Trick or Treat

Not long after the festival started, hundreds of guests were bustling around the school. Students from each class were sent out with signs advertising whatever their class had prepared and directing people to it. For Aiden's class, Conner was first up in the dunk tank and he was dressed up as a pirate. He really got into character and shouted insults at anyone who took aim at the release lever that would drop him into, as he called it, 'Davy Jones' Locker". The kids loved it so much that they didn't even seem to mind if they missed.

"Avast ye lily-livered scurvy dogs! You landlubbers think you can sink me?!" One of the older kids threw a ball and missed. "Heave ho lad! You'll not make me walk the plank like that!" Another throw and another miss. "Yo ho ho! A pirate's life for…Shiver me timbers!" *Splash* On the third and final throw, the kid hit the target, sending Conner into the water. All the people nearby laughed.

Each person assigned to the dunk tank had a thirty minute shift. However, since there were only four of them and the festival was three hours long, two of them were set up for two shifts. Luckily for the others though, Conner volunteered to do both extra shifts. Now they all knew why. He was having a blast.

After Conner's first shift, Zeke was next in the tank so both Aiden and Yuki had time to wander around the festival and see what the other classes had done. The haunted house had been split between two classes with one class being less scary for younger kids and the other being as scary as possible for older kids and adults. There were also a lot of food stalls. There were classes with candy apples, cotton candy, themed cupcakes and cookies, caramel corn and cake pops.

They saw games set up like bobbing for apples, a themed bean bag toss and Halloween bingo. There was also pumpkin decorating, a mirror maze, face painting, and an arts and crafts area. Looking around, Aiden was amazed by how much the school put into it.

On their way back to the dunk tank, Aiden saw a familiar face.

"Mrs. Hudson!" He called out and waved when she turned around. She and her husband quickly walked over.

"Aiden, oh my word, look at you! Won't you get chilly later? The sun's already going down. It's a lovely costume but don't catch a cold dear!" She rubbed both his arms as if trying to warm him up. He couldn't help the warm smile that crossed his face. Bex used to be the only person who would worry about him but that was slowly changing.

"I brought a jacket just in case. It's back in the classroom. I'm fine for now, I promise."

"Well, if you're sure, I'll leave it at that." She glanced over at Yuki and smiled. "And who's this?" Yuki flinched slightly but looked up at Mrs. Hudson with a small smile, which was an improvement from his usual reaction when people talked to him.

"He's my friend Yuki."

"H-hello. It's nice to meet you." His words were quiet but clear.

"I'm Mrs. Hudson and this is Mr. Hudson. It's nice to meet you too, dear." Then she turned back to Aiden and said, "You should tell Derek and then bring him over to the house some time soon. Oh! That reminds me, that workaholic wasn't going to make it but I told him if he didn't show up I'd cook food he hates for the next month. Naturally, he had a sudden change in his schedule and he'll be here soon."

"Oh." At the notion that Derek was coming to the festival, Aiden's heart beat faster. "You didn't have to do that. I know he's really busy but thank you." After that, Mrs. Hudson asked when Aiden would be the one in the dunk tank. When he told her that he was after Yuki's shift, which would start in a few minutes, she said they swing by later and everyone went their own way.

Yuki and Aiden arrived a bit before Yuki had to switch with Zeke. As it got closer to his turn, Yuki got more and more restless.

"I-I'm not like Conner or Zeke. I can't…I don't know what to say. What if…they think I'm boring and…n-nobody wants to play…anymore?"

"Yuki, come down." Aiden put his hands on Yuki's shoulders and reassured him. "No one will care if you're antagonizing them or not. You're dressed up as a cute little rabbit and it'll look completely natural even with you being nervous and fidgety." When Yuki didn't look convinced, he continued. "If you really want to interact with the crowd but don't know what to say, just scream and shout exaggeratedly every time someone throws a ball. I even promise to personally throw a ball at the target if other people don't want to. Okay?" Yuki chuckled and nodded.

"Okay." Then, it was his turn and Yuki climbed into the tank. Just as Aiden had said, plenty of people came to try and drop him into the water. Yuki took Aiden's advice and exaggerated his fear at every throw. It threw people off and they kept missing. Other people, the girl's in particular, thought the terrified little bunny act was adorable.

"Eep!" Yuki pulled his legs up and covered his eyes as someone threw a ball. When it missed, he peeked out from in between his fingers and sighed a breath of relief. Throw after throw was accompanied by fearful squeaks. Yuki's entire shift was about to end and not once had he been dropped into the water. The last person to throw before the shift change had already thrown two out of three balls.

As the final ball was thrown, Yuki caught a glimpse of a familiar face in the crowd and gasped. It was picture perfect timing for the ball to hit the target and send Yuki falling into the tank. The crowd erupted in applause for the person who threw the ball as Yuki climbed out of the dunk tank and Aiden went to climb in.

As Aiden's turn started, a soaking wet Yuki glanced around and froze when Mikael walked up to him. Taking a deep breath, Yuki said, "I-I didn't know you would be here."

"Am I not allowed to be?" Mikael mentally scolded himself and his inability to say something without it sounding hostile or annoyed. Yuki frowned and turned his eyes downward.

"That's not…I mean, I didn't…I'm sorry." Yuki felt like crying. Why was it that when he really wanted to say something he always got so tongue tied?

"You're shivering."

"T-there's towels…in the tent. I'll go and…!" Before Yuki could finish speaking, Mikael grabbed his arm and pulled him into the tent. Then, he picked up one of the towels stacked on a table and wrapped it around Yuki's shoulders. Yuki was speechless. His entire brain short-circuited at the unforeseen action. Mikael's voice brought him back to his senses.

"When is all this over?"

"Huh? Oh! Um, in about an hour and a half."

"I'll take you home when it's done." Mikael left the tent without another word leaving Yuki standing there completely bewildered.

Meanwhile, Aiden had been relentlessly teasing the challengers. Just like Yuki, luck seemed to be on Aiden's side and everyone kept missing the target. Lyla and Spencer even came around to try and both failed. When Spencer missed for the third time, Aiden smirked and waved.

"Aww! Look, you missed again. I would say better luck next time but I don't think that would help your aim." Mr. Hudson also took a turn and missed but Mrs. Hudson couldn't bear to try because she didn't want him getting soaked in cold water. With more and more people trying and failing, they started to stick around to see who would finally manage to knock him into the water.

With barely a minute left until he could climb out of the tank, one last challenger stepped up. He was a tall man with dark brown crew cut hair and was wearing a suit without the tie and jacket. He rolled up his sleeves and reached down, picking up one of the balls. Then, he smirked and threw it. *Splash* Aiden hit the water and everyone cheered.

As he was climbing out of the tank, someone held up a hand to assist him. Looking over, Aiden saw it was the same man who had just caused him to get dunked. He politely took the man's hand and stepped down.

"Sorry about that but the crowd wouldn't have been happy if you managed to slip away without touching the water," the man said apologetically while still holding onto Aiden's hand.

"It's fine. That's what's supposed to happen anyway. Thank you for your help but as I'm back on solid ground, I don't think you need to keep holding my hand."

"Of course, I don't necessarily need to but," he took a step closer to Aiden while continuing to say, "would it make a difference if I said I wanted to hold your hand?" Aiden smiled an incredibly fake smile and forcefully yanked his hand out of the man's grasp.

"No, it wouldn't." Just as the stranger was about to say something, a towel was wrapped tightly around Aiden's shoulders with two strong hands holding it in place. Aiden already knew who it was but, unexpectedly, so did the stranger.

"Ah, Mr. Montgomery, we meet again."

"Mr. Grant." Derek's voice was colder and angrier than Aiden had ever heard it before. So much so that it worried him. "Excuse us." Derek kept his hands firmly planted on Aiden's shoulders and steered him towards the tent.