A/N: This is my edited chapter 1. This has to be the second edit I've done to this thing so far. Anyway, I'm warning anyone that my main character's brother's name is Vinny. Since I had the name as Justin in later chapters, I needed to edit the whole thing. So... if you see Justin... replace it with Vinny and I'll get the other edited chapters up as soon as I get them done. I'm also fixing the plot of the first several chapters so it fits my story live of the latest chapters.

WARNING: Explicit SEX SCENES and HARSH LANGUAGE and some violence. It's rated M for a reason! If you don't like any of this stuff, GO AND READ SOMETHING ELSE and DON'T FLAME ME BECAUSE YOU HATE THIS STUFF. I will ignore you and kill a kitty. So please... think of the kitties.

I hate Halloween.

I've always have since the day I turned seven. Now, ten years later, I still hate it with a passion. I know that it's for the kids, and my mom always says the same damn thing.

"Aaren, you need to get into the spirit of things!"

Blah, blah, blah. Halloween needs to die. I'm sticking to that. Sure, I love the rot-your-teeth-out fun and the mega-sugar hangovers, but the subject of Halloween just never really stuck with me. I watch so many horror movies to not really care about it anymore. It takes a lot to scare me than just crappy movie monsters and raspberry corn syrup for blood.

Okay, fine. Halloween doesn't have to die, per se. It just needs to leave me the hell alone.

My friends asked me why I never liked the stupid holiday. My answer was never really an answer but a simple shrug of the shoulders and a "I just never cared for it" response.

But that wasn't my real reason for it. Truth said; I don't like it because it has to do with couples.

No really, think about it: You're walking through a haunted house and you get scared, you have the liberty to clutch onto your boyfriend's arm. He can then wrap his other arm around you and whisper soothing words in your ear to make the not-so-scary thing even less scary. But leave it to me, Aaren Tymes, to be man-less.

So I make up all this shit just because of that. I have too much time on my hands: another symptom of being man-less. "So go grab a Snickers Bar!"

I watch way too much TV too.

But Halloween wasn't for another two days. I was safe for forty-eight hours still… or so I thought.

My friend Jiffy (her name is Jasmine but she eats a lot of peanut butter, guess which kind…) showed up out-of-the-blue at my house and dragged me into her car while I was still in my pajamas. It was a Sunday; I wasn't getting dressed for shit.

"JUNIOR THEIF!" I screamed as she drove away with me in the passenger seat.

"Shut the hell up Air Head," she said. I only stuck my tongue out at her. She returned the gesture with her own tongue.

"Where the hell are you taking me Kidnapper?" I asked.

"To the mall," she said. "We're going to get you some stuff for my Halloween party I'm throwing."

"I AM NOT GETTING DRESSED UP!" I said.

"I didn't say you had to wear a costume. We're going to my most hated store in the mall to get you something that resembles Halloween. And you're coming to my party whether you like it or not."

By most hated store, she means Hot Topic. She was not your emo/gothy person. No, Jiffy was your glitter make-up/pink wearing/fluff-loving cheerleader. She has no place in Hot Topic, but my friend Jason (Pea Brain by Jiffy) works there. That's the only reason why she would ever step within a mile of that store.

She blasted her music the rest of the way there, so I was left without a word to say. I just screamed at her inside. But I couldn't help but feel a sense of companionship with the blonde. She was the closest thing I had to a sister and she cared for me as much as I did for her. And despite her being a lesbian (didn't expect that, huh?) I cared greatly for her as well… just not… in that way.

Once at the mall, she dragged me through the doors, down the halls and up to the doors to Hot Topic. She pushed me inside, shoving me up to the counter where Jason was reading a Playboy magazine. He shifted his eyes and smiled.

"You're lucky you have a friend who works here," he told me. "I'm buying and I get a discount."

Jason is the brother I wished I had instead of the one I currently do. Jason is a little taller than me by about five inches. His hair color changes every week to match his mood. This week, it's neon green. I really don't know what the mood is for that, but I don't really care. All I know is that I'm never bored when I'm around him. And if he was interested in girls, I'd probably ask him to date me.

But the thing is I really don't know that much about him. He just showed up out of nowhere and came to our school last year. I ran into him in the hallway and we became fast friends. He also became popular with all the girls at school because of his mysterious being. He never really talks to anyone except me and Jiffy.

He dropped a bag of stuff in my arms and unceremoniously waved us off. Just like Jason to do that, I knew that for sure. If it was just me, I'd probably be talking to him about nothing for the next couple of hours. But he wasn't being rude to me. he was just being rude to Jiffy.

Jiffy and I went back to the car and got in, having spent a record time of less than five minutes in the mall. That's saying a lot about Jiffy; she wants to marry the mall.

I rummaged through the bag when I got home and safely locked away in my room. Jiffy went off back to the mall since she was deprived of it. I looked at the array of things.

Jason had bought me all black. I was going to kiss him later. I love black. There was a black shirt that was made of silk that hugged my chest like a glove when I put it on. It had black lace see through sleeves with the imprint of spider webs. It flowed down to the middle of my thighs with the same lacy fabric. The pants were made of crushed black velvet and they flowed out like a dress when I walked.

There was a smaller bag in the larger one that had black eye make-up, red lipstick (and I mean red) and retainers that were fashioned like vampire teeth.

I have no idea where they got the idea I was going to use the teeth. And who said I wanted to be a vampire? Lousy friends of mine…

But I secretly loved the idea of being a blood sucker. Seducing men with my looks and sucking them dry after a night of fun. I'm not really like that at all, but the prospect of the idea makes me smile. I can dream, can't I?

I went to bed that night not really happy about the 'you're going whether you want to or not' thing from Jasmine. I know she means well, but I just don't like Halloween. I'll just have to humor her on Tuesday.

But to get to Tuesday, I had to go through Monday and a full school day Tuesday. Not fun. Had three tests on Monday, a pop quiz and an evaluation for an art project I did shit on. Over all grade for Monday: F infinity.

Tuesday wasn't any better, except the fact that the idiots walked through the school with their Halloween costumes. They were all making fun of the craziest people. I saw ten Michael Jascksons, about five Elvis', and one Barney the Dinosaur. I was ready to run. Barney needs to die.

Finally, the three o'clock bell rang and I raced to my locker to grab my keys, jacket and bus pass. I wanted to get out before Jasmine had a chance to catch me. If I got home before she saw me, I wouldn't have to go to her place to help set up the living room for her party. Her parents are out of town, leaving their "trusted" daughter with the keys. That's the formula for disaster when the variable D for daughter is replaced with a J for Jasmine.

And just think… I'm failing Advanced Algebra.

I reached for the handle to the door of the locker room where my locker was only to open it to see Jasmine's face. She grabbed me without warning and pulled me through the crowded hallway towards the student parking lot.

"Quit your struggling," she said. "It's not making my job easier."

"It's not supposed to be easy," I said. "Hence the struggling."

"Pfft."

Before I knew it, I was at her house being pushed into the main room for the party. She blasted her favorite music station and I helped her set up while she sang to her favorite songs. I was ready to puke. I hate country rock. Give me some good old classical rock or J-Pop instead.

When we were done, we had the entire house decorated for Halloween. Orange, purple and black streamers hung from the walls and ceiling to the ceiling fan in the living room, they cascaded down the railing to the upstairs in both the entry hall and the kitchen, orange and purple lights were everywhere along with orange and black Chinese lanterns holding silhouettes to cats and other Halloween monsters.

The four upstairs bedrooms, excluding her parents' room, which was locked, were set for the 'naughty'. Those along with the three storage rooms here on the first floor and the two extra rooms in the apartment-like basement had a considerable number of boxes of condoms and the such. Leave it to Jiffy to put something together like this. This is why I don't like her parties too much. People walk in off the street, get it on and walk out like nothing happened.

But here is what I don't get about her: She allows sex at her parties, as long as people use protection, but she doesn't like the idea of drugs or liquor. She'll kick out anyone with drugs and has at least five people search for them. Another thing, she buries the family's collection of wine and liquor in the cellar. I just don't get her.

I sat down on her couch and huffed a sigh of relief that the work was done. Jiffy sat down beside me and draped her arm across my shoulder.

"I'm straight," I said. She looked at me like I was crazy.

"So?"

"That means that you should get your arm from around my shoulders lesbo."

"Don't be such a bitch," she said.

"I have a right. I don't even want to come to this party."

"I frankly don't give three shits," she said while picking something out of her teeth. "I have a goal to get you in one of the Naughty Rooms with a really hot guy."

"Good luck," I said.

"Would you rather it's a hot chick?"

"That's more up your ass."

We sat there throwing insults for about an hour before she pulled me into her room to dress me up in the stuff Jason bought. Leave it to my annoying brother I never wanted, Vinny, to show up and drop them off when I "accidentally" left them at home. Damn that fourteen-year-old… he's going to die a horrible death.

So she made me dress and she made me up with the make-up and put the fangs on me. By the time she was done, it was eight at night and the world outside was all dark. Kids started roaming the streets and Jiffy put the Halloween sign out saying, "Come in for a good scare! Ages 17 and up only."

Within the first two hours, she already had about fifty people in costumes filling in the downstairs. Her Halloween Techno music rang through me like a hammer. I hate techno. I sat on the couch and tried to keep myself invisible.

I do not like Halloween.

I watched the other people mingle about in the blaring music. I noticed many of them were clutching to either a boyfriend or a girlfriend. Some went off into the back of the house where the Naughty Rooms were. Some went upstairs, others just made out right in front of people. Jiffy was really enjoying herself.

She came over and sat down next to me. It was about ten thirty then and I have now officially numbed my ass on her couch. She had a cup of water in her hand. Her make-up was smeared and she noticed mine wasn't.

"Get off your ass and live a little," she said. I only shook my head.

"What is wrong with you?" she asked me, throwing up her free arm in emphases. "You are perfectly capable of finding someone." My eyes shot at her. "Yeah, I knew you were lying when you told me you hated Halloween. I saw right through it. Honey, I'm a lesbo, I can practically read females."

"What kind of guy would like someone with an interest in J-Pop, musical arts and dance?" She looked at me.

"Work on compatibility later," she said. "I'm surprised that no one noticed you. I'll kill the next hot boy who passes by you and doesn't look down. I mean, fire orange hair with red highlights, stunning green eyes and a tanned skin tone? Shit, if you weren't straight, I'd rape you."

"Bad image Jiffy," I said shivering and covering my eyes. She only nudged me a little before getting up and heading over to a group of girls. I only sat back and crossed my legs and admired the silver buckle on my knee-high boot. After getting bored with the boot buckle, my eyes roamed the room again. I noticed the front door open and close. Someone new came in.

I stretched my neck to see who it was, but I couldn't get a good angle. I shrugged and looked about the room again. Then I got a good look at a guy I hadn't seen before. My jaw almost fell off my face.

This dude was HOT. From where I was, he seemed about five foot seven, had curly black hair down to his neck, pale skin that glowed like a light and a slender body under a tight black shirt and black jeans with black combat boots. He just reeked of hotness. There was something about his looks that made me squirm in my seat, too; I couldn't explain it. For a brief moment, his eyes met mine and I was drowned in a momentary sea of dark blue.

Then some bitch got in my way. I shook my head to clear it and sat back again.

That was weird, I thought to myself. I pulled out my ponytail and ran my hands through it to shake it out before I would put it back up. Before I did, a silky smooth voice disrupted my actions.

"You should leave it down," the obviously male voice said. "It looks much nicer."