Surprise! [Open]

Keo dithered about excitedly, fluffing up the couch cushions for the hundredth time (making them a hundred times more comfortable than they'd been before, if she'd done her math right) and blowing up just a few more balloons to add to the already overflowing stockpile she'd somehow managed to contain within her brother's bedroom.  The television had been turned to a popular sitcom to add some background noise for when the guests arrived, but she'd also removed Grey's gaming system from his room and hooked it up in case anybody wanted to play.  The kitchen counter was barely visible under the three layers of freshly- delivered pizza boxes she'd just ordered, and two enormous water coolers - one with soda and the other with water- had been balanced precariously upon two bar stools.

The girl herself was dressed to impress, having donned an overall dress from Forever 21, her favorite pair of brown-and-pink striped leggings, and a crisp white shirt with puffy sleeves.  Her hair, usually tied back into pigtails, had been left to hang about her face in lightly curled tendrils; one small braid made its way down the left side of her face and was accentuated by a charming pink flower barrette.

Today was finally the day.  Keo turned to face the door, hopping from foot to foot in excitement.  Her paper bracelets, fashioned into pretty flower shapes for the occasion, rustled gently against her dress as she moved.  Who would get here first?  Would she know them?  Would they be nice?  She wouldn't know for sure until somebody walked through the door.

Connor flipped through Esper on his phone to make sure he got the dorm number correct, the brown door awaiting his knock. He wasn't exactly sure who's party it was, just that it was a surprise and there was no need to bring presents. His hair was its signature style with a pale denim shirt and jeans, nothing too nice, but casual enough to fit the occasion. He ruffled up his hair and bit and knocked on the door, without much thought he opened the door himself and slipped in.

Green eyes widened as he saw no one was there. The only reason he let himself in was because he thought there would already be a group. Connor quickly turned around on his heel and opened the door once again. 'Perhaps they didn't hear me yet.. I can go out in the hallway like i didn't barge into their dorm...' Connor flinched when he realized a girl already noticed him. He turned around, hand on the back of his head. "Uhh, s-sorry. I thought there would be more people. I didn't mean to-" His sentence was cut off short as he realized who was in front of him. "Well shit." There was definitely not a good impression on Keo or her brother, Grey. Their first day of school fell into disaster as Connor and Grey got into an all out fight. The winter let out a sigh and ran his fingers through his hair. "Well, might as well stay now."

---

Paige jumped down the hall, a blue dress flowed around her and her blonde hair draped against her shoulders. A big smile was on her face as she stood outside the door, her hands were behind her back and she was on her tip toes. She gave a rapid knock and awaited for a reply. A small gift of catnip was in her hand and she waited impatiently in the hallway. Keo, her new dorm-mate, was pestering her all week to go to the party. And there she was, a gift and everything.

A younger girl stood at the door, which wasn't too far down from her brother's own dorm. He had seen the post on Esper and convinced her to go. Well, more like nagged her to go until she agreed just to get him off her back. A present was neatly wrapped with a birthday card stuck to the wrapping with tape. Her hair was pulled back in its usual pigtails, and she wore her pink dress outfit. Which was by far Aleta's favorite outfit. Because they were supposed to wear their outfit the majority of the time, there wasn't much of a chance to wear their usual clothes. So the girl took full advantage of this opportunity.

Keo had been in the kitchen when the first guest arrived, so she wasn't made aware of who it was until a few moments after Connor had entered the room.  Her eyes widened, unable to avoid noting the blatant irony of the situation (of all the people on campus, the first person to her brother's party was the one Grey probably disliked the most; go figure), and her hand flew to the familiar pendant around her neck.  The girl's mouth curved into a hesitant smile.

"Hello again,"  Keo welcomed awkwardly.  She sucked thoughtfully on her bottom lip,  looking down at her shoes in contemplative silence.  "Um... Thank you for coming, I suppose.  After what happened I hadn't expected you to attend, but you're welcome to stay, if you like."  She paused, half- expecting to see the boy turn tail and head towards the door.

When it became clear that Connor had no intention of leaving so soon after he'd arrived, Keo breathed a sigh of relief; to be honest, she'd been waiting for a good moment to try to make up with the other boy.  Unlike Grey, the girl hated having enemies- maybe this party would give her the chance she'd been looking for to finally make amends with the one person she'd made a bad impression on.

"Um." Keo started again, glancing around the room for something to use as a peace offering.  Brightening, she hurried towards the fridge, reaching into its icy depths until her fingers found a familiar Cherry Coke.  "I, um.  I usually hide the Cherries so that other people won't drink them, haha..."  She turned, addressing Connor with her arm outstretched.  "Do you... do you want it?"

Before the boy could answer, another steady round of knocking echoed in from the doorway.  Keo blinked, pausing for a moment before pushing the soda into Connor's arms.  "Look, I know we got off on the wrong foot, but I don't hate you, okay?"  She uttered, the words tumbling out of her mouth in an awkward stream of nervousness.  "I'm sure Grey doesn't hate you either (I hope), so please don't think badly of us.  I don't think we intended to make bad blood with you."

Turning, Keo practically teleported to the door in her effort to remove herself from the awkward silence that had descended upon the dorm room.  Please don't be Grey, please don't be Grey, She silently uttered to herself as she pulled the door open.  Please God, this night can not get any more awkward than it already is; Grey and Connor do not need to be in the same room alone right now.

Slowly, the wooden barrier before her creaked open to reveal two girls.  Keo breathed an inward sigh of relief, putting on a bright smile before ushering them inside.  "Welcome to the party!"  She grinned,  taking their gifts and placing them on the coffee table in the middle of the room.  "Thanks so much for coming!"

Might as well go. Jake had overheard student's talking about someone's birthday and thought it might be nice to check the party out. Besides, when was a party ever a bad thing to attend? Putting some jeans and a purple t-shirt on, he went to his closet and shuffled around. Perfect! Jake found a gift card that he forgot to give to someone and decided now was a good time to use it. Honestly, he didn't have any clue about the party or who was even the host, but a small gift like this showed that he somewhat cared.

Floundering his way around the dorm rooms, he finally found a room that looked like it had people in it. Opening the door, students were already starting to gather. Well, this is awkward... Although he recognized them, Jake didn't really know anybody, so he just decided to find the person who looked like the birthday girl. "Happy Birthday." The tall student said, walking over to her. "I live down the hall, thought I might stop by." Putting a hand in his pocket, he realized that it was empty. Dammit, I forgot to bring the smokes. These students all seemed nice, but what was a party without some smokes?

Charlotte hadn't been out around the school much and after much contemplation, she decided to attend the party that she had heard about through Esper.  Most of her time was spent alone in her dorm, tapping away at her phone and computer, and she thought maybe it would be a good idea to get out and meet some new people.

Once she decided to attend, she searched her room for something she could offer as a gift.  Finally, after ten minutes of searching and finding nothing, she simply made a quick birthday card with some paper and a pen and stuck twenty dollars in it.  Luckily, she found an envelope to shove it in, and just like that, she was off to the dorm room just down the hall.

Once Charlotte reached the dorm, she nearly walked right in without knocking. She quickly realized that would probably be the wrong impression, so instead she raised her fist to the wooden door and knocked hard, three times. Afterwards, she stood there, leaning back on her heels and stuffing a hand in the pocket of her dark jeans as she waited for an answer.

Connor frowned as Keo hesitated to get her words out. The cold coke found itself wrapped by his fingers. Her quick apology released some tension against their grudge, "Okay." It was all the student could utter out after the shock of who's party he just entered and the flood of students that came from the door.

His eyes brightened at the sight of a student he did see around the campus quiet often. 'Welp, I forgot his name..' He strolled over to where Keo ended up, he didn't know what brought him to her. Perhaps the familiarity of her compared to the rest of the group. Connor practically cut Jake's sentence off to correct him, "Nice try, but it's not her birthday. It's her brothers." He quickly gave the boy a friendly smile, realizing the tone of voice he used was harsh.

---

Paige hopped happily inside the room, everything was nicely decorated and there were already more students showing up. She glided over to the soda and pulled out an orange fanta. The can opened satisfyingly with a pop and she strolled over to the middle of the room where students started to gather.

The night before she pleaded with her brother to come to the party, but he only gave her an excuse and an apologetic smile. Sadly he was still in pain from the past events and he needed time to heal. Her gleaming blue eyes glanced around the room; there was no place for gifts from what she could see, so she kept the catnip inside her pocket. It felt wrong, to bring a cat shapeshifter cat drugs. She quickly strolled over to one of the girls, now slightly worried her gift was a bad idea. "Soooo, what did you get Grey for his birthday?"

Keo jumped in surprise when she heard Connor's voice behind her; she hadn't expected him to follow her across the room.  When her eyes fell to the open Cherry Coke in his hand, she brightened visibly, unable to prevent a relieved smile from appearing on her face.  So he accepted; thank goodness, She muttered internally.  Maybe things won't be as awkward between us now.

Thoroughly satisfied with how the night was turning out so far, the girl turned her attention back to the unfamiliar boy in front of her.  He was tall, probably even taller than Grey, with thick dark hair and a stunning jawline.  He also had a metal leg, not that it bothered her any. It's a little sexy, to be honest, Keo decided.  Actually, I think everything is sexy so I'm probably not the best judge.

Unable to resist the temptation, (mostly because she'd gotten ridiculously high on nerves and excitement,) Keo turned to the girl closest to her and whispered loudly, "Hey, is it weird to think mechanical legs are sexy?  Am I weird?  I'm weird.  Are you weird?  You're weird, right?  We're all weird, it's okay to admit it.  That guy's sexy.  It's okay to admit that, too.  My name's Keo.  Welcome to my brother's birthday party. I am not a peanut."

Upon delivering her (very important) message, Keo smiled brilliantly at her guests. She'd been a little dubious at the start of the evening, but now she was certain: this party was going to be the greatest party she'd ever have the privilege of witnessing in her entire life.

Maybe. Yes. Definitely. Will it? Yes. Probably. Yes.












Maybe.

Aleta quickly gave the girl a grin and followed her in, giving the room a once over. It was like any other dorm room, except decorated just for a birthday. She was about to take a seat at the couch when she spotted Jake enter the room. Her brother's dormmate. She didn't have anything against him, except for the rumors about his bad habits. Even then she didn't care too much. After all, Aleta was not her brother. Although she wasn't sure if she'd actually try any contraband.

The spring student's eyes landed on the other girl who had entered with her. She had to be social...sadly. "What dorm are you in?" Aleta asked politely to Charlotte.

ooc; Sorry, I forgot this existed.