[Scene: Pizza Night with Friends – Evening]
Jeremy joins his friends at a pizza Parlor, the tension from exams melting away as they laugh and joke about their answers. Jace reenacts a particularly dramatic moment from the math exam, earning hysterical laughter from the group.
Amara: [grinning] "Honestly, the celebration's the best part of exams. We survived!"
Leo: [nodding] "Barely, but yeah. Cheers to survival."
Jeremy smiles, realizing how much he appreciates having these moments with his friends. The stress of exams fades, replaced by the warmth of laughter and camaraderie.
[Scene: Myrathis High School – Last Day Before Halloween Break]
The school is buzzing with excitement as students discuss their plans for Halloween. The hallways are decorated with paper bats, cobwebs, and glowing pumpkins. Jeremy walks to class with Jace, who is rambling about his elaborate Halloween costume.
Jace: "Okay, hear me out—vampire cowboy. It's never been done, and I will revolutionize Halloween as we know it."
Amara: [joining them with a smirk] "Revolutionize? More like traumatize."
Leo: [coming up from behind, sipping a pumpkin-spice latte] "I'm dressing as myself. Scary enough."
Jeremy chuckles softly at the banter, feeling a bit more excited about the holidays.
Jeremy: "What's the plan? Are we doing something together?"
Jace: [grinning] "Oh, we're doing everything. Haunted house, trick-or-treating, and then the sleepover of legends at my place."
Amara groans, but there's a playful glint in her eyes.
Amara: "If you try to scare us with fake spiders again, Jace, I'm leaving."
Jace: [dramatically] "You wound me, Amara. I would never!"
[Scene: Haunted House – Halloween Night]
The group stands in line outside the town's famous haunted house attraction, which looks especially eerie in the flickering glow of jack-o'-lanterns. Jeremy adjusts his costume—he's dressed as a wizard, complete with a floppy hat that keeps slipping over his eyes.
Amara: [eyeing Jeremy's hat] "Nice look. Very menacing."
Jace: [grinning at his own reflection in a store window] "And here we have the debut of vampire cowboy. You're welcome."
As they enter the haunted house, the group sticks close together, laughing nervously as actors jump out to scare them. Jace, despite his bravado, lets out the loudest scream when a zombie lunges at him.
Leo: [teasing] "Revolutionary vampire cowboy, huh? Screamed like a mortal."
Jace: [defensive] "It was tactical screaming! You wouldn't understand."
Jeremy laughs harder than he has in weeks, clutching his sides as the group makes it through the haunted house in one piece.
[Scene: Trick-or-Treating – Later That Night]
After the haunted house, the group decides to go trick-or-treating for fun. Armed with pillowcases, they run from house to house, collecting candy and admiring the decorations.
At one house, an elderly couple greets them with bowls of full-sized candy bars.
Amara: [grinning] "This house deserves an award."
Jace: [shoving candy into his pillowcase] "I am officially moving in."
The group continues their candy raid, with Leo occasionally sneaking candy from Jace's stash and Jeremy trading his least-favourite flavours with Amara.
[Scene: Jace's House – The Sleepover]
The group gathers in Jace's basement, which is dimly lit with fairy lights and decorated with fake cobwebs. A stack of horror movies sits next to the TV, and a mountain of snacks fills the coffee table.
Jace: [grinning as he pops popcorn] "Welcome to the night of terror! We're starting with Night of the Living Sandwiches—a classic."
Leo: [raising an eyebrow] "That doesn't sound scary. It sounds delicious."
As the movie plays, Jace jumps out from behind the couch during a tense scene, scaring Amara and earning a pillow to the face.
Amara: [glaring] "I warned you, Jace!"
The group spends the night laughing, telling ghost stories, and joking about their haunted house adventure. Jeremy feels a warmth in his chest, grateful for his friends and the fun they always manage to have.
[Scene: Morning After the Sleepover]
The group wakes up to the smell of pancakes as Jace's mom cooks breakfast in the kitchen. They groggily make their way upstairs, laughing at Jace's bedhead and Leo's sleep-deprived humor.
Amara: [yawning] "Last night was fun. Even with Jace trying to scare us every five minutes."
Jeremy: [smiling] "Yeah… it was great."
As the group sits around the kitchen table, sharing pancakes and rehashing the night's events, Jeremy realizes that this is what he loves most about Halloween—not the costumes or candy, but the time spent with his friends.