💫GISELLE💫

HALLOWEEN NIGHT CAME QUICKLY, I'd dodged at least twelve calls from my father, not wanting to hear the excuses he'd cooked up for the last few weeks. Anticipating a long night ahead, the last thing I needed was the stress of sloppy parental guidance and manipulation. I wanted to focus on sticking to the plans I'd set out, staying true to myself, and standing my ground.

"Hey Giselle." Vanessa embraced me tightly. "You look hot. I'm starting to see that pink is just your color."

I was wearing a pink bodycon dress that had missing pieces throughout. Tied loosely around my neck was a short cape-like jacket that covered a little of the revealing ensemble beneath it. Sporting one silk glove on my left hand and a lace garter to add a bit of sexy to my character, I was doused in pink from head to toe. My face was made up to the max, which wasn't a typical style of mine, but Halloween was a special occasion. I had an FX makeup artist design two bloody cuts, one on each cheek.

"Hey, V." I stood back to check her out. She kept it simple. Sporting red devil horns, her face was made up with claw marks and blood dripping from her mouth and head. "Loving this look."

"Not quite as sexy as you but thank you." A three sixty spin sent her twirling off into the living room with Max and Sevyn.

"I'm glad you could make it, Giselle. We've missed you." Loki wrapped one arm around my neck, planting a kiss on my cheek. It was a tad bit hard to focus on any clean thoughts with Loki so close to me. He was wearing a cop costume, shirtless, tattoos greeting us from every angel, and hair falling down in a cascade of loose curls. For the first time, I realized just how sexy Loki was. Those kind of thoughts were the last thing I needed. So, I blocked them out and focused on my greatest challenge of the night.

"I see Zack is good for at least one thing around here." A slick remark was sure to detour my mind.

"Whatever, Sunshine. I'm your favorite. And it takes your favorite to get you to come back around these jerks."

"Oh, we're jerks? Just us, eh?" Loki let go of me long enough to drive his fists in Zack's direction, Zack dodged the first and blocked the second with his arms. A childish laughter filled the kitchen, as their antics quickly came to a halt.

I turned slowly to witness whatever it was that caused them to go silent. That's when a steady heartbeat, keeping a calm stream of blood pumping through my veins and fueling a completely subtle headspace, turned into a raging river, pumping lavishly throughout my body as my heart pounded quickly and irregularly. Bright green hair, gelled in the opposite direction his luscious hair usually ran in, gold teeth on top and bottom, white face, exaggerated red smile, with blood infused lines drawn up the side of each cheek. The Joker.

Taking a long exhale, I convinced myself to ignore all negative feelings. Even though my heart was racing faster than a jockey approaching the last turn on the track, I managed to get out a, "Hey, Angel". There was no smile accompanying my greeting, but at least I said something first.

"What's up?" Standing there in what appeared to be stunned disbelief, I could see his chest rise and fall dramatically. His eyes traveled from my eyes to every inch and crevice of my body. I shifted my weight from one leg to the other, causing his attention to return to my eyes. "Can we talk?"

"About what?" Somehow, I'd managed to curl my lips upward, but the frown in my brows made the smile completely awkward. A shutter in my chest, as I attempted to inhale, caused me to fidget my finger at the hem of my dress.

Without answering, Angel rushed towards me, grabbing my had and pulling me into an empty room. Confused by his lack of communication, once we were inside the room and the door was closed, I snatched my hand from his.

"What is this about?"

"Us." Angel began pacing the floor, scratching at the back of his neck as if he was thinking of what he'd say next.

"Clearly you didn't think this through before taking action." I joked.

"This is not a joke, Giselle." The seriousness in his tone shook me straight, standing tall as I waited for his next move.

"Um..."

"Look. I fucked up. I clearly said we had to tread carefully, and I really messed up." He finally stood directly in front of me, no longer pacing back and forth like a nervous maniac.

"It takes two to tango, you know. It was both of us."

"It was a bet."

"What?"

"Giselle, I bet I could do it. Screw your brains out in the same bed with Aaron."

The slow and steady breaths I originally took returned for revenge. They wanted their deposits back and I had no choice but to give them up. No longer breathing, or seeing straight, I stumbled backwards until I collided with the door. As if it ran into me, I turned to glare at the knob, feeling too weak to grab it and rush out of there before something else unexpected happened.

"W—" I turned to look at Angel once last time. "Why?"

"I was drunk. High. Hurting. I guess I was just out to make someone feel as bad as me."

"Why?"

"There is no real reason. Everything I say will just be an excuse."

"Angel." A tear fell down my cheek. "You made a fool out of me?" I winced, choking on my last word.

"I made a fool out of myself."

"What?"

"Because now I have no chance in hell at being worthy enough to deserve you."

"Worth?" I chuckled dramatically. "Are we really talking about worth, Aaron?"

"What the fuck?" Just as quickly as he was moving in my direction, he backed away.

"I mean..." How on God's green earth did I just call him Aaron? How? The embarrassment from my mistake burned through my cheeks. I felt myself reverting back to the scared, naïve, easily manipulated girl I was running away from. There was no way I was going to be her. "Look. What happened has happened. Bet or not. I've done my dirt and so have you. I'm making the decision to move past it. You should too." Wiping the drying tear that escaped without permission, I nodded my head, accepting the words I'd spoken.

I walked out of the room with my head held high, chest out, twirling my little hips in my little pink getup. Fuck Angel and fuck Aaron. I was going to continue to find myself and move my life in the direction I wanted it to go. I was a joke for my whole life, moving when anyone else told me to, the way they told me to, the speed they told me to, and that was going to change. New me....loading....

***Author's Words****

A new Giselle? What do you think this means for everyone?

Will she mature or get worse?

Does the "new" Giselle have any room for her new friends and Angel?

Please leave comments/critiques/suggestions

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