Well, it's Monday which means school has started for me so pardon the late update time. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it! I know I did writing it *snickers*

It was Friday afternoon of the next day when Amelia tiredly walked out of the music building at Samhain Community College. The weary student wore an earthy, tan colored, long sleeved shirt with a wide neck to reveal the black straps of the take-top she had on underneath. A warm green jacket covered her shoulders and arms to protect her from the November chill and she had on a pair of black denim jeans to complete the ensemble. Her heavy backpack weighed down on her shoulder while she struggled to keep the loose sheets of music in her hands from falling out of her grasp. The music major heaved a deep, exhausted sigh.

"Thank goodness it's the weekend." She shifted the papers into one hand and dug her car keys out of her jacket pocket with the other.

"Need help there?" A masculine voice spoke next to her.

Amelia jumped slightly and whipped her head around. Jack, in his human disguise, was leaning against her car with an amused expression across his face.

"And here I thought the Daughter of Fright couldn't be scared." He smirked, raising an eyebrow.

"I wasn't scared," the sorceress scoffed glaring at him, "you just startled me."

"Right." He obviously didn't believe her but chuckled lightly. Amelia felt her heart skip a beat at the sound. He pushed himself off her car and turned to face her directly. "So what are your plans for the rest of the day?"

"Oh, well…I kind of haven't thought that far ahead." She said sheepishly. "Normally I would get some homework done before I have to go to work."

Jack gave her a slightly irritated look, obviously that wasn't the answer he was hoping for. "Well you're not today."

"Eh? I'm not?" She blinked in confusion.

"No, you're going to take a break and stop worrying about school work so much." He stated assertively, crossing his arms.

"But—"

"Ah." He cut her off, "We're going to spend the afternoon together and get your mind off things."

"Why do I get the feeling that this is part of the reason you came here?" The young woman arched an eyebrow suspiciously. The would-be skeleton man ignored her comment and snapped his fingers when an idea came to him.

"I know! How about you show me around town?" he beamed like the suggestion was pure genius.

"How's that enjoying myself?"

"I'll be fun!" he insisted. "Seeing Samhain in the dark like last night isn't as good as seeing it in the daytime."

"I see with your human form also came arrogance." Amelia stated bluntly.

"Hey." He narrowed his emerald green eyes at her and she just laughed.

"Alright come on." She smiled, "Get in on the other side." Once he had reached the passenger door, she smirked and said, "You do remember how to put your seatbelt on right?"

"Yes." He replied dryly hearing the amusement in her voice.

They were soon on the road and Amelia pointed out other places of interest as they passed them. Such as, the city park which was vast and lush with autumn trees, a few still had their brightly colored leaves while others had already lost several. They went by her old house, the sorceress silently praying her parents or her old neighbors didn't see them. Explaining who Jack was and why he was in her car was one situation she desperately wanted to avoid. Then they came across Samhain High School, to which Amelia described as, "the best and worst four years of my life." As they headed into the downtown area, the young woman ran into ill-fated luck. They passed La Petite Café and everything went in slow-motion as she noticed Claire walking out of the building. The tall dark haired brunette stopped and a shocked expression came across her face. She saw them.

"Oh for the love of…" Amelia groaned in annoyance and pulled into a nearby parking lot.

"Why are we stopping?" Jack asked, puzzled.

"Claire, my roommate, saw us." She explained. "Or more specifically, saw you." The disgruntled teenager unbuckled her seatbelt and turned toward him. "Now listen, I've told her a little about you so you need to know the cover story. We're childhood friends since I was nine, you live several towns away, and we know each other because you're a friend of my family."

"Uh, ok?' He nodded a little dumbly as he took in the information. They got out of the car and, not five seconds later, Claire was already walking up to them.

"Well, well, well. Would you happen to be Amelia's boyfriend I've heard so much about?" She asked, crossing her arms.

"B-Boyfriend!" the two disguised sorcerers yelled in surprise as their faces flushed red.

"Claire! He's not my boyfriend!" The light brunette protested.

"Right, right." The café waitress waved her off.

Amelia sighed, and then proceeded with the introductions, "This is Jack, my friend. Jack, this is Claire, my so-called friend."

"Ignoring that." The tall young woman stated.

"Well it's a pleasure to meet you." Jack took her hand and shook it, flashing his signature grin. She stared up at him, though he was only just barely a few inches taller, and she seemed to be in some sort of trance. A light blush splashed across her cheeks.

"Uh likewise." She finally said, snapping out of her daze when he had released her hand. "Why don't we go to the café?" she suggested, "Get out of the cold. Hot chocolate is on me!"

"Alright." Amelia laughed at her friend's sudden enthusiasm.

Soon they were all seated around a small table in La Petite Café, which was moderately busy. Claire brought out three cups of hot chocolate and sat down across from Jack and Amelia.

"Strange…" she eyed the man next to her best friend suspiciously, "Amelia told me she wouldn't see you for a while."

Said young woman stiffened and glanced over at Jack nervously, who blinked then beamed brightly.

"Well she would have been right had I not decided to come to Samhain." He said cheerfully, and then took a sip of his hot chocolate.

"So why the surprise visit?" Claire crossed her arms, looking at him curiously.

"Well you see, and you of all people would understand this, Amelia just hasn't given herself enough time to relax." Jack spoke truthfully. "Whenever I would talk to her, she would be fretting over an exam or something else school-related. I took it upon myself to make sure that she would let go of some of that stress."

The two girls' eyes widened in surprise, but then the dark brunette smiled and laughed a little.

"That is too true, and how sweet of you to come for her." She interlaced her fingers and propped her head up, then gave them a wink. "Are you sure you two aren't dating?"

"What? No!" The two shouted in unison, a light blush forming on their faces.

"Right…Just making sure." Claire beamed and took a sip of her beverage. "So Jack, tell me about yourself."

"Um…well, what would you like to know?" he inquired, getting a bit nervous.

"Like, what do you do for a living?"

"Oh, I'm in charge of—" he held back a grunt of pain when Amelia kicked his leg underneath the table. The waitress across from them raised an eyebrow and Jack laughed sheepishly. "I'm in charge of…of a big organization back home." He gave a curt nod and smiled with satisfaction.

"What organization?"

"Uh…it's one unique to my town. We…plan and run holiday events." He beamed, hoping that using his old job description would work and she wouldn't see through his façade.

"Interesting." Claire took another sip of her hot chocolate, a little uncertain of his answer. "And you get paid for that?"

"Yes, I work as a city employee."

"Ah I see, so what are your hobbies?"

"Eh…" He couldn't possibly tell her that the holidays were his life literally and his only other pastime was magic. "I don't really have any because the holiday organization is always so busy." He paused and thought for a moment. "But I suppose you could say I like to sing and act."

This made Claire's eyes go wide and both eyebrows rise. "You're a performer?"

"Occasionally," he responded casually as he shrugged his shoulders, "if we need a last-minute act for something I'll step in."

"Hmm…so what's your rep like?"

"My…rep?"

"Reputation. Let me just ask this instead, ever been in trouble with the law?"

"What!"

"Ever gotten arrested?"

"No!"

"A ticket?"

"No."

"Been in a fist fight?"

"…No."

"Shoplifted?"

"No."

"Drunk in public?"

"No!"

"Well you're no fun at all!" Claire threw her hands up in exasperation while the two people across from her had bewildered looks on their faces.

"Of course you would pick a guy without a record." The tall young woman said with mild annoyance toward Amelia.

"What makes you think I would go for a guy with one?" The light brunette snapped irritably.

"Oh so you admit that Jack is your type." Claire smirked triumphantly while her best friend slammed her head against the table. The interrogated skeleton-in-disguise had turned his head to face the window as he tried to beat down the light blush that threatened to spread across his cheeks.

"Why must you always go back to that?" Amelia grumbled, sitting back up to face her so-called friend.

"'Cause it's fun." The dark brunette grinned cheekily, "Plus, it's not that often I can embarrass a guy as well as you." She pointed her thumb toward Jack, who then turned his head slightly to glare at her. Amelia couldn't help but giggle and he moved to face her with an irritated expression.

"Oh sure, side with the enemy." He retorted.

"Hey, watch it bone-man." Claire crossed her arms and scowled.

"Bone-man?" the two across from her questioned in unison.

"Yeah, he's practically just skin and bones he's so thin, like a skeleton." She pointed out as though it was the most obvious thing in the world while Jack and Amelia exchanged glances.

"I have an unusually high metabolism." He laughed.

The café waitress's watch suddenly beeped and she let out a disgruntled sigh.

"Seems my break is over." She got up from her seat. "The hot chocolate is on the house."

"Oh no need." Jack waved his hand for emphasis then dug out some money out of his pocket. "Allow me, please." He gave her his signature smile and Claire just couldn't turn down the offer.

"Alright, just tell the cashier you ordered two hot chocolates. At least allow me to cover my own since I work here after all."

He gave a curt nod and as soon as he walked away to pay, Claire leaned down to whisper to Amelia.

"Cute and generous, is he rich too?"

"No." her friend replied dryly, a little annoyed.

"Well I know there's got to me more to his job than he's letting on." Claire stood back up to her full height and put her hands on her hips. "He was totally nervous during the whole conversation."

"Considering you were playing "bad-cop" again, anyone would be." Amelia commented.

"Oh ha, very funny." The waitress replied sarcastically.

The sorceress-in-disguise stood up as Jack made his way back over.

"Well we don't want to keep you from work." She said to her best friend with a smile.

"It was very nice meeting you, Claire." Jack said kindly as she shook her hand again.

"Uh, same here." The dark brunette replied awkwardly, a pink tint returning to her face.

Amelia and Jack left La Petite Café and got back in her car to continue the mini-tour of Samhain.

"Would you care if we stopped at my new residence?" Jack asked as they drove out of the downtown area. "I'd like you to see what I've done to it so far."

"Sure." She happily agreed and made her way to the old haunted house on her home street. As she neared the address, she almost didn't recognize the place because it was swarming with people. She parked next to the curb on the side of the road and they got out.

"What's going on?" Amelia inquired as she and Jack walked up to the house.

"You said so yourself that it needed construction work, so that's what this is." He gestured to the workers all around, and a few were even on the roof.

"B-But wait, you don't technically own the house, and where did you get the money to do all this?" The young woman was quite puzzled, even more so when he laughed.

"You're thinking to hard. Take a closer look."

She did as he said and looked back toward the diligently working people. After a moment passed, her eyes widened in realization. "They're illusions."

"Precisely." The would-be skeleton man beamed, "Come on inside." He gestured for her to follow. He opened the door for her, allowing her to step in first and then he came in behind. He grinned with satisfaction when the sorceress gasped in surprise.

"Oh my gosh…This place looks amazing!" She exclaimed.

The entire house had been completely redone and refurbished. It looked like a modern-day home now, except for the Halloween-look of Jack's room. There was no trace of it ever being the old, shabby, haunted house it once was. The broken windows were replaced, the walls repainted, furniture was brand-new along with the carpet, and not a single speck of dust or cobweb in sight.

"Is this an illusion too?" Amelia inquired.

"Actually no," Jack answered, "I pretty much rebuilt the whole interior using spells. It's what I did most of today."

"Well you have excellent taste." She laughed softly. The young woman then glanced at the clock on the wall and gasped in fear. "Oh no, I need to be at work in fifteen minutes!" The sorceress spun on her heel but ended up walking into Jack.

"Whoa slow down." He laughed and grasped her shoulders. Amelia felt her face begin to heat up at their close proximity and didn't dare meet his gaze.

"This is what I meant about you being too stressed out. You'll make it in time so calm down." He said soothingly and then, much to her dismay, he lifted her chin so she would look at him. "When do you get off work?"

"Um…I work 'till eight tonight." She blushed as her ocean-colored eyes met his gorgeous emerald orbs.

"Splendid then, you can come by here for dinner afterwards." He smiled.

"W-Wha?" She stuttered in surprise.

"Dinner…You. Me. Here. Eight-thirty sound good?"

"U-um yeah...s-sure." Amelia agreed, though confused by his unexpected invitation.

"Great!" He moved to open the door and stepped aside to let her leave. "See you then." He beamed brightly as she walked out.

"R-right, see you then." She said then fully walked outside and heard the door quietly shut behind her. Her face flushed bright red as she finally absorbed what had just happened. A peculiar glow came from the blue pendant around her neck. Hastily, she got into her car and drove toward her apartment to get her accursed uniform.

"Jack and I are going to have dinner..." The young woman finally spoke to herself after a few silent moments of driving, the glow from her necklace having finally died down. "Right, just two old friends still catching up over dinner. No romantic element what so ever." She told herself firmly.

Meanwhile, Jack was leaning with his back against the front door, his beautiful green eyes open wide.

"What the heck possessed me to ask that!" he exclaimed in total disbelief. "Of all things, dinner! I can't cook!" He slapped his forehead with the palm of his hand.

"What on earth am I trying to do? Impress her?" As the words left his mouth, an idea suddenly came to him. "That's it. Yeah that just might work!"

Ooohhh Jack is planning something! What is he up to? *snickers* I hope you all liked it! Reviews make the world go round! =D Don't forget to check out the sneak preview of the next chapter on the TNAB website!