Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I do not own Halloweentown, Jack, Sally, Oogie Boogie,Boogie's boys, the Mayor....anyone like that.

Claimer: I do own Tera, her family,and Evelyn. Please do not steal.

Trick or Treat

Chapter One

"Teeeerrraaa!"

She groaned, turning over. Beside her, the radio softly played Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody in her ear.

"Teeerrraaaa!"

She sat upright in bed, throwing a pillow at her younger brother. He laughed and ran from the room, and she glanced at the digital clock on her nightstand. Five minutes till the warning bell rang.

"Why didn't anyone wake me up sooner?" she hollered. The only answer was the laughter of her brother.

She clambered out of bed and fell to the floor, nearly landing on their cat, Pixie. Pixie hissed in surprise and bolted from the room as Tera struggled to her feet.

Swinging her door shut, she pulled on her jeans and a clean T-shirt, pausing to pull on her striped socks. She ran into her bathroom and quickly brushed her long black hair and put on just a bit of makeup around her bright gray eyes.

Then she flew down the stairs, grabbing her jacket, bag, and boots. She struggled with her boots as she hopped out the door, calling, "Bye!"

Her dad appeared in the hallway. "Don't you want breakfast?"

"No time!"

She zipped up her boot and ran, down the sidewalk, which was now abandoned, all the teenagers already at school. She ran as hard as she could, and after a moment, she heard the warning bell ring in the distance. She cursed and sped up, but her ankle twisted from where it sat atop the three-inch heel and she landed on her bottom on the sidewalk.

She groaned, but it was cut short by a chortle from behind her. She twisted around, staring around. From behind an electrical pole she swore she saw a devil mask, just like the one from--

She mentally shook herself. No. No way. She wouldn't let Nightmare Before Christmas, the amazing movie it was, invade her real life. Now she had to get to school.

She got to her feet and started jogging, ignoring the dull pain in her ankle. When she finally reached the school, the last bell had gone, and the halls were nearly empty. She went first to the office to get a late slip, and then to her locker and grabbed her books. Then she walked to her History class, pausing outside the door until Mr. Henderson's back was turned, and then sauntered in. She went up to his desk and put her weight on one foot, clearing her throat loudly. And so started their daily routine.

He turned around, crossing his arms and narrowing his eyes. "I was wondering if you had decided to show up today, Miss Jonasen. What's this, the third time you've been late this month?"

She smiled pleasantly at him. "Fourth time." His eyelid twitched, and she had to struggle down a laugh. "I would have thought that, three months into this school year, you would have become more responsible."

Still wearing that pleasant smile, she said, "Nope. Just as undependable as last year."

Another twitch. He held out his hand, and she gave him the late slip.

"Go to your seat," he said.

She went to the back and slid into her chair, her face breaking into a grin. Beside her, Josh was smothering a laugh.

She took out her textbook and began flipping, one page at a time, to the page written on the board, which just happened to be two hundred pages in. She couldn't keep the smirk off of her face.

At lunchtime she went straight to her locker, getting the lock open on the third time and dropping her books to the bottom of it. It was a royal mess. Coke bottles were on the shelves, on the bottom, and hanging out of bags, along with some miscellaneous paper.

She stuffed her afternoon binders into her bag and swung it up onto her shoulder, closing the locker and finding her friend Evelyn right there. Tera jumped slightly, and then smiled. "Hey."

Evelyn smiled. "What's up?"

"Nothing. I was late again this morning."

Evelyn sighed. "You're going to be suspended soon. Don't you have an alarm?"

"I do, but my stupid brother keeps turning it off once I'm asleep," she answered through gritted teeth. She locked her locker and they made their way down to the cafeteria, where they stood in line for ten minutes just to buy a mini-pizza. When they finally got out they went to a table in the back and sat down, setting their bags under the table.

"Haven't you told your dad?" Evelyn asked, carefully peeling off all of the pepperoni.

"Course I have," Tera said. "You think he'd do anything about it?"

"Get a lock," she suggested.

"I'd forget to lock it." Tera sighed, resting her cheek in her hand. "Or I'd forget to unlock it and run into it all the time."

Evelyn laughed. "You probably would."

Tera rolled her eyes, picking at the cheese on her pizza. "Thanks for the support."

Evelyn grinned at her. "Any time."

After lunch they headed up to the library. They spent the last half-hour talking and finishing homework, and then split when the bell rang to go to their classes.

In Science, the last class of the day, Tera took notes absent-mindedly, her chin resting on her hand as she stared at the clock, only half-listening to what the teacher was explaining. Five minutes left…

They seemed to stretch on forever. She would write a note and look back to the clock, and it would be four and a half…three…two and a half…two and a quarter… Surely, this was torture. Stuck in a classroom when there was a beautiful autumn day outside.

The bell rang, making her jump. As she hurried out the door with her classmates the teacher called, "Don't forget to finish the theory questions!"

She went straight to her locker and threw all of her stuff in, not bothering to take anything home. As soon as she went back to her house and opened the door her brother jumped out, trying to scare her. She sighed and gently pushed him away. "Don't you ever go to school?" she sighed, closing the door and kicking off her boots. She went into the large basement, which was pretty much her floor, because no one liked it down there except for her. She had bookshelves, comfortable chairs and couches, and shelves of DVDs. She ran her fingers over them and picked out Nightmare Before Christmas, popping it into the DVD player. She settled back on the couch and tucked her legs under her, hitting the play button.

After about half an hour of singing along with the surround sound, her brother trotted down the stairs with the phone in his hand. "One of your friends," he said, tossing me the phone. I paused the movie and picked it up from my lap.

"Oh yeah, Dad said he'll be home early tonight, and we're going out for dinner," he added. She nodded and said "Hello?" into the phone.

"Tera?" Evelyn said, her voice strangely tearful. Frowning, Tera shifted, sitting up straighter. "What's the matter?" she asked.

Evelyn broke into sobs. Tera was soon very distressed. "What's wrong?" she asked, her hand clutching the phone unnecessarily tight.

"C-can you c-c-come over?" Evelyn choked.

"I'll be right over," Tera said. It was so unusual for Evelyn to be upset; this must be bad. Hanging up the phone, leaving on the movie, she ran up the stairs and pulled on her runners instead of her boots. Slipping into her pleather jacket she called to her brother, "I'll be home soon. I've just got to run out."

"But we're going out for--"

"Tell Dad to wait just for a half an hour, okay? This is serious." She ran out the door and into the garage, grabbing her bike and swinging her leg over it. Hitting the button, she rode hard and cleared the door before it shut, riding as fast as she could to her best friend's house.