Simon fell in love with Amalia Locke when he was 14. He'd had crushes before and held his share of hands, but he knew what he felt for her was different. He knew someone amazing was in the room before he heard or saw her. There seemed to be a palpable aura. Even through the rest of his high school years he could sense whenever she was near. She was beautiful and smart and witty and popular. It was terrifying.
When they were freshmen she was a mousey girl with large, inquisitive, laughing eyes. Yet it seemed she became more beautiful every day. By graduation she was the total package, in the form of a slim, pale beauty with black hair and the hints of dangerous curves under her fashionable clothes. She was the girl next door, practically, but she had the looks of a movie star. Not even a porn star - a legit Hollywood A lister to be showered with Oscars for rote line delivery.
Of her interests, hopes, and dreams he had no clue. He was quite smart - at least as smart as anyone he'd met, he reckoned. Therefore he was able to reason that without knowing the girl it was impossible to love her. He was a bit tongue-tied in her presence and she was so popular he wasn't quite able to get her attention.
One thing he did know about her future was her choice of college: Dormontishirechester University, which offered a level of education worthy of modern day royalty. The Lockes didn't appear to be insanely rich but they certainly didn't lack money and Amalia showed no doubt she would get in. Someone of Simon's social status had little hope of going to such an expensive and exclusive college beyond a rare scholarship. When he first fell in love with her he had good grades, but somehow his studies became easier and easier. He discovered talents for math and memory beyond what he thought possible, and proudly became valedictorian. All standardized testing fell to the might of his No. 2 pencil.
Dormontishirechester didn't just allow him in, they courted him like a football school might pursue a top prospect. Getting the red carpet treatment from an elite institution was more than enough to convince his family to give it a shot.
He finally had a pretense to talk to Amalia. She seemed surprised that he would be going to the same school as her, which gave Simon some satisfaction.
"An academic scholarship! I didn't even know they had those!" She seemed impressed, but gave no sign that she was attracted to him yet. Nevertheless they kept in touch and had lunch a few times after their shared Freshman Orientation class. They didn't feel like dates, but he finally got a chance to know her better. They were different in a lot of ways but he started to build a connection around their mutual appreciation of classic video games and techno music.
"You should come to my Halloween Party!"
"It's September still," Simon said with a grin. "Maybe we could just play Mario Kart sometime..."
"Naw, I'm going to be super busy until then." Simon felt that his romantic plans were being gently thwarted. Still, a party with at least one girl whom he happened to be hopelessly in love with was an irresistable proposition.
"Fine, I'll go to your party."
The workload for a freshman at the prestigious university turned out to be enough to block any chances of dating another girl, though he noted with enthusiasm that there seemed to be a glut of beautiful female students. Once he got some breathing room, he might be able to work on moving on from his crush; on the other hand, maybe her "super busy for a month" excuse wasn't bullshit after all.
He got a text message while standing in line for lunch on October 31st.
>Please please please come early? I need help setting up.
>How early?
>As soon as you can.
Haste makes waste, he thought. He made sure he was fed, watered, shaved and showered before putting on some novelty nerd glasses and a short sleeved button up and tie. It was a cheap costume, but he knew that no one cared what men wore unless they were advanced cosplayers. In which case he probably wouldn't going to get the attention he was looking for.
Amalia's off campus home was an old structure that she shared with four other girls. It was rumored to be a secret sorority. It was drab, grey and brown on the outside with an overgrown lawn and looming bushes. The door opened for Simon with a foreboding creak.
Amalia was at the door with half her costume on. She was a naughty schoolgirl from the waist down. Up top she just had a black t-shirt desperately fighting to remain whole as it was stretched across her chest. He had never been sure about the hints of curves under her normal attire, but she was stacked. He decided firmly to give courting the girl another shot.
"Thank you thank you Simon!" He was immediately rewarded with an unexpected hug. Her boobs pressed against him in a way he hadn't dared to hope for. This was going quite well!
"Hey, happy to help Amalia! What do you need?"
"Oh, there's actually plenty of time for that. First have a drink."
She led him into the kitchen where a cast iron pot was bubbling on the counter. She ladled a portion of it into a goblet.
"Here, drink this." Amalia presented him with the goblet now filled with a suspicious looking brown liquid. Vapor steamed somewhat thickly from its bubbling surface. The bubbles themselves were not the usual inviting fizz of soda. They burst violently as if from boiling water. Despite appearances it appeared to be quite cool, and there was no discomfort as the mist touched his hand.
"What is it?"
Amalia giggled. "Halloween Cola! It's my favorite drink."
Simon regarded the liquid and wondered whether the addition of alcohol would have such a dramatic effect on the color and consistency of common cola. Water, corn syrup, carbon dioxide dissolved under pressure... alcohol. Would alcohol make the bubbles behave like that?
