Halloween: The Official Movie Novelization

23

Allyson had been inside the decorated gymnasium for a grand total of ten seconds before wishing Vicky had ditched her babysitting commitment to come to the dance. Oscar had wasted no time dragging Cameron off to provide a distraction while Oscar retrieved his stashed beer. Instead of enjoying the school dance with her boyfriend—if she could even call him that yet—she felt as self-conscious as if she’d wandered in off the street, certain everyone was staring at her while making unflattering or pitying comments. Hard to live in the moment, she thought, when the current moment sucks.

To take her mind off her temporary solitary status, she decided to take in her surroundings and hope Cameron returned sooner rather than later. She wasn’t sure how long she wanted to gut it out alone. Avoiding the dancers in the center of the gymnasium, gyrating over a large pentagram decal applied to the hardwood floor, she made a circuit of the perimeter, bobbing her head in time with the loud music.

They’d entered the gym under an archway made of black and orange balloons. Strings of alternating blue and yellow balloons—their school colors—rose from the floor to crisscross the ceiling before coming down on the other side, giving the effect of giant spider legs. As if immune to the laws of gravity, no less than five skeletons hung suspended from the ceiling in various vertigo-inducing poses.

In the corner to the right of the balloon archway stood another skeleton, strung with orange lights bordered by bales of hay, also strung with lights and covered in fake cobwebs. A spotlight shone down on the skeleton, which was also the focus of a floor strobe light.

As Allyson reached the midpoint of the gym, several cheerleaders rushed onto the dance floor and performed a choreographed cheer routine before the DJ stage at the far end of the gym. Roving spotlights, strobe lights and large speakers hung from a light truss framework over the DJ’s two-tiered stage. An oversized Frankenstein’s monster made of papier mâché lay prone on a table before the DJ, several candles burning next to the head. Headphones draped around his neck, the DJ wore a rubber mask, a ghoulishly wrinkled face framed by wild white hair, which reminded Allyson of no Dr Frankenstein she’d ever seen. Behind the DJ and his equipment, he’d set up a fake horror movie electrical panel and two glowing towers designed to look as if they would produce a Jacob’s ladder electrical effect. Beside the DJ, two girls danced, one costumed as a belly dancer, complete with pink lei around her neck, the other in a skimpy red latex outfit, possibly one of the many variations of the sexy devil costume.

As the cheerleaders departed the dance floor together, Allyson checked out some of the costumes her classmates wore. She spotted a few in black with skeleton masks, a pirate, one girl dressed as a Kabuki dancer, a wizard hanging around with a magician who, like Oscar, wore a cape, but with a string tie closure. Someone had dressed as a rapper with what she imagined was costume jewelry as his bling. A guy wearing the black-and-white stripes of a referee talked with another guy wearing snorkel gear over an orange life jacket. A cowgirl danced with a rodeo clown. Someone wearing a rubber wolfman mask stood near Kim, the girl Allyson remembered giving her a strange look when Cameron broke the news to Oscar that he’d opted out of their Tango and Cash plans. Kim had come to the dance as a tigress, wearing cat ears and what looked like a black leather bustier over a black chiffon skirt, showing an awful lot of skin. Orange body paint with black painted horizontal stripes covered her throat, cleavage, arms, and legs.

Allyson grudgingly admired the girl’s confidence but wouldn’t want to change places with her. And yet she wondered if her own choice had been timid. Cameron had gone bold, costumed in drag. Without him standing next to her to complete the joke, she just looked like a girl who’d dressed as a dude.

Allyson walked toward the far end of the gym and looked over the refreshment pass-through counter, laid out between red velvet curtains with a poster-sized tarot card affixed to each curtain and decorated with a matching red table skirt. Large glass bowls held potato and tortilla chips, with a separate bowl for nacho cheese dip, and cheese puffs. Next to a stack of napkins and paper plates, ceramic monster-head containers held pretzels beside smaller jars with assorted candies. The back edge of the table was lined with tall black candles.

Adjacent to the snack counter, another table held a punch bowl and stacks of orange plastic cups. Next to the cups, someone had laid out trays of homemade cupcakes decorated as jack-o’-lanterns and eyeballs, along with chocolate-chip and orange-frosted sugar cookies. Allyson thought about sampling a chocolate-chip cookie, but she’d hardly worked up an appetite walking from one side of the gym to the other.

She didn’t check to see if anyone had spiked the punch. But a moment later, she saw that Cameron and Oscar had taken matters into their own hands. Both seemed a little looser and louder than they had before they snuck off in pursuit of Oscar’s contraband.

Cameron sidled up to her, placing an arm around her shoulder. “Miss me, Clyde?”

“Hardly knew you were gone, Bonnie,” Allyson replied.

“Should I leave again?” Cameron asked.

She grabbed his forearm. “Better not, bub.”

“Bub?” he asked, pointing at his chest.

“Short for bubbly,” Allyson said, smiling.

“I am that,” Cameron said, “although I doubt Oscar smuggled in any champagne.”

“You owe me a dance,” Allyson said.

“Yes, it is time,” Oscar said. He reached into his pocket and donned his red-framed sunglasses. Next, he shoved the plastic vampire teeth in his mouth. “Time to perform the dance of nocturnal seduction.”

“Yeah,” Allyson said flatly. “Good luck with that.”

Cameron laughed.

Undaunted, Oscar raised one side of his cape with his free hand and danced in half-circle swooping motions, spiraling out toward the dance floor. After he stumbled into one pair of slow dancers, others gave him a wide berth.

“So, he’s no longer a devil?” Allyson asked Cameron.

“Can’t stop with the vampire gestures,” Cameron said. “He’s confusing everyone, including himself. Just go with it.”

“I was about to tell you the same thing,” Allyson said, grabbing both of his hands in hers and pulling him toward the dance floor.

After a couple dances, including a slow number, Allyson removed her double-breasted jacket and realized she’d been smiling for almost ten minutes straight. After her initial disappointment at Cameron running off with Oscar, her mood had turned around completely. Feeling a bit giddy, she exchanged pleasantries with her classmates on the dance floor, other couples and groups of girls dancing with each other in small circles. Some of them she knew from various classes, recognizing them in costume, but others seemed mysteriously anonymous, wearing masks or elaborate makeup or zombie facial appliances that disguised their identity. They had the dance and the music in common, as well as the sense of freedom that came from letting down the guard of one’s daily identity. With so many people dancing in the confined area, under a barrage of hot spotlights, Allyson could feel her face flush. But she couldn’t remember the last time she’d had so much fun.

Oscar, riding a mild buzz, darted around the dancers with his flowing cape, snapping pictures, telling each subject he’d captured their soul, punctuating the statement with a theatrically evil laugh. More importantly, Oscar’s antics gave Allyson some quality alone time with Cameron. After a while, they decided to take a breather and returned to the refreshment area.

As Cameron turned his back to the dancers and took a sip from the metal flask, Allyson felt her cellphone buzz. She checked the display: Vicky. Checking in, Allyson thought. Making sure I’m not miserable.

There was zero chance she’d hear a word Vicky said with the music blasting from the ginormous speakers, so she’d have to step out to take the call.

Cameron noticed the phone in her hand and gave her a look.

She held up an index finger to indicate she’d be back in a minute, then hurried out to the gym.

Even in the hallway Allyson had a hard time hearing Vicky, but she refused to put the call on speaker. Some girls stood nearby, making minor adjustments to their costumes and checking how each other’s makeup was holding up. She tried to tune them out, pressing the phone against her right ear and her palm over her left.

“I’m sad you’re not here,” Allyson said. “It’s ridiculous. It’s actually a lot easier for me to talk to people in costume. Better when I can’t tell who they are.”

“See,” Vicky said, excited for her. “I told you. How’s Cameron? Looking hot in my skirt?”

Allyson laughed. “We’re having a really good time. I think he’s really sweet,” she added, feeling one lingering reservation about him fading away. “It’s like my dad has plagued my subconscious about his family.”

Some of the girls decided to touch up their makeup after all and drifted by her toward the restrooms. Allyson turned away, about to say more to Vicky, but as she faced the doorway into the gymnasium, Oscar pushed through the doors, saw her and made his swooping cape maneuver, camera extended in his free hand. At first, she wondered if Cameron had sent him to eavesdrop on her conversation, but figured the simpler explanation was that he needed a restroom break himself.

As he neared her, he mimed holding her face between his hands and flicked his tongue up and down while grinding his pelvis toward her. The disgusted face she flashed him proved insufficient as a deterrent because he moved even closer, on the verge of turning a mock sexual assault into the real thing.

Jeez, how much has he had to drink? she wondered, quick to shove him away before he did something he’d regret and for which she might press charges. She mouthed the word “gross” and held out her hand to keep him at a distance.

“Allyson?” Vicky said over the tinny speaker. “You there?”

Keeping her eyes on Oscar, she said, “Yeah. Just a sec.”

With a comical pout and an exaggerated shrug, he took a wide berth around her to complete his journey to the restroom. She waited, worried he might circle back and surprise her, when she felt her phone vibrate.

Glancing down, she checked the call waiting—Grandmother—and sent it to voicemail.