Making a Watch Party

I catch up to her just as she stops at the crosswalk waiting for her turn to cross the street. I crouch down to get under her umbrella. Swing the bag fast out of my jacket pocket to in front of her, so the rain doesn't ruin the integrity of paper bag.

"Want some?"

"What is it?"

"Nuts."

I feel the sides of the umbrella poke me through my the hood of my jacket. The dull ends normally wouldn't hurt, but she put a lot of force behind the hit.

"Ow! They're Honey Roasted!"

She takes the bag from me, softening her grip on the umbrella. I take hold of it, returning upright, so it covers both of us.

"Why are you out so early, Hannah?"

She takes a hand of nuts and returns the bag to me which I quickly put into my pocket.

"I wanted to beat the rain, but it started when I got 3 blocks away from my house."

The light changes as we continue our journey to school. The sounds of rain splatter tickles my ears as we walk. We join a dull line of students from our school. Complaints of the weather and late homework entered a loosing battle against the sounds of the downpour. I waste no time and ask Hannah right away.

"Can you draw a monster for the next issue of shed fright?"

A large breathe clashes with the sounds of the rain hitting the floor.

"No attempt to butter me up? You're colder than this rain."

She turns her head to look at me, so I begin to beg before she hits me with her signature glare.

"It would really help with this issue! Especially since it's been 3 issues since the last one."

I notice that Hannah wasn't complaining about me asking for a drawing. In fact she wasn't even talking at all. Instead, she was focusing her gray eyes at my shirt.

"I'll do it for half if you give me your shirt."

"Huh? No I like this shirt."

"Come on Max."

"Wait! Didn't I gave you the link to the get this shirt before it came out?"

"I was... working on something that I missed it."

"Well, this issue is important. So I'll consider giving you the shirt."

My phone vibrates in pocket. Just in time, Ben sends the description of the monster rat along with the link for the movie. Unfortunately the link is a magnet link. Shame too as I was looking forward to watching the movie during class.

Thanks! The issue will probably go up during the weekend

Ben:

That means Hannah said yes!

Tell her I said What's up.

Oh, going to be MIA for a bit.

I'm going to bring down that mutant rat!

Mount his head over my bed as a trophy.

Your mom would kill you if you did that.

And Go to school man!

We have to graduate during the same year!

Ben:

Eh, my school has a good summer program.

No big.

I forward the description to Hannah. Her nose scrunches up as her eyes dance, taking in the description.

"Ugh, where is this thing?"

"North Anthame."

"God!"

We reach our destination of boring old South Anthame High. I move ahead to hold the glass door open as Hannah closes her umbrella. She put her foot forward before stopping. Her gray eyes focus on me as the rain starts to dampen her hair.

"We're going to take it down this weekend?"

"Nah. Ben is already on the hunt for it. He says,Sup, by the way. I got a better idea for the weekend!"

Lunchtime rolls around, and I make my way to the cafeteria. The wild sea of hungry teens scrambling for food and seat fill my sight as I open the door. I make my way to a shallow part of the sea. Brushing past the harsh waves of boys playing keep away with freshmen lunches, I arrive to a clear enough area to scope out for my friends. A pained scream erupts from the other side of the sea. Turning my head I watch as the sea splits to revile Hannah. She makes her way to round table just a bit to my left were 3 people are already sitting.

Hannah sits next to a guy with light-brown hair. He has a broad build, wearing a blue varsity jacket. On the back of the jacket, a green robot holding an assault rifle with 005-Archie in a computerized font around the image. It is a character from the First-person Shooter game, Ark Strife: Cyber warfare.

This is Duncan, Hannah's boyfriend. They have been dating for around six months now, after a haunting getaway to Coeus Cove, Anthame's only beach. Ben is still recovering from the news.

Next to Hannah is a girl with long raven hair. Wearing a low cut shirt dress that emphasizes her large chest, She is juggling eating a sandwich and reading something on her phone. It seems to be something Hannah is familiar with as she pinch-zooms to point something out to her.

This is Mia, the youngest of the group. After an encounter with the Queen Slime, She has been a part of our group ever since.

Across from Mia is a girl staring out the window. Her short golden hair and honey skin shimmers against the dull light from the window. She looks lost in the rolling gray clouds.

This is Kat. Kat is just awesome. The brains of our group who Hannah and I befriended back in Freshman Year. A ghoul and spooky library, nothing about that day impacted me more than how she looked. She notices me approaching the table.

"Max!"

Kat pushes me as I sit down. Mia puts down her phone hastily. She slips a shining smile as she finishes her sandwich. I look towards Duncan to see him staring at me. He nods his head in a discrete manner. Checking the thinning sea to see if there was enough coverage to shield us. I nod back. Duncan throws his arm around me as open my backpack, fixing my books and laptop for extra space. In a small huddle, Duncan pulls out a rectangle box from his bag. Not waiting to admire it, I shove it into my bag, struggling to not damage the contents of the box. With an almost silent zip we break our huddle after a successful transfer was complete.

"Thanks Duncan! Remind me next week to tell you about a fps game. Have to give it the clean sweep as it might be haunted, but gotta finish the latest issue of Shed this weekend."

"Is it modern?"

"90s"

"Elite! Retro might be a fun breather from the extras scrims matches I have next weekend."

"Speaking of the weekend."

I take out the bag of nuts from my pocket and lob it across the table to Hannah. She catches it while lobbing back half of her sandwich she has in front of her. I catch the wrapped up half and take a bite out of it. Looking up, I see Mia holding her phone, screen outwards, revealing a number 10.

"Would you guys be to do something over the weekend?"

Mia, eyes sparkling, was getting ready to response, but Kat hold out her hand in front of her. A soft smile appears on Kat's face as she speaks.

"Only if you tell us what Duncan just gave you."

I took some time to compose myself. Kat's smile sent my heart racing and I need to find the right thing to say so....

"It's beer."

The faint words were struggling to come out of Hannah's mouth as she was chewing on her sandwich. Duncan passes her a bottle of water, which she swigs down.

"A limited edition run of Succubus' Blood featuring Max's favorite horror hostess..."

"Countess Velvet!?"

Mia chimes in with Hannah's teasing.

"Her outfit is powerful. I tried to replicate it, but my mom threw it away."

Mia face turns into a pout as Kat and Hannah exchange a look with each other. I hope they're not continuing the teasing with their eyes. Kat points her finger at me like a teacher scolding a student.

"Max, you know better. You should have waited until after school!"

"Chill, Kat. The bozo sea makes great coverage for our transaction. Right Max?"

A loud clap rings in my ears as Duncan slaps my back. Crackling laughter escapes from Hannah, much clearing now than her initial teasing.

"So Now that you know. Would you guys be down to watch a movie Saturday? We can video chat it if it sways your choice."

"I rather go hunt those Monster Rats."

Kat springs to life, hearing Hannah's complaint. I made a cutting motion with my hands to signal that it was already being taken care of to Kat. She sulks back down as she deflates for some reason. Mia takes this opportunity to ask me a question.

"Who's the film by, Max? Aiden Perry?"

"Great guess Mia! It is!"

I raise my hand for a high-five, which Mia gladly does.

"Who is that again?"

And just like my joy fades with Kat's words. I hold back tears as I give a quick explanation.

"Aiden Perry is a famous horror director from the late 80s-early 90s

era of horror movies. You would have heard his most popular movie

before. Cosmic Blood."

"I have! How sleazy is the movie? Don't want to spend my weekend hearing Duncan howl over the excessive nudity."

Duncan blocks a slap attempt from Hannah as his laughing at Kat response.

"Nothing wrong with Nudity in horror. Like that movie Sleazy Strippers in Ghoul Mall. That was a 10/10 classic"

"Wrong, Duncan."

Mia imitates Kat's serious tone and posture from her earlier lecturing. Then a bright smile flashes on her face.

"The sequel was better! Sleazy Strippers in Blood Manor."

"Right. Like when the main bimbo with massive bolt-ons had to run through the blood rain topless in order to kill the demon!"

"Then out of nowhere, a goat headed statue charges at the girl with a stone axe."

There was a small amount of pride welling up inside me as Mia and Duncan went back and forth talking about the horror movie. Both made by Aiden Perry, by the way. A horrible chill races up my spine, replacing the small pride that was there. Mia and Duncan feel the chill as well, cutting their gushing over the movie short.

The chill is echoing out as more conversations around us die down. A short continuous rapt of fingers slowing build up as we look on to see Hannah. The harsh stare of hers weighing down on all of us, except for Kat. A small snicker comes out of her mouth as she takes a picture of the scene.

"Oh, what to do. Looks like Max has corrupted two more people. Oh, what ever should I do."

The emotionless words escape from Hannah. The cold words form a tight grip on my spine. Different words, sentences, ideas all race in my mind trying to defuse this situation. Instead of furthering this conversation, I go back to pitching the movie weekend. That's when the perfect blade for this moment comes appears.

"If it sweetens the thought, I have never seen the movie before."

My word slice through the chilling wave as I hear a loud wave of students sigh in relief.

"Bullshit, of course you've seen the movie"

"Nope, not this one, Scout's Honor."

I make a cross over my heart, which makes Hannah snort.

"Oh please. That won't last long. Your will is weak to new movies."

"It won't falter. I'll treat it like fighting a monster."

I mimic a memory of Ben slashing down a monster. My erratic arm flailing causes Hannah to burst out laughing, as if the display triggers the same memory for her. Even during laughing, Hannah's face is serious, no sense of a smile.

"""We're down"""

Duncan, Mia and Kat cut into my imaginary swordplay with a unanimous agreement. Mia leans forward with a huge smile on her face.

"After all, it's rare to watch a horror movie with Max that he's never seen before!"