Chapter 321: Back to game

Andrew left his room and walked into the living room, where he found Steve, Sam, and Paige waiting.

"Hey, Sam," he greeted, turning his gaze toward her.

Sam raised a hand. "Hey," she murmured in response.

Then Andrew turned his attention to Paige. "Hey, Paige."

"Hey," she replied, looking at him as well.

Paige’s eyes slowly traveled down from Andrew’s face to his shoes. Once she had finished examining him, a faint smile appeared on her lips. "Great costume, by the way."

The sarcasm in her voice was impossible to ignore.

Andrew was not wearing a costume. He wore a navy blue Dallas Cowboys jersey, with the number nine printed on the front and the name Romo across the back, the current quarterback of the Texas team.

He had paired it with simple black pants, without a single accessory that could even suggest he was trying to participate in Halloween.

Andrew lowered his gaze and studied his clothes for a moment, as though he needed to confirm that he had not somehow dressed up without realizing it.

Then he looked back at Paige. "Thanks. Yours is pretty unique too."

This time, Paige was the one who briefly glanced down at her own clothes.

She wore a loose-fitting dark brown sweater, long enough to fall over the waist of a black, white, and gray plaid skirt. Beneath it, she wore black stockings that reached above her knees. A pair of black school-style shoes completed the outfit.

Paige looked up. "Thanks, I put as much effort into it as you did."

It was only a few minutes before six in the evening. Paige and Sam had walked over from the university dorms, since the apartment was less than ten minutes from campus.

Along the way, they had passed dozens of students in costume, so Andrew, in his football jersey, and Paige, in her normal outfit, stood out precisely because neither of them was wearing anything related to Halloween.

Andrew let out a quiet laugh.

Sam cleared her throat, and they both turned their heads toward her.

"What do you think of my costume?" she asked Andrew.

Steve had complimented her as soon as she arrived, and Paige had already seen it earlier, but Sam was still waiting for Andrew’s opinion.

It was not entirely casual.

This was one of the first times she had truly put effort into a costume. Normally, she did not care much about Halloween and chose whatever simple thing she could improvise in a few minutes.

This time, she had prepared something more elaborate.

And, in part, it was Andrew, Howard, Leonard, and Steve’s fault. The four of them had spent far too much time teasing her about her almost complete lack of knowledge of popular culture, as though it were an academic deficiency that needed to be corrected immediately.

Andrew looked at her again, this time more carefully.

It was not that he had ignored her before. At first glance, Sam simply seemed to be wearing fairly ordinary clothes: a dark jacket, pants, and her hair loose over her shoulders.

However, as he looked more closely, he began to notice the details.

Her skin was much paler than usual. Her eyes had a reddish tint, most likely caused by contact lenses, and two small marks resembling a bite appeared on the visible part of her neck.

"A vampire?" Andrew asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Which vampire?" Sam shot back.

Andrew examined her for another second and then said, "Rosalie?"

Rosalie Hale was Edward’s incredibly beautiful and protective adoptive sister. She was blonde, and her eyes could take on that reddish shade, although the character’s hair was a much warmer golden color, similar to Paige’s.

She could also have been Alice Cullen, another of Edward’s adoptive sisters, but she had very short, dark hair, so Andrew went with Rosalie.

"No," Sam replied, shaking her head. "But I’m surprised you remember her name."

Then she looked at Paige before turning back to Andrew.

"For people who only watched the first movie and criticized it so much, you remember the characters pretty well."

"I have a good memory for movie characters, even when I don’t like them," Andrew replied.

He still had not watched the second one.

Paige nodded naturally. "Same."

"You thought she was Rosalie too?" Andrew asked, looking at her.

Paige nodded again.

Sam watched them for a moment, as though she could not believe they had both reached the same incorrect conclusion.

"I’m Bella, the protagonist," she explained, as if it were completely obvious. "Why would Rosalie have a vampire bite? It’s Bella after Edward finally turns her."

"Hey, spoiler alert!" Andrew protested indignantly.

"That was my reaction too," Paige commented, shaking her head slightly.

Even if she had not liked a movie, Paige still hated having important parts of the story revealed to her. Especially because, due to the bet she had lost, she would have to go to the theater to watch the final installment of the saga.

If she could forget Twilight entirely and never think about it again, the spoiler would have been irrelevant.

But that was not the case.

"Since when is Bella a vampire?" Andrew asked, still annoyed.

"She turns into one in Breaking Dawn: Part 1. It’s the fourth movie," Sam replied. "But why do you care so much? You said you didn’t like the first one. In fact, you were pretty cruel about it. Don’t tell me you actually liked it."

Paige let out a soft scoff.

Andrew immediately shook his head. "That’s not it. Since you’re forcing us to watch the last movie, I was planning to watch the others. I’m not going to the theater without knowing what happened in the previous installments," he explained.

Paige nodded beside him. "We already know it’s going to be a bad cinematic experience, but we don’t want it to be confusing too."

"Mm... That makes sense," Sam admitted.

Paige tilted her head slightly and brought a hand to her chin. "Although, now that you’ve ruined an important part of the story for us, I suppose the bet should be void."

Andrew looked at her and nodded with complete seriousness. "Seems reasonable to me."

"Not a chance," Steve immediately cut in.

"It comes out on November fifteenth. So you have two options: hurry up and watch the movies you’re missing, or go to the theater without understanding anything. But you’re going to watch it," Steve added, pointing at both of them.

Andrew clicked his tongue softly. "Whatever..." he muttered.

Leonard and Howard arrived a few minutes later.

Leonard was dressed as Victor Frankenstein, the scientist obsessed with defeating death and responsible for creating the monster. He wore a white lab coat, gloves, glasses, and his hair was styled in an exaggeratedly messy way.

Howard, on the other hand, was the creature.

Although almost everyone used the name Frankenstein to refer to the monster, that surname actually belonged to the doctor. Howard was portraying his creation, with greenish makeup, fake scars, bolts on the sides of his neck, and a dark jacket that was far too big for him.

"He’s Victor Frankenstein, the misunderstood genius, and I’m his masterpiece," Howard explained.

He said it while looking specifically at Sam, as though he expected her to have no idea who they were supposed to be.

Sam immediately frowned. "I’m not that uncultured. I read Mary Shelley’s novel."

Paige joined the conversation. "The masterpiece part is highly debatable. The creature was an aesthetic, social, and functional failure."

Howard slowly turned his head toward her.

Paige continued as though nothing had happened. "And Victor wasn’t exactly a misunderstood genius either. His professors at the University of Ingolstadt supported him, guided him, and recognized his talent. His isolation was more of a personal choice caused by his arrogance, his obsession, and his inability to accept the consequences of what he was doing."

For a few seconds, no one said anything.

Howard stared at her with slightly narrowed eyes.

Leonard looked surprised.

"Ingolstadt?" Andrew repeated, looking at her as well.

Noticing the way everyone was staring at her, Paige coughed lightly. "The university where Victor created the monster..." she murmured.

’She remembers that?’ Leonard and Howard thought, exchanging surprised looks.

"But the costumes are good," she quickly added. "They suit you both pretty well."

A few minutes later, Monica, Haley, and Rachel crossed over from their apartment to theirs, finally completing the group.

Haley was dressed as Catwoman, although her version seemed designed far more for a college party than for fighting crime. She wore a tight black outfit, high boots, a small mask, and a pair of cat ears that barely held back her hair.

Howard stared at her for several seconds.

Too many.

"Five more seconds and Catwoman tests her claws," Haley warned.

Howard immediately looked away. "Great costume, and very faithful to Catwoman," he commented quickly. "Threatening, unpredictable, and prone to attacking men."

Monica had chosen something far more elaborate. She was dressed as a corpse bride, wearing an old, torn white dress, pale makeup, fake wounds on her face, and several stains of dried blood spreading across the fabric.

When Andrew saw her, he remembered the costume his aunt Claire had worn a couple of years earlier.

Rachel, for her part, wore an elegant black dress, long gloves, a dark veil, and several gothic details. She looked like a grieving widow, although the satisfied smile on her face suggested that she was not exactly devastated by the loss.

In previous years, Rachel would have chosen something much closer to Haley’s costume. Something attractive, recognizable, and designed mainly to draw attention at a party.

But since starting fashion school, the way she chose her clothes had changed.

She no longer wanted to settle for simply putting on a store-bought costume.

She looked for concepts, combinations, and small details that made the outfit feel like her own.

Howard observed her curiously. "How did your husband die?"

"I killed him," Rachel replied with complete seriousness.

Leonard immediately seemed interested. "Why?"

Every costume needed a story, at least as far as he was concerned.

"He was texting another woman," Rachel replied.

Leonard swallowed. "Just for texting another girl...?" he murmured.

Howard slowly turned his head toward Leonard. "Is it normal that I find that attractive?"

Rachel kicked him in the leg.

"Ow!" Howard protested, bringing a hand to the spot she had kicked.

For the next few minutes, everyone began comparing costumes. At one point, Howard’s gaze settled on Andrew and Paige.

He noticed that they were dressed exactly like they would be on any other day.

Howard pointed at them. "No costumes? Seriously? You two really are the life of the party."

The other conversations gradually died down until almost everyone was looking at them.

"Mine requires imagination," Paige defended herself.

Leonard examined her for a second. "A student who forgot today was Halloween?"

Andrew could not hold back a laugh.

"You’re not exactly the right person to be laughing. A football jersey? Seriously?" Haley said, pointing at the Cowboys jersey. "What happened to you? You always liked Halloween. Even Steve did better than you."

"Hey!" Steve protested. "This is the best Halloween costume I’ve ever worn."

Steve was dressed as a zombie football player. He wore an old, torn uniform, fake bloodstains, greenish makeup on his skin, and several open wounds spread across his face and arms.

On previous Halloweens, he had always chosen simple costumes, prepared with little time and even less imagination. For him, the outfit had never been the important part. What mattered was getting to the parties as quickly as possible.

This time, however, he had actually made an effort.

"You could’ve dressed as Edward," Andrew commented. "It would’ve matched Sam better."

Paige immediately joined in, amused. "It was a good idea. You could’ve covered your skin in glitter and spent the whole night staring intensely at people."

Steve looked at both of them, already used to their comments.

Sam stepped closer to him before he could respond. "Don’t listen to them. Your costume is great. We didn’t need to match," she said.

Then she placed a hand on his chest and gave him a brief kiss on the lips.

The rest of the group reacted immediately.

Haley pretended to gag.

Rachel placed a hand over her stomach. "Don’t display affection in front of a widow..."

Howard covered his eyes with both hands, although he left a small gap between his fingers. "Exactly! There are single people present. Show some consideration!"

Even Monica pretended to shudder.

Sam pulled away from Steve and looked at them, rolling her eyes. "It was just a kiss."

"Everything we don’t have," Howard said dramatically.

Laughter spread through the living room.

When it finally died down, Haley turned her attention back to her cousin. "So why aren’t you wearing a costume?"

"It’s part of my plan," Andrew replied.

Several eyebrows rose at the same time.

"A plan for what?" Rachel asked, confused.

"Revenge," Andrew answered simply.

For a few seconds, no one said anything.

Haley, Leonard, Howard, and Steve seemed to understand immediately where this was going.

Paige, Sam, Monica, and Rachel, on the other hand, continued staring at him without understanding.

"Revenge against whom?" Monica asked.

"My aunt..." Andrew began, explaining it to them.

For several years, he and Claire had maintained a competition during Halloween. Both of them spent a good part of the month preparing pranks, traps, and scares aimed exclusively at the other. At the end of the night, they decided who had gotten the best reaction and declared that person the winner for the year.

The last victory had belonged to Claire.

It had happened in October 2010, when Andrew was still in his junior year at Mater Dei.

There had been no competition on Halloween 2011. Neither Claire nor Andrew had prepared anything, making that year the first truce they had had in a long time.

But Andrew had no intention of letting two consecutive Halloweens pass without a prank.

Much less allowing Claire to keep the title for all that time.

"I can’t believe you’re still doing this now that you’re in college..." Haley said, placing a hand on her forehead before sighing.

Andrew shrugged. "What does being in college have to do with it? Your mother is over forty and she still does it."

Haley opened her mouth, but could not come up with an immediate response.

Sam frowned. "I don’t understand. Pranks on Halloween? Wouldn’t that be more appropriate for April Fools’ Day?"

"They’re not normal pranks," Andrew explained. "The idea is to cause fear. It can be a jump scare, making you panic, convincing you that something terrible is happening... anything works."

Sam’s expression became even stranger.

"Wait," Monica cut in. "Didn’t you already get revenge with the pregnancy prank?"

Several of them nodded.

That prank had been uploaded to Andrew’s YouTube channel and had gone extremely viral. For weeks, thousands of children began recording their parents’ reactions while pretending there was an unexpected pregnancy, trying to recreate the same format.

Even Paige and Sam, who did not spend much time watching videos online, knew about it. It was difficult not to when Andrew had one of the biggest channels in the world and that video had appeared practically everywhere.

Sam then understood that the competition was not limited to hiding behind a door or appearing in a mask.

It could also involve creating a situation believable enough to provoke a different kind of terror.

Like making Claire believe that her teenage daughter was pregnant and that her future had just changed completely.

"Yes, that helped me get back at her for what she did to me," Andrew admitted. "But it happened outside Halloween."

Monica looked at him, not entirely understanding. "And that matters?"

"Of course it matters. It didn’t count toward the record," Andrew said as though it were obvious.

Paige raised an eyebrow. "You have an official record?"

"Yes. The pregnancy prank was personal revenge. Tonight, I need an official win to tie the record and reclaim the Halloween title," Andrew replied.

Rachel crossed her arms and asked, "Then why do you need to show up without a costume to pull off the prank?"

Andrew raised a finger, as though he had been waiting for exactly that question. "Last year, why do you think my aunt didn’t prepare anything?"

No one answered immediately, and Andrew continued, "It was my final season at Mater Dei. We were going for a second straight state title, there were cameras at every game, and every visit I made to a university ended up becoming national news."

During those months, even Andrew’s smallest decisions had been analyzed as though they could change the future of college football. Practices, recruiting trips, and meetings with coaches took up almost all of his time.

Claire had experienced it all up close as a close member of Andrew’s family. And as much as she enjoyed competing against him, she had not wanted to distract him in the middle of everything.

"That’s why she didn’t pull any pranks."

"And you didn’t prepare anything either?" Sam asked.

Andrew shook his head. "I didn’t have time. I guess we both understood it was better to let it go."

He paused briefly before adding, "This year, she’s going to think exactly the same thing."

In reality, Claire had even more reason to believe it.

His life no longer revolved around high school games and recruiting visits. UCLA was now ranked sixth in the country, coming off one of the most talked-about games of the season, and in just three days, the team had to travel to Eugene to face number two.

Ever since the season began, everything had turned into awards, records, ratings, interviews, and endless debates over whether Andrew could become the first freshman to win the Heisman, live up to the hype he had built in high school, and everything else.

Claire would surely assume that Andrew’s mind was more focused on football than ever.

That was why he believed his aunt would have nothing prepared against him.

"And if she sees you arrive without a costume..." Leonard murmured.

"She’ll let her guard down even more," Andrew finished.

Steve looked at him curiously. "And what’s the prank?" he asked.

"I’m going to make her believe I’m injured," Andrew replied with complete calm.

The living room fell silent.

It was not an awkward silence, but one of those moments when everyone needed a few seconds to process what they had just heard.

Andrew continued before anyone could comment. "I’m going to walk in looking a little downcast, like I’m trying to pretend nothing’s wrong. Then, when we’re alone, I’ll tell her I took a hit during practice, or that Fischer’s hit actually did hurt me."

He raised a hand and began listing the rest of the plan. "I’m going to tell her the medical staff wants to run more tests, that there’s a chance I might not be able to play against Oregon, and that I don’t want anyone to find out yet."

Sam looked almost alarmed. "Where’s the fun in that? That’s evil."

"It could make her feel fear, panic, or despair," Andrew replied. "So it fits perfectly into the kind of pranks we’ve played on each other for years."

From his point of view, the idea was completely fair.

After all, Claire had been the one to raise the stakes of the competition two years earlier.

On Halloween 2010, she had appeared at the top of the stairs with what looked like a sleeping Lily in her arms. While the entire family was gathered below, she pretended to trip.

The baby went flying.

For a fraction of a second, everyone watched the small body tumble down the stairs.

Cameron still had nightmares about it.

Even Jay had thought the prank had gone too far. And that meant a lot coming from the old man.

Andrew, on the other hand, after recovering from the initial shock and confirming that it had all been fake, had ended up applauding Claire’s plan.

That was why he was not worried about his aunt genuinely getting angry. Claire was not an innocent victim or someone too sensitive to handle a cruel prank.

She was just as extreme as he was.

Haley, Leonard, and Howard still remembered that night perfectly.

They also remembered Claire laughing while the rest of the family tried to regain the ability to breathe. When Andrew finished explaining the story, Sam stared at him wide-eyed. "She made it look like your little sister was falling down the stairs?"

"It was even worse than it sounds," Haley said, shuddering at the memory.

Paige watched Andrew for a few seconds, then let out a faint smile. "What a charming relationship between aunt and nephew."

"We love each other very much," Andrew said with a smile.

Then he clapped his hands, bringing the family story to an end. "All right, let’s go. I have a championship to reclaim."

Without waiting for a response, he started walking toward the door.

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