"God, it's so disgusting." I mumbled to Lisa Chase, my all time BFFLE (Best Friend For, Like, Ever as she would say).
"I know. Doesn't Ashley know her hair's so out of style?" I nudged Lisa in the ribs.
"Not that, you moron!" Lisa can be so dense sometimes. "I'm talkin' about Miranda." Lisa gave me that confused look I see in class, or just when someone's talking in general.
"Miranda Manning. Handing out invitations like the Queen of England or something."
"Oh!" I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, I see her." Now Lisa's eyes were filled with hate.
"What does she have invitations for?"
"I dunno." I shrugged. "I thought her birthday was last month."
"Doesn't that girl know manners?"
"God, I know. If I ever did this, my mom would kill me, revive me, clone me, then give me and my clones a lecture on manners. And trust me, that is worse than any method of murder there is." I could hear my redneck accent coming out.
"Maybe that accent of yours is why we don't get invited to any parties." I nudged Lisa again, but harder this time.
"Hey, it's just an idea!" Lisa defended. Then under her breath she muttered, "Maybe it's your violence issues." I rolled my eyes. Just as we were going to walk away to our next class, we could feel a presence behind us. We turned around. It was Miranda. Of course.
"I thought I felt a cold chill behind us, Lisa. Come on, let's go."
"Oh, Natalee, you're so funny! Listen, I wanted to see if you guys wanted to come to my Halloween slumber party. I mean, I know you two will come, because, who wouldn't wanna come to a party of mine? But it's gonna be a ton of fun. Every girl in our grade is coming, and it's going to be at the haunted house down the street, so... really creepy." God, she talked so fast, my head was spinning. She sounded like a thousand NASCAR drivers when they're being interviewed at once. God, I really am a redneck.
"We'll think about it." I said, my head still spinning.
"We will?" Lisa whispered in my ear. I casually stomped on Lisa's foot.
"Good God!" Lisa said, trying to keep from crying. Miranda walked away, her long, straightened, brown hair spinning with her head.
"You weren't serious, were you?" Lisa was begging no.
"You know what? I was. You know that me and Miranda used to be friends. Maybe this is..."
"A chance for a cruddy story that's a thousand years old and only happens in movies? Besides, look at the invite. It says it's for tonight. Oh, my God, I'm talking in rhyme. I wish I could do that all the time. Oh, my God, I'm awesome."
"Look, my mom's not going to care. She and my dad are going to some Halloween party all night. But I'm not going to go without you. Think about it. Ashley, Selena, and Hanna are gonna need us." Ashley, Selena, and Hanna were girls like us. Not popular, but not unpopular, and 'disliked' Miranda.
"We're going." I said, dragging Lisa to Civics.

By the time we got to the enormous haunted house, or should I say, mansion, everyone else was already there.
It was really creepy, particuraly since it was 7:00 and the sun was setting. All the leaves had fallen off the trees, and a creepy wind was whistling through the air. The windows were falling off their hinges, and there wasn't even a door. Half the shingles on the roof had been torn off, and the other half were about to fall off. Even some of the bricks had fallen out of the walls. Talk about the image of creepy.
"I don't wanna do this." Lisa said, turning back.
"Don't tell me you're scared of the dark. That would explain why you always have the nightlight on at our sleepovers. And don't tell me you brought-"
"Well, I guess Mr. Arm will protect me."
"You brought your teddy bear arm." Long story short, when Lisa was little, she chewed off Mr. Zuggles's (her bear) arm off when she was teething. Kept the thing ever since.
"My God. Come on, let's go inside." I tried to shut the door even though I knew there was none.
"Nat, Lise!" Miranda said. Is Lisa really that much harder to say than Lise? Miranda fake-hugged us. "You guys can put your stuff in the basement. And could you do me a favor? Ashley, Selena, and Hanna went down there like, a half-an-hour ago and haven't come back up yet. Could you guys check on them?" Maybe they're staying down there to get away from you.

Even the stairs sounded creepy, each step a different kind of creak. The first step was a low, long creak, the next, a short, high-pitched squeal.
The basement was dark, with only candles to light up the place. According to the invitation,there were no light switches in the house, so we had to go by candle light. But I cheated, and brought a Coleman lantern.
"Ashley, Hanna, Selena?" Lisa called out as I slowly waved the lantern to light up the room. No response.
"Ashley!? Hanna?! Selena!?" Lisa called out, louder. Still, no response. And the basement wasn't all that big. And even though it was dark, with the lantern, it would be really hard to hide in the vast emptiness.
"Do you think they're-"
"They're not dead, they're not kidnapped, and they haven't fallen in a vat of marshmallow topping. They're probably just upstairs without Miranda realizing it.
"I don't know. Seems pretty weird." Lisa said as she set down her stuff but put Mr. Arm in her pocket. "Hey, there's a door right here. Let me check it out." I opened the door and shone the light. I could see where the room ended but it didn't look dangerous, so I waved Lisa in. She slowly stepped in. And then, just as she was fully past the doorway, the door suddenly closed shut with a slam, and I could hear Lisa screaming. Then, it faded away. Then, the door from the basement to the outside flew open, breaking off the hinge and almost taking me out. All the candles went out. Now, I was scared and just wanted to go home.
"Oh, my God! Miranda, Miranda, Miranda!" I raced upstairs, dropping all of my stuff, then tripping over all of it. On the way up the stairs. That hurt.
"Miranda?" I called one last time, freaking out. 'Cause there was no response from anyone.
"Anyone?!" I panicked. I felt my heart trying to beat out of my chest. I could hear it in my ears.
"Oh, God. God, God, God, help me here, please." I felt myself collapse on the floor, starting to cry. I curled into a ball. I took my cell phone out of my pocket to call Mom and 911, but the battery instantly died.
"God, I promise you if you save me, I shall forever live a holy life. Please!"

I felt a tap on the shoulder. I slowly turned around. God, I will give everything I have-
"That was a wicked burn." Lisa's voice said from behind me. My lantern rose to show her face.
"Aah!" I could hear everyone laughing around me. Lisa, Miranda, Ashley, Selena, Hanna, everyone.
"How did- why did-" I couldn't finish any of my questions, but Lisa and Miranda were able to answer them for me.
"Remember last week when you pulled that nasty prank, nice burn, but nasty prank that we shall never speak of again?" Lisa asked rhetorically. "Well, I needed a wicked burn to pull on you. So I thought of the one person that could pull an even nastier prank on you. Miranda." I could see where this was going.
"Normally, you know I'd never help Lisa." Miranda butted in. "But her motive was pure. To pull a burn. And as you know, it's in my nature to burn. Since Mom works in real estate, she let us use the house."
"Okay, I can take it from there." I interrupted. "But answer one thing. How did you get the door to fall off the hinge?"
"That was just lucky." Lisa said.
"I don't like you." I responded.