“Cool!” Rachel said. “When are the others coming?”

“They should be here any minute. I just ordered pizza. Hope you’re hungry!” Emily said.

Thinking of pizza and eating actually made her realize she would be ready to feed shortly. She tried to push those feelings out of her head, though, since she knew it wouldn’t be the best time to sneak out and kill an animal. The girls would definitely know she was up to something if she left to do that.

“Rach?” Emily said. “Are you ok?”

“Oh yeah! Sorry, Pizza’s great!” Rachel said, snapping out of her daze.

“Look at this! This is super cute. Do you want to be a 70s roller chick?” Emily asked, holding up a tie died bell-bottom suit.

“Um...maybe. What else you got?” Rachel asked, not wanting to commit to that far-out look.

“Come look for yourself, we have a lot. Clown, Witch, Mr. Potato Head, Santa Claus, Vampire…it’s your call!” Emily said holding each up.

“Vampire?” Rachel asked.

“Yeah! Vampire. Fangs and all!” Emily said, holding it high so Rachel could see it.

Suddenly, Rachel felt devious. She was a vampire and yet she was talking about dressing like a vampire for Halloween. Something felt off about this, but she was drawn to the costume.

“Yeah, vampire it is!” Rachel said, snatching the costume out of her hands.

RING.

The doorbell rang and in walked the rest of the girls with their costumes, makeup, curling irons and wigs in their arms. It looked like they had just robbed a costume store, they had so much stuff spilling out of their arms.

“Hey ladies!” Emily said. “Let’s go up to my room and get ready! This is going to be the best night ever!”

“Yeah!” the girls cheered as they walked upstairs to her bedroom.

“Hey Rach, how long have you been here? I thought you were going to catch a ride with us?” Taryn asked.

“Oh yeah, sorry, drama at home. I’ve been here about a half hour I guess,” Rachel said.

“Drama? What happened?” Taryn asked, as the other girls got silent.

“Oh, my parents were acting up again,” Rachel, said.

“Again?” Liv asked. “What did you do this time?”

“They say I’m a bad influence on my siblings. They kicked me out,” Rachel said, still startled from the news.

“Kicked you out?” Taryn asked.

“Are you serious?” Jen asked.

“Like actually kicked you out of your house?” Emily asked. “I had no idea. Why didn’t you say something sooner?”

Rachel looked around at the girls’ faces all staring back at her. She hated this feeling. She was not this girl. She had never had trouble with her parents before moving to Bedford, and now it’s been nothing but trouble. She didn’t know what to do; yet she had to accept this. It was her new life and there was nothing she could do about it now.

“Yeah, I didn’t want to burden you with my troubles. I’ll figure it all out, don’t worry,” Rachel said.

“Don’t worry!” Emily said. “What do you mean, don’t worry!”

“It’s really not a big deal. I’ll find my way. I’ll be fine,” Rachel said, doubting herself as the words came out of her mouth.

“You can stay with me,” Emily said. “I just have to ask my parents. I’m sure they’ll say yes.”

“You can stay with me, too!” Taryn said.

“Me, too!” Liv said.

“Us too,” the other girls chimed in.

Rachel smiled. It felt nice to have such a good group of friends surrounding her, especially in these tough times. She knew she could get through anything with them by her side. As she thought about staying with them, she knew it wouldn’t be safe for them, either. She couldn’t take them up on their offers. She had to find shelter elsewhere, for their sake. She didn’t want Violet or any of her coven members to come after them. After all, they were just innocent girls—they had no idea they’d be harboring a vampire.

“I couldn’t,” Rachel said. “I’ll stay elsewhere.”

“What do you mean? You can’t live on the streets,” Emily said in horror.

“I promise, I’ll find a safe place,” Rachel said, as she rummaged through her bag trying to find her make up.

“Let’s drop this!” Rachel said. “Let’s focus on getting ready. It will make me feel better about this whole situation.”

Not wanting to argue with her, the girls started taking out their costumes and makeup and started getting ready.

“OK, but if you ever need anything, please ask. I promise, everything will be ok,” Emily said quietly to Rachel.

“Thanks, Em. You’re a great friend,” Rachel said back, smiling.

“Pizza’s here girls!” Emily’s mother yelled.

“YES!!” the girls said.

“Coming,” Emily said. “I’ll be down in a sec.”

Emily went downstairs to get the pizza for everyone and within minutes she was back upstairs with soda, plates, cups and a large pie of pepperoni pizza.

“This smells amazing!” Kate said, diving into the box.

“I love pepperoni!” Rachel said, trying to fit in, and pretend she was interested in this human food.

“Eat up! We don’t have much time before the ball!” Emily reminded them looking at the clock.

Rachel walked over and turned on the radio to Z-100 and cranked it up. She knew music would change the mood of the room and get everyone pumped for their big night.

“Hey Rach, who you going with again?” Liv asked.

“Oh, right. Well, I don’t exactly have a date, but Rob texted me saying that he would meet me there and to save him a dance,” Rachel said.

“Ohhh..Rob!” Emily and Taryn said.

“It’s nothing, really! We’re just friends…I think,” Rachel said.

“Arielle is going to kill you!” Taryn said. “She was so pissed last time you went out with him.”

“Yeah, I know. She already warned me not to look in his direction!” Rachel laughed.

“What are you going to do? He obviously likes you better,” Jen said, laughing. “Arielle’s got nothing on you!”

Rachel couldn’t believe that she’d been asked to dance by the star of the football team and that the cheerleading captain was her worst enemy. In Pennsylvania she would have never of dreamed of such a thing. In fact, she was certain the football team and the girls on the cheerleading team didn’t know she existed. And, looking back, she kind of liked it. She liked being anonymous. Now, she was anything but anonymous. In fact she was probably the most infamous new girl at AHS.

“I don’t know what’s going to happen between us,” Rachel said. “Probably nothing!”

“You never know!” the girls snickered.

“So, what are you being?” Rachel asked the girls, changing the subject away from her.

“I’m a sexy nurse,” Taryn said.

“I’m a slutty cop,” Jen said, holding up her almost non-existent costume.

“I’m a witch!” Liv said, as she put her fake witch teeth in and her long pointy nose.

“I’m a vampire!” Rachel said, feeling a sudden pang of truth in her words.

“Ohhh…love it!” the girls said back. “Freaky!”

As the girls put their finishing touches on their costumes they all danced around the Rihanna music that blared over the radio and started singing. Feeling completely pumped up and ready for a fun night, Rachel took a shot of vodka with the girls. She figured she didn’t have any parents to go home to, and she might as well. She knew no matter how strong her morals were, if she had been getting in so much trouble for being good she might as well be bad, at least for one night.

With that, the girls all filed out of the house and into Taryn's car. The back seat was jammed full, but Rachel sat there, feeling tipsy, happily singing to the music on the radio. She couldn’t wait to get to the bowling alley and to see what this Halloween Ball was all about.

Chapter Fifteen

As the girls hopped out of Taryn’s car, Rachel could feel the alcohol leaving her body. She no longer felt tipsy anymore, and she was glad about that. She knew she’d made a mistake to take the shot in the first place, but with all the pressure from her friends, she found it hard to resist. She made an internal promise to herself that she wouldn’t take another shot, smoke or have a drink because of peer pressure. She knew she could rise above this and go back to being more strong willed.

Feeling clear-headed, she walked into the Halloween Ball. The bowling alley was decked out in orange and black balloons. As they entered they walked through a canopy of woven balloons; there must have been thousands of balloons on the ceiling. She turned to her right to see the buffet station and the large fruit punch tower that was cascading into a large bowl at the bottom. She had never seen an event this beautiful in her entire life. Now she knew why the girls said this was the event of the year and that she couldn’t skip out on it.

The girls changed into their bowling shoes for a round of bowling before the DJ started. Within minutes of the game starting, Rachel felt a tap on her shoulder. She quickly turned around to see Arielle and a few of her friends looking pissed off, standing behind her. Rachel stood there; not knowing what this was all about. She remembered the warning Arielle had given her, but she didn’t talk to Rob or see him, so she didn’t know why they’d all be so pissed at her.

“I can’t believe you!” Arielle said, looking at Rachel meanly.

“What?” Rachel asked, confused.

“Don’t play dumb with me. You know what you did,” Arielle grunted.

Rachel waited, with a blank look on her face, not knowing what to say next.

“Don’t pretend you didn’t hear about what happened today at practice, when your ugly little friend showed up,” Arielle said. “I nearly got killed.”