, am I that obvious?”

She nodded and continued painting my eyes. “Don’t be nervous, we’re going to have the time of our lives tonight. Nothing will ever top this!”

“She’s right, you know?” Faith added. “Absolutely no wall flowers tonight. We’ll dance with everyone
and have a great time.”

“I’m more anxious to get to the dance and see Kane. I can’t wait to see
his costume.” I admitted, trying to hide my anticipation.

“We know,” Faith rolled her eyes.
“Oh Kane, swoon, blah, blah, blah. It’s getting sickening.”

“Okay, take a look. What do you think?” Chelsea turned me toward the mirror and waited for
my reaction.

I looked carefully at myself in the mirror
and couldn’t recognize the girl staring back at me.

“I love it! Lucky for us,
we have a modern day Da Vinci on our hands. Thank you so much.”

 
“You’re welcome.” She marveled at her work and then hugged me. “Let’s get dressed or we’ll be late.”

            Once in my dress I
eyed myself in the floor length mirror that hung from the back of my bedroom door and smoothed out the skirt of the off white Victorian gown. With all the cash I had saved up and two weeks of pinching pennies on my mom’s part, we found the perfect dress in the window of a costume shop in Portland.

          
I had to have help lacing up the back of the corseted bodice and then waited for Chelsea and Faith to finish getting ready. Faith was sitting on the bed zipping up her knee-high black boots and Chelsea was adjusting the green garlands in her hair when my mom walked in with a tiny black box and a suspicious smile across her face.

“Hey girls, anything I can help with?”
Mom asked, still smiling from ear to ear.

“I think we’re about ready.” I looked around the room making sure I hadn’t forgotten anything important. “How do we look?”

“You’re all so beautiful. I’m sure all the boys will be staring.”

“I sure hope so.” Faith laughed.

“What are you all supposed to be?” She looked amused as she stared at Faith.

“I’m a nymph” Chelsea twirled, showing off her sea green dress.

“And I’m a witch, of course.” Faith cackled.

“Well, you three better get moving, I still want to take pictures before you leave.”

We all nodded in unison.

“Oh, I almost forgot this. I thought it would go perfect with your dress.” She opened th
e box and lifted a silver chain and on the end dangled a tiny pearl. “Here, I’ll put it on you.”

“Thanks mom, it’s beautiful.”
I smiled as she handed me the moon pendent I usually wore.

           
After taking a countless number of pictures and receiving plenty of warnings from my parents telling us not to drink, we were surprised by Everett, who talked his parents into renting us a shiny, black limousine for the night.

           
I grabbed my mask off of the coffee table. Waved to my parents and we drove off into the night. Music blared from the car and we danced in our seats, excited for the night’s festivities. The roof was paneled with mirrors and a sun roof. By the time we pulled up to emporia, Everett and Chelsea were standing in the seats waving and screaming to everyone that lingered outside of the school.

            Emporia at night was slightly spooky and just a little eerie. The moon was at the backside of the school and the front side of the building was dark except for the inside lights.
Fake cobwebs covered every tree and bush in sight and Styrofoam headstones lined the entrance.

         
By the looks of things the party had already started. Towards the back entrance the lights were dimmed and shadows of people dancing could be seen through the windows. The car pulled up to the cafeteria door and we got out and waved to the driver as he drove off. I had that strange feeling again that someone was watching me.

           
I scanned the grounds looking for Kane, it seemed when I had that feeling it was always him watching over me and then a couple came running from the bushes laughing and holding hands and I breathed a sigh of relief.

“Who’s ready to dance?” Everett howled as he pulled his Zorro mask over his face.

“Me!” We all cheered at the same time.

            Everett went in first and Chelsea and Faith followed closely behind and then as I stepped down onto the first step I felt a hand on my arm. It all happened in slow motion. The hand on my arm was strong as he pulled me back away from the lights of the gymnasium.

          A streak of chills shivered up my spine and my heart accelerated because I knew before I even looked that it was Kane. I was sure something was wrong and this was the news that would ruin my night. When I turned around the smile on my face turned to shock.

“Gabe, what are you do
ing here?” I pulled away from him.

“You can’t go in there. Please Tristan, don’t go in there.” His face was tortured.

“Why? What’s wrong with you? Why are acting like this?”

“Can you just trust me? I can’t explain it to you, but you have to go home. You can’t stay here.”
He pleaded with me as he held on to my shoulders.

“I won’t let you ruin this night for me Gabriel Stone! I don’t know wha
t kind of practical joke you’re trying to play, but I don’t find it funny! I think I deserve to have a little fun.” I pulled away from him again and his arms dropped to his sides.

“Please, you don’t know what’s about to…”

“No, just stop!  I’m going to this dance and there’s nothing you can say to change my mind! Go home Gabe! We’ll talk in the morning, I promise.”

            I turned away from him and rushed down the steps. The terrified look on his face turned my stomach and made me mad all at the same time. How could he try
to pull something like this on one of the only nights I had been looking forward to for the last month?

           
I stopped myself at the door of the gym and took a deep breath to calm my nerves before I walked in. My heartbeat pounded in my ears and I did my best to settle the butterflies in my stomach when I felt the vibrations from the music under my feet. The music got louder the closer I got to the party. I held my white, glittered mask up to my face and opened the door.

          
Strobe lights flickered and the music rolled towards me as I carefully stepped down a dozen stairs. Then all of the sudden everyone stopped and stared at me, it was like something out of a movie. It was my Cinderella moment, only thing is, I didn’t like it. I didn’t want the attention, I just wanted to blend in with everyone else.

            I searched for Kane’s face as I looked over the crowd. There were too many people and too
many costumes to make out any faces and then by chance, I looked down at the bottom of the stairs to find him standing with his hand out. My heart fluttered and I began to hurry down to him. He looked like a mirage, too good to be true in a black tuxedo and cape, with a white mask over one side of his eye.