image [https://i.imgur.com/IDYAyfb.png]

Merlin walked into the school hallway and was struck by two things. The first was how hot the wizard costume was making him feel. The second was the sounds. With so many students running around yelling for their friends, it was hard not to cover his ears.

He shifted from foot to foot as he looked around. The middle school was packed. It was nothing at all like last year when most of the students had not come to the fall festival.

Of course, that was to be expected since all the games were free this year. Last year, the students had to pay a dollar for every four tickets. This year, however, the Parent Teacher Association supplied all the candy for the games. The only catch was that you could only play each game once. Still, that left a lot of games for the students to play.

He looked down and checked to see if he still had the pumpkin bucket or if he had forgotten it. He did that quite often, forgetting things that was. Merlin wished he had a great memory. Although he had a good memory, he wished it was better.

He often dreamed of being as smart as the mythical Merlin and having all of his powers. He imagined it for a moment, which brought a smile to his face. Being able to do magic would be wonderful. Of course, he would settle for being super smart. That way he wouldn’t have to study as much.

Studying was lame. Of course, whenever he told his parents this, they would always say something like, “Even Merlin had to study. After all, you don’t think he just knew all those magic spells. No. He had to memorize them.”

He hated that. His parents took his favorite person, Merlin the Magician, and tried to turn it on him. Come on, he thought. Don’t ruin his hero.

He was about to run off when his mother tugged on his robe. Turning to her, he remembered what she had asked. With a heavy sigh, he took his younger sister’s hand and searched for his friends.

Just his luck, he thought to himself. He had managed to convince his parents to let him come to the Fall Festival, but they had to insist he babysits his little sister in return. Knowing them, they would sit in the library or cafeteria while he had to take Sara to all the games.

Grimacing, he dragged his sister through the hallway, leaving his parents behind. Unfortunately, after only a few dozen feet, he saw the Monster Mob. Of course, no one called them that to their faces. After all, everyone liked their faces just the way they were. Then again, most of that was because of Frank. He was the tallest boy in eighth grade.

The Monster Mob were called that because each had a particular monster they liked. Frank liked Frankenstein’s Monster, which of course he dressed up as. More than likely, that was because his name was Frank and he wasn’t known for being all that original. That didn’t make any sense however since the Monster never actually had a name. Frankenstein had been the scientist who created him.

Then there was Ruth, the girl who liked vampires. It wasn’t just Dracula. She liked all vampires, from Twilight to Nosferatu. She even dressed the part. Ruth had painted her face white with small globs of blood dripping from her lips. As always, she was wearing all black.

Lucas was wearing a werewolf mask, but Merlin knew it was him based on who he was standing with. He was even wearing gloves with claws on them. Of course, he wasn’t the biggest werewolf around. Then again, no one looked tall when standing next to Frank.

Merlin pulled his sister to the side and waited until the Monster Mob passed before continuing on. While he wasn’t really afraid of them, he didn’t want to risk starting anything with his sister around. They usually didn’t get into many fights. A lot of other students thought they were weird. Of course, they thought Merlin and his friends were weird too.

It wasn’t long before he spotted Arthur. In fact, despite the loudness of the hallway, Merlin could hear the clanking of his armor. My goodness, he thought. Really? Of course, that was Arthur. He was nothing if committed, which he might actually be someday.

Merlin snickered at that image of Arthur being fitted for a white straight jacket. Sometimes he thought Arthur should be committed for any number of reasons. After all, only Arthur would actually wear real metal armor. Sheesh. He should have known who Arthur would dress up as. It certainly wasn’t going to be the Arthur from that cartoon his sister had watched a few years ago.

Speaking of whom, he pulled Sara along behind him, amazed that she hadn’t started complaining yet. Then again, she was busy staring at all the middle school students wearing Halloween costumes with big blue eyes.

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Soon, he was standing next to Arthur, who crushed him in a metal embrace. Trying not to show how much that had hurt, Merlin said, “Hey there! Have you seen Shirley or Robert?”

“Not yet,” Arthur began, but then stopped and pointed, “Wait. I see Shirley.”

Merlin turned to look at where Arthur was pointing. Yep, there she was, he thought. She was wearing a cap and a trench coat with a magnifying glass in her hand. Merlin almost groaned. Really? Were none of his friends going to be original tonight? Then again, who was he to say anything? After all, he was dressed up as his namesake as well. He should have guessed Shirley Holmes would end up dressing like Sherlock Holmes.

With that thought, he wondered what Robert would dress up as. Before he could come up with an answer, however, Shirley had joined them.

“Hi guys!” she said brightly.

Bright just about summed her up, Merlin thought. She was the smartest of their group. He was still a little upset about that, but then again, there was always someone smarter, stronger, or more beautiful. “Hey!” he said, waving her over.

Shirley playfully said, “Don’t you know hay is for horses, not people? After all, do I look like a horse to you?”

Before he could reply that she looked like at least one part of a horse, Arthur moved forward and swept Shirley into a big bear hug.

Merlin grinned as a groan was squeezed out of the girl who was not only smarter than him but also had the nerve to be much more attractive. Looking at the two of them, he thought for a moment they should have dressed up as Beauty and the Beast instead. After all, that was actually closer to what they looked like than what they were currently wearing.

Finally, he had to ask, “Okay, where in the world did you get that armor from? I mean, really? Real armor?”

Arthur looked a little embarrassed for a second but then replied, “Well, you know how things are. My dad had ordered a few to stand up in the reception area at one of his businesses. I asked him if he would mind letting me have one if they fit.”

“Ah,” Merlin said, hopefully quashing his jealousy before the others noticed. Arthur’s dad was rich. Rich rich, not just a little rich. Apparently, his family was descended from some famous nobleman in England.

Of course, it was Shirley who first noticed and began laughing. Both boys turned to her with confused looks on their faces. Seeing their confusion, she laughed even harder. “Oh…,” she finally began after taking a breath, “you poor guys don’t even realize, do you?”

Merlin just glared at her. He hated that patronizing tone of voice. Looking at Arthur, he felt like a light had gone off in his mind. Ah, he thought to himself.

Pointedly ignoring the know it all, he tried to gather the remnants of his dignity, “She is talking about how you are dressed as King Arthur and I am dressed like Merlin the Magician.”

Merlin could almost see the light go on behind Arthur’s eyes. A smile crept onto his face. Then with a short burst of a laugh, Arthur slapped him on the back, “That’s funny. I like it.”

What wasn’t funny was how much that slap on the back had hurt. OUCH! Merlin knew Arthur wasn’t the brightest lightbulb out there, but sometimes he thought there were burnt-out light bulbs that were brighter than Arthur. Few could match him in strength, however. Did the big lug forget he was wearing a metal glove? Turning to the side, Merlin wiped a small tear that had formed in the corner of his eye.

Luckily, no one had noticed since at that same time, Robert had arrived, probably drawn by the laughter. He liked to refer to the group as his band of merry men, and considering his costume, it was somehow appropriate tonight. Robert had even snuck in a bow. A real bow at that.

` While Robert had gone hunting in the past, he wasn’t the best bowman in the world. In fact, he was more likely to hit a barn than hit whatever he might be hunting for. Despite having the last name Woods, he was nothing at all like Robin Hood.

Thinking about the bow, Merlin cast a worried glance at Arthur. Luckily, it appeared that the sword Arthur carried was fake. The image of Arthur swinging around a real sword in the school terrified him. Then again, a lot of things scared him. Heights, bugs, darkness, and big guys were but a few.

Merlin and the others traded forgettable jokes about each other’s costumes for a few minutes. The comment Shirley made about his robe being a little gaudy did sting a little though. The notable exception was that none of the guys said anything too harsh to Shirley.

While she might be a nerdy girl herself, the fact that she hung around with them made them look less nerdy. The only exception was Arthur. No one, at least no one sane, would ever dare call him a nerd. That helped as well. Arthur actually kept the bullies off their backs.

Shaking his head, he sighed when he noticed Peter had joined them. Peter was new to the school. Apparently, he and his sister had bounced from state to state over the years because his father was in the military. Peter actually wasn’t that bad except that he was a big practical joker. He didn’t take anything seriously.

Merlin almost didn’t notice Peter’s sister. She had snuck in and started talking to his sister without him noticing. That was probably natural since they were about the same age. The two were also wearing almost the exact same outfit. Both were dressed as fairy princesses.

In fact, Merlin had almost thought Peter and Robert were wearing the same costume at first until he realized Peter had dressed as Peter Pan. Ugh! He felt like doing a facepalm. Goodness gracious, he thought. They really were a bunch of nerds.