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21
On Hallowe’en, I’m still uneasy about the costume that’s been chosen for me. It’s not so much a costume as a boring dress plus a bundle of fluffy accessories but it’s obvious to anyone with functioning eyes what animal I’m supposed to represent.
It doesn’t help that I hear the girls’ laughter shrieking through the wall as they get dressed in Becca’s room. Obviously I haven’t been invited.
As I unfurl the crinkly paper, I gaze down at the assortment of soft accessories with a grimace.
Hallowe’en isn’t an option at Lochkelvin.
What kind of school provides its students with costumes? It’s ridiculous.
I’m already wearing a black base layer, which covers my arms and legs. It’s a bodysuit, and it feels like I’m back home in the dance studio.
Grudgingly, I pull on the cream-colored scratchy shift dress. It doesn’t cling to me, which is a small mercy, and it seems relatively warm. I’m not sure it’ll be warm enough for a freezing cold October night on a hill in Scotland, however, but at least it’s not a creepy “sexy” variation.
And then I begin to arrange the accessories.
I clip on fluffy white arm-warmers, wearing them like bracelets. I pin a crown of white cotton balls to my head, and frown at the droopy ears attached to the sides of the headband.Really?
My miserable reflection scowls back at me in the grubby mirror above the sink.
At first I didn’t understand why the black base layer had been required, but I do now. It completes the picture, giving me arms and legs.
There’s a knock on my door. Danny enters when I tell him to come in. As his head peers around the door, the sound of the girls’ laughter rattles through my brain.
“Oh, wow.” I gape at Danny. He has large furry red ears, and I’m not quite sure how he opened the door since he’s wearing fluffy red gloves that give the impression of cute little paws. A thick tail stands upright at his back, attached to his belt. Long gray whiskers decorate his face above two large buck teeth which he promptly spits out.
“Sorry, Jessa,” he mutters, scooping his false teeth up from the floor with a giant paw. “I hate these things.”
“Well,” I say, still sounding stunned. “You sure do look like a squirrel.”
I turn to gaze at my reflection again, feeling inadequate. Everyone’s really making an effort tonight.
“You forgot your tail,” Danny points out in a bright voice.
I glare at him. This costume is embarrassing enough without having a fluffy little ball attached to my behind.
Danny watches my expression carefully as he pulls off his paws. “The girls sound like they’re having fun.” He lifts the fluffy tail up from the brown paper package and holds it by the silver chain.
“Good for them,” I huff. Them and theirmythical creatures.
He threads the chain of my belt through the loops of my shift dress, then flicks the clasp so that the white tail lies securely at my back.
I stare at my reflection and a lamb stares back.
There’s a quirk to Danny’s lips as he holds my shoulders from behind, resting his face near mine. “Mary had a little lamb whose fleece was white as snow…”
There’s a tentative knock on my door, and I sense before it’s opened that Arabella’s on the other side.
Danny places his hands back into his large red paws as he opens the door for me.
I have to hold back my gasp.
Because sure, it’s Arabella. But she looks almost unrecognizable in her current guise.
Her face shimmers with green makeup that resembles scales, emerald extensions running through her brown hair. I tilt my head to the side, trying to figure out what she is — a feral mermaid?
Arabella grins at me. She’s clearly high on how awesome she looks, and no wonder. It’s an intricate work of art, rather than the bundle of fluff that’s been glued to me.
