Clarissa Valois-Bourbon and the Halloween Party Challenge

"I hate to break the news to you, Clarissa, but it turns out that, in fact, you can't hold your breath for a whole minute straight. Therefore, you lost the bet."

Even though these words came from the mouth of my best friend, Emily Davis, I couldn't believe what I just heard.

"Ooh! That wasn't very nice of you, Emily. You should know by now that I can only hold my breath for a maximum of half a minute," I angrily sneered back. "Also, what will be my punishment for losing the bet?"

Emily didn't say anything as she quietly left the room while stating that she'd be back in about 10 minutes or so.

"Hmm. What might happen as a result of me losing the bet? Will I be forced to have a spoonful of (mild) hot sauce? Will I be forced to juggle five eggs without breaking them? Never mind. Let's just hope that my 'punishment' is a mild one," I pondered while mindlessly scrolling through Instagram.

After the 10 minutes had passed, Emily reentered the room with a plastic bowl full of folded up pieces of paper.

"Clarissa, to make a long story somewhat short, your punishment will be to select your costume for the upcoming Halloween party exclusively from the options in this bowl ... and remain completely in character for the entirety of the party! If you don't? Well, let's just say that you'll end up getting pied in the face during the holiday party in December!"

I froze in place: I do not like getting pied in the face because I always worry about the whipped cream getting into my eyes.

Yuck.

Anyways, I carefully reached into the plastic bowl and gently moved my hand around until I felt a paper I knew would be just right for me.

I eagerly opened the paper. However, what was written on it puzzled me.

"Emily, you know that I'm a girl. Why does this paper say 'Prince'?"

"Well, I wanted one of these ideas to be related to your French royal heritage. Besides, since you're one of the most feminine people I know, I thought that it'd be hilarious if you showed up to the party as a prince instead of as a princess!" Emily snickered as I silently filled up with range.

"Um, how about we first check your room for costume pieces? I definitely know that you have at least a few things you could use," she sighed in an attempt to calm me down.

I happily nodded yes as we dashed upstairs.

"...alright, so we can use those charcoal colored socks, those black Oxford shoes you wore when you portrayed Mercutio in that one production of Romeo and Juliet, those royal-inspired medals from that same production of Romeo and Juliet, that one silver crown I bought you for your birthday last year, the short, brown-haired wig you also wore in that one production of Romeo and Juliet, and that one light gray collared shirt that you have for some reason. This means that we'll have to go buy you a suit and tie. According to some Internet searching that I've done, we should buy a burgundy suit and a plain white tie. Let's go to the mall right now and check things out," Emily suggested.

I quickly flashed her a thumbs-up.

"...great, this is the SIXTH suit that you've tried on and yet NONE of them fit! Argh! How about you try on the one I just brought in?"

"FINE!" I furiously hissed back in annoyance.

Thankfully, after I slipped this suit on, it fit as if it was custom-made just for me.

"OMG, Clarissa, that suit is PERFECT! I'm gonna go and look for a tie!" Emily happily squealed before, in the blink of an eye, she returned with a simple white tie. It was a perfect fit.

Later, as we were paying for everything, Emily pulled a small bag out from her purse. Said small bag contained a pair of short, white, satin-textured gloves.

"I believe that these gloves will truly enhance your regal look," she smirked. I happily nodded in agreement with her.

The Halloween party took place the very next day. I had already gotten into my costume/wig and was packing a bag containing wig pins/hair ties/a smaller bag for my gloves when Emily alerted me of her arrival.

"Clarissa, I mean, Henri, you look AMAZING!" she loudly squealed.

I blushed while complimenting her haunted doll costume.

"Aw, thanks. Remember: this party will be three hours long. If you don't stay in character the whole time, I will be pieing you in the face at the December holiday party," she giggled as I buckled my seatbelt.

My hands suddenly became clammy as my heart started racing. My brain became filled with nothing but nervous thoughts. What if I "break character?" What if I suddenly trip and hurt myself? What if? What if? What if?

Focus, Clarissa - I mean, Henri. In order to not end up getting pied in the face, you MUST stay in character for the entirety of the party. In other words, you MUST be polite and refined during the entirety of this party.

After about a 20 minute drive, Emily and I reached the party venue, which was the house of our friend Leah. We politely rang the doorbell before Leah, who was dressed as a butterfly, happily opened the door.

"Hi there. Both of you look wonderful. Come on in. We're just about five minutes away from the start of a general knowledge trivia contest," Leah pleasantly explained.

While Emily happily stepped inside, my steps were slow and careful. I was still worried about embarrassing myself like a fool.

When it came time for the trivia contest teams to be formed, Emily and I were put on a team with Justin Chang (who was dressed like Patrick Star) and Logan Greene (who was dressed like Plankton.)

"Wow, so Clarissa did lose that bet you mentioned to us last week. She does look like a very convincing prince," Logan chuckled as the rest of the teams were formed.

"Logan, I am very pleased with your comment. May we please focus on the trivia contest?" I politely asked him.

Surely enough, Logan zipped his lips and turned his attention back to the trivia contest.

When it came down to the final question, everyone was screaming possible answers at each other.

While I also wanted to yell, I kept my composure and instead politely raised my hands.

"The answer is true - some fish do lay eggs," I responded.

Luckily, I was correct - and my team won!

At this point, there were still two hours remaining in the party.

Twenty minutes later, there was a long line at the punchbowl. Even though everyone else in the line were brawling and cutting each other, I did the royal/polite thing and simply remained in line.

When I did reach the punchbowl, I politely refilled my cup before sitting down right next to Emily, who praised me for staying in character.

"Thanks," I replied as I sipped some fruit punch. "Still, I feel like I'm going to burst at any minute."

Emily politely reassured me as I quickly checked my watch.

There was now one hour and 20 minutes remaining in the party.

Later, when there was exactly half an hour left of the party, I suddenly felt relieved yet worried - relieved that things had been going really well for me, worried that somehow, I'd screw up just before the party ended.

Suddenly, a loud and random argument broke out between two guys dressed as creepy clowns.

This caused everyone at the party to start screaming at each other for no reason.

Everyone, that is, except for me and Emily.

While Emily softly sobbed to herself, I tried my hardest to remain calm and composed so I wouldn't end up getting pied in the face.

Twenty minutes were now left in the party.

The fight continued.

Emily stopped crying.

My heart began beating faster than ever before.

Fifteen minutes were now left in the party.

I began taking rapid and deep breaths in order to calm myself down.

Things were still going well.

The fight, although a little calmer now, still raged on in the background.

As the minutes remaining in the party kept on decreasing, my anger began bubbling up inside me like a balloon about to pop.

Suddenly, Leah declared the party to be over.

Phew.

I made it.

"You know, Clarissa, not only did you look AMAZING tonight, you also managed to somehow always stay in character. It looks that I will be the one getting pied in the face!" Emily happily exclaimed as we left the party.

I cheerfully high-fived her as we headed back home.

THE END