Halloween Party (Fear Street Book 8)
Halloween Party: Chapter 3

Terry’s parents readily agreed to let him go to the all-night party, but only because Justine’s uncle was going to chaperon. Niki’s parents were harder to persuade, but when Niki showed them the costume she’d spent hours making, they finally gave in.

Meanwhile, Terry, Ricky, Les, and Trish—the “wimp” team—were thinking up tricks to play on the jocks. Terry only joined in halfheartedly, knowing that the real competition was between Alex and him.

Niki absolutely refused to have anything to do with any competition or pranks. But she was really looking forward to the party.

Meanwhile, every day at school was like April Fool’s Day. At first it was just harmless fun.

One morning the jocks “dissed” Ricky Schorr with a huge plastic snake that jumped out of his locker.

Then Les got even by sneaking into the locker room and filling Alex’s and Murphy’s basketball shoes with shaving cream.

The day after that, Trisha received a phone call from someone who told her she had won a thousand pounds of dead fish in a wimp contest.

But then the pranks turned ugly. Two days before Halloween Terry opened his locker and reached for his tennis racket without looking.

“Ohhh.”

Something in there brushed against his hand.

It felt clammy and cold. Like dead flesh.

Terry dropped the racket in disgust.

He took a step back, then forced himself to look down at the racket.

Hanging from the strings, a plucked chicken head was staring up at him through sightless eyes.

“Oh, gross.”

He picked up the racket and unwrapped the note taped around the handle: “Here’s a start on your costume, wimp. You’ll see worse—unless you chicken out and forget the party.”

“Very mature, Alex,” Terry said to the empty hall.

He shrugged, then threw the chicken head and note into the nearest trash can. How could he and Alex have become such enemies? he wondered. He could remember the years growing up, when Alex’s family had lived just down the street.

They had been such good friends then. Inseparable, almost.

Now they couldn’t be together for five minutes without getting into some dumb competition.

It was dumb, so dumb.

But even though he knew it was dumb, Terry still didn’t want to lose to Alex. Not now. Not ever.

On Thursday before the party Terry was hurrying to the school library to do some work on his biology project during study period. He’d chosen seed germination for his project because it seemed really interesting. It was really interesting, but it was also a lot more complicated than he had ever imagined.

He had tried to germinate some seeds and preserve them in different stages of growth, but nothing would sprout. He was going to have to draw illustrations instead.

He rounded the corner just before the library and stopped dead. At the end of the hall was a small group of kids, including Murphy, David, Alex—and Niki. Niki was wearing a bright red sweater and a plaid skirt, and looked so pretty all he wanted to do was go up and hug her. But she was smiling and talking with Alex.

Alex spotted Terry first. He didn’t say anything. He just stared at Terry as if he were a bug or some other low form of life. And then he deliberately refocused on Niki. He bent forward and said something to her, very close to her face. Niki shook her head quickly, looking annoyed, and the jocks laughed and swaggered off. Terry forced himself to act as if he hadn’t noticed anything. “Hi, Funny Face,” he said.

“Hi, Terry,” said Niki. She smiled, but it wasn’t her full smile. She seemed worried, as if something was on her mind.

“What was that all about?” he said casually.

“What was what all about?”

“With Murphy and Alex. What were you talking about?”

For a moment Niki didn’t answer, then she gave Terry the Look, the look that meant he was on dangerous ground. “Why shouldn’t I talk to them?” she asked, sounding defensive.

“Well, it’s just that—that they’re on the other team,” said Terry. Then, trying to make a joke out of it, he added, “After all, this is war!”

But Niki didn’t take it as a joke. “For your information,” she said, “it’s no such thing. And I’m not on either team. Or had you forgotten?”

“I remembered, but—well, you’re going to the party with me, so . . . ”

“I’ll go to the party with you,” Niki said. “But I’ll talk to anyone I want.”

Terry knew she was right. “I’m sorry,” he said. “Didn’t mean to come on so heavy. It’s just that you look sort of worried.”

“As a matter of fact, I am worried,” said Niki. “This whole party is beginning to seem weirder and weirder.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, this dumb contest. Justine is really into it too. And I still can’t figure out the guest list. This group just doesn’t belong together.”

“I know,” said Terry. “But so what?”

“And why did she say no one could bring dates?” Niki went on.

“That’s not a problem for us,” said Terry. “Are you saying you don’t want to go?”

“No,” said Niki. “But, Terry, be careful. This morning Angela told me the jocks are cooking up some tricks for the party that could be really dangerous.”

“Like what?”

“I don’t know. That’s what I was asking Alex about.”

“What did he say?”

“He wouldn’t tell me. He just said I should join his team,” Niki replied, even more upset now. “He said it might not be safe for me to go with the wimps!”

Terry took a deep breath and held it. “What did you tell him?” he asked for a moment. He hated himself for asking, but he had to know.

“Oh, I said he was right and I’d decided to go with the jocks—what do you think?”

The sarcasm in her voice was as heavy as cement, and Terry felt terrible. “Niki, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean—”

“What good does it do to be sorry?” she said. “I can’t believe the way you and Alex are acting. You’re both taking this whole thing so seriously! Why can’t you lighten up and just see it as a party?”

“Hey, it’s not me who’s taking it too seriously,” Terry said. “Alex is the one who’s playing tricks. He’s the one who’s threatening you, trying to cause trouble between us—”

“Will you listen to yourself?” said Niki, her dark eyes suddenly flashing in anger. “Why don’t you just admit that you’re as jealous of Alex as he is of you! That’s what’s really behind this stupid competition!”

She turned angrily and walked down the hall.

Terry thought of going after her, but stopped himself. It wouldn’t do any good. When Niki got that mad, it always took her a while to cool off.

Terry had the library all to himself during study period, but he might as well have been in the middle of a crowded train station for all the work he got done on his project. He stared at photographs of seeds, but all he could see was the face of Alex Beale.

Whatever Alex was up to, he thought, he wasn’t going to get away with it. And Terry refused to be scared off by talk of “dangerous” tricks. After all, it was just a Halloween party. He expected a few scares on Halloween—trick or treat, and all that.

But as much as he tried to make light of it, Terry couldn’t ignore a tiny shiver of foreboding.

Terry was on his way from the library to his next class when he heard angry voices just outside the delivery entrance to the cafeteria. He was about to go on by when he heard a small scream and the frightened voice of a girl: “Stop it! You’re hurting me!”

His heart thudding, Terry pulled the door all the way open. Standing on the service porch were Bobby McCorey and Marty Danforth. Between them was Justine, her face pale and her expression frightened.

“I can’t!” Justine was saying. “Don’t you understand? The party is already set—”

“Well, you’d better un-set it,” said Bobby, sounding really tough.

Justine tried to get away, but Marty had hold of her wrist.

“Like we told you, Justine,” he said. “We don’t take no for an answer.”

Terry walked up to them without even thinking. “All right, you two,” he said. “Let her go.”

“Oh, yeah?” said Bobby. “Who says so?”

“I do,” said Terry. “Come on.”

“You don’t scare me,” said Bobby. But he did let go of Justine’s wrist.

“Come on, Bobby,” said Marty. “We can finish this later.”

“And don’t think we won’t,” added Bobby. He started to go inside, but stopped suddenly and turned to glare at Justine. “You’ve got till tomorrow night to change your mind,” he told her.

“Forget it,” said Justine. “You’re not coming.”

“We’ll see about that,” sneered Marty. “And as for you, wimp,” he added, pointing at Terry, “if you don’t stay out of my face, you won’t need a Halloween mask.”

Swaggering, the two bullies disappeared into the hall.

Justine stared after them a moment. “Nice guys,” she said.

“They think they’re bad dudes,” Terry said. “When it comes down to it, they’re probably the two biggest cowards in Shadyside.”

“Well, I think what you did was really brave,” Justine said, giving him a brilliant and somehow intimate smile. “Thank you.”

Terry noticed that she had her shiny blond hair pulled back in a braid and was wearing a lime-colored sweater that made her green eyes appear even greener.

“Hey, listen, don’t worry about those two,” said Terry. Then suddenly he realized what he’d done. He’d stood up to the two meanest guys at Shadyside.

I could’ve been dead meat! he thought.

Was I out of my head, or what?

“You were wonderful,” Justine said. “Some day I’d like to show you just how grateful I am.” She let her smile linger, then went on. “I also want to apologize to you,” she added, her musical voice low and intimate.

“Apologize?” said Terry, surprised. “For what?”

Justine looked embarrassed. “I—I understand that my party invitations have caused some trouble. That there’s some sort of contest.”

“Well, yeah,” said Terry. “But it’s not your fault.”

“Thank you for saying so,” said Justine. “I never meant the party to cause any bad feelings. All I really want to do is have a few special people over so I can get to know you all better.” For a moment she lightly rested her fingertips on Terry’s arm. He felt a jolt of electricity travel up his arm and then through his body.

“Well—uh—hey, I mean— We’d, uh—we’d all like to get to know you better too,” he stammered.

“I mean,” Justine continued, “there’s no need for a contest. I have plenty of excitement planned without it. The whole idea just seems really silly.”

“That’s what Niki says too,” said Terry. “Niki, my girlfriend,” he added quickly. “In fact, she won’t have anything to do with the contest.”

“Good for her,” said Justine. “She’s in my gym class, you know. Is it really true she’s deaf? Someone told me she was, but it’s hard to believe.”

“It’s true,” said Terry. “But most people can’t tell.”

“I’m so glad she’s coming to the party too,” said Justine. “I don’t have any close girlfriends in Shadyside, and I have a really special feeling about Niki.”

“I’ll tell her,” said Terry. He left feeling warm inside. This party was really going to be special, he thought. And no one—not even Alex—was going to spoil it for him and Niki.

Niki was waiting at his locker when school was over. When she saw him walk up, she smiled sheepishly. “Hi, Terry,” she said.

“Hi, Funny Face.”

“I’m sorry I got so mad before,” she said.

“It’s okay,” he said. “I’m sorry too. You were right. I’ve been taking the contest too seriously. I promise from now on to just forget about it and relax.”

“Good,” said Niki.

Terry smiled at her. It was good to see her happy again. And he felt more relaxed than he had all week too. “So, which way should we walk home?” he asked. “The long way or the shortcut?”

“I think the long way would be nice, don’t you?” said Niki, squeezing his hand.

“You bet,” said Terry. The long way would mean an extra ten minutes of just the two of them alone together.

Terry stuffed his gear in his day pack. “Here, let me have your books,” he told Niki.

She handed him her stack of books, but as she did, her geography book fell to the floor and a small scrap of paper fluttered out. Idly she picked it up and glanced at it, then gasped.

“What is it?” Terry took the paper from her. In crude block letters the note said:

YOU’LL WISH YOU WERE BLIND TOO.