Dumb Holiday

Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! I slammed my alarm clock down and scowled at the tiny slivers of sun coming through my lame pink curtains. Not that I don’t like sunshine, I’m a sunny kinda gal, I just don’t like waking up at stinking 6:20 a.m. I forced myself to get up. Then I felt myself get a sudden rush of dizziness and layed back down again. I sort of rolled/ fell out of bed and turned I walked over to my wardrobe and threw on a pair of faded jeans and and a flowy kind of shirt that I felt made me look fairly “flattering” if I do say so myself. I dragged my tired, sluggish, self into the hall bathroom. I pulled open my curtains letting in the dim light of the fall sun. I have to share my bathroom with my crabby older sister Morgan. She’s a junior in highschool and is a classic teenager. She’s in the bathroom for 45 minutes every morning which is why I have to get up half an hour before her. Anyway, she always leaves the bathroom looking like such a pig sty and it’s totally gross. I pull the perfectly blonde hair clump out of the sink and throw it in the trash. After getting ready, feeling more awake, I walk down the stairs, grab a pop tart and head out the door. As I am walking, thinking about random things, I get totally ambushed by my best friend, Larissa.

“I got it i finished it!” She cried.

“What did-”

“My costume! It’s done, I’m done and it’s bee-u-tee-ful” she exclaimed. Larissa has been working on this fairy costume for at least two weeks now and thats all she has been blabbing about. Unlike me Larissa adores Halloween. I just don’t see the point of dressing up in some silly get up and begging strange neighbors that you never talk to for candy!

“Great! Now you will talk about something else!” Larissa looks hurt at first and then brushes it off.

“Ava you have got to see it, its gorgeous. Come over after school and see it.”

“I don’t know its a Tuesday an-”

“Please, please please please please ple-”

“Fine!” I kind of yelled a little but she just won’t stop. I glanced over to see if she cared but she just looked like she was happy to win.

“Cool, we can walk straight to my house.” Larissa and I live on the same street so we always walk together. Then, before I can change my mind, she runs up the school steps without a moments hesitation.

***
In Mr. Milsons class, I used every ounce of will not to fall asleep. He was doing one of his usual lectures on some dead explorer.
“Alright class, we are going to continue our conversation next week. The principle wanted me to make an announcement about this years Halloween contest,” every sleepy head in the class perked up except for mine. I could really care less about this stupid “holiday”. “As you know, we pick one lucky guy or gal to be the judge for the contest at random and that very person happens to be in this class!” I kept my head down on my desk. I was only half listening which is why when I heard my name being announced i shot my head up faster than a rocket.
“Congratulations Ava, you get to be the judge this year!”
“But I don’t wa-” just then the bell went off and all the students grabbed their stuff and hustled to their next class. I just sat there, motionless. How could I be the judge. I hate halloween and this dumb contest. Just my luck that I get to be the one who sits there and watches all the girls and boys flounce around in there ridiculous costumes. Just then, I see Cari Mallick run up to me. Cari and I don’t usually talk. I only know her because shes in social studies with me.
“Hey Ava, I love you shoes, so cute!” I look down at my Keds that I have had since the beginning of the summer. They are covered in grass stains and some blue stain peaks over the edge of the heel. I look back up and raise one eyebrow.
“Really?”
“Yeah totally, so I hear you are the judge for this years contest! That is so cool.” so thats what this is about. “I’m going to be something really cool and I was hoping for first place this year.”
“Um I gotta meet Larissa outside, see ya.” I speed walked away from her. I needed to talk to Larissa. I hadn’t even thought of the fact that everyone in my grade wants to win this contest. First prize is like an Ipad or something awesome. No person in the right mind would not kill to win this. Judging this thing is going to be tough.

***
“So you were picked, you’re sooo lucky! And now I have an even bigger chance of winning!” Larissa vented as she dug around for her key.
“Larissa, I need to be fair, it will be totally obvious if I just let you win.”
“Trust me, after you see my costume, you will know I am the winner.”
“But I have not even seen anyone else’s costume yet and I-”
“Just look!” Larissa finally got the door open and pulled me inside.”
We ran into her room where she pulled open the closet. She took the costume and held it in front of her as if to model what it would look like on. It was the most beautiful fairy costume I had ever seen. It was a silk light purple gown up to about her knees. There were strips of dark blue fabric draping over the bottom part of the dress. There were small gems sprinkled all over the dress. It was a strapless v-neck style neck line. The wings were even prettier. they were silver and had sparkles sprinkled all over the fabric. They had swirly blue and purple designs on them. The whole costume was absolutely breathtaking.

I must have been staring for a while because Larissa said “Don’t you just love it!” She had a smile that stretched across her entire face. I could really tell she was proud of it.

“Larissa it is the most fabulous costume I have ever seen. And that is coming from someone who absolutely despises Halloween.” And I meant it. I could already tell Larissa was going to win. Not because shes my best friend but because she has a fantastic costume. No ones costume could be better. At least thats what I hoped. If Larissa didn’t win this thing, she would never speak to me again.

***


When I got home Morgan was sitting at the kitchen table eating a bowl of spaghetti.

“Where did you get the pasta?” I asked. Morgan pointed at the brown take out bag. I walked over and emptied the rest of it’s contents into my bowl. I set the bowl on the table and started thinking about the Halloween contest. What if someone had a better costume than Larissa, even though I highly doubted it. But if I let her win, what if people think it out of favoritism. I sighed an over exaggerated sigh and dropped my fork into the spaghetti.

“What’s up with you?” I jumped in my seat. I had forgot Morgan was there.

“Theres this Halloween contest. Larissa really wants to win and I’m judging.”

“Is her costume good?”

“It’s fantastic. The most beautiful costume I have ever seen!”

“Then what’s the problem?” said Morgan in a duh voice.

“If I let her win then people might think it’s because shes my best friend!”

“Look, if her costumes really amazing as you say it is, then she deserves to win. Anyone who argues will just be a sore loser. You're the judge, not them.” With that she shoved the last spoonful of pasta in her mouth and set the bowl in the sink. Then she ran upstairs and shut the door to her bedroom.

I thought about what my sister said later that night. Maybe she was right. I already knew without seeing anyone elses costumes that Larissa was going to be the winner. She had worked so hard on her costume. I just hoped that no one had a better one than she did.





***
When the principal announced over the loudspeakers that it was time to head to the auditorium, everyone almost immediately jumped out of there seats and began to head out the door. So far, I had not seen anyone with that great of a costume, but I was only in first period. I walked to the head of the auditorium.
“Okay Ava, chose five people from the school to come up. Make sure they all have nice, unique costumes.” whispered Principal O’Ryan.
“Umm okay” I scanned the room for people dressed in cool costumes.
“Cari Mallack” she was dressed as a fish. She wore a body suit with pretty red, orange, and yellow scaled on them. Then I selected a sixth grader dressed as a very convincing ogre, a seventh grade girl dressed as a zombie, an eighth grade boy dressed as a cereal killer. He had a plain white shirt and cereal boxes taped all over him and was carrying a spoon stained red. Then I called up Larissa.
“Okay Ava, good choices very good, Now select third, second, and first place.”
“Ok, in third place is the ogre!” I felt happy when I saw the kids whole face light up. I handed him the small basket of candy wrapped in cellophane.
“Thank you!” said the boy as he ran down the stage steps where he greeted his friends with a giant smile.
“Okay, in second place is Cari Mallack. Come on down and claim your prize.” I said this time with a bit more confidence. The ogre boys happiness had made me a little more enthusiastic about giving away the last two prizes.
“Yay! Thanks Ava!” Cari said claiming her prize. It was a bigger version of the first basket of candy. She twirled showing off her costume and trotted happily back to her seat. Okay, now it was time to choose the winner. I glanced over at Larissa’s hopeful face as she glanced around the room. She was clearly the winner. She had worked the hardest of probably everyone in this room making her costume. Everyone knew she was the winner. I had heard all the compliments that she had gotten on her costume. It didn’t matter if she was my best friend or not. She was the true winner and deserved the first prize.
“And the winner is...” I watched as the lights on the stage beamed different colors, the drummer was pounding away at his drum roll, “Larissa Jones!” I watched as Larissa made the biggest smile she had ever made. She beamed from ear to ear. She ran up and hugged me tightly.
“Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you! You are the bestest friend in the whole wide world”
“Larissa, you deserved it completely.” I gave my friend the grand prize, which was a medium sized candy basket as well as an IPad, and stepped back to let her have center stage. I watched as the crowd whooped and hollered. Maybe Halloween wasn’t so bad. I think I’m going to dress up next year. Maybe, I can even win the contest.