Chapter One – Part 1
"Please, David. Do something about him." Allison Boyle spoke in a harsh whisper. She hated the pleading sound in her own voice. It had been nearly an hour since Chuck Wilson had crashed the party and it had taken that long for Allison to work up the courage to talk to David.
"Allie," David's voice had a nasal whine to it which was only made worse by the art-deco Darth Vader mask he wore. "I really don't want to start a scene with the guy."
"It's your party," Allison lowered her voice even further, because she saw Chuck weaving in from the kitchen. He was hard to miss. He was at least a year older than everyone else, and wasn't wearing even an attempt at a costume. "You didn't even invite him."
"People show up." David lowered his own voice to a point that was barely audible. "Allie, my folks don't know about the party. If I just ask him to leave. . ." David glanced over his shoulder. Chuck stood by the rear wall of the dining room. He had an arm up to the elbow in the cooler sitting there. He fished out a can of beer, grimaced at the label, and opened it anyway.
". . . he hasn't disrupted anything." David finished.
"He's disrupting me."
"Has he done anything—" David made a helpless gesture with his hand, rustling the black cape he wore. "Anything?" He repeated uncertainly.
Allison wrung the tail of her costume in her hands. "No," she said. Nothing real. "But he scares me."
David exhaled. He sounded relieved. "At times he scares me, too. But he's behaving himself. If I start something with him—" David shook his head. "I know the police would get
involved. If he didn't kill me, my parents would."
Allison nodded and backed away. "I understand," she said.
As usual, David's chivalrous instincts hit him a little belatedly. "Allie, if you really want me to—"
"Never mind."
"If he does start up—"
"Yeah, sure. Thanks, David." Allison backed into the living-room, still wringing her tail.
Why did Chuck have to show up?
She found a safe corner to back into so she could watch everyone else enjoy themselves. She'd been looking forward to this party for weeks. However, right now, she wanted to be anywhere else. Another house, another city, another planet. All because of Chuck Wilson.
She hugged herself and shivered.
She felt disgusted with herself. Chuck had never even done anything to her. Nothing real. Nothing anyone would understand. He had a perfect right to hang around the school yard,
right? If she saw him in the corner of McDonald's or at a movie theater, that was just coincidence, right? There was no rule that said he had to use a different mall.
Whenever she caught him staring at her, she felt hideously naked, but she couldn't get someone arrested for staring at her.
Calm down Allie, she thought to herself, you're going to freak out and give yourself a migraine. If it bothers you that much, you can just leave.
She shook her head. That would be giving in, and she didn't like giving in. She hadn't given in to the headaches, and she wasn't going to give in to Chuck. Besides, she had spent too much time on her tiger costume— even though the leotard that made up most of it made her feel even more naked around Chuck.
Someone tapped her shoulder and she jumped, knocking her fake nose and whiskers askew.
A tall, black Princess Leia looked down on her and asked, "Cat got your tongue?"
"Very funny, Macy." Allison dropped the tail of her costume to straighten her nose. She looked up at Macy, a fair distance since Macy was probably the tallest girl in the entire sophomore class of Euclid Heights High School. "You nearly scared the fur off of me."
"That'd be a show."
"Ha. Ha."
"So why're you wedged in a corner instead of joining the party? You missed Ben putting some candy corn and a can of beer through his nose—"
"I'm not in the mood, Macy."
"Chuck?"
Allison nodded.
"He didn't do—"
Allison put her hand to her forehead and tried to push back the throbbing she felt there. "No. He didn't do anything."
Macy stepped back at Allison's tone. "Sorry."
Allison shook her head. "It isn't your fault." She sighed. "I just got through talking to David."
"Ah-ha."
Allison looked up. "Ah-ha, what?"
"Nothing—"
"You meant something by that."
"Chill, girl." Macy backed up, holding up her hands and smiling.
"Yeah," Allison nodded violently. "You should talk. You go with a guy who puts corn through his nose. Why I—" Allison's voice trailed off with a strangled gurgle.
"Allie?"
Allison felt her breath knocked out by the headache even before the pain hit her. She managed to whisper, "All. . . right," before the first wave of agony ground into her temples. Then her
eyes watered, and colored rings began sprouting from every light source in her field of vision.
"Like hell," Macy said.
Allison could feel an arm groping for her and she grabbed it. "Bathroom," she managed to whisper.
The headache was a hot iron band strapped over her skull, squeezing in time to her pulse. Even as the fire in her skull made her cry, she thanked God that it wasn't one of the bad ones.
