Popular, you're gonna be popular

Halloween was on a Wednesday this year and the whole student body was getting ready for the festivities. Those who weren't invited to on of the big three parties around campus were either looking for a friend to take to one or had resigned to an evening of horror movies, cheap booze and candy.

Calister had been invited to exactly one party, coincidentally the biggest around his school. He had to thank his newly formed ties to Ardy then. Not that he was going. Well, maybe he could score a cheap dinner and leave after an hour. He didn't plan on it, but you never knew.

He hadn't realized how well liked Ardy was around the school, she wasn't a student after all, but she seemed to have friends everywhere she went. Even now, as Catherine and her were strolling over to him in the hallway, they were greeted and stopped by a few people.

Ardy was already dresses in a short witch dress that ended halfway down her thighs, luckily the weather was strangely warm for October. Even Calister, who always wore his old leather jacket had ditched it in favor of a thin green pullover.

"Sup, Cal. Ready to go home already,eh?" Ardy tossed a few strands of her wild hair over her shoulder and smiled at him, her red mouth strangely contorted. He shrugged and stepped back a bit to escape the strong smell of smoke and cigarettes that Ardy was usually exuding.

"If I can make it..." He paused and shrugged again, a motion he seemed to always perform in Ardys presence. It wasn't like he didn't like her, he was just tired of her constant insistence on getting him to go to her party.

"You know, some people would give their right hand to even get invited. And you're a special guest." Catherine pointed at a few guys that looked at him jealously to prove her point.

He really didn't care. At all. If they wanted to go they should just ask, right?

"I said maybe." He defended himself again. Lately, it seemed that was the only thing he was doing.

"Reed will be there as well." He forced himself to continue looking bored and disinterested. There was now way in any circle of hell that he'd admit to Ardy or Catherine that he had been thinking about a certain blind guy a bit too much. He couldn't help it, he was weirdly fascinated with him.

"So? Good for him." His voice was strained but he was sure Ardy didn't notice. She wasn't attentive like that. Catherine raised an eyebrow, but Ardy had already turned to another person a grade above him and started talking before she could say anything.

Calister slipped away quickly to escape to uncomfortable questioning he was sure to undergo if Catherine got another word in. He made sure to walk to his car as far away from the coffee shop as possible.

Meanwhile Reed was trying his best to not look at B as he poured another cup of tea for a costumer. The small kitten was sitting right next to him on the counter and was occasionally nudging his hand to get him to pet her. When he ignored her she quickly jumped down from where she had been sitting and pranced away, out of his line of view.

The small holographic bell that hung above the door rang twice and he felt someone taking his hands.

"Hey grumpy, pullin such a long face won't give us more costumers!" Definitely Ardy. The second person didn't say anything but he was sure it had to be Catherine, he could tell by the small spiritual flame that burned in her chest. She wasn't terribly powerful but it was enough to make her interesting.

"Sorry, dear." He squeezed her hands and smiled softly. He couldn't really tell her that his mood was sour because a magic kitten had just decided he wasn't worth her time. That would be weird and he resented weird. Weird was dangerous. Normal was safe, safe from whatever the universe had planned for him.

His friend let got of his hands and entered the back area of the coffee shop through the small door next to the counter. The fabric of her uniform rustled as she put it on.

"Hot chocolate for you?" Catherine made a small sound, as though he had startled her before she said yes. People who always got the same drink made him happy, a small and ever repeating routine that made him feel like he knew them better than he did.

She and Ardy were discussing last minute party preparations behind him for the rest of the afternoon and when he left the shop they were still talking.

"I'll turn the lights off today, Reed!" He gave a thumbs up in where he assumed Ardy was still sitting, next to Catherines' flame. Two more hours to prepare and no costume still. He was mad at himself, he was usually better prepared but October had been hectic, which it usually wasn't.

As he sat down in the bus he felt a small tug on his pant leg, startling him. He looked down, delighted to see B digging her crawly into his black jeans. He leaned down and picked her up, hoping at the same time that no one was looking at him. To them he was only grasping the air by his feet.

"We are going to figure something out for tonight, right?" He whispered as he scratched her small head. B purred and he smiled as he leaned his head against the cold glass of the bus window.

Maybe,a vampire wasn't such a bad idea. He'd just ask Ardy to paint a trail of blood flowing from his lips and he still had an old from a Halloween party long passed laying around somewhere. Reed decided he was looking forward to tonight. And more than the party, he was looking forward to meeting a certain someone.