Hell's Belles by Megan Sparks

time, she wondered if Dad missing Mum was a first step toward them working things out.
    Then she sighed. Of course, the fact that Mum hadn’t even called for a week didn’t bode well for that possibility.
    There was a lump in her throat as she brought her mug to her lips.
    â€œYou sure made an awfully cute lobster,” Dad said softly. Then he sighed and stood up abruptly. “All right, girls. I’ve bothered you enough. I guess I’d better start looking up recipes for these devilish desserts.”
    â€œGood luck,” Lexie called after him. “Can’t wait to taste the final treats.”
    He was halfway to the door when he turned to look over his shoulder at Annie.
    â€œOh . . . and about that vampire outfit, Beanie,” he said casually. “If you shave a good three inches off the length of that slit, and maybe bring up the neckline a bit, I might actually consider letting you wear it.”
    For the second time that evening Annie almost gagged on her hot chocolate.
    â€œOh . . . um . . . right . . . okay,” she managed to choke out. “We’ll see what we can do.”
    â€œGood,” said Dad. “Or else you’ll be going as a lobster again.”
    At that, Lexie burst out laughing.
    But Annie had a sneaking suspicion that he wasn’t kidding.

The next morning, while Annie stood at her locker searching for her biology textbook, she was amazed at the swirl of dance-related gossip that filled the hallway.
    Not surprisingly, it seemed that most of the cheerleaders had been asked to the dance by soccer and football players. The drama club kids appeared to be more excited about what costumes they’d be wearing than who they’d actually be going with. An uber-shy sophomore boy had asked a very popular senior girl, and to everyone’s shock she’d agreed to go with him!
    Annie finally found her book and set out down the hall toward class. She had to dodge a few ladders along the way, since the social committee was hard at work hanging up posters for the dance.
    One huge banner caught her eye. It was painted in black and orange and had a picture of Freddy Krueger on it.
    GET YOUR SCARE ON
AT THE HALLOWEEN DANCE.
MISSING IT WOULD BE A NIGHTMARE!
    The time and date were written beneath the picture in dripping, blood-red letters. This triggered something in Annie’s mind, but she was too preoccupied with the dance gossip buzzing around to make any real connection.
    When Annie reached the science classroom, she slid into her seat and tried to imagine what it would be like to go to the dance with Tyler. He was going as David Beckham. Maybe she could go as Victoria Beckham! All she would need would be a little black bobbed wig, a really sexy dress, and super-high heels.
    â€œOpen your texts to page twenty-seven,” Mr. Dinkins, the biology teacher, instructed. “Today we will be diagramming plant cells.”
    Dutifully, Annie began sketching. She drew the blob-shaped outline, careful to differentiate the cell wall from the cell membrane. But try as she might, she just couldn’t focus on mitochondrion and Golgi vesicles.
    Her mind — and her pencil — began to wander and before she knew it, she’d doodled “Tyler Erickson” in block print, bubble letters, and loopy script all over her margins.
    She even drew a heart with their initials inside!
    When she realized what she’d done, she quickly erased it.
    I need to stop being so soppy over a boy who barely knows I’m alive, she chastised herself, brushing the eraser crumbs off her notebook.
    She spent the rest of the lesson determinedly memorizing the function of the vacuole membrane and pushing Tyler’s green eyes and heart-melting smile out of her mind.
    The rest of her morning classes passed in a similar fashion. In history, she struggled to pay attention, but every time the teacher told them to remember a particular date for the upcoming quiz, her mind flew