"when there's something strange in the neighborhood, who you gonna call?"

★・・・・・・★

Amber woke up and got ready for school. She was excited because it was Halloween, but she also got to see Max. Amber only knew Max for a day, but she felt like she had known her forever.

Amber was going as Strawberry Shortcake. She's been waiting all year to show it off. She made it herself with a little help from Kristen when almost every conversation didn't end up in a fight.

Amber was hoping that Max would ask her or that she would get the courage to ask her to go trick-or-treating together. It was a long shot, but she hoped that it would work out.

-

A lot of people decided to not go to school dressed up like last year, so when Mike, Will, Dustin, and Lucas went to school dressed in their Ghostbusters costumes, it was funny.

"Hey Ghostbusters. Look around," Amber said to the party and giggled.

Amber went to her locker and saw the party walk around the halls as people laughed at them.
A boy called to the party,
"Who you gonna call? The nerds!"

It made Amber angry. She wasn't the type of popular girl to just let someone be bullied right in front of her.

"Hey, hey dipshit! Got something else better to do than pick on kids who are your age for wearing something that they want to? Yeah, real classy," Amber called out in the hall.

"S-sorry," the kid stuttered and walked away. Amber winked at them and walked to her friends.
Amber saw Max skating down the hall and saw Dustin and Lucas looking at her.

"We gonna do this?" Amber overheard Dustin.

"Not right now. We look like morons," Lucas replied.

"Maybe she likes Ghostbusters."

"Of course she likes Ghostbusters, but that's not the point."

"The point is, Dustin, that you guys are dressed up and she isn't," Amber said.

"Well I didn't bring regular clothes."

"Me either."

"Then we have a choice. We gotta do this. It's now or never."

"Right."

"Let's engage," Dustin said.

They didn't move so when Max closed her locker door, Amber giggled as Dustin said,

"Yup."

"Okay," Dustin sighed.

"You guys just need confidence. I..." Amber started as her friends looked at her. "Uh- what do you nerds want? Ew, get away," Amber started as she back away to her friends.

"So sorry," she mouthed to them, then ran to her friends.

-

The bell rang and Amber wanted to watch what was about to go down between Lucas, Dustin, and Max.

Max opened her locker and didn't see Dustin and Lucas standing there until Dustin cleared his throat.

"Um... Hi, Max. I'm Dustin and this is-"

"Lucas."

Amber walked over to Max and said, "Yeah, she knows. The stalkers."

"Uh, n-no uh, actually, we weren't stalking you," Lucas defended.

"No, we were concerned because, you know, you're new and all," Dustin spoke up.

"Y-yeah, yeah, for your safety."

"Mmm-hmm. There are a lot of bullies here."

"So many bullies, it's crazy."

"Yeah?" Amber chimed in.

"Is that why you're wearing proton packs?" Max asked.

When Max asked that Amber giggled. A cute giggle. And it made Max blush a little.

"Well, these don't function. But... I do have this, handy-dandy little trap right here. And look, it even opens and closes. Look, look, look..." Dustin said as he opened it then closed it.

"Volia!" Dustin said as he chuckled to himself. "It's cool, right? No? Okay. But, um, so, we were talking last night, and you're new here, so you probably don't have any friends to go trick-or-treating with."

"Hey, asshole! I'm right here!" Amber exclaimed.

After Amber said that, her friends called her over to talk about trick-or-treating. It hurt Max that she just went over there and ditched them.

"Yeah, I think I'm gonna not go this year. But you guys should have fun without me," Amber lied.

When Amber went back over there, she heard Max say, "That's presumptuous of you."

"Yeah. Totally. Uh, so, um, y-you'll come?"

Max rolled her eyes and closed her locker door, leaving the three standing there.

"We're meeting at the Maple Street cul-de-sac at 7:00. That's 7:00 on the dot!" Dustin half-way yelled at her as she walked away.

"Idiots," Amber whispered to herself as she ran to catch up with Max.

"Hey, Max," she said.

"Oh, hey, Amber. What's up?"

"Uh, okay so, um, I was wondering, would you like to go trick-or-treating with me?"

"Of course, I would," Max smiled. "Um, come to mine and we can start there."

"Okay, cool. Uh, what's your address?"

"4819 Old Cherry Road, and come at 6:00. Hopefully my brother won't be there. But if he is, just say trick-or-treat. He'll slam the door in your face, but, just sit on the steps and wait for me."

"Okay. See you later, Max."

And after that Max went to her next class and Amber stood there, blushing.

"What the hell is wrong with me," Amber whispered to herself. "God, I better not like her."

-

Amber biked back to her house with Mike, Lucas, and Dustin. Kristen was going to pick her up but she must've forgotten because she wasn't there.

"She's cool," Dustin observed about Max.

"Yeah, yeah, she is," Amber said. 

"Wait, why are you blushing?" Lucas asked.

"What? I'm not," she denied.

"Yes you are! You're like that every time you're around her."

"Whatever."

"But really, everyone dressed up last year," Dustin changed the subject.

"Yeah, we all decided not to this year. But, they're cool costumes. I gotta go. Bye, guys."

Amber went ahead of them as Dustin said,
"Hey guys?"

"Go, go, go, go, go, go!" Lucas screamed.

"Mike, you need to haul ass!" Dustin yelled at Mike.

The car swerved out of the way but almost hit Amber. Mike pulled her out of the way and they fell on top of each other, both of them blushing.

"Th-thanks," Amber managed to spit out.

"Holy shit!" Dustin yelled. Mike helped Amber up as Lucas asked, "Who was that?"

"Mad Max," Amber breathed.

Max somehow managed to see Amber and Mike holding hands from Mike helping her up, and she felt a spark of jealousy in her.

"God, Max, quit it. You don't like her," she thought to herself.

-

Amber was dressed up in her Strawberry Shortcake costume and walked to Max's.

Amber lived up on Loch Nora so it took some time to get there. When she got there, it looked like no one was home.

She rang the doorbell in hopes of Max answering but no one did. She rang it again and Billy opened the door.

"Uh, trick-or-treat?" Amber said, in question.

Billy just slammed the door and turned off the porch light, so Amber did what Max told her to do.

She sat on the steps.

"Boo!" Max yelled at Amber. The jumpscare caused Amber to scream and almost fell off the steps.

"Jesus! Max!" she scolded as they both started laughing.

"C'mon, Shortcake. Let's go," Max said to her.

They went trick-or-treating for a while and saw the party come down from a house.

"Hey, let's scare them," Max suggested.

They hid behind a bush as they heard them talk about how they didn't like 3 Musketeers.

Max put on her Michael Myers mask and grabbed Amber's hand. They jumped out and screamed to scare the party and it worked. Max started laughing, which caused Amber to laugh as well.

"Holy shit!" Max said.

"You guys should have seen the look on your faces!" Amber said while still laughing lightly.

"And you? Who screams like that? You sound like a little girl," Max commented about Lucas while linking her arm with Amber's so they walked together.

Max turned around with Amber and said,
"Hey, you guys coming or not? Oh, I heard we should hit up Loch Nora. That's where the rich people live, right?"

-

They went house to house from Loch Nora and got loads of candy.
"Another full-size. Like, seriously, rich people are such suckers," Dustin said. "Wait, you're not rich, are you?"

"No, I live up Old Cherry Road."

"But I am," Amber said as she lightly hit Dustin's arm.
"Oh."

"I mean, it's alright. Street's good for skating."
"Totally tubular."

"Tubular?" Amber questioned.

"What? Did I say that right? Or is it, like, tubular," Dustin asked as he mimicked a surfer.

"It's- it's, like, 'totally tubular'," Lucas said as he also mimicked a surfer.

Dustin and Lucas went back and forth arguing about how to say "totally tubular" as Amber and Max complained about their ears hurting or bleeding.

They went to the next house as they noticed Will wasn't with them anymore.

"Guys, where's Will?" Amber asked.

"What?" Mike asked.

"Will!"

They ran to where they saw his camera and then found him by the apartments where he was hiding.

"Will! Will, what's wrong?" Mike asked. "I couldn't find you. Are you hurt?"

"Holy shit!" Dustin cursed.

"Is he okay?" Lucas asked.

"I don't know," Mike responded. "I'm gonna get you home, okay? I'm gonna get you home. Hold on."

"All right, take it easy," Dustin tried helping them.

"I got him," Mike snapped.

"Mike-"

"Keep trick-or-treating. I'm bored anyways."

"What's wrong with him?" Max asked.

Amber just looked over at Max, not wanting to tell her. She didn't want Max to run away.

"Let's go home guys. Will will be okay," Amber said.

They walked home as Amber walked Max back to her house.

"I had fun, Shortcake," Max said as she walked to her door.

"Please don't start calling me that," Amber responded back to Max.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Amber," she smiled warmly before entering her house.

Amber waved to Max and walked home. She had butterflies in her stomach, and she was blushing and smiling a lot tonight.

"Holy shit..." Amber thought. "I like Max."