Suspicious Minds (Stranger Things Novels #1)(29)
“You should come to Andrew’s Halloween party,” Terry blurted. “I’m asking Ken and Alice, too.”
Gloria said, “Okay, sounds fun.”
Terry might even figure out what to say to them all by then.
5.
Halloween had always been Alice’s favorite holiday. She didn’t mind standing out, being different. But it was a relief to have a day when no one noticed. When everyone stood out, wanting to be different than they usually were. Also, she got to play dress-up.
When coveralls were the usual clothes and socket wrenches the accessories, the reactions when you swapped them out for a nice dress were gently humiliating. Alice liked dressing up, but not the way everyone teased her. Affectionate, yet the undercurrent remained: You’re not the kind of girl who wears dresses…Can’t make a silk purse from a sow’s ear.
Life required trade-offs. Not getting to have someone occasionally say “You look nice” without a wink-nudge was one of hers. Part of her wanted to go full Cinderella for Terry and her boyfriend’s Halloween party—but in the end, she’d been afraid of getting the same sort of looks she got from the people at church in her best dress. So she went for another dream persona of hers. The costume had some glitz to it anyway. She’d modified a drugstore Elvis costume and ended up with a wide collar, big stars sewn here and there on the seams of the top and the white bell-bottoms…
“Evel Knievel!” Terry exclaimed as she opened the door to the apartment. Music bled out from behind her, the room already full of dancing people. Fragrant smoke rolled out. “Alice, it’s perfect! Come in! Andrew, come say hi to Alice.”
Alice beamed at Terry’s correct identification—she was the car-jumping motorcycle daredevil for the night. Terry had bare feet with brown fur glued on, and wore rolled-up trousers and an old shirt. Her hair was arranged in tight curls, pulled aside to reveal pointy wax ears.
“Who are you supposed to be?” Alice asked, puzzled.
Andrew slid up to Terry’s side, good looks muted only slightly by his own ridiculous curls and similar costume. He had fur glued to the top of his hand. “She’s Frodo, and I’m Samwise Gamgee. From my favorite books. I let Terry pick, and she made me the sidekick. But I don’t mind being her sidekick.”
Terry shrugged. “I like Sam.”
“And I like Frodo. Let me get you a drink.”
Alice didn’t drink, but she didn’t say that. She just said, “Thank you.”
She spotted a guy in a monster mask, thin plastic with a distorted mouth and giant teeth. If only he knew what real monsters looked like. Her dress-up joy dissipated a touch at the thought of the lab. That dark place and the darker things she’d been seeing there…
Terry took her arm and led her in, shutting the door behind her. “Ken and Gloria are already here.”
A girl with bright red lips, a long black wig with a center part, and a tight, floor-length black dress stuck her hand out to Alice, fingers dangling. “Morticia Addams, pleased to meet you.”
“Ah, good one,” Alice said. “I’m Evel Knievel.”
“This is my roommate, Stacey,” Terry said, and caught someone’s eye over Alice’s shoulder. “I’ll be right back and we’ll go find the others. I always hate parties where I only know a few people.”
Alice took in the packed room and dancing and wondered how many people Terry knew, and how many parties she’d been to. Must be a college thing. This was the first party Alice had been to in, well, ever. Church picnics and fish fries didn’t count. Of course, she did know every single person at those.
“How did you meet Terry?” Stacey asked, dodging a guy in clown makeup and a dress who sloshed liquid from a cup. “The diner?”
Alice suddenly remembered how Terry had ended up at the lab. She’d taken her roommate’s place.
“The experiment,” she said, quietly.
“How’s that going?” Stacey asked, the words slightly slurred. “Terry never talks about it.”
Hm. Only to Andrew and not to her roommate.
“You didn’t care for it?” Alice said in answer.
“It made me feel out of my brain, and not in the good way.” Stacey shook her head and snorted.
“About like that, then,” Alice said.
Stacey frowned, but Terry reappeared. “This way,” she said and tugged Alice along with her.
The opening guitar licks of the Beatles’ “With a Little Help from My Friends” rang out, and the assembled crowd of astronauts and witches and ghosts and superheroes cheered. When the lyrics started everyone began to sing along spontaneously, about getting by and getting high (louder on that part) with help from friends and needing someone to love.
Alice belted out the lyrics as loud as she could, and, beside her, Terry did the same. The mellow tune and the singing made Alice’s heart feel like it worked better, like the engine of her body was back in good running order for the first time in weeks. She laughed as the song finished, and Terry did too. Then she resumed leading Alice through the crowd. They emerged into a small communal backyard with a picnic table and a bonfire going. The night sky was clear, pinned stars on velvet.
Were parties always like this? Making you regret you’d come one second, then beyond glad that you had the next? Alice had whiplash. At least I’m wearing the right costume for it. Knievel was as famous for getting injured as he was for surviving his crazy stunts.