So How Does Your Costume Fit?

Chapter 1

The sun beamed down as a welcome relief from the days of bitterly cold winds and dark clouds. The entire town had been huddled inside their homes and offices with the heaters going strong to fight the encroaching chill. People who were unlucky enough to be outside dressed in heavy polar jackets and gloves, hunching their shoulders against the wind and worrying about an early snowfall. Today, however, people met outside laughing and wishing each other a happy Halloween. Though the air was still sharp, they wore lighter jackets or heavy sweatshirts to keep warm.

"Good Afternoon Sylvie! Hello Taryn! Lovely day today." Shouted Mr. Osbork, as he made his rounds. The town's mailman for fifty years, he was due to retire soon. Tall, with a shock of white hair on his head, his kindly face beamed at people from behind his thick glasses. His thick blue mailman's suit was clean and unwrinkled, and hid his jogger's body. He often joked that he was so athletic because of numbers of dogs he had had to dodge while working.

Sylvie and Taryn waved back cheerily to Mr. Osbork. The two girls quickly tucked their mittens back under their arms as they walked to class. The two had been very best friends as far back as either could remember, despite their differences. Sylvie was the more aggressive of the two. Shorter than her friend by a couple of inches, she had flaming red hair that she preferred to keep short and held back with a bright yellow headband. Her green eyes often flashed with laughter or anger, depending on her mood. Her friend had once compared her temper to quicksilver, able to change in an instant from joyful to fighting mad. She had gotten into more than her fair share of scrapes at the high school where both attended and was known for her competiveness. She was the captain of the soccer team, lead the scoreboards for the track team, and was no slouch in the swim team. By contrast, Taryn was quiet and reserved. She had an easy-going nature that made people want to be around her. She had a way of speaking that could disarm even Sylvie. She was extremely smart, something that Sylvie teased her a bit about. She got top marks in math, English, and chemistry. As for Sylvie's scores, the less said about them the better. If it wasn't for Taryn's continuous tutoring, she would have been set back a whole year. Physically, she was a knockout. She had long black hair and brown eyes. Her face often was often composed in quiet contemplation of some new problem that she was working on. She maintained her position on the swim team, but had no true interest in sports. She did come to all of Sylvie's games to cheer her friend on.

Yes, they were complete opposites in temperament and looks, which could be why they got on so well. Sylvie glanced over at her friend. She was hunched against the wind, though the heavy back pack was causing her some difficulty in maintaining her balance. Sylvie just knew that it would be crammed full of books about math or science. Sylvie's strap shifted and began digging painfully into her chest. Pausing to shift it she muttered a curse under her breath until she got the problem fixed. Taryn had stopped only a short distance ahead, waiting for her.

The strap now properly adjusted, Sylvie jogged up to her friend. The two continued on in silence for a moment, something that tended to grate on her nerves. Deciding to end the quiet, she grinned at Taryn and asked. "Have you decided what you're going to be for the Halloween party yet?" "Uhm," Taryn confessed, caught by surprise, "Not yet."

"Cool." Said Sylvie. "I just found this neat new costume shop this morning. The Enchanted Threads. I'm sure they have to find a costume that guarantees us the prize." She was referring to the costume prize for the school. The winner got a hundred dollars and a free ice cream at Harry's. Harry's made the best ice cream around, so competition for a free one could be fierce.

"That sounds nice." Taryn said cautiously. She hadn't heard of Enchanted Threads before, and was as hopeful as her friend to win the prize. Still, she had to wonder if it was the ice cream that Sylvie wanted or something else. Her question was answered with Sylvie's next comment.

"We are so going to beat Sara this year. Did you see what she had last year? Everyone was so impressed with her White Rabbit costume. "Oh, ain't you the cutest? Your soooo adorable Sara. How did you come up with the such a clever costume." She mimicked. Scorn dripped from all her words. Sylvie and Sara had been rivals since she had moved into Red Leaf three years ago from out of state. The Southern Belle had become a real hit for her charm and grace, not to mention her beauty had caused more than one jealously to flare up. Between Sylvie and Sara, however, it was just a little more. Sylvie had always been captain of the soccer team, and had lead them to several victories. However, after a run of bad luck had brought about a series of defeats, Sara had suggested that Sylvie step aside and let someone else lead. It had come down to a one-on-one soccer match between the two, which Sylvie had only narrowly won. She never forgot Sara's derision however.

Taryn sighed mentally over her friend's attitude and kept moving. As Sylvie continued on in vein about how terrible Sara's costume actually was last year, she tuned her out. Instead, her thoughts turned to a boy in her third period chemistry class. He had been funny, scary smart and had a smile that was to die for. She wondered how he felt about her. They hadn't dated or anything, besides sitting together at lunch a couple of times, so it was hard for her to tell. For that matter, it was hard to tell her feelings towards him. Whenever he was near, it made her fill all jittery and nervous. This was a serious problem for her on some of the more difficult chemistry reactions she had had been doing, which had led to a rather long session of clean-up when the reaction she was working on was screwed up and exploded, spraying the entire lab in a thick green goo. It had taken hours to clean. And she had been given a note, her first one ever. Her mom had hit the roof when she had read it. She had felt ready to die from embarrassment while Sylvie had found the whole thing uproarious. When she had found out why Taryn had messed up the formula, she had laughed for ten minutes straight on her bed, tears running down her face. Eventually Taryn had joined in the laughter.

Taryn was suddenly jostled by Sylvie's elbow, snapping her out of her reverie and causing her to look over at Sylvie questioningly.

"We're here, girl." Sylvie pointed. Taryn turned startled. She hadn't realized they were already at the school building. "The way you were walking, you had to be thinking about that geek of yours."

"He's not a geek, just smart about computers." Taryn said, fighting a blush. Sylvie rolled her eyes and dropped the matter. She just wasn't in a teasing mood right now. She had caught a glimpse of Sara talking with Jason, captain of the boy's football team. Her good mood suddenly drained, she muttered "I'll see you after class Taryn." And angrily shoved her way down the entry hall. She ignored the shouting and bustling of the others as they ran to their lockers and congregated in clumps in the hall.

She reached her locker without incident and shoved her backpack inside. She felt very angry. Who did that woman think she was anyway? She liked Jason. They had even gone out. Once. All right, so she had accidently knocked over his drink. So what? That didn't give her the right to be talking to him.

Muttering dark prophesies of revenge, Sylvie went to class. However, her mind was not on algebra or English, so she did rather poorly in today. This did not improve her mood at all, and she met Taryn for lunch at the cafeteria with a scowl.

"Hey there sunshine." Teased Taryn. "What's with the loooong face today?" Sylvie gave her a growl, which made Taryn laugh lightly at her expression.

"Come on girl. You need a change of pace." Said Taryn soothingly. "PE is right after the next bell. Let's see who can swim the fastest today." "All right, you're on." Said Sylvie, brightening. She liked swim class.

The high school pool was thirty feet long and about ten feet deep. It had a series of jump boards, as well as a high dive board. By the time Sylvie and Taryn had gotten changed, the pool edge was lined with the rest of the girls from the swim team. Sylvie was wearing a plain red one piece speedo while Taryn had a brown one. Both girls slid their hair under the stretchy caps to reduce drag and then waited there turn on the jump off. The two girls ahead finished their laps and then it was Sylvie and Taryn's turn.

Sylvie and Taryn took their places, bending over to grab the handles at the bottom of the board. They waited a heartbeat until the swim coach shouted "go!". They both jumped off and entered the water smoothly. The girls swam for all they were worth. As they sped through the water, they were neck and neck. They reached the far side and turned around. Sylvie's athleticism showed, and she was able to get turned around first. Pushing off the dirty white pool wall, she stroked ahead of Taryn now. The taller girl gave a strong push and surged forward. Swimming hard, she gave a burst of speed and caught up with Sylvie. Both girls were flying through the water now. Sylvie's hand reached the wall a bare second before Taryn's. Both girls were breathing heavily from their exertions. Grinning, they swam to the edge of the pool and pulled out to make room for the next swimmers.

"That was a great run!" Sylvie laughed as they checked the scoreboard. Their times were displayed and ranked compared to the others. They both lead the others by a wide margin. Sylvie felt a surge of pride at that. All those hours at the pool had really been paying off.

"You were good Sylv." Taryn gasped slightly. She brushed a stray bang out of her eyes, tucking it securely back under her cap.

"Let's watch the other girls for a moment before we go again." Sylvie suggested. Taryn nodded in agreement. The two girls stood to the side of the pool to watch the rest of the team making their runs.

The sound of a door slamming caused heads to turn all over the pool. Framed in the door stood Sara Kendall. She was wearing a blue two piece that showed off her excellent figure. Her bright blonde hair hung down to her waist. With the sun shining through the large windows, it enveloped her in a soft golden halo. Every male eyeball in the pool was immediately riveted to her. She gave a very soft smile as she sashayed into the pool. To Sylvie, it almost seemed as if she hesitated to give her a triumphant smirk before continuing on to the far side of the pool. When she slid into the water, every male member of the team seemed to congregate around her as she swam towards the center. With the press of bodies on the far end, there was no place to practice the laps. The rest of team jumped in and soon a game of Marco Polo was in full swing.

Sylvie left for the dressing room in a huff, muttering angrily under her breath. Taryn followed her into the dressing room. There she found Sylvie already out of her suit, showering. Peeling out of hers, she turned on the faucet and began to scrub the chlorine off her body.

"I find I really don't like that…I am not even going to say it." She told Taryn as she viciously scrubbed shampoo into her hair. Taryn didn't said say anything. Just let her friend vent a little steam, which she proceeded to do with gusto.

"She knows that the team needs its practice to get ready for the next meet and she has to come in all prissy and helpless just to cause the rest of the team to worship around her. I'm positive that she did this on purpose!" she growled. "If we lose the next match, she can try to have me replaced. Well. If she thinks that, she's got another thing coming!" she said viscously. Turning off the water, she proceeded to towel off. Taryn was right behind her.

"Don't worry about it." She said placatingly. "The team is in the best shape that it's ever been. You've won the past three years in a row. Everyone knows that you'll lead us to victory again. Besides, we'll beat her at the Halloween party  tomorrow, and you'll feel a lot better."

"Yeah, I guess your right." Sylvie said as she pulled on her pants and reached for her shirt.

"You know I am girl." Taryn said encouragingly. Her voice became muffled for a moment as she pulled on her shirt. "We can go to Enchanted Threads after class today and find costumes that will win the prize for us." She finished dressing and tossed her swim stuff into the locker.

"That sounds great." Sylvie said with a small smile. "Somehow, you always know how to cheer me up Taryn."

"Someone has to silly." Taryn smiled. "See you at the end of school?"

"I'll be there."