I'm so so sorry! Really I only have excuses to give... dumb ones, really.

I wanted to get this out by Halloween, but I guess that didn't really happen. This chapter is feeling kinda sucky to me, and I feel really gross about it. But oh well. Maybe I need a beta? :) Anyone want to help me out with that?

Thank you to my amazing reviewers, and to my readers! Love you guys, and I hope you enjoy :)

Disclaimer: I don't own Peanuts.

Lucy was filled with pure, mindless fear.

She was racing down a dark, familiar corridor: dark steely doors whizzing past her on both sides, broken only by sections of lockers painted her high school's colors of white and green. Her flats slapped urgently against tiles of similar hues.

She allowed panic to pull her forward even faster, her load of books slipping dangerously through fingers slick with sweat. Her first day of classes, and somehow she had managed to be late.

In her panic, she didn't notice how she already knew her way around these corridors she had never been before, or rather, she knew where she was going; or how the walls seemed to bend and creak around her, twisting maze like and tripping her steps. Her mind was a blur—what was her first class again? The History of Toes? No—as she desperately crashed through a seemingly random door.

Her heart froze in her chest.

Hundreds of students sat obediently at innumerable rows of desks, unseen faces deep in textbooks. At the commotion her entrance caused, however, they all turned to her as one—and all had his face. Perfect brown hair. Malicious eyes… a smirk.

Oh no. In horror, she turned to the professor, who also had Rick's handsome appearance, this time twisted into amused contempt.

"Nice of you to join us, Miss Van Pelt," he drawled, tapping the attendance book in his arms with a perfect finger. "Late on your first day… what a shame…" his lips turned into a sneer. "It seems you're already FAILING!"

As the gigantic classroom was filled with the same cruel laugh coming from many mouths, Lucy could only stare in terror. Her knees knocking, head swimming, she cried wildly, "No, I—I'm sorry! I'll try harder! Please—" But her books had turned to snakes—no, blankets? —And were wrapping around her. She was trapped.

"Please!" she screamed before the baby blue blanket covered her mouth. The Professor only snorted mockingly. "You'll try, will you? It's too late for that, Lucy Van Pelt! How dare you!" With horror, with chilling dread, Lucy heard the cutting words morph into her mother's. "I will not have a whore in this house!"

With a final muffled scream, Lucy was thrown… into bed. Her wild eyes opened.

It had all been a dream.

And with a muffled cry, she rushed out the bedroom door.

Schroeder, however, had been having a rather nice dream. Although now he couldn't recall it, he was sure the vision had been entwined with soft melodies and vivid colors. "Schroeder," a girl's voice sighed, as he drifted contentedly in dreamland, he suddenly felt himself being grabbed frantically by the arm.

"Schroeder!" the voice cried, growing urgent. He knew that voice… whose was it again? He struggled to concentrate on the cries, as they grew more frantic. Unfortunately, the scenery began to fade as he mind was jolted back into consciousness.

"Ugghhh…" he groaned, realizing it was still dark inside his little bedroom. What the fuck?

But his eyes blearily focused on the slight figure crouching next to him, and then on the anxious face only inches from his own. He jumped, shrieking.

She winced.

After he struggled to come to his senses (or most of them, anyway) and he noticed that Lucy looked terrible. He felt a pang of worry. "Lu? What's wrong?"

She bit her lip nervously. "Schroeder, I'm—I'm sorry. I just had a really terrible dream, and I—I mean, I was wondering… um, could I…?" Her typical pride had her embarrassed, if she hadn't seemed so afraid.

He understood. "Sure," he yawned, moving over. She shot him a grateful look, taking a calming breath. She snuggled under the blankets.

"I'm so going to feel humiliated about this in the morning," she mumbled contentedly, and he laughed quietly. Secretly, his libido was going fucking haywire, and sleep was probably the furthest thing from his mind. Just friends just friends just friends, he chanted firmly in his head. Well, at least for now.

He peeked over at her sleeping form. It got worse.

Schroeder moaned.

This was going to be a long night.

Schroeder was shocked to find this… arrangement would be more permanent than he thought.

Somehow, this incident repeated itself the following night, and then the next, and the next, until Schroeder decided to propose a more stable sleeping arrangement for both of their sakes. Lucy never moved around much in her sleep, and Schroeder was careful to keep his distance, so sharing a bed wasn't uncomfortable, really. It was strictly platonic, and although she never discussed the nightmares, he somehow kept them away. And after a while, Schroeder felt better having her close. Soon Lucy's bed was going completely unused.

And finally, one August twenty-ninth in New York City, two teens woke up to their first day of college.

Per usual, the boy woke up earlier, blue eyes dull and cloudy with sleep. Yawning, brushing golden locks out of his vision, he ambled towards the shower; he tried to grab at his towel but his arm missed several times.

He scowled enviously behind him at the girl still deeply asleep on the bed. Stupid Julliard with its stupid early orientation, damn it all.

After showering and dressing with whatever was tossed on top of his chair and didn't smell strange, Schroeder contemplated waking Lucy. If he did, she would probably punch him again, or worse; Lucy was not famous for a bright morning attitude. If he didn't, she would probably punch him later for letting her sleep in on her first day. He sighed. It was a death sentence either way.

He compromised by waking her with a carefully thrown pillow, aimed directly for her head.

(She still punched him later anyway, for such a rude awakening.)

An hour later, the two found themselves rushing to get ready. Lucy had sent Schroeder back to change his clothes no less than three times. "You look a mess," she complained, attempting to smooth out his hair as he struggled fruitlessly to evade her grasp.

"I'm fine," he groaned, pushing away her hands halfheartedly. "I'm going to school, not a wedding. Can I eat my breakfast now, Mother?"

"Don't sass me," she warned. "Haven't I told you before that stripes and plaid don't mix?"

"Yeah, but I didn't notice—"

She glared. He gulped.

The rest of the hour passed without further complaint; it seemed the nerves were getting to Lucy as well. She was silent as they clambered down the stairs to leave.

That night, Franklin bought pizza.

"A toast," he rang out, grinning, his slice of pepperoni extended. "To the first day of the college!"

"To the first day of the rest of our lives," Schroeder agreed, "clinking" his pizza slice against the other boy's in mock grandeur.

"Amen," Lucy finished solemnly, taking a bite out of hers. She was too hungry to wait.

After a few minutes of silence as they ate, Franklin broke the silence. "So how was the first day for you guys, really?" Franklin had technically started college a few days ago.

Lucy beamed. "It was magnificent," she sighed. "The campus is so beautiful, and when I saw the library I almost fainted, it was so large! The professors are so knowledgeable, like you can just feel the wisdom in the air, you know? And I'm just prepared to absorb it."

Franklin snorted, then burst out in laughter. Lucy smacked him in the face with a throw pillow, grinning. "Shut up, asshole."

After trying to control himself unsuccessfully, Franklin turned to Schroeder, grinning. "How about you, Beethoven? How was Julliard?"

The blond boy shrugged, swallowing a bit of pizza. "It was okay," he allowed. "We didn't do much."

This was a lie. He chose to overlook the incident during his Performance I class, when he was chosen "randomly" to perform in the classroom's piano anything of his choice in front of the other students. He decided to omit the fact that after fifteen minutes of one of his favorite Beethoven pieces, he left the class—including the professor—speechless. It was all rather an uninteresting story, in his opinion. He had even messed up a note somewhere in the middle.

Finishing her pizza, Lucy sighed in contentment. "I'm sleepy," she yawned exaggeratedly, stretching her arms above her head, accidentally socking Franklin in the mouth.

"Move over," Franklin grouched from Lucy's other side, causing her to scoot closer to Schroeder, who was already feeling his eyes droop. As Lucy rested her head on his shoulder with another sigh, he tried to ignore the swooping feeling in his belly. The feeling that nowadays was becoming all too common and unfortunately very familiar.

As Lucy fell into a deep sleep and Franklin was quieted as the TV captured his attention, Schroeder decided to indulge, just once, in the pretend that Lucy was really his. He imagined that the hand curled on his leg had rested there in flirtation rather than in sleep; that the soft cheek at his collarbone was free to be kissed. Longingly, as his head rested on hers, Schroeder tried to believe that for a minute, Lucy was his not as a best friend, but as a lover; the thought was enough to make a curious shiver run down his spine.

And not for the first or last time, he cursed the stupid, blinded kid he had been.

A couple months later

Five-thirty P.M.

Schroeder glared at the large bowl of chocolates resentfully.

It was a clear, crisp night, perfect for Halloween. The tree outside their window, already marvelously decked in the warm blushes of dying leaves, looked almost sinister framed with the full moon, adding to the evening's spooky aura. Indoors, Lucy had outdone herself; tablecloths, figurines, and even napkins all shared in the holiday's theme, adorned with pumpkin oranges and dark purples. In fact, Lucy had almost done too good a job; it was at Schroeder's intervention that a giant fake spider web (complete with a furry spider the size of a small dog) had been taken down from their bedroom ceiling.

Of course, it was due to her enthusiasm that she had bought too many bags of chocolate. "For the kids," she had replied brightly to his horrified look. "I don't want to run out, so I bought a couple bags extra."

To further his misery, she had refused to let him sample even one measly bit of candy.

His costume choice hadn't helped the situation any. True to tradition, he was dressed as a famous composer, this year opting for George Handel. Although he should have been proud of the authenticity, his only thought was how itchy the damn grey wig was; it was making him miserable.

"Let me see your costume!" A cry from the hallway rang out, as Lucy whirled into the living room. Dressed in a witch's garb, she even had a fake wart on her nose and had even painted herself green. At his approving glance, she grinned a toothy smile.

"What are you supposed to be, anyway?" She wrinkled her nose. "George Washington?"

He shot her a mock glare. "Lucy, you should go put your costume on. Or are you dressed as yourself?"

She nodded approvingly. "Touché."

Suddenly, she noticed the bowl of candy within Schroeder's reach. "You didn't take any, did you?" She cried accusingly, pointing a damning green finger at his nose.

"No, no! I didn't!" Schroeder whined defensively, backing into his seat slightly. Lucy continued to eye him with suspicion, although seemed to accept his apparent sincerity. She whisked the bowl closer to the dinner table, dropping something heavy in it as she set it down.

"Lucy," he asked slowly in confusion, "Is that…?"

"A rock!" the girl cried out triumphantly, flashing a grin at him. "See, for old times sake, we'll pick out the kid who looks or acts the most like Charlie Brown, and instead of candy he'll get a nasty surprise!" She cackled. "He'll never see it coming!"

Lucy was getting way too into the whole witch thing. She was actually rubbing her hands together in glee.

"But Lucy," Schroeder tried to reason, "That's not very nice. What if the kid's parents—"

His vain attempt at sense was interrupted with the chime of the doorbell. Lucy crowed with delight.

"Children!" she crooned excitedly in her best imitation of an old hag, which would have impressed Schroeder if not for the frightening accuracy. Hobbling along and hunched over, she threw open the door.

"Ugh!" Straightening up, Lucy gave a long, dejected sigh. "Schroeder, false alarm. It's only Franklin." She moved towards the couch, followed by an offended-looking Franklin dressed as a bloody surgeon.

"Well, hello to you too," he huffed, setting some bulging plastic bags by the floor before plopping down on the couch. "Nice to know people are so excited to see me."

"Well, you do practically live here anyway," Schroeder commented thoughtfully from his seat, tapping his chin.

"You should split the rent like the rest of us," Lucy grumbled, eyes zoning in on the bags. "What's in those?"

He grinned, pouring out the contents on the carpet, its wealth spilling out in all directions. "My rent, you could call it."

More fucking candy.

As Schroeder groaned loudly, trying to smother himself in a pillow at the injustice, Lucy cackled again with more gusto.

Seven P.M.

Schroeder was so bored.

No children at all had rung their doorbell for trick-or-treats, and he was getting restless. He desperately wished he could take a nap, but this God forsaken wig prevented his from even leaning his head on the couch pillow. Franklin was slumped next to him, eyes glued to the football game on TV.

Lucy's angry voice rang from the kitchen. "No, you listen, Linus! You had better get Rerun out of that ridiculous pumpkin patch right now or so help me… I don't care if YOU go and get yourself pneumonia, but when you get him involved then I have to draw the line!"

Schroeder snickered. Linus would never change.

Lucy was fuming, listening to the phone as Linus probably made some sort of attempt at a dignified retort. Finally she growled, "What does it matter that Sally's finally joining you this year? You two could sit out there for days together for all I care. But Rerun is not missing trick-or-treat for that stupid pumpkin patch."

Silence. Then a gasp. "You take that back, you little—"

Schroeder snickered again, reaching for the bowl of candy. Dinner and a show.

"Don't you dare, Schroeder!" A yell stopped his hand in its tracks to the delicious chocolaty goodness.

Fuck! How did she know? She was still in the kitchen, for God's sake. He slumped again. Worst. Holiday. Ever.

Eight-thirty.

To say Lucy was getting antsy was the understatement of the year.

Her petite form was huddled on the armchair, her frequent glances at the door possibly resembling a nervous twitch. She looked so terribly disappointed, and Schroeder couldn't help but feel pain at seeing her so sad. He cursed all the little brats in the world for her sake; why couldn't they have come to this apartment? Just once? Lucy would have been so happy.

Franklin was already snoring away, limbs sprawled, his mouth open and his feet up on the coffee table. A loud snore was cut short by the sound of the doorbell ringing.

"Trick-or-treat!"

With a shriek Lucy sprang up, straightening her grey curls and touching her wart. "I've got it!" She cried, rushing towards the door. Pausing with her hand on the doorknob, she whirled around abruptly shrieked, "Franklin!"

"I'm up!" He shouted, springing into a sitting position and almost slapping Schroeder across the face with an careless hand.

Lucy threw open the door. Standing there was a little boy, probably ten, dressed as an astronaut. Schroeder had to admit he looked pretty amazing, authentic-looking helmet and all. "Trick-or-treat," the boy repeated almost impatiently, thrusting out an overlarge pillowcase.

Lucy cackled for the millionth time, now practiced to perfection. The kid looked properly alarmed.

"Coming right up, little man," she said in a raspy voice, hobbling over slowly to the bowl on their tiny dinner table of sorts. Was that a fake limp? Schroeder felt admiration—not for the first time—at her amazing acting skills.

As he peered over, he accidentally caught the boy's eye. The kid appraised him for a minute, eyes squinting and brow furrowing. Finally, he pointed at Schroeder's nose. "What are you supposed to be?" he demanded.

Schroeder's eyes widened. "I," he said with dignity, "am George Frederick Handel, a composer during the Baroque era. Born in 1685, I composed more than—"

"You look like a old lady."

Franklin guffawed as the normally blond boy stiffened. Lucy had paused at the bowl of candy, eyes wide and her hand over her mouth in shock.

The stupid kid was looking at Schroeder insolently, as if aware that he had touched a nerve and found it funny. This served to further infuriate him and his mouth opened to give this kid what was coming to him.

But as he glanced again at Lucy, he saw her eyes had brightened suddenly with a mischievous spark. Curious, he stayed silent as she hobbled forwards with the bowl. "Now, now, boys," she crooned, sticking her hand in the candy to grab a handful. "Let's just let the little cretin take his candy without any trouble. It is Halloween, after all."

Lucy's gift fell rather loudly into the large pillowcase, and without further ado the boy rushed away without so much as a "thank you".

"What a brat," Franklin commented, as Lucy shut the door. "Rotten luck, sweetheart. I'm sorry."

But when she turned towards them, she was laughing so hard there were tears leaving clean tracks down her green painted face.

With only one look at the candy bowl, Schroeder caught on, grin growing wide. "You gave him the rock, didn't you?"

She could only nod, out of breath and trying to control her laughs. Franklin only gaped. "You… gave a kid a rock?"

"He was obnoxious!" Lucy said defensively, grinning wide and shooting Schroeder a look. "He deserved it much more than Charlie Brown ever did."

Schroeder was laughing too, amazed at her audacity and even sort of touched. Then again, this was Lucy; why would he expect any different?

"The kid's mom is going to kill us." I love you.

Her dark eyes, too, were full of meaning. "I know."

I hope everyone had an amazing Halloween!

Please review!