Get this thing started!

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Just shortly before seven o'clock, Sera, all dressed and ready for the dance, headed down to the entrance of the Quirank common room to wait for Hendrix. She was a bit later than she had planned to be, allowing herself just a few extra minutes to get ready. She wanted to look her best, especially since she and Jenny were getting ready separately to surprise each other, or something. It was silly, especially since they had bought their dresses together, but she was still kind of excited about it.

The brunette hurried down through the halls, trying to make up for lost time, grateful she had decided to wear flats at the last minute. Normally she made it a point to scan the halls for trouble makers whenever she was out at night, but for once her prefect duties could wait. She didn't want to leave Hendrix waiting longer than she had to.

She had suggested they meet and pick up their dates together, mostly in case he was nervous, he wouldn't have to go it alone. Leaving him waiting if he was already anxious probably wasn't going to get things off to a good start.

She stopped, reaching the door to the Quirank common room, just slightly out of breath. She smoothed out her dressed, composing herself as she glanced around the room to see if her friend was already inside.

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Hendrix had been nervous, he had also been slightly early to the Quirank common room as was his typical way of doing things. He adjusted his tie and cleared his throat briefly as he stood in the middle of the room waiting for his friend. Sera had a way of calming him down and he was sure she was full of good advice. He looked over at the door every time it opened to check for Sera.

He hadn't been waiting too terribly long when he did see his friend enter the room. He smiled warmly and greeted her with a wave. "Hey Ser," he said, approaching her. "You look really nice!"

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To say that a situation so full of people put Tatum on edge was an understatement. Tatum had been anxious for several days now, leading up to the actual night of homecoming. She kept trying not to think about Mack asking her to go with her, pushing the entire afternoon out of her mind as much as she could. She was glad to go with Sam, just as she had planned all along. That was what she was supposed to do, wasn't it? She wasn't really one for rocking the boat, never had been, despite encouragement.

It took a lot to shake her out of her stupid fears and worries, and no one had gotten through to her enough to change how homecoming would go. She had turned Mack down, even if she had wanted to say 'yes', even if she wanted to tell Sam everything, how things really were, how confused and upset she really felt. It wasn't a night to cause problems and start blurting out how wrong everything felt. She was nervous, and a little melancholy, but she could put on her best smile and just roll with whatever happened. It wouldn't be the first time.

She supposed that at least she was wearing a dress of her own choosing. Madeline always sent such embarrassing choices when she got the chance, but work had built up on her and she had never gotten around to picking out anything for the girls to wear. It was a small blessing, in Tatum's opinion.

She had arrived with Sam, but quickly separated herself for a few minutes while some of their friends said hello to him. She'd go back and find him soon but for the moment, the redhead just weaved through the crowd in front of her, head down and silent determination on her face. She felt incredibly relieved when she saw the familiar figure in front of her, and she stepped up behind her brother, grabbing the back of his shirt and tugging on it. "Wanna get high?" she asked simply, her voice slightly hushed in case any of the chaperones were around.

They could get away with a bit more in university, but even as a dealer and someone who smoked almost constantly, Tatum also lived in constant paranoia about getting busted. Even if it had never happened once in the last six years.

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Rath didn’t care much for the pomp and chaperones that surrounded the Homecoming Dance, and while he loved being around people, tonight he would have rather gone to an actual party. However, mostly everyone else he knew was here, so here he was. He’d dressed up in a nice pair of dark slacks, a white button up shirt, and a slick black tie. He felt like a proper, dapper gentleman, and the fact that he’d snuck in some vodka definitely would help the night.

He’d made a few rounds chatting with all the familiar faces, and a few people who had strayed off by themselves, if only because he couldn’t stand to see people all by themselves. Plus those sort of people were always interesting, or at least willing to talk after a few questions and jokes.

It didn’t take him long to get a bit bored of it all, and he’d been about to go check on his sisters when he felt a tug on his shirt. He wasn’t too surprised to see Tatum, but he was concerned to see her by herself. He knew Homecoming was even less of a picnic for her than it was for him, and he was worried about her. Having to deal with everything, and all by herself, was no doubt taxing. He didn’t approve of the way it made his sister so unhappy, so anything he could do to help, he would. Especially if it involved a bit of a smoke,

“Had enough of people already?” He teased her, though he gestured for her to lead the way. Sometimes Rath was sure she only smoked so much because of the stress of being closeted. “Though where’s Sam?” He asked curiously. He had yet to form an opinion on the man, but he did want to get to know the guy, especially if he was going to be hanging around Tatum a lot.

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Dances were boring, as far as Rath was concerned. No one did anything crazy or interesting, and it was always a bunch of sober people trying to dance around. The music was always too loud to have any decent conversation, and mostly it was time that Rath could be at home sleeping or out doing something that was actually fun. Still, most of the people he knew would be here, and it didn’t hurt to have a night go by where he didn’t wake up with giant bruises or couldn’t remember what happened the night before, so here he was.

He’d dressed up in a nice pair of dark dress slacks, a white button up shirt, and a sleek black tie. At the very least, he was looking good and ready for a night to hang out with friends. Plus, he was a dancing fiend, and once they started playing acceptable music, he knew the night could turn around.

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No matter how lame school dances were, Sylvia always ended up going. She loved an excuse to dress up, plus spying on her sister and tattling on her next time they were at home was a lot easier at a dance. She was walking through the early dancers with a stony expression, her arms folded as she tried to find someone she might actually want to converse with. Spotting Rath, she sidled up to him and sighed loudly.

"Fuck this Taylor Swift shit" she grumbled, scuffing one of her heels along the floor sulkily.

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Ella had just got off a video call with her mom, which rather than alleviate her nerves, had only served to make her feel like her stomach was about to come up and out through her mouth. If things went wrong tonight her and Hendrix might not even be friends anymore and it didn't matter that she kind of wanted to kiss him and stuff, losing his friendship would be a disaster.

She fixed her hair for the millionth time as their was a knock at the door. She dithered for a couple of seconds before opening it slightly and peering round it. "Hi" she said shyly.

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"Wow," he said, his goofy smile right in place and his cheeks already reddening. "I mean... hi," he held out the flowers he had gotten for her, not as awkwardly as he had the last time he picked her flowers. "Compliments of the gardeneing club," he grinned.

"I also... um.. got you a corsage, I'm not even entirely sure I know what they are but my pap pap..." yes, Hendrix Turner had called his grandfather for advice about bringing a girl on a date. "Um, he said that it was tradition or something," he shrugged.

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Homecoming court is announced!

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Headmaster Ichirou Sato made his way to the front of the ballroom where he stood nervously with the slip of paper in his hand. It had been a rough start to the school year but he loved his job and his school more than anything and would sacrifice whatever it took to get the kids a little normalcy in their lives. He cleared his throat and waved, smiling brightly. "Uh... hello students!" he said. "I would like to announce your homecoming court for 2011!"

There was a roar of applause and he waited for that to die down before reading from the paper. "This year, there was an unprecedented amount of votes, so we have decided to award two queens and two kings who had the most votes and one prince and princess."

"Your prince and princess are Michiko Passos and Hendrix Turner!" After a roar of applause he cleared his throat again. "This years kings, sharing the title are... Sam Ruiz and ... Hunter Sommer?" he rose an eyebrow, snorted, and shook his head. "Congratulations Sam and Hunter."

"For your 2011 queens... drum roll please," he grinned when they drummer pounded out a short drum line. "Sunny Garcia and Tatum Donnelly! Come on up ladies and join your court in the traditional homecoming dance!"

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Tatum hadn't really been paying attention to the announcements of the homecoming court, it wasn't something that she was particularly concerned with. While Headmaster Sato was making his way onto the stage, she was much more concerned with the snack set up, filling up a paper plate with various sweets and squinting down the rest of the table to see if anything good was hiding out. Deciding that she was good to go, she finally lifted her gaze to meet Sam's, smiling a little sheepishly at him.

"I'm dying," she laughed, biting her lower lip slightly. She had excused herself for a joint only about fifteen minutes before, and the munchies were already tugging at her stomach like mad. Reaching over, she gently took Sam's arms, sticking close and nervously to his side as they weaved through the crowd and back to their table.

Just as she was putting down her plate, she finally began to actually listen to what Sato was saying, smiling widely as she heard him announcing Sam's name. She had had a feeling that he stood a good chance to win, and she smiled widely, just hoping no spot lights would start shining in their direction or anything. "Way to go baby," she said, squeezing his arm again. "Hope you don't have to dance with Hunter though," she laughed.

When the drum roll began, she had been getting ready to sit down and patiently wait out whichever homecoming court dance Sam would have to do, whether it was with Hunter or not. When they said Sunny's name, she immediately began clapping, but once they said her name, she immediately stopped, her eyes going comically wide.

"W-What?" she stammered out, looking around at the people around them, most of which were looking in their direction now. She once again grabbed Sam's arm, scooting close to his side, even more nervous than before. Everyone else was already going up on stage, and she swallowed thickly, staring straight ahead. "D-Do we have to?"

It had to be a joke or something.

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Sunny was not very surprised by the announcement of the homecoming kings, but was quite shocked when she heard her own name called. She bounced along to the front as her name was called, smiling over at Tatum and Sam, she gave them a little wink as her crown was placed on her head.

"King Sommer," she said regally. "Will you be my dance partner?" she could barely keep a straight face as she addressed the older girl.

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Is it too early for spiked punch?

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Mackenzie had done her best to not care about the homecoming dance. It caused her blood to boil in a way that she rarely ever experienced, even when Kate got on her case. Out of anger, and sadness at Tatum's constant rejection, she had opted to stay in that night. All she really needed was her Xbox 360, Modern Warfare 3 and a bottle of 151 rum anyway, right? Stupid things like dances were for saps like Hunter and Michi, people who despite all the worlds difficulties, worked together. Mackenzie knew that deep down she wasn't one of those people, she wasn't meant to be in a steady relationship. It was just how the world worked for her, and she kept telling herself that as long as she had a warm body under her, everything was okay. Her life could go according to plan, her plan anyway. Graduate school, work as an auror and travel the world. Getting tied up in something like love would only hold her back, and she took another drink of the 151 in her hand. She could barely feel the burn of the alcohol now, and she worried slightly at how much of the bottle she had consumed.

It wasn't like her to get this drunk, even at parties she usually knew her limit. 151 wasn't a normal proof of alcohol either, and she had been drinking it straight from the bottle ever since the evening started. Her controller lay on the floor where it had dropped earlier, she couldn't quite remember exactly why she had dropped the controller. The kill screen on her tv had been playing for longer than she could remember too, and she snorted in drunken laughter. She vaguely remembered screaming at some punk ass kid over the headset before getting sniped by one of his friends. Stupid kid.

When her phone buzzed across the room, she started, not expecting anyone to really bother with finding out where she was. Hunter knew she had refused to go to the dance, and she was sure that the taller girl had passed the message on to Sera and Michi as well. Other than that, no one really gave a rats ass about her where abouts. Falling off the bed onto her face in her attempt to get up, she laughed manically, and dragged herself over to her desk. It took her several tries to get the phone off the desk, and the small hard object hit her squarely in the face as it fell to the ground. She let out a string of several well chosen words before managing to get the screen in front of her face. Surprisingly, it was from Hunter, and it took Mackenzie a few moments to understand exactly what the taller girl's message was saying.

"Ur gurl won queen! LOL Looks like shes gonna shit herself. ;)"

Swearing again, Mackenzie threw her phone across the room and rolled onto her stomach to try and get herself standing. She didn't know why she felt the immediate urge to storm over to the homecoming dance, but she was stumbling out the door and before she knew it was standing in front of the doors to King's Hall. If the blonde had been in a normal state of mind, she would have stopped herself at this point. She was only angry because she was hurt by Tatum's constant rejection. She had come to some kind of peace with the fact that she seemed to be in love with the younger girl, and while the feeling scared her to death, she had been able to keep her anxiety under control. In her current state of mind though, she was blind with fury. She should have been at that dance with Tatum, not Sam. Tatum should have been her queen. Kicking the doors open with a growl of anger, Mack burst into the hall like a bat out of hell.

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The first thing that her eyes landed on was the homecoming court dancing in the center of the room, more specifically, how Sam was looking at Tatum with that sappy smile of his. Mack stood motionless for a few moments watching them dance, it was like the world was falling out from under her. The way that they were looking at each other was enough to make her sick right there, and she couldn't even begin to think about the way that he was holding her. Letting out a territorial growl, she gripped the bottle tighter and kept watching, her anger building up inside of her until she couldn't take it anymore. That was the girl that she loved out there, the girl that she had decided that she would do anything for, the one that she brought flowers to and would call back after the first date. The one that she would actually date, and not just sleep with and then disappear from.

Bottle still clenched tightly in her fist, she walked right up to where the couples were dancing and pushed her way through the crowd. "Well, well, well," She slurred loudly, crossing her arms in front of her and swaying slightly. It was taking a lot of her concentration to just stay upright at this point. She stumbled slightly, holding her long arms out to steady herself before continuing. "Y'all just look so fuckin' cozy, I bet daddy would be so proud right now. Y-you, you got your little boy toy and everything! Just the fucking picture of heterosexual perfection!" She took another swig from her bottle, spilling some of the amber liquid on her arm. She took a stumbling step forward and gave Sam a small shove away from Tatum, glaring daggers at him. "Is this what ya wanted T? Is this what makes you happy?" She yelled, pointing at Sam with her hand that still held the rum bottle.

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Keep on dancing!

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It was the first time in a long time that Michi could remember being sober for a homecoming or for any school event really. She hadn't really been feeling so hot; tired, sore, achy, and all of that on top of the fact that she hadn't been able to play quodpot was just making her miserable. She was growing, she felt almost exponentially, it would only be a matter of time before people noticed if they hadn't already. She was wearing uncharacteristically loose clothes lately to hide her belly. Empire waist and baggy sweaters had been her wardrobe, she was usually proud of her body but she was sort of falling into a pattern of shame. She was surprised no one had said anything.

Tonight she was determined to have a good time though. It didn't matter that things were going to change and that before end of the year exams she would be a mother... tonight was tonight, not thirty weeks from then.

She snuck over to her girlfriend and stuck a red rose behind her ear before placing a kiss on her cheek.

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Hunter had only just returned inside from hauling Mackenzie outside, and she was just finishing up with sending Ser back to Jenny when Michi came up behind her. She didn't realize how rigid she was, how upset seeing Mack like that had made her, until the younger girl was kissing her cheek. It immediately made her relax all over, even slouching a bit and tilting her head as Michi slipped the rose behind her ear.

"Hey you," she chuckled, turning around to face her and feeling better already. She slipped her arms around Michi's waist, pulling her closer and kissing her forehead. She hadn't been gone too long, after holding Mack's hair while she got sick again, they had taken her up to her room, where she had more or less promptly passed out. The taller blonde was pretty sure she would stay that way until Hunter came to crash in the room with her later. She'd need to be there to explain what had gone down to her friend in the morning when she was sobered up.

Hunter had barely been able to smooth over the details of her friend's punishment with the teachers. It had taken more pleading on the other girl's behalf than she had wanted to do, but it was done now. Being Quodpot captain and head of the events committee came in handy sometimes, and it gave her and edge with smooth talking the staff when she had to. The staff of Blue Ridge knew she was a shit, but generally a well-meaning one. Mack would be punished, probably pretty badly, but Hunter would worry about that in the morning. When she took her to see Sato and apologize. Right now, she just wanted to focus on Michi.

"Sorry 'bout that shit," she murmured, lips against her girlfriend's forehead again. "She was askin' for ya.. I said ya weren't allowed 'round her till she quit bein' an asshole," the blonde added, cracking a weak smile. She still couldn't believe that Mack had gone off like that at Tatum, drunk or otherwise. The kid had looked like she was going to crap her pants. She really didn't know just how bad her friend was caught up over that little ginger, and it sort of scared her. She was getting jerked around, and what could she do about it?

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When Sera finally got back with Hunter she had missed a bit of the dance but things had for the most part, seemed to to have returned to normal. Most people were dancing again and she only heard a few whispers on her way in. Both good signs.

She went immediately to the bathroom before going anywhere else, even before looking for Jenny. She knew she'd at least need a quick fix up. With helping Hunter get Mack out of the dance in the first place, trying to calm her down, holding back her hair, several disgusting times from vomit, and practically carrying her back to her room, she was definitely feeling a bit wore out.

She washed her hands and glanced up in the bathroom mirror, reaching to dry her hands off on a nearby towel. She looked back in the mirror and reached for her wand. Her hair surprisingly wasn't too bad, and she really didn't want to waste time fixing it the muggle way. With on quick flick of her wrist her hair looked just like it did when she first arrived. She grinned at her reflection once again, quite proud of herself and sauntered out of the bathroom. To her, excellent charm work was essential to a busy lifestyle. It wasn't laziness, just good practice.

Spotting Jenny next to the snack table she made her way over, sneaking up quietly behind her. She wrapped both arms around the blond and pulled her backwards, kissing her girlfriend on the cheek. "Hey sorry I had to leave. I didn't really have a choice, Mack was out of control.. she's fine now though. Everything's good. She's sleeping it off." She apologized, leaning her head in the shorter girls shoulder and loosening her grip a bit but still looping her arms around Jenny's waist.

"We should make up for lost time though. We could dance, or go for a walk or something." She suggested, wiggling her butt a little and pulling Jenny with her a bit when she mentioned dancing.

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Irritated didn't even begin to cover how Alex felt about the homecoming dance so far. Not only had she not won queen or even princess, but a bunch of nobodies and goofballs had taken the titles instead. She had more or less been constantly rolling her eyes at the thought of it ever since. Who would vote for those idiots over her? Honestly, how could they be so moronic?

It was no matter though, her held was still held as high as ever, and she made sure to look down her nose at everyone she passed, or shoved by, on her way through the dance floor. She had just ducked into the bathroom for a few moments to fix her hair, but it had been surprisingly empty. It would be a good place to slip away for a few minutes,

There was no hesitation as she spotted Charlie in the crowd, talking to someone. It didn't really matter who, and there was still no hesitation when the dark-haired grabbed her friend by the back of her collar, pulling her. "Come on, let's go," she said simply, not really waiting for Charlie to agree one way or the other. "I've got a surprise for you, in light of this stupid evening."

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The end is near!

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Dani had not been looking forward to homecoming, it was just another stupid chance for her parents to get all goofy about her wearing a dress and representing her house. So far though, it had been worth all the fuss. A couple fights, a few crying girls, and a chick was one of the Kings. Not bad at all. She snuck a sip of whiskey from her flask and found her way to the dance floor for one last run around before sneaking off to the woods where she knew there would be some sort of after party.

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Julian had managed to miss the entire episode of lesbian drama whilst he had popped out for a cigarette. It was only after some junior had filled him in that he was rushing off and looking for Tatum. He figured she would be upset, some people didn't take public arguments very well and he had decided Tatum was one of those. In the year they had been friends he thought he knew her well enough to know that when she was in trouble, the first thing she would do is spark up a joint. With that in mind he headed towards the woods, his wandlight leading the way.

"Tatum" he whispered. It was still quiet, eerily quiet, and if he snuck up on the red head he certainly didn't want to give her a heart attack. "You here?"

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You don't have to go home but you can't stay here.

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