Keanna

 

I can’t believe I thought my college history class would be easy. This is all the internet’s fault. My instructor, Mr. Garrett, has high ratings on ratemyprofessor.com, and everyone says he’s a super easy teacher and it’s not hard at all to get an A. That’s the exact reason I chose his class when I signed up.

Now that I’m a few weeks into the semester, I should leave a bad review on all of those former students because they are totally wrong. Mr. Garrett is nice enough, but his entire curriculum involves listening to him lecture on various unrelated history stories and then taking a test over a million vocabulary words. I spent the first couple of weeks of class wasting my time taking notes on his lectures. They literally don’t matter at all. I think he just likes to lecture to hear himself talk.

At the end of the week, he gives us a ten page (or longer) print out of just history vocabulary words, and that’s what the test is based on. And then the text is the very next day. I wish he would give us the vocab words at the start of the week, so I could spend my hours in class studying instead of listening to him go on and on about history.

I adjust positions on my bed. My legs and back ache from sitting up so long hunched over my study sheet. I straighten my legs and stretch my arms over my head.

There’s a soft knock on my door.

“Come in,” I call out.

The door opens, and I look over.

And scream.

Jett bursts into laugher and pulls up the hideous Halloween monster mask, revealing his normal face underneath. “Oh my God, I got you,” he says, leaving the mask on top of his hair while he crutches himself into my room.

My heart is still racing from the split second of total fear, and I put a hand to my chest, taking a deep breath. “I will get you back,” I say.

He winks. “I’d love to see you try.”

The bed sinks when he sits down next to me. He pulls off the mask and tosses it to the floor, then leans his crutches against my dresser.

“Still studying?”

“Yeah,” I say with a groan. “I’m sick of it, but I only know about half of these terms so far.”

Jett takes my vocabulary list and looks it over. “When’s your test?”

“Tomorrow.”

“What? What kind of asshole gives a test on Halloween?”

I chuckle. “College classes don’t care what day it is.”

“That’s crap,” he says, frowning. He slides over to the foot of my bed and holds the list in front of him. “Do you want me to ask you the word or the definition?”

“You don’t have to study with me, babe.” I reach for the papers back, but he holds them out of my reach. “I’m serious. It’s super boring.”

He shrugs. “I’d rather be bored with you than bored without you.”

It’s a simple sentence, but it makes me blush a little. I love that he can still do this to me, make me feel special and wanted even after all these months of dating.

I lean back against my headboard and let him ask me the questions. We study until I’ve got them all memorized, at least enough that I’ll be able to choose the definition off Mr. Garrett’s multiple choice test.

After our study session, I make some popcorn and bring it back up to my room, and Jett turns on Netflix. He leans his back against my headboard, his broken foot out in front of him like a large rock at the foot of my bed. I lean against his chest, my feet curled up underneath me. I love the way his arm holds onto my shoulders, and how every time I lean against him, it’s like his arm is magnetized to hold onto me. He never forgets that I’m right here next to him.

“So my mom told me we’re on candy duty tomorrow,” Jett says.

“Try not to eat it all like you did last time,” I say, elbowing him in the stomach. He laughs.

“Do you think I can wear this mask?” He pulls it back over his head. It’s some kind of hairy monster with a snarling mouth. “Or will it be too scary for the little kids?” His voice is muffled from the mask.

I tilt my head. “You’ll be fine. I mean, it’s not much difference from how your normal face looks.”

“Oh, I’m going to get you for that one,” Jett says. He dives on top of me and begins tickling my sides. I squeal and fall back on my bed, struggling to get him off me. His creepy monster mask hovers over my face.

“I love you.”

I shake my head. “I’m afraid I can’t love a grotesque monster like you.”

He lifts up the mask, and his normal gorgeous face smiles down at me. “What about now?”

My lips slide to the side of my mouth and I take a long time, like I’m thinking it over. “I guess,” I say with a sly grin. “But I mean, I’m not seeing much difference from when you had the mask on.”

He kisses me. “Better sleep with one eye open, sweetheart. Me and this mask have a lot of scaring to do.”

He winks at me and I roll my eyes. “I can’t believe it’s already Halloween. Seems like this year just started.”

“Are you saying time flies when you’re spending it with me?” he asks with that cocky grin of his.

I grab his shoulders and pull him down for a kiss. “Something like that.”

 

***

 

Since it’s Halloween, the Track stays open a few hours later for a fun party. We turn on the track lights and let people ride, and Bayleigh and my mom decorate the main building in spooky Halloween decorations. Creepy music plays through the track’s speakers, and Jett and I sit on the bleachers, handing out candy to trick-or-treaters and the occasional person stopping by on a dirt bike.

Jett wears his scary mask, but I’m dressed up like Tina Belcher from my favorite TV show, Bob’s Burgers. A lot of people immediately recognize me, which is fun.

After a group of kids leaves, Jett turns to me, his scary monster face blocking him from my view.

“Your birthday is coming up,” he says.

I lift an eyebrow. “Wow, I forgot about that.” My nineteenth birthday is in three days. Funny how it hasn’t even crossed my mind lately.

“I haven’t forgotten.” Jett says. His head drops and I imagine he’s staring at his feet even though I can’t tell for sure because of his monster mask. “I had these awesome plans for it, but now that I can’t walk much, they’re ruined.”

“We don’t need to do anything fancy. I’m not really into celebrating my birthday anyway.”

The monster turns to face me. “But it was going to be so much fun,” he says, sounding all disappointed. “An hour away, there’s the annual county fair. It’s huge, and there’s carnival rides and games and a concert every night. I was going to get us horse rides and cotton candy and wristbands that let us ride every ride as much as we want.” He looks back down at the bowl of Halloween candy in his lap. “It was going to be the greatest night ever and now there’s no way I can hobble on crutches at the fairgrounds. I wouldn’t even be able to get into half of the rides, or get on a horse.” He heaves a sigh.

I put my hand on his back. “Baby, it’s fine. We’ll go next year. I’m serious though—I have no plans to celebrate my birthday. It’s not a big deal at all.”

“I just want to do something special,” he says, his voice muffled. “You may not care about your birthday, but I do. You’re my favorite person in the world and if you weren’t born, my life would suck. So I definitely want to do something, even if it’s just low key.”

“Let’s definitely stay low key,” I say. Some little kids walk up and bashfully yell trick-or-treat, ending our conversation for now. We pass out candy and Jett gets stuck talking to some kid’s dad who is apparently a big fan.

Once they leave, and we’re alone again, Jett lifts up his monster mask. “What would you like to do for your birthday? Dinner somewhere nice?”

I curl my lip. “Not really. I don’t really want to go anywhere.”

He looks disappointed, his bottom lip poking out just a bit. “Sorry,” I say. “I just want to stay in. College is kicking my ass and work is hard and the baby drives me insane half the time. I just kind of want to sit in a quiet room and be alone with you. We could watch movies or something.”

“What kind of movies would you like?”

I shrug. “Eighties romantic comedies.”

He laughs and pulls his mask back down over his face. He leans over and lovingly bumps me in the arm with his shoulder. “Sounds like a plan, baby doll.”