Chapter 14: The Halloween Ball

Micester High wasn’t just a school, it was the town’s leisure and community centre—funded by Liddington-Phipps, of course. Every year there were five charity Balls held in the school’s massive sports hall. The Halloween, Christmas and Valentine’s Balls were all themed. The Late Spring and Late Summer balls didn’t have themes but were the largest and most lavish.

The Balls themselves were supposed to be for over-eighteens only, but in reality, most of the kids from years eleven, twelve and thirteen went, although I hadn’t been to them all over the past couple of years. I took Kelly to The Valentine’s Ball when we were together but skipped it last year after we split up. The Christmas Ball was always fun in a group, and I went to The Spring Ball one year and The Summer Ball the next since it was too expensive to go to both for someone like me.

The Halloween Ball was the only fancy dress ball of the year. I didn’t normally bother with it. Halloween in general isn’t my thing and neither is dressing up. So I hadn’t booked my costume in advance and ended up going as a vampire. Not very imaginative, I know, but there wasn’t much choice left in the costume shop when I stopped by on Saturday morning. It was either that, a pirate or a cowboy.

Clarissa picked me up at seven. I saw the car—with the roof up presumably so as not to mess up her hair—pull up outside through the lounge window. In truth, I’d been watching and waiting for her. I rushed upstairs to grab my wallet and had just got back down when she rapped on the door.

I took a deep breath, opened it and exclaimed, “Holy shit!” Then when I realised what I’d said, I added, “Sorry, it’s just ... Wow!”

Stood in the doorway was a stunning little red devil. Her usually wavy honey blonde hair was sleek and straight and two little red horns sat on top of her head. The tight, red, knee-length dress had a frayed hem and a cut-out section in the middle of her chest gave a teasing glimpse of cleavage. She had her left hand on her hip and swung her devil’s tail in her right. Her legs looked fantastic in flesh-coloured tights that shimmered in the light when she moved and her red heels were a perfect match for the rest of the outfit.

“Ready?” she asked.

“I am if you are.”

“Oh, I am. Come on, let’s go.”

We left the car outside my house and walked because we knew it would be difficult to find a parking spot at the school. As we set off, Clarissa linked her arm with mine and gave me her best, most dazzling smile. A host of other people were walking to The Ball too, although for a different reason to us—the Westmouthshire Police didn’t tolerate drink-drivers—and the sight of various witches, warlocks and countless other creatures of the night wandering through the streets of this rural town was quite simply bizarre. But not as bizarre as a sports hall full of them.

The sports hall was about two hundred by one hundred feet, easily the biggest indoor space in the town apart from the factory. We entered through one of the two fire escapes on the outside wall. This was probably because of the two entrances to the hall from inside the school building, one was through the men’s changing rooms and the other was the route to the bar. Yes, Micester High had a licensed bar—like I said, it was the town’s community centre too. It’s not like the bar was ever open during school hours or anything (although I’d had days when I’d wished it was).

Once inside, Clarissa scanned the room, obviously looking for someone. Large circular tables, around which ten people could comfortably fit, filled half of the room. A single row of these tables lined two walls in the other half of the hall, leaving a large space for dancing in front of the stage on the far wall. Some band from Walminster that I’d never heard of was providing the entertainment.

“There they are,” Clarissa said, pointing to a table on the edge of the dance floor. She took my hand and strode over, not dragging me with her, but making it clear where she wanted to go. Even before we got there, I could see Grace and Emily sitting next to each other, leaning close and talking animatedly. They were both wearing red devil outfits too. Sitting either side of their mini-conference were two young men I didn’t recognise. They looked to me like they were probably in their early twenties. Another couple sat on the opposite side of the table sharing a joke, but I didn’t recognise them either.

“Hey,” Clarissa said. “You saved us seats, right?”

Grace looked around the room then said to Emily, “Did you hear anything, Em? I thought I did, but I must have been mistaken.”

“No. I didn’t hear anything.”

“Guys!”

Grace and Emily continued their conversation, but at a volume that we could hear. “Can you believe that Rissa is coming with that Townie? What is she thinking?”

“I know,” said Emily, “apparently, her mother had set her up a date with Tom Chapman, but she chose to go with what’s-his-name instead.”

“I swear, Em, she’s losing it. She really is.”

Clarissa took my hand and said, “Let’s get a drink.”

As we walked to the bar I asked, “Did they just blank you because of me? ‘Cause if you’d—”

“Don’t even suggest it, Paul Robertson. You are my date and if those two don’t like it, then tough. Actually, I think that was more to do with my snubbing Tom than to do with you specifically.”

“Tom who?”

“Tom Chapman.”

I gave her a blank look. “You said that name as if it should mean something to me.”

“He’s George Chapman’s son.”

My expression didn’t change.

“George Chapman runs the factory. He has done ever since ... you know. Tom graduated from university in the summer and started on a management-training program at the factory in September. Mom set up the date and told me about it yesterday. She wasn’t best pleased when I told her I’d already made arrangements.”

“But why were Grace and Emily upset about it? It doesn’t really affect them, does it?”

“I don’t think they’re upset so much as annoyed. Grace didn’t speak to me all day yesterday and Ems only spoke to me to tell me that because there were only two of them now, they wouldn’t be able to get a limo. I think they’re more annoyed about that than anything else.”

“That seems pretty petty.”

“Yeah. But that’s Grace. Did you see their dates? They are two of the other management trainees from the factory. I was supposed to get Tom and the way I heard it, the other two tossed a coin to see who got the first pick from Grace and Ems.”

I shook my head. “Unbelievable.”

“Tell me about it.”

We ordered drinks when we got to the bar, and I took out my wallet.

“Put that away,” Clarissa said. “This one’s on me.” She smiled and took a tiny red purse from the red bag slung over her shoulder. “Actually, they’re all on me.”

“Clarissa, I couldn’t let you—”

“Yes, you can. I know this is going to sound snobby, but it’s not like I can’t afford it.”

“And you think I can’t?”

She blushed. “I didn’t say that.”

“But you assumed it. Look, I work. Okay? I can pay my way. And I intend to.”

She nodded, sheepishly.

“So, I’ll get the next ones. All right?”

“Okay.” She smiled. “Sorry, Paul. I didn’t mean—”

“Forget it. No offence taken. Let’s just enjoy the night.”

She nodded again. “Good plan.”

As we walked back to the hall, she said, “You know, I wouldn’t mind Mom trying to fix me up, but I’ve never even had a conversation with Tom. Never.”

Back in the sports hall, we stood by the entrance trying to decide what to do. Obviously, Grace and Emily didn’t want anything to do with us. Fortunately, I spotted Kevin and Lauren sat at a table towards the back of the room. Kevin saw me and waved me over.

“Come on,” I said. “If I’m not good enough for your friends, you’re certainly good enough for mine.”

“Paul, you are good—”

“I was joking. If those two want to be like that then let them, but we don’t have to let it spoil our night.”

“Yeah. You’re right. Let’s go.”

Although Kevin and Lauren were the only ones sitting at the table, six of the other eight chairs had half-full glasses in front of them.

“I didn’t know if you’d be sitting with The High Princesses or not—no offence, Clarissa—but I saved you seats anyway just in case.”