CH.12 Headphones and Invitation

Calvin was caught in a dilemma of choice, his face illuminated by the cold glow of the screen in an eerie shade of blue, his expression serious and focused.

Which new headphones should he buy?

Today, he'd taken on another haunted gig, but the tip was only two hundred bucks—not as lucky as last time. Even so, just two ghost-busting jobs had netted him $2,800, enough to upgrade his graphics card and still afford a pair of headphones under $1,000. Now he was torn: Sennheiser, Beyerdynamic? Or go for Apple ones.

This was the trouble of having money, Calvin thought with a slight thrill. He should start by checking out some review videos on YouTube.

As Calvin clicked into YouTube to search for videos, he noticed in his subscription list that Tommy's channel hadn't updated. It had only been five days since the last stream, but after gaining a bit of traction, there were no messages or teasers for new videos—that was weird.

"Is Tommy... giving up? It couldn't be because I quit, and it hit him too hard, right?" Calvin wondered to himself.

"Speaking of... when did we even start making videos together?"

He only remembered their first meeting at a school club event. Bored Calvin had struck up a conversation with Tommy about games, and they'd hit it off. Later, Tommy seemed to be scouting for collaborators for videos and approached him.

As for why Calvin had agreed back then, it was probably because he thought it could bring some change to his life. At the time, he was craving something fresh. But eventually, the prolonged lack of success brought frustration, and the growing feeling that he "wasn't that special" made him gradually abandon the idea of change, preferring to have more free time to waste.

And Tommy? Why did he want to make videos? Was he trying to change something, too?

Calvin couldn't dig up an answer from his memories because he suddenly realized he didn't know Tommy at all. He'd never asked about Tommy's family situation or why he wanted to make videos. Back then, he just assumed Tommy was in it for fame and money, and Tommy had never mentioned anything.

Now, there was even less chance to ask.

Suddenly, Calvin noticed movement outside his room. " Sammy, you coming over for something?"

"Hey, buddy, how'd you know it was me?"

"Because Mom and Dad usually yell first if they need me. Also, who are you trying to sound like?"

"Hey, don't you think it's got rhythm, yo? Like rap, hey!"

"Actually... It's kinda dumb, girl, yo." Calvin thought to himself, she didn't swear, so she must've picked it up from some cartoon, because real rap doesn't skip the curses.

"Bro yo, I need you hey to help me draw yo, it's art homework yo."

"Your rhyming's like a leaky faucet, easily beat by me. As for drawing? Sorry, I can't."

"No prob yo, just help me color, hey, I'm not great with watercolors yo."

"This way of talking is exhausting. Fine, but I'm warning you—if the coloring sucks, no blaming me, okay?"

"Deal, big bro!"

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The next day, Calvin headed back to school, and school days were nothing like before. Last night, he'd dithered and still couldn't decide on headphones. Maybe headphones weren't essential—buy a Nintendo console to play games instead.

During break, classmates chattered about all sorts of random nonsense. He used to be part of that crowd; now it just felt noisy.

"Hey, Calvin."

"Hey, Lucas." Calvin was a bit puzzled; this guy never initiated conversation unless he wanted to pry something.

"I bet you don't know, but a few things happened at school, all involving Tyler."

"Who's that again?"

"Tyler's the rich buff guy from the next class over. The one who clashed with Tommy in the cafeteria a few days ago."

"Oh." Calvin still had no real impression of this Tyler.

"Right that night, Tyler and his crew encountered a ghost outside. They all said there was a spirit that appeared on the dark street and chased them..."

"Is that so?" Calvin believed in ghosts, but he had no interest in these people, so he responded casually.

"Later, they cornered Tommy at the school back gate. I don't know what happened, but it couldn't have been good."

"What?" Calvin's expression turned serious. "What did they do?"

"I said I don't know—probably bullying. The reason, I think, after getting scared by the ghost, they went to ask Tommy about it, and he mocked them. Those guys aren't ones to mess with, so it was natural." Lucas shrugged.

"And then? You're telling me this because of Tommy?"

"Of course not, just that. I wanted to let you know Tyler's new girlfriend's birthday is coming up. His girlfriend's not just a beauty; she's got the nickname 'Witch' because her mom is..."

"Wait, what does this have to do with me?" Calvin frowned, interrupting.

"It totally does. Tyler doesn't know you're the core of Tommy's team; he thinks you're just some helper. Now he's extremely interested in ghosts and the phenomena associated with them. You need to show up at his girlfriend's birthday party—of course, anyone's welcome; Tyler rented a big villa for it. If you perform well in front of him, you might become his friend. His family's loaded, and he's generous. It's an opportunity, bro."

"I'll think about it." Calvin returned to his seat. Now he was thinking about Tommy. Maybe Tyler was just pissed off temporarily and would ignore Tommy after... but what if he kept causing trouble? Should he step in?

As for hitching a ride on Tyler's line, becoming one of those guys who play basketball every day and pretend to be adults hitting up clubs for fun (Calvin had no idea what they actually did; this was just a guess), he had zero interest. Or rather, he might have thought it was cool before, but now, ghost hunting was way more thrilling.

As he opened his backpack to take out his textbook, he saw words emerging on a blank page.

"This is? Zeke? What's up now?" Calvin immediately read the words that appeared out of thin air.

'Go to that party. The reward's already in your locker.'

'What do you mean?' Calvin was utterly confused. Why go to that witch's birthday party? The reward was the money already stuffed in his locker?

But class had started, so Calvin could only anxiously wait until halfway through, pretend to go to the bathroom, and sneak to his locker.

"This is... a mask?" Calvin curiously fiddled with the black-and-white striped mask in front of him. He couldn't see anything special about it, but it was probably like that piece of paper—a supernatural item. After all, it was from that mysterious man; it couldn't just be an ordinary mask.

No matter how he tinkered with it, there was no reaction, so he stashed it away for now.

"What are you doing? What are you up to here at this time?" A school security guard spotted the sneaky Calvin.

"Ahem, I got sick. Then I realized the medicine I brought from home was in my locker, so I came to get it." Calvin quickly made up an excuse.

"You must really love school. Most kids would stay home if they're sick."

"Ahem, yeah, because grades are important to me."

"You okay? Why are you clutching your stomach?"

"That's because my stomach hurts too. But it's fine, all good, ahem, I'm heading back to class. Bye, ahem."

"Alright, get better soon."

After saying goodbye to the guard, Calvin immediately pulled the hidden mask from under his shirt and snuck it back to class. At the end of class, he stopped Lucas and said:

"Can I go to that witch's birthday party?"

"More accurately, it's Stella's birthday party. She hates the 'witch' nickname—if you call her that to her face, she'll get mad right away, and then Tyler will punch you. Anyway, are you interested now?"

"Yeah, I'm interested," Calvin said with a smile. Honestly, Lucas thought his smile looked weird.

"More like, very interested."