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Susie had never celebrated Halloween before. Actually, there were a lot of holidays she hadn’t participated in.
So who else was going to teach her about holidays except the Princess of Holidays herself?
Noelle had been beyond thrilled that Susie had asked her to help her get ready for Halloween. Susie had failed to mention that Kris had pushed her to do so—not because she hadn’t wanted to, though. She hated to admit it, but she was getting more and more butterflies in her stomach whenever she talked to Noelle. She was just so… pretty. And nice. Susie was sure she had never met someone so pretty and nice.
Anyway, since Noelle had been over the moon to help her, here she was, in Noelle’s bedroom. The place was mostly clean and orderly, except for a few books on the floor at the end of the bed and a pair of pajamas in the corner (thrown there hastily by Noelle as she led Susie into the room).
“You can sit on the bed!” Noelle said cheerfully.
“Oh, uh…” Susie’s lips puckered in surprise.
Noelle looked as though she’d seen a ghost, and not the kind that haunted their police station. “I MEAN… you don’t have to if you don’t want to! Haha! That was, um… silly of me!”
Despite that, Susie thought the bed looked soft, maybe even a little bouncy… and she couldn’t stop herself from flopping on it to find out.
She was right. “Damn, wish I had a bed like this!” she exclaimed, stretching out.
“Oh, well… you’re welcome to it anytime!” Noelle squeaked.
“What?”
“NOTHING. We should, uh, get started on our costumes!” Noelle dived under her bed and pulled out a shopping bag with white fabric in it as Susie sat up.
Shit. “Was, uh… was I supposed to bring stuff?” she asked sheepishly.
Noelle paused. “Oh… I didn’t even notice you didn’t have anything. Well, we could run to the store and get more fabric!”
Susie went red. Did she dare admit she didn’t have the money for that?
Noelle seemed to sense something was off. “Or, um, we could make something with what I’ve got? I think I went a little overboard…” She started pulling the fabric from the bag, rolling it up for at least ten seconds before dropping it to the floor.
“Yeah, kind of looks like you did,” Susie laughed, relieved. “What are you dressing up as, anyway?”
Noelle didn’t answer right away. Susie was just starting to think she’d spaced out when she took a deep breath. “So, a while back I had this dream.”
Susie’s eyes widened.
“You remember that time Berdly and I fell asleep working on our group project? It was then. It’s… kind of hard to remember everything… but I know Kris was there, and Berdly, and this goat guy who looked a lot like… well, I don’t think you know him. And, um…” Noelle blushed. “You.”
Susie pursed her lips to pretend she wasn’t freaking out, for multiple reasons. “Wow, that’s, uh… that sure is a group of people.”
“Yeah… I dunno, I’ve been talking to you and Kris more lately, so maybe that’s why? No idea who the goat guy is, though. But anyway… one thing I remember clearly is what I was wearing.” Noelle went to a desk by the window and picked up a notebook. “I’m not great at drawing, but I wanted to make sure I got all the details down.” She opened the notebook and held it out to Susie.
Susie, of course, already knew what she was going to see.
It was indeed the robe Noelle had worn in the Dark World. Almost pure white, except for a cyan tint. Susie was impressed that Noelle had remembered how small the hood was (she was pretty sure it wouldn’t fit over her antlers). She opened her mouth to compliment the drawing, then realized she was about to reveal it hadn’t been a dream and shut it.
“I thought about making this for a costume… maybe it’s stupid though.” Noelle slowly took the notebook back.
“Nah, I think it’s cool. And, you know, unique and all that. Probably not a lot of people make costumes based on a dream.” Susie shrugged, then her face lit up. “Hey, uh… you remember what I wore in your dream? I could go as that.”
Noelle lit up as well. “Oh, yeah! We’ll definitely have to go out to get fabric though… your outfit was a lot of colors.”
They’d circled right back to Susie not having any money. Great. “Um…”
“Hey, listen.” Noelle put a hand on Susie’s arm. “It’s your first Halloween. I don’t mind paying for costume supplies, I’ve got a lot of savings.”
“Man, I can’t—”
“Seriously, don’t worry about it.”
The spot on Susie’s arm where Noelle had touched her was still warm. “...Fine.”
An hour later, they had all the supplies they needed. Noelle jumped right into measuring and cutting up the fabric, while Susie couldn’t even figure out where to begin. She didn’t even really have a clear memory of what exactly her Dark World getup looked like.
“Oh, yeah, um…” Noelle put down her scissors and grabbed the notebook with the drawing again. She turned the page, and Susie was faced with a rough sketch of her own visage. “Your vest is black with purple trim, your shirt is purple, your pants are, like… a dark pinky red, you have a big gold belt, and black boots, and… and you have golden spikes on your wrists and the edge of your vest.”
Damn, she’s got a good memory. “Cool… still no idea how to start this.”
Noelle smiled patiently. “Here.”
Over the next twenty minutes, she helped Susie figure out how to shape the fabric to her liking. While it was rough at first, Susie found herself enjoying working side by side with Noelle.
“Hmmm…”
“What’s up?” Susie asked.
Noelle held up what she had—mostly the robe part without the hood. “I can’t explain why, but I feel like this is missing something.”
“The hood?”
“No, I’m about to make that. I mean…” Noelle narrowed her eyes at the costume. “This definitely wasn’t part of the outfit in my dream… but… I feel like this needs wings.”
“Wings?”
“Yeah… this just reminds me so much of an angel, I feel it needs them.” Noelle sighed. “If I’d realized this earlier, I could have gotten some feathers or something at the store.”
“Well… you’ve still got a lot of white fabric left,” Susie pointed out. “You could just make them out of that.”
Noelle seemed to consider that. “Yeah… yeah, I think I have an idea.”
It was early evening by the time Noelle held up her new and improved costume. “Hold on, I’m going to try this on.”
She emerged from the bathroom a few minutes later, and Susie’s breath caught in her chest.
The costume was so simple, and looked rough around the edges, but it did deeply remind Susie of the Dark World… and how pretty Noelle had looked.
“God, is it awful?” Noelle cringed.
Susie realized her mouth was hanging open and closed it with a snap. “No, uh, hey, I mean, it looks pretty good for a couple of high school kids, right?”
Noelle looked at herself in the mirror over her dresser. She held up the makeshift wings she’d attached to the back. “Yeah… I guess it’s actually not so bad, for that.”
“You’re doing better than me, anyway,” Susie said. She was going to say more, but Noelle seemed entranced by her own reflection. And to be honest, Susie was more entranced herself the longer she looked.
Like the rest of the robe, the wings Noelle had added were simple and rough, but something about them seemed right, like they had been missing, like they really did belong there.
Susie tried to imagine Noelle in the real robe, with wings, and thought, Wow. She really looks like an angel.
Noelle finally tore herself away from the mirror. “Well, um… it’s getting late. I know you’re not finished yet, but there’s still another weekend before Halloween… do you want to come over again?”
“Hell yeah!” Susie heard herself say it much louder than she intended. “I mean. Yeah, sure.” She got up from the floor. “Thanks. For, uh… everything.”
“Yeah… of course,” Noelle replied softly.
As Susie headed out after cleaning up, she couldn’t get the image of angel Noelle out of her mind. Honestly, she kind of was one, wasn’t she? She’d lent Noelle that pencil at the beginning of everything. She’d also brought her a lunchbox full of chalk, completely unprompted, like manna from heaven. And she was the only one besides Kris who treated her like a friend.
Yeah, Noelle was definitely an angel. If not literally, then she sure acted like one.