Horns and Thorns

I was never a big fan of dancing. That was why I hardly ever went to dances. I wasn't planning on going to the spring dance, but my best friend, Samuel, said he would pay for my ticket if I promised to be his wingman, well, wing gal I guess. I wasn't convinced until he told me that there would be free food.

Samuel had a crush on popular volleyball star, Haley Flocken, who happened to be my step sister. After a little bargaining, and a promise to do all the chores for two weeks, Haley agreed that she would let Samuel take her to the dance.

The theme for the dance was Hawaiian. I just put on one of those flower necklaces you can buy at Dollar Tree. I was really only going for the food, there was no need to dress up nice. Under it, I just wore a sweatshirt and leggings, but very Hawaiian, but I didn't care.

Haley, on the other hand, got all dressed up. She had a shoulderless flower dress covered in roses.

Samuel came and picked up me and Haley around five and we got to the dance in like ten minutes.

Everything started out normal. Samuel invited Haley to dance and I went over to the punch, praying that someone had already spiked it. No one had.

I began to much on some chips when I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around to see Samuel standing there.

"Alright Belle, quick question, is it normal for a girl to spend over ten minutes in the bathroom?" he asked.

"I'll go talk to her," I said as I rolled my eyes as I grabbed a handful of chips.

I walked over to the bathroom and went inside. Haley was standing in front of the mirror applying what appeared to be her third layer of eyeshadow.

"Haley, we had a deal, you spend the dance with Sam and I do your chores. So far, you aren't holding up your-"

Before I could finish, she turned to look at me and I saw something unexplainable. Haley had two small horns growing on her head.

"What the Fluff?" I screamed.

"I can't cover them," she said.

"What are they?" I asked.

"I don't know, they just... appeared," she replied.

"Alright... I'm gonna talk to Samuel, try to stay out of sight," I instructed.

I didn't understand how this was possible. I mean, sure, she'd been drinking a lot of goat's milk recently (says it helps with bone growth or something) but that can't give you horns, can it? Maybe that punch was spiked...

I rushed out of the bathroom and went back over to Samuel. He was munching on some of the chip crumbs I had left.

"So, what's the word?" he asked.

"Okay, so she's like sick, like really really sick, and she might need to go home," I said.

"Oh..." he replied.

"If you want I can convince her to let you take her out on a different day, but right now she needs some pain killer and a lot of rest," I stated.

He seemed to perk up at that, "Great, I can take her to the movies, like next weekend. For now, I'll drive you two home."

"Thanks."

"I'll meet you in the car."

I nodded my head before returning to the bathroom. Haley was still trying to cover up her horns with a bit of concealer. It didn't appear to be working.

"So?" she asked.

I began to take off my sweatshirt as I said, "He'll take us home and then we can figure out why this is happening."

"Thank you, Bella," she said as I handed her my sweatshirt. She put it on covered up her horns. I then lead her out of the bathroom and to Samuel's car.

The drive home was quiet. Samuel tried to start up a conversation but when he saw we weren't in the mood for talking, he just turned on the radio.

"Thanks for the ride," I said when we reached the house.

"No problem," he replied as we got out of the car.

I took Haley up to our bedroom, avoiding my parent's question about why we home so soon. I sat down on my bed and began to think. Haley threw my sweatshirt over to me.

"Thanks, Belle," Haley said as she walked over to her mirror. She began to fidget with her horns.

"Okay, now, tell me about the past few days, what do you think could have caused this?" I asked.

"Oh, these?" she asked as she took the horns off her head and threw them over to me, "I just used them as an excuse for you to let me come home. I really couldn't spend another minute with that friend of yours."

I picked up the fake horns. It was just a headband. How had I not realized that before?

"I'm sorry, what?" I asked.

"I knew you wouldn't let me go home if I just said I was sick, so I brought horns," she replied with a shrug as though this was a normal thing to do.

"I swear to god," I whispered as I pulled out my phone.

"Hey, you don't have to do all the chores cus I didn't hold up my end, far enough," she didn't wait for an answer before saying, "Good, now I texted Chet and he's going to take me to the movies, so see ya."

"Who's Chet?" I asked, but she was already gone.

I stared at my ceiling for a couple of seconds before I began to text Samuel. I told him to come on back to the house. I couldn't believe my sister had a heart that cold. It was one night, two hours, couldn't she just suck it up?

Samuel came back and I jumped in his car.

"How is Haley?" he asked as he started it up.

"I'll tell you about it later, for now, would you care to go to the dance with me instead?" I asked.

"You know what, nothing would make me happier," he said with a smile.