I Remember Halloween: Rebel Girl

“What’s that?” Kai scratched his cheek with one finger as he tried to recall if he had ever heard the word “Halloween” before.

“I haven’t heard that one either.” Akilah waited for an explanation from Chase.

Chase grinned as this was one of the few times he was the most knowledgeable person in the room considering a certain subject.

“Well, let’s just say I’m an expert on these things. You see, Halloween is a holiday that people used to celebrate in the twenty-first century.” Chase looked at his nails like a posh super villain and continued.

“It was on the thirty-first of October, and they would dress up in costumes giving candy to each other.” Chase nodded a knowing nod.

“That doesn’t make any sense. How do you know this?” Akilah grew suspicious of Chase’s knowledge on this so-called “Halloween”.

“I’ve watched an extensive amount of movies concerning the topic.” Chase looked through the window at the sun like a masterful professor.

Akilah shrugged at Amora, but Amora seemed to know a tiny bit about the subject as well.

“It’s the holiday that all the old horror movies used to surround, it’s like a scary holiday, I guess.” Amora shrugged as Chase nodded in a posh agreement.

“Well, we should go help Alex and Bloom now. They said they needed all seven of us.” Akilah opened up the door to the courtyard, where Vida and Hendrix now talked peacefully.

“Hey, lovebirds! Quit chatting and come help us with the chores.” Akilah’s shouting made the three others inside burst out laughing. Hendrix pointed towards himself in confusion as Vida grew flustered and put a finger to her lips, silently telling Akilah to shut up about it. Akilah chuckled.

The seven teens made their way over to the cafeteria, where they found a lot more compound residents in one place than they had ever seen.

Alex was on top of a ladder putting up orange and black pumpkin cutouts on the top of the cafeteria line window, while Bloom held the ladder in place.

“What are all the decorations for?” Taro asked Bloom.

“Oh, hi there! You guys came already!” Bloom tried to turn to the kids without letting go of the ladder as she continued.

“We’re setting up for our Halloween festival. Halloween used to be a holiday that people would celebrate before the new regime. They would go Trick-or-Treating in costumes, getting candy from the people passing them out. That’s where most of the horror movies come from.” Bloom nodded her head towards Milo, who was carrying his stack of horror VHS tapes to a projector he was fixing up.

Chase nodded, knowing that this was not news to him.

“Every year, we put on a festival. We make a feast and put on a show before watching some movies. It’s a nice reminder of how lucky we are to have these kinds of freedoms, even if we have to hide from everyone else.” Bloom smiled her signature smile.

“BABE!” Alex wobbled on the ladder. Bloom had taken her hands off the ladder for just a moment, before speeding back to the ladder, steadying Alex’s balance. They both let out an audible sigh as Bloom yelled “Sorry!” up to Alex.

“What’s the show gonna be like?” Vida asked. The group were already excited about the feast and movies, but they didn’t exactly know what the show entailed.

“Oh! Speaking of that! Hendrix, I’d like you to meet another one of our compound residents. She’s in room B304, you’ll be able to hear her from a mile away.” Bloom smiled.

“I’ll stay here and help you guys, who’s with me?” Taro raised his hand as Amora, Kai and Akilah raised their hand.

“But babe! I wanna go see what Bloom is talking about!” Chase whined to Amora.

“You’ll be fine, love. Tell me about them when you get back!” Amora chuckled at Chase’s whining as he groaned in return.

Hendrix, Vida, and Chase made their way to the B hall of rooms. The seven teens all had their rooms on the A hall, so they had never been down this section of the compound.

As they entered the hallway, they could hear the harsh beating of drums from room B304. Hendrix grew curious at the sound, opening the door without knocking.

The drumming stopped as the girl behind the drumset jumped at the sight of Hendrix.

“What the hell?!” The girl dropped her drumsticks.

“Oh, sorry. I was just curious.” Hendrix awkwardly waved.

“I didn’t know there was another resident our age, what’s your name?” Vida waved excitedly. She was so used to seeing compound residents in their late twenties and thirties that she jumped at the sight of someone who looked to be in their teens.

“My name is Sticks. I don’t practice Spirit or any of that, I’m just here because my mom is the nurse for this place.” Sticks grew annoyed at the questions. Vida paused and thought to herself before coming to a realization.

“Oh! Is your mom Jessica?” Vida asked as Sticks nodded.

Sticks had bright-dyed purple hair. She wore a leather jacket, with the front covered in pins, and some classic blue jeans.

“Why are you guys here anyway?” Sticks asked. She then noticed the guitar on Hendrix’s back, growing more curious than annoyed.

“Bloom told me to visit you because of the show they’re putting on for the Halloween festival. I think she wants me to be part of it or something.” Hendrix shrugged, but his words made Sticks’ eyes light up.

“Do you play guitar?! I’ve been playing drums since I was a little girl!” Sticks’ words made Hendrix’s eyes light up in return.

“Really?! What?!” Hendrix put his hands on the top of his head in excitement.

“Plug in to that amp right there, Milo made it for me. Let’s jam!” Sticks grew more excited as the already excited Hendrix plugged into the guitar amp.

“Do you know The Misfits?” Sticks asked.

“Do I!” Hendrix smiled. They were now both yelling over the buzzing of the guitar amp.

“That’s what we’ll play at the festival! Let’s play Hybrid Moments first!” Sticks counted them in with the clacking of her drumsticks and then the room burst into noise.

This was the most excited Vida had seen Hendrix, but she wasn’t smiling for him. Instead, she was eyeing Sticks, who she didn’t want to talk to anymore.

“Why do I feel a little angry? She hasn’t done anything wrong, but the sight of them excited together makes me want to leave.” Vida thought over her feelings.

As the music continued, Chase noticed Vida’s face change into furrowed brows and annoyance as she bopped her head to the beat. Chase grinned mischievously. His comment earlier about their rom-com romance flashed through his head as he got a devious idea.

“Hm, they fit perfect together, don’t they?” Chase nodded while trying to hide his grin.

“I guess.” Vida muttered.

“Almost like their perfect for each other.” Chase nodded again.

“I’m gonna go help Bloom and Alex.” Vida speed walked out of the room.

Chase closed his eyes and pursed his lips, trying to hold in his laughter.

The music ceased as the song ended.

“Dude you rock!” Sticks pointed her drumstick at Hendrix as he gave a thumbs up back. Both of them were too focused on their instrument to notice Vida’s departure.

“This guitar is amazing.” Hendrix looked down at the pitch black electric guitar.

“What is this thing?” He thought.

“Now, all we need is a bassist and a vocalist-” Sticks’ words were cut off.

“I see that my talents are needed.” Chase stood nonchalant-like with a smirk on his face.

“You see I have a very particular set of skills, skills I have acquired over a very long career.” Chase didn’t know what skills he was talking about, he had just been waiting for a moment to say that phrase.

“Oh, you sing? This is perfect!” Sticks pointed to a janky microphone on a taped up stand in the corner of the room.

“I guess I’ll show my skills, I’m feeling generous today.” Chase grabbed the mic as Sticks counted the group in with her drumsticks.

The room once again burst into music as Chase’s vocal opening came up.

“What song is this again? Oh, yeah.” Chase thought to himself as he started singing the lyrics that he could remember from the one time Hendrix sang the song to the group of friends a couple of years ago.

Chase’s singing was filled with voice cracks, and slightly off-tempo melodies. Sticks and Hendrix looked at each while they continued to play. The song came to an end and Chase turned towards the two instrumentalists.

“With a little bit of rehearsal, I think we could work! We only have three days till the festival, but that’s plenty of time. Meet me here tomorrow at noon!” Sticks yelled over the buzzing of the guitar amp. The two boys nodded and left.

“This is going to be awesome. Now, all we need is a bassist.” Hendrix thought to himself as him and Chase bantered about the song the whole way down the hall.

The kids gathered in the cafeteria for lunchtime as they finished up the decorations above the cafeteria line.

As the kids sat down with their food, Amora held her hand out towards Chase, who instinctively gave her his apple juice.

“So, what is the show gonna be like?” Taro asked Hendrix.

Hendrix rambled about the Misfits and Sticks as Taro recognized the name.

“Oh, Jessica’s daughter? Yeah, I see her every once in a while grabbing lunch food and heading back to her room, but she never comes out of that place.” Taro picked up his sub and took a bite.

“Oh, yeah. She seems annoyed all the time.” Kai nodded.

Chase remembered his devious plan as his grin got bigger.

“Oh no.” Amora thought as she noticed Chase’s grin.

“Yeah, Sticks and Hendrix really clicked together.” Chase secretly side eyed Vida to gauge her reaction. Vida raised her eyebrows and shook her head as she looked down at her chicken Alfredo, picking at it with her fork.

“Yeah, we’re already planning on going over there tomorrow to rehearse again. It’ll probably take a little while.” Chase continued to side eye Vida as Amora caught on to what Chase was doing.

Amora kicked Chase’s leg as he flinched, but tried to hide it.

Vida put her fork down and rested her head on her hands in annoyance.

“I’m gonna go help find more decorations.” Vida got up and walked away.

“Vida?” Hendrix called. Vida heard him, but she didn’t feel like talking right now.

Hendrix didn’t catch the joke being played. He was pondering over who would be the bassist of the band. Chase turned to Hendrix and knew exactly what he was thinking about.

“Ok, Hendrix. Let’s talk about the zebra in the room.” Chase picked up a fork full of his Alfredo.

“Oh my god. For the last time, Chase, it’s an elephant!” Akilah dragged her hands down her face.

“Where?!” Chase looked around. After he confirmed there was no zebra, Chase looped his finger to the side of his head as he said “What is she talking about?”.

“I heard you guys were looking for a bassist?” Alex walked up to the table while cleaning her now empty plate.

“Yeah, do you know any?” Hendrix asked.

“You’re looking at one!” Alex chuckled and pointed her thumb towards herself. The group grew shocked.

“You play bass?!” Akilah asked, shocked.

“You may not believe it, but I was in a band back when I was your age. You guys know them as the sweet and kind Mr. and Mrs. Frewin, but Sierra and Jaden used to be punk. We were called Fleshripper, I think. Anyway, I’d be glad to be in the show.” Alex looked up at the ceiling as she tried to remember the name of their old band.

“Awesome! We’re gonna meet at Sticks’ room at noon tomorrow.” Hendrix said.

“This is amazing… But I wonder if something is wrong with Vida.” Hendrix thought.