“Is this really, you know, needed?” Miguel said, looking down to see what outfit and situation he has gotten himself into.

“Didn’t you say you hoped to sell out your stock today?” Joseph asked.

“I don’t think my midriff is the answer to this.”

The warning signs were there; Joseph did not want to expand further on his plan on how Miguel could help.

“Actually… I might need you to wear something tomorrow.”

Miguel recalled Joseph saying those words. He did not bother asking Joseph for details, he was just glad he was actually needed. Watching a 22 year-old college student and his frisky friends run around and do the work of decorating for him was a bit mortifying. Granted, an economics drop-out such as himself would only get in the way of their sense of aesthetic. Miguel never really attempted to draw anything other than a few circles and smiley faces – frowny faces if he felt a little bolder.

He picked out I, need, and you from Joseph’s sentence.

I need you.

Three words were all it took for Miguel to seal the deal.

He learned the hard way that the deal involved him essentially wearing a furry, light-brown crop top and some shorts of the same shade and level of furryness

“Come oooon!” Joseph dragged to make sure the large man knew he was getting impatient.

“Alright, alright fine.”

Miguel opened the door to his cubicle, hunching over and crossing his arms to cover his exposed, hairier than usual midriff and navel. He looked around the room, and quickly stared at the floor when he found out that there were more people in the bathroom than he had anticipated.

“Why is everyone here?” Miguel stuttered, still looking downward, face flushed with a brilliant red.

“They’re bored.”

“So you just let girls in the men’s bathroom?”

“Don’t worry, it’s council business.” Joseph said, phone in his hand.

“Oh come on!” Miguel spread his arms outward in disbelief, quickly realizing his mistake when he felt the heat of everyone’s gaze at his hairy stomach. He curled forward, assuming his previous position.

“Almost forgot,” Joseph dug around his bag and retrieved a headband with wolf ears on them and put it on Miguel’s head, completing the look of a werewolf.

Miguel went back into the cubicle and shut it with a considerable amount of force fuelled mostly by embarrassment with a hint of anger.

“Can we try the other one?” Miguel said, a bit tired.

“I hope you took a picture, that was kinda…” A voice whispered, finishing the sentence with a few tongue clicks. Miguel hoped the answer was ‘no’.

“Alright, here you go.” Joseph, slipped a stack of white, black, and red clothes overhead the cubicle.

Miguel was quick to take off the werewolf get-up, and was glad to. The attention he got was not necessarily what he wanted. On top of that, whatever fabric was used to make that outfit was prize-winning-ly itchy.

A few seconds later, Miguel was done changing costumes. He went outside the cubicle and showed off the outfit he was wearing – a white long sleeve, a black around the chest, red everywhere else vest, a pair of black slacks, and a cape that went down his waist, forming a popped collar around his neck. With his always slicked-back hair, Miguel was a picture-perfect depiction of a vampire, the kind one would see whenever they tried to search for pictures of a vampire online.

Everyone nodded in approval. The large man looked slicker than usual; the vest was hugging his figure tightly, a stark contrast to the looser shirts he regularly wore when he was working in the café. Hell, even Miguel himself felt confident and comfortable in his own skin. Granted, he would feel better about wearing anything else after that budget werewolf costume.

“You okay with wearing contact lenses?” Joseph asked, shaking a container.

“Thanks, but I’d rather not melt them.” Miguel replied.

“Face paint?” Joseph queried, holding a tube of fake blood.

“Might flake off and go into the food.”

“Fake vampire teeth?” Joseph inquired, clacking them a bit.

“No thank you.”

“Alright.” Joseph conceded, and put back the contact lenses into his satchel. “Anyway, we good? Ready to flip everyone’s burgers?

“I think so?”

“With more conviction this time.”

“Yeah!” Miguel raised his voice.

Miguel and the rest of the student council who were there got out of the bathroom, with a few onlookers giving them puzzled looks. Why were there so many people in the bathroom together? What did they do? Fortunately, none of them heard what they were thinking, especially for Miguel, who could not bear to hear these after being mortified in a revealing werewolf outfit. He walked towards the school grounds, where his and many other organizations’ stalls were set up. He took a look at his table – Joseph and his crew did a good job in decorating the place.The sign was very eye catching, as it should be considering the large plywood splashed with vibrant, almost annoying, colors. The tables were covered with orange and midnight black cloth, and a few stuffed spiders and cats littered the front of the cash box. The menu was also tooth-decaying-ly cute; burgers with bat wings, a pack of fries with adorable pumpkin eyes, soda cans with vampire teeth, and an addendum that says ‘BAT WINGS, EYES, AND TEETH NOT INCLUDED’.

Miguel opened the fridge the council had borrowed for him, just to check if he really did bring the ingredients. A large tub of seasoned ground beef, leaves of lettuce, sliced tomatoes, several packs of easy-melt cheese, bags of burger buns. All present and accounted for. Miguel closed the door of the refrigerator. He opened it again. He closed it again. He opened –

Miguel snapped himself out of his anxious display.

‘Everything is there, okay? Stop worrying dammit!’ He sighed.

Miguel grabbed a chair and placed it in front of the stove, letting it catch his weight while he was waiting to catch his first customers of the day.

A few seconds later, a girl wearing a school uniform and a witch hat walked in front of Miguel and did the same – sitting in front of the cash box, right beside Miguel.

‘Who is this?’ Miguel thought, smiling at her, obviously wanting to say something.

The girl took that as a signal to speak, “I’m from the council. I’ll be your cashier for today.”

‘Unfortunately, I can’t just trust random girls in witch hats that say they’re from the council and they’ll be my cashier for the day,’ Miguel wanted to say, but his brain was not wired for any sort of conflict at the moment.

“Oh hey, I guess you’ve already met.” Joseph walked towards the stall, looking a bit different. “She’s the council treasurer. We thought you could use a bit of help.”

Miguel was a bit relieved to hear that she was not a delinquent, here to catch him unaware and steal all of his cash. Now that the issue is out of the way, Miguel moved on to the next –

What the hell was Joseph wearing?

Joseph caught Miguel staring, and suddenly remembered he too was also in a Halloween get up “Oh this? I’m Frankenstein’s monster. Pretty cool right?”

He was right – Miguel found it pretty cool. He was wearing a tattered, patched-together green shirt, some pants, brown boots, and a headband giving off an illusion that he had a large screw going through his skull. His face was panted in two different shades of blue green, with a bit of black for the stitches going across his face.

“We’re doing trick-or-treat today.” Joseph said, waving around a sign that said ‘FREE CANDY’ in loose letters, jangling around a bag filled with treats to give away. “With that being said, do you have a flyer or anything.”

“No, sadly. Glossy paper costs a lot.” Miguel digressed.

“Ah whatever, I’m sure I’ll figure something out.” Joseph jostled around the bag of treats and fished out a sizable plastic bag filled with off-brand sweets. “Here, trick-or-treat.”

Joseph handed out a bag of treats to Miguel and the girl, walking away to find other people to give treats to.

Miguel and the treasurer looked at each other and chuckled. After a great start (minus everyone seeing his midriff) to a challenging day, he was ready to flip some burgers and earn some profit.

And so he did. The first customer had their lack of sleep engraved under their eyes, made even more evident by the way they shuffled towards Miguel’s stall and the way they almost fell down, all the while reading ‘The Science of Muddling Through’. An exam, perhaps?

Regardless, it was not any of Miguel’s business, so he started making the customer’s burger. He scooped a ball of meat using a spoon and plopped it onto the searing iron cast pan. Miguel was a bit disappointed that the student did not even bother looking at the source of the sizzle, and just continued reading whatever they were reading. Miguel understood what the student was going through, but it did not stop him from taking it a bit personally.

The burger was done, steaming and wrapped, there was only one step left:

Payment.

The student held out a large bill, without even lifting their head. Miguel could tell they have done this dozens of times before, where passing an exam comes first, and sustaining your body comes second. Miguel handed the burger over in exchange for the money, and handed it over to the treasurer.

“Uhh, there’s no change in this box.” The treasurer said.

“What? There has to be some smaller bills, right?” Miguel worried.

“Nope. Not even a penny.”

She was right – there was nothing in the cash box. Miguel lifted the tray off the cash box, just to check again. And again. A few more times, hoping that a tiny miracle would happen.

“Wait!” The treasurer snapped her fingers and lifted off her hat, revealing a purse resting on her head, “I remembered something.”

The treasurer shook the purse, jangling around the coins inside, “I forgot I brought coins with me.” She dumped the coins into the tray, the sound of metal hitting metal ringing around their ears.

“Why did you hide the purse under your hat?”

“It’s Halloween. Plus, I have no pockets.”

Miguel did not know how to answer that. An ‘okay’ would have to suffice.

The treasurer counted and scooped up some change and handed it to the college student. They put the change in their pockets and took a bite out of the burger – the only thing that made them stop reading for once.

“Fuck.” The student said, taking progressively bigger bites. “I’ll come back later, this is real good.”

Miguel felt like he won a battle today.