Hiatus.

As usual I will be "gone" all of November for National Novel Writing Month, last year i didn't give a warning and just mysteriously disappeared. Sorry 'bout that. This time I am letting you know that I am writing a novel in November so I won't have any time to write for this blog.
I will be back in December!
Happy Halloween and thanks for reading A.L. High.

An A.L. Halloween part 5

Layla and her friends arrived at the dance “fashionably late” because Honey had a minor melt down about her costume. But nothing that couldn’t be fixed with a couple a pep talks from Lexi. No wonder she was a cheerleader.
Lexi and Honey went straight to the dance floor so Layla followed their lead. They danced for a long time, with people Layla didn’t recognize joining them. Lexi seemed to know everybody though and hugged everyone she saw.
After a while Layla’s feet hurt so she excused herself from the dance floor and went to find a seat. Unknowingly she accidentally sat next to Thomas.
“Hey,” he said.
“Oh,” Layla said, “hi”
“You look crazy,” Thomas said.
“I’m a zombie,” Layla said, “duh. I want to eat your brains, that makes me sort of crazy.”
“Yeah?” Thomas laughed, “well my brains won’t be very helpful, I’m almost failing science.”
Layla laughed, “so what have you been up to?”
“School,” Thomas said, “haven’t found myself anything else to do. I’m a photographer for the school newspaper.”
“Cool,” Layla said. “I didn’t know you took pictures.”
“Well, you talked with me for about fifteen minutes,” Thomas said, “I’ll let that one slide.”
This guy’s sort of funny, Layla thought. Why exactly was she not hanging out with him? Oh yeah because he’s been ignoring her.
“What have you been up to with your friends,” Thomas said. Layla frowned, he said friends like it was a joke.
“Hanging out,” Layla said, “they’re really fun. You wouldn’t know since you jumped ship as soon as I met them.”
“Sorry ‘bout that,” Thomas said, looking sincere, “I don’t have good experiences with the Populars.”
“But they’re not Popular,” Layla said. Sure Lexi knew everyone in school, but that’s because she was a cheerleader last year.
Thomas shrugged, “maybe, but they want to be. Why else would they sit there?”
“It might just be their table,” Layla said, but she knew she was wrong. Lexi had just mentioned how their costume would be sure to get them some attention from the Populars.
“Yeah right,” Thomas said.
“Layla!” Honey said stumbling towards her.
“My feet are gonna fall off,” Lexi said right behind her. They collapsed next to Layla and took their shoes off.
“No way am I walking on this icky floor bare foot though,” Honey said, holding her feet up.
“You still have you tights,” Lexi said.
“Tight’s don’t count,” Honey said.
“Thomas?” Lexi said, finally noticing him.
“Are you guys friends again?” Honey asked.
Thomas shrugged, “I gotta go. See you later, Layla.”
“‘See you later, Layla,’” Honey and Lexi repeated at the same time when he was out of hearing range.
“He likes you,” Lexi said, poking Layla on the arm.
Layla blushed, maybe they were friends. Maybe he wasn’t ignoring her. Whatever it was, he wanted to see her again so that was good sign. But why did Layla care so much, it wasn’t like she actually knew or cared about him.
“You guys should totally dance together,” Honey said.
“Go, before it’s too late,” Lexi pushed Layla, causing her to almost fall.
Layla sighed, there’s no use trying to argue with them so she walked towards where she saw Thomas go. It hurt with every step she took, why had she let them talk her into heels?
“HI,” Layla said when she found him at the snack table.
“OH, hey,” Thomas said, “ditched your friends for me? How sweet.”
“Actually they told me to come and ask you to dance,” Layla said.
“Oh?” Thomas said, “Well then, I’m waiting,”
“I’m not gonna ask you to dance,” Layla said, “I don’t do everything they tell me to do.”
“You came over here,” Thomas said.
“Because there is no arguing with those two,” Layla said.
“Well, why not dance then?” Thomas asked.
“Are you asking me to dance?” Layla asked.
“I think I am,” Thomas said.
“Then why not?” Layla said.
So they went out to the dance floor and danced. Layla noticed Lexi and Honey pointing to them and giving her a thumbs up. Layla laughed and rolled her eyes, pointing them out to Thomas. He just shook his head, laughing.
After a while Lexi and Honey came to join them and Thomas mysteriously disappeared but Layla didn’t really care. He didn’t have to like her friends.
---
Purity waited in the living room with her family the night of the dance. She really didn’t want Daniel to meet her parents just yet, but they insisted on waiting with her. She tried to tell them that it wasn’t a big deal. But they said that they wanted to meet whoever she was going on a date with, even if it “wasn’t a big deal.”
So far the first impression wasn’t good, he was a good forty five minutes late.
The doorbell rung and Purity jumped up and ran to the door to get to it before her parents did. Daniel looked dashing in his costume, well as dashing as you can look as Frankenstein.
“Hi!” Purity said.
“You must be Daniel,” Philip said behind her.
“Yep,” Daniel said, looking nervous. Purity understood, it was only their first, sorta kinda, date.
“I’m Philip, Purity’s dad,” Philip said, offering his hand to shake. Daniel shook his hand.
“And I’m David, her other dad,” Her dad said.
“Uhm, hi,” Daniel said, shaking his hand to.
“”Let’s go, don’t wanna be late,” Purity said, although they already were.
“Okay,” Daniel said.
“See you guys later,” Purity said.
“Eleven o’clock,” Philip said.
Payton waved bye.
“Who was that other guy?” Daniel asked when they got in the car. Which was nice by the way, everyone who was old enough to drive at A.L. High had nice cars. Purity was pretty sure there wasn’t a single poor family in town.
”You mean Payton?” Purity said.
“Yeah?” Daniel said, “your twin right?”
“Yeah,” Purity said.
“He was silent,” Daniel said, “does he not like me?”
“Oh, no,” Purity said, “he’s mute. He hasn’t talked since last year.”
“Oh,” Daniel said, surely feeling awkward now.
As soon as they got to the dance Daniel ditched. At least he had the manners to tell her.
“Hey, look, I gotta go,” Daniel said when they parked the car outside of the gym. “I promised my friends I would do something with them tonight. I’ll be back by eleven to drive you home.”
Purity didn’t have anything to say, she was shocked. Why did he ask her to the dance if he was just gonna leave.
“I’m sorry, but I needed an excuse to go to the dance,” Daniel explained, “See, my parents weren’t gonna let me go, but when I told them I already asked someone they had to let me go. But I didn’t really want to go to the dance, it was just an excuse so I can go see this band that’s playing out of town.”
“Oh,” Purity said. So he didn’t really like her.
“Yeah, so can you... uhm, get out of my car?” Daniel asked.
“Oh, yeah,” Purity said, “Bye.”
“I’ll be back at ten forty.” Daniel said.
Now out of the car as Daniel drove away Purity felt like crying. She didn’t want to be at this dance, she hated Halloween. Her night was ruined. She sat down on the curb and sighed, it was cold. She couldn’t stay out here all night. The only other choice was the dance. That’s when she noticed someone else standing outside of the gym.
It was that Popular boy. Harriette’s twin brother. What was he doing out of the gym? Not inside hanging out with all of his friends. She pondered that as she passed him to go inside the dance.
Inside the dance was even worse. It was dark, with gimmicky Halloween decorations everywhere. Plus it was crowded and loud. She wandered over to the snack table and poured herself some punch. She heard some girls giggling and she was sure she was the cause. A lonely Bride of Frankenstein.
But looking back she saw that the girls were pointing to the middle of the dance floor, so she guessed it wasn’t about her. Gosh, how self centered was that thought?
“Uhm, excuse me?” someone said. It was the Populars.
“Oh, yeah,” Purity said, realising she was in front of the punch.
The petite asian one, DaeRi, rolled her eyes at her. Purity frowned, what had she done? She moved out of the way as soon as they asked, hadn’t she?
“You’re being the Bride of frankenstein, alone?” Harriette, the Queen Popular, asked. It didn’t sound like she was making fun of her, just like she was genuinely curious. So Purity decided to answer honestly.
“My date ditched me,” Purity said.
“Aw,” Harriette said, look honestly sympathetic. “Well, none of us has dates either, so it’s not like it matters.”
“Yeah,” The Indian one said. Purity thought Tamarai was her name, but she wasn’t sure. It’s not like she memorized the Popular’s names.
“Well, thanks for the pep talk,” Purity said, feeling slightly better. The Populars were talking to her. It’s not like she strived for popularity, but having the Populars notice her was good.
“You’re welcome,” Harriette said, then she turned to her friends, “Where’s Collin?”
Collin. That’s the guy outside.
“He’s outside,” Purity answered, though Harriette wasn’t really asking her.
“Really?” Harriette asked, turning back to her looking upset. “Oh god. I gotta go.”
Purity watched with Tamarai and DaeRi as Harriette rushed through to crowd to the door.
“What’s up with her?” Purity asked.
“Her and Collin’s relationship is falling apart,” DaeRi said.
“But their twins aren’t they?” Purity said.
“Yeah, their friendship is falling apart,” DaeRi said.
“It is not,” Tamarai said.
“Collin hates being Popular and Harriette lives for it,” DaeRi said, “they just don’t mesh as well as they used to.”
“I live with them,” Tamarai said, “I would notice if they weren’t meshing.”
“You don’t notice anything,” DaeRi said.
Tamarai frowned, “They’re perfectly fine.”
---
Out front Harriette found Collin sitting on the curb.
“What are you doing out here?” Harriette said.
“The dance is boring,” Collin said.
“But it’s even boring-er out here,” Harriette said.
Collin shrugged, “are you having fun?”
“Yeah,” Harriette said, “I would be having more fun if you were with me.”
“Sorry,” Collin said.
Harriette didn’t know what to do. She was borderline distressed. Collin was obviously upset and Harriette didn’t know who to fix it. She wanted everything to be okay and quite frankly she felt like crying.
She sat down next to Collin.
“What can I do to make you feel better?” she asked.
“I’m fine,” Collin said.
“You’re not, “ Harriette said, “I don’t even remember the last time I saw you really happy.”
“Harriette, I’m always happy,” Collin said, smiling at her.
That’s when Harriette couldn’t hold it anymore and just burst into tears. “But you’re not right now.”
Collin hugged her as she continued to sob, probably getting her makeup all over his shirt.
“It’s okay, I’m happy as long as you’re happy,” Collin said.
“Stop saying that,” Harriette sobbed.
A couple of people left the dance, giving them strange looks. This was gonna big a big topic of gossip on monday.
“Come on, let’s go home,” Collin said.
“We need a ride,” Harriette said, trying to calm down.
“I’ll go ask around,” Collin said.
“That’s embarrassing!,” Harriette said.
That’s when a group of girls came out, saw them, actually stopped and looked concerned.
“Are you guys okay?” the one with crazy blond hair, Collin recognized her as a cheerleader from last year.
“Uhm, yeah.” Collin said. harriette was covering her face, no doubt super embarrassed.
“Do you want a ride?” the girl with equally crazy brown hair who Collin didn’t recognize asked.
Harriette sniffed, “Okay.”
“Cool,” the brunette said. “Come on, our cars over here.”
Collin helped Harriette up, “I have to let our friends know we’re leaving.”
“Yeah,” Harriette said, “you go do that.”
Back in the dance Collin found Tamarai and DaeRi over at the snack table talking with someone he didn’t recognize.
“We’re leaving,” Collin said.
“Is mom here already?” Tamarai asked.
“Harriette doesn’t feel well so we’re getting a ride,” Collin explained.
“Oh, is she alright?” the other girl said.
“Yeah,” Collin said, “she just wants to go home.”
“We’ll wait for mom,” Tamarai said. “You guys go ahead.”
“Okay, see you later,” Collin said.
“Bye,” DaeRi said.
Outside the girls had pulled the car up and were waiting for him. He got into the the back seat with Harriette and saw that she had mostly fixed her makeup, borrowing some of the girls stuff.
“By the way, this is Lexi, Honey and Layla,” Harriette said, pointing them out respectively.
“Hi,” Collin said.
“You guys are so nice to do this for us,” Harriette said, obviously fully recovered from her breakdown now since there were other people around.
“You guys live on Victoria lane right?” Lexi asked.
“Yep,” Harriette said, “in the big yellow house. We just painted it this summer, I love the new color.”
“The Big Yellow house,” Honey laughed, “that’s what I'll call it from now on. Harriette and Collin live in the Big Yellow House.”
Harriette laughed, “that’s cute.”
It didn’t take too long to get to there house since everything in this town surrounded the schooled. when they arrived they thanked them again for the ride and then went inside.
“You guys are home early,” their mom said when they entered the kitchen.
“Had a minor meltdown,” Harriette said, “but I’m okay now, you still need to pick up Tamarai and DaeRi though. And take DaeRi back to her house, I don’t feel like a sleepover.”
“Okay,” her mom said, looking concerned, “if you need anything, you know where to find me.”
“Thanks mom,” Harriette said.
They went upstairs to Harriette room.
“I need to shower,” Harriette said, “you should too.”
“Uhm okay,” Collin said. He didn’t really want to shower, so he went to his room and changed into some pajamas and waited for Harriette. He wanted to make sure she was okay.
“I’m fine,” Harriette said when he checked on her later. “I’m tired and I want to go to sleep. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Collin left the room and went back to his own. He didn’t feel like sleeping, everything from that night kept him awake. He didn’t ever want to see Harriette that upset ever again. He fell asleep eventually, thinking that he was just glad that this Halloween dance stuff was over.

An A.L. Halloween part 4

On the day of the dance Collin still refused to go no matter how much Harriette pouted or pleaded. Finally Harriette gave up and went to her room to get ready.
Collin came into her room a few minutes later.
“Harriette?” he asked.
“Yes?” Harriette said, carefully curling her hair.
“I’ll go to the dance with you,” he said quietly.
“Really?” Harriette said, almost burning herself with the curling iron.
“Yeah.”
“You’re are the best,” Harriette said, running over to hug Collin.
“Don’t burn me,” Collin said.
“Oops,” Harriette said, remembering was still holding the curling iron. “Good thing I got you a costume anyway.”
Collin frowned.
“What? I had to be prepared,” Harriette shrugged. “You’re my Prince Charming.”
“I don’t wanna be that,” Collin said.
Harriette frowned and looked up from where she was searching in her closet. “Well, what are you gonna be?”
Collin shrugged.
“See? stop being difficult,” Harriette said. She found the clothes for Collin’s costume and then handed them to him.
Harriette went back to her hair, assuming that Collin would just put on his costume. But after she had curled her hair, put it up into a bun and put on her tiara, Collin was still sitting there.
“What’s wrong?” She asked.
“I don’t want to be Prince Charming,” Collin said.
“Oh, come on, Collin,” Harriette said, “You’re just saying that because you want to be difficult.”
“I’m saying it because I don’t want to,” Collin said, setting the clothes on the bed. “I can do things for myself.”
Harriette watched as he got up and left the room, not really knowing what to say.
--
Collin didn’t really care about being Prince Charming, he was just upset that Harriette would go ahead and plan his costume, assuming that he would just agree with it. Sometimes it felt like she controlled his life. But honestly he was just tired of everything that had to do with school, and he really didn’t want to go to this dance. But for Harriette...
Back in his own bedroom he stared at his closet. He was wondering what he could be for the dance. He still planned to go with Harriette, he had already decided on that and it would be rude to cancel on her. Harriette was his best friend, and he didn’t want to hurt her feelings.
He just hoped he hadn’t already.
Harriette appeared in his doorway, “I’m sorry.”
“You don’t have to be,” Collin said, “I don’t want to ruin this for you.”
“But it’s just a stupid dance,” Harriette said. She walked in and sat on the bed. “I’m getting upset about a stupid dance.”
“It’s important to you,” Collin said.
“But not everything that’s important to me has to be important to you,” Harriette said.
“I just want you to be happy,” Collin said.
“But I want you to be happy,” Harriette sighed.
“I’ll be Prince Charming,” Collin said, “Just this time, next time I get to choose.”
“Collin, you’re the best,” Harriette said, hugging him and skipping out of the room.
So maybe Collin was a pushover, but it was all worth it to see Harriette smile.
---
The gym was decorated from the floor to the ceiling with Halloween decorations. There were bats hanging from the ceiling, cobwebs everywhere, orange and black streamers were hanging on the wall, with fake spiders clinging to the cobwebs.
“You’re costumes are so cute,” someone said as soon as Collin, Harriette, Tamarai, and DaeRi entered the dance. Collin doubted that they even knew who they were being.
“This is gorgeous,” Harriette said, walking over to the snacks table.
“Yumm,” Tamarai said, picking up a cupcake with a gummy spider on it.
“You guys look great,” Heather, one of the Popular Followers, said.
“Thanks,”  Harriette said, “you look cute.”
Heather, dressed as a faerie, thanked her back. She then looked around, as if looking for someone.
“Are you looking for someone?” DaeRi asked.
“Yeah, Tracy,” Heather said. “She told me she would only take a second. But knowing her she got caught up in the bathroom trying to perfect her hair. Again.”
“You should probably go find her then,” Harriette said.
“Nah, she’ll come out eventually,” Heather said, “so what are you guys being?”
“Isn’t it obvious?” Harriette said.
“Oh, yeah of course,” Heather lied.
Harriette smiled, “I think the tiara and the blue dress would give it away.”
Heather nodded, obviously trying to put it together. Harriette laughed and rolled her eyes. Collin couldn’t help but notice that Harriette was so different when she was with other people. He had noticed it before, but now it felt weird. She was way more snobby.
“Their modern disney princesses,” Collin said.
“Oh,” Heather said, “Yeah, obvious. You’re Cinderella. And, uhm, Jasmine and Mulan?”
“Yep,” Tamarai said.
Finally Tracy came back from the bathroom. She was dressed as Pocahontas.
“Tracy!” Heather said, “I was just talking to these girls.”
“Oh,” Tracy said, “sorry for taking long,”
“It’s nothing,” Heather said. “Let’s go dance.”
“You guys go,” Harriette said, “we just got here, I wanna mingle first.”
“Okay,” Heather said, taking Tracy’s hand and leading the way to the already packed dance floor.
“Finally,” DaeRi said, “now let’s mingle with actually important people.”
“I’m just gonna stay here,” Collin said,
“Don’t get too lonely,” Harriette said, “if you need me, find me.”
“Okay,” Collin said, “have fun.”
After they left Collin found his way outside. A bunch of people were smoking in the back so Collin went to the front. This dance was quite frankly a waste of time.

An A.L. Halloween Part 3

To Purity, Halloween had always been one of those pointless holidays. You get dressed up in a costume and then go around asking for candy. That seemed pretty pointless to her.
Purity’s family had never celebrated Halloween, as they all pretty much thought the same as her. Except for Payton, Purity’s twin brother. Payton had loved the idea of Halloween ever since he was a kid. He used to beg their parents to let them celebrate it, but they always said no and that it was a pointless holiday.
But this year was a little different. Purity was going to the Halloween dance for the first time. She had never had a reason to go before, but this year she had a date.
Purity really couldn’t believe it when Daniel asked her. It’s not that she wasn’t pretty, or a loser, or anything bad like that, it’s just that she was sort of invisible. She thought no one had even noticed her.
Daniel wasn’t popular, but he wasn’t invisible or a loser. He was a bit closer to the top tier. He played baseball last year but had to quit after hurting his arm. Now he was on the A.L. News commitee, their school newspaper. Purity had joined the committee this year in hopes that she would meet new friends. And it worked, now instead of going straight home after school she was going to the park, or the deli, or even someone’s house. She was hanging out with people, and that was a first.
For the halloween dance Purity and Daniel were going as Frankenstein and his bride. Purity wasn’t a big fan of this idea at first but Daniel talked her into it. He said that it was the perfect couple costume, which of caused Purity to grin like an idiot because he called them a couple.
Now Purity was modeling her costume for her family and her parents were both trying their best not to make a face.
“You look great,” Philip, one of her dads, said. Purity could tell he was trying hard to be nice, maybe a little too hard since he looked pained.
Her other dad on the other hand wasn’t so nice, “you look insane.”
“Dad!” Purity said, “I look like the bride of Frankenstein.”
“And she looks crazy,” he said.
“David, don’t be so mean,” Phillip said.
Purity sighed and turned to Payton, “what do you think?”
Payton grinned and gave a thumbs up. Purity smiled, a thumbs up plus a grin meant great.
About a year ago Payton was in an accident and ever since then he couldn’t talk. At first he was distressed. He locked himself in his room for most of the day, refusing to interact with anyone. But after a while their parents talked him into learning sign language so he can talk to everyone. He doesn’t use it much though, preferring to use obscure hand gestures.
Payton opted out of going to the dance. Even though he loved Halloween, he was never a fan of school dances.
“You look great, honey,” her dad said finally, after Philip talked him into it.
“Thank you,” Purity said, “now I need to go change back into normal clothes. TTYL.”
Purity skipped up the stairs. She was extremely excited, this was her first date ever. Carefully she changed out of her costume and into some comfortable clothes.
She couldn’t stop thinking about the dance, it was all that was going through her head throughout dinner, all the way till she fell asleep that night. She imagined dancing with Daniel. Everyone would complement them on their costume and then he would take her home and maybe, just maybe, kiss her on her doorstep. Just like a movie. That’s all she wanted.

An A.L. Halloween Part 2

The Halloween dance was only a week away which meant the first school event since Layla came to school. Well, the first one she could make it to, she had been sick for Homecoming.
Layla, Lexi, and Honey were going to the dance dressed as zombie princesses. They had just spent the whole day shopping to find the perfect dresses, stopping at every thrift store in town. Which wasn’t much, only two since they lived in such a small town. Finally they each had a dress and were stopping for lunch at the Deli.
“This is gonna be major,” Honey said, sipping her milkshake. The Deli had the best milkshakes in town.
“Totally,” Lexi said, “I can already see myself all dressed up, it’s gonna be fab.”
“Yep,” Layla agreed. This whole zombie princess thing was a little out of her comfort zone, the last time she had really dressed up was for her sister’s quinceanera.
“Hey, look,” Honey said suddenly.
“What?” Lexi asked, looking around.
“Isn’t that the guy Layla was eating with the first day?” Honey asked.
Layla looked where Honey was pointing, sure enough it was Thomas sitting alone reading. Layla shrugged, “yeah that’s him.”
“Oh,” Lexi said.
“Do you guys still talk?” Honey asked.
“No,” Layla said. They hadn’t even said hi in the hallways.
“Oh,” Honey said, looking thoughtful.
“We just sat together because we didn’t want to sit alone,” Layla said, “it’s not like we were friends or anything.”
“He’s all alone,” Honey said, “how sad.”
“Oh god, Honey, don’t do this again,” Lexi said.
“I’m not,” Honey said.
“She has a habit of ‘falling in love’ with the less fortunate,” Lexi said to Layla.
“Thomas isn’t really less fortunate,” Layla said, “he’s just alone.”
“Being alone is sad,” Honey said.
Layla shrugged, “maybe he wants to be alone.”
“Who wants to be alone?” Honey asked.
“A lot of people,” Layla said, “introverts.”
“Ugh, introverts,” Honey said, “I hate them.”
“Honey! Rude,” Lexi said.
“Introverts are no fun, fact.” Honey said.
Lexi shook her head, “there’s no getting through to you.”
Suddenly Thomas looked up and saw them staring at him. He quickly looked back down, gathered his stuff and briskly walked out of the Deli.
“Oh,” Lexi said, “we scared him away.”
“Oh, well,” Honey shrugged.
Layla had the admit sometimes she thought about Thomas, he seemed pretty interesting when she first met him. But he brushed her off completely as soon as she made friends with Lexi and Honey. She wondered why.
Mean while Lexi and Honey had gone back to talking about Halloween and the dance.
“Should we dress the same for actual Halloween night?” Lexi asked.
“No way, I’m not walking in those heels,” Honey said.
Layla agreed, “my feet would hurt after only ten minutes.”
“We could just wear sneakers with them,” Lexi said.
“But then we’d look like hipsters,” Honey said, making a face that made it obvious she didn’t want that.
“Okay then,” Lexi said, “We could just be cute zombies, wear whatever we have in our closets.”
“Ooh, like stereotype zombies,” Honey said, “one of us could be a cheerleader, one of us could be a hipster and the last one could be... a nerd?”
“You are the best,” Lexi said, putting an arm around Honey.
“I like that,” Layla said, “as long as I can be the hipster.”
“I’m the cheerleader,” Honey said, “Since I was actually a cheerleader it only makes sense.”
“Okay, nerd for me,” Honey said.
“Perfect,” Layla said, by now she had completely wiped Thomas out of her mind. He didn’t matter anyway.

100th Post Giveaway!!!

Wow. So this is the 100th post on this blog, I sort of feel like it took a long time to get here but we're here. I know this blog has taken like a thousand hiatuses and mysterious breaks, but I hope you guys know that I always plan to update it. It just takes a while if I have no inspiration.
So now to the point, I thought to celebrate this milestone I would do a giveaway of sorts. What do you win? Your own character in A.L. High, this character could be whatever you want.
To enter you must like the Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/alhighstory
Share the post that will be there about the giveaway.
And then bam you're entered.
You can only enter once.

An A.L. Halloween Part 1

After a long day at school, with some hanging out at the park afterwards, Harriette arrived home to five pumpkins sitting on the kitchen table.
“Pumpkin carving time?” she wondered aloud.
“Yep,” her mom said, standing in the doorway.
“Cool,” Harriette said, “is Collin home?”
“Uhm, yeah I think so,” her mom said, “He might be in his room. When you guys are ready get the twins and come down here.”
“Okay,” Harriette said. She went up to Collin’s room where he was sitting on the bed using his laptop.
“Hi,” She said sitting down next to him.
“Oh, hey,” Collin said, closing his laptop, “Did you see the pumpkins downstairs?”
“Yeah,” Harriette said, “Pumpkin carving, I guess Halloween is really just around the corner isn’t it?”
“Yeah,” Collin said.
“Well, this weekend I have to go shopping with the girls then,” Harriette said, she didn’t have a costume for the annual Halloween Dance. “We’ll need costumes for the dance. You can come with us if you want.”
“I don’t think I’m going to the dance,” Collin said.
“Why?” Harriette asked.
Collin shrugged, “I don’t know, it sounds boring.”
Harriette frowned, lately Collin had been calling a lot of things “boring.” Things that were exciting to Harriette. This worried her, she and Collin usually did everything together.
“But we’re always matching for Halloween,” Harriette said, “besides I can’t go alone.”
“In case you haven’t noticed, I’m your brother,” Collin said, “going with me would still basically be going alone.”
Harriette frowned again, if she keep frowning this much she’ll get frown wrinkles. She straightened out her face.
“I’m sure you’ll have fun,” Collin said, “You have your friends.”
Suddenly Harriette realised what exactly was going on, Collin didn’t like her friends. It was obvious at the start of the year when he expressed his displeasure with being popular. Plus the way he said friends sort of gave it away.
“Collin, you don’t like my friends?” Harriette said.
Collin made a face, “Your friends are cool. It’s just, all the people who hang around you, it’s uncomfortable.”
“But, Collin, everyone’s my friend,” Harriette said, “that’s the point, I’m popular.”
“Yeah, I know,” Collin said.
Suddenly the twins ran into the rooming, both talking at once about pumpkins. Harriette guessed they saw them and were now here to pester them about them.
“Okay,” Collin laughed, turning his attention to the twins “pumpkin carving time.”
Collin got up and led the kids out of the room, leaving Harriette still distressed about their previous conversation. After a while she got up and headed over to Tamarai’s room to tell her about the pumpkins.
”Oh, hey,” Tamarai said. She was sitting on the bed reading a book, now in her “at home clothes”, a pair of leggings and long t-shirt, a big difference from her school clothes which consisted of lots of pieces.
“Pumpkin carving time,” Harriette said.
“Oh, awesome!” Tamarai said, jumping off her bed. Tamarai always got excited about dumb holiday things, since she grew up in an orphanage in India she didn’t get to do any of that kind of stuff.
They both went downstairs to the kitchen where Collin and the twins were already seated. Harriette sat down next to Collin and her mom passed her and Tamarai a pumpkin and then got to work with helping the twins with theirs. The rest of them were on their own.
Their mom had already done the work cleaning out the inside so all they had to do was carve them. Collin had already staring outlining a face onto his pumpkin with a marker, while Tamarai was already cutting out a classic jack-o-lantern face.
Harriette had no idea what to do, and quite frankly didn’t want to do this at all. She wanted to talk to Collin and fix whatever his problem was. But she couldn’t do that right now so she picked up was the the carving knifes and start cutting out a circle for one of the eyes.
She decided her pumpkin would be the epitome of adorable, with cute circles eyes, with one winking maybe, and a adorable pumpkin smile. Yes, it was gonna be cute.
By the time she had gotten to carving out the mouth Tamarai was struggling with the classic Jack-o-lantern mouth, with the teeth. Collin being the nice person he is, offered to help her with it, she happily handed the small carving knife to him and handing the pumpkin over.
Harriette watched as he carefully carved the mouth with complete concentration. Harriette admired how Collin always seem to put his all into whatever he was doing, even if it was just carving a pumpkin for Halloween.
“There you go,” Collin said, handing over the pumpkin after he was done.
“Thanks!” Tamarai said, admiring the pumpkin.
Harriette look at her own pumpkin, all she had to do was finish the mouth. She picked up her carving knife and cut out a little smile carefully.
“Aw, that’s adorable,” Tamarai said.
“Thanks,” Harriette said, feeling proud of her cute pumpkin. She glance at Collin who cutting something out carefully, he was doing that thing when you cut out only a little and it glows when the candle is lit.
“You’re so cool,” Harriette said, “you always make the best everything.”
“Uhm, thanks,” Collin said, looking over at her, “yours is cute too.”
“Thanks,” Harriette said. Now what to do, Harriette wondered. She was done, and it looked like it might take Collin a while to finish.
“If you would like, you girls could put your pumpkins out front,” Their mom said, noticing that they were finished.
“Okay,” Tamarai said, looking glad that she had something to do. Harriette followed her outside to the front porch. Tamarai put hers on one of the step. Harriette looked around, thinking of the best place to put hers and decided to set it on the railing.
Later that night they would come out here, put candles in them and watch them light up in the night. That was another of Tamarai’s favorite traditions. It wasn’t hard to please Tamarai.
Back in the house Collin was having a hard time focusing on the job at hand. Something Harriette had said earlier bugged him. “Everyone’s my friends.” Collin didn’t understand this. He doubted any of those people actually liked her for herself, not one everyone thinks of her. Or if anyone actually even knows her other than her close friends..
Everyone liked her because they’re supposed to. But he couldn’t tell her that, she would be hurt or just blatantly deny it.
Harriette and Tamarai came back into the kitchen. Harriette was telling Tamarai something about the Halloween dance, probably planning costume ideas. Collin hoped she would find someone to match with.
“I’ll call DaeRi and Tell her,” Tamarai said, leaving the kitchen.
“What’s up?” Collin asked.
“We’re being modern Disney princesses for Halloween,” Harriette said. “and if you decide to join us you can be a modern Disney prince. I hope you do.”
“Cool, neat idea,” Collin said, ignoring the last part. He didn’t want to go to the dance, and that was that.
“Thanks,” Harriette said.
With that Harriette left the kitchen too and Collin turned his attention back to his unfinished pumpkin. But he didn’t feel much like finishing it so he got up and told his mom that he’d finish later.

Tiffany Lee, AKA Sakura Mori AKA Belle Chang

Tiffany is more than just a new name. It’s a new me.
Tiffany Lee, AKA Sakura Mori AKA Belle Chang, changed her name this year to fit the new her. Gone were her weeaboo days, she’s moved on to something big and better. Korea. She loved everything about that place, the culture, the music, and, mostly, the people. She was obsessed. Over the summer she had discovered the group Super Junior and ever since then she’s been obsessed with them and everything else Korean.
She thought it would be too obnoxious to change her name to a completely Korean name, so she took the name from her favorite girl from Girls’ Generation, another one of her recent obsessions and paired it with a random Korean last name. Which just happened to also be the last name of her favorite from Super Junior, but she swears it was random.
She spent the first few weeks correcting anyone who called her Sakura, but by now everyone seemed to get it.
“Sakura!”
Well, everyone except Dreams. Tiffany’s annoying step sister who wouldn’t leave her alone about the name change. She wasn’t very fond of the last one either, but she hadn’t known it was fake until it was too late and she was already used to calling her Sakura.
Tiffany ignored her.
“Sakura, I know you’re in there,” Dreams said. And Tiffany was indeed in her bedroom, where Dreams was standing outside the door.
“I’m sorry, who’s Sakura?” Tiffany said.
She could practically hear Dreams roll her eyes, “you’re being a diva.”
“Correction, I’m being me,” Tiffany said.
“Then you’re a diva,” Dreams said, “Look, I really need to borrow your computer.”
Tiffany laughed, Dreams was always downloading viruses so she rarely actually had a computer.
“Don’t laugh,” dream said.
“Well maybe if you called me by my name,” Tiffany said.
“Okay the,” Dream said, “Can I please borrow your computer, Belle?”
“I’m gonna kill you,” Tiffany said.
“Girls, please stop fighting,” their mom called from upstairs, “you’re upsetting Charlie.”
Charlie was the new baby, who was all Tiffany’s mom cared about lately.
“Sakura’s not letting me borrow her computer,” Dreams called back.
“Her name is Tiffany,” her mom replied. Tiffany smiled, sometimes her mom had her back.
“Ugh,” Dreams said, “fine, can I please borrow your computer, Tiffany?”
“Yes.”