Bloom ended up spending most of her weekend with Andy. The track meet was a lot of fun (and victory went to Gardenia High in the 40 meter dash, thanks to him), and when Bloom and Andy were messing around on the track afterwards, Coach Roman stopped to question Bloom as to why she wasn't on the team. Apparently she was pretty fast, so she promised she'd go out for it next year. And on Sunday (partially because she did need community service hours if she wants in the NHS), she and Andy worked the dessert table at the Greek food festival - along with Mark, who had signed up for hours himself. Despite a bitchy lady who wouldn't take any crumbled cookies (they were all at least a little crumbly, Bloom thought to herself, it's Greek pastries.), she ended up having a lot of fun, and got a lot of bonding time with her new boyfriend (plus her dad didn't freak out when she told him she had a boyfriend. Score one!).

In a very odd way, a sense of normalcy fell over the group. Since Anna's incriminating pictures, Mitzi was out of a hobby, which was bad for her but good for the school. People were a little less nervous when she passed by them, and any guy she'd ever liked wasn't as reluctant to be handholding with his new girlfriend in the hallways - Andy and Bloom included. Weeknights were divided between after school activities and study groups at people's houses (Monday night was Bloom's house, Tuesday's was at Roxy's, and so on), while weekends were packed with bowling and movie nights, and the impromptu trip to Magic Mountain (Rio did not like roller coasters, it was discovered). Every other Thursday had officially been deemed 'Sushi Night', and the seven friends would try out different sushi places all over town, though Sushi Fever, along with Kimi's bubbly persona, remained their favorite. Everyone's parents seemed happy with the situation, and since one way or another all the parents knew each other, late-night study sessions or eating at the restaurant Anna and Ellis' dad worked at wasn't a problem.

After a weekend session at Levy's Studio, Andy, Mark, and Rio sent their single in to AP, settling on a song they'd written just before the start of school called 'High Resolution'. Mark got his mother (who was good friends with the high school's principal, Esther Drummend) to pull a few strings so that Bloom could take new pictures of the band in the empty school hallways at night. With Roxy's help, the shots turned out amazing, and as they sent their e-mail in on the Monday before the big English projects were due (Bloom and Andy pulled of an A-, while Mark and Ellis got a solid A), Andy couldn't help but feel this was his lucky year.

"Alright people, we need a strategy plan."

"Strategy plan for what, General Sarcastic?" Roxy grinned as they headed down the hallway to the lockers.

"This weekend, duh!" Rio replied, his old Converse squeaking on the newly waxed floor.

"What's so important?" Bloom asked, her head on Andy's shoulder and his arm around her. The position looked a bit difficult to be walking in, but it seemed the two had it down flat.

"Halloween, duh!"

"Your favorite holiday," Andy remarked dryly. "Where you can use your crappy banter, terrible ability to scare people, and corny jokes, but wear a mask and not get haggled as much."

"Hey, can it pretty boy. Just because some of us know how to have fun on that holiday."

"So what's the suggestion?" Roxy asked. "And please don't say trick-or-treating."

"I'm thinking scary movie marathon. And maybe, depending on whose house we're at, we could get some costumes, scare some kids."

Andy rolled his eyes. "Didn't we just go over your scaring ability?"

"And what about karma?" Roxy said. "Remember that one video of the guy jumping out of the trashcan to scare the parent, and the parent punched him in the face and knocked him out?"

"Please; they'll be a bunch of eight-year-olds. When they throw a decent punch, then I'll be impressed."

Everyone laughed as they turned into the freshman hallway.

And stopped when they say the scene in front of them.

Fake cobwebs were hanging from the ceiling, along with orange and black streamers. Pumpkins were on top of lockers, there was a fog machine going that made the floor invisible, and someone was blasting mood music from a CD player. On everyone's locker was a black and sparkly orange piece of paper.

Bloom slowly lifted her head from Andy's shoulder. "What the heck is going on here?"

"My thoughts exactly," Andy replied. He glanced over and Roxy and Roo, but they seemed equally confused. "Were any of the other halls like this?"

"Not that I noticed. I had a Spanish Honor Society meeting this morning in the junior hallway, and it looked as plain as ever."

"Miss Drummend's going to flip."

"We're going to have to spend lunch cleaning all this up, and I have Geometry homework to finish."

"...We have a Spanish Honor Society?"

"Rio!"

"Valid question! No touchy!"

Andy rolled his eyes. "Come on, let's find the others."

As they reached their locker, Bloom caught sight of Anna, Ellis, and Mark near their lockers. Her friend had put a blue stripe in her hair for Halloween and was wearing black and white striped tights under dress (it was her favorite holiday), and Mark's black shirt had a pumpkin on it. Bloom flagged them down. "What's all this?"

"Here when I got here." Mark said. His parents worked across town, and he was usually one of the first kids on campus. He said he spent the free time doing his homework. "Must have happened last night."

"Drummend know?"

Anna shrugged. "Maybe. She hasn't been down here, and there are bound to be complaints."

Rio reached over to his locker and peeled back the piece of paper attached to it. "What are all these?"

"Invitations."

"This is all for a party?"

"What it looks like. The entire sophomore class got invited."

"Who the hell would go all out like this?" Roxy asked. When everyone turned to stare at her, she sighed and blew a piece of hair out of her face. "Right. Why did I even bother to ask?"

"Mitzi."

"But why?" Rio whined, slumping against the locker. "She's been quiet and I've barely seen her for the last two months. I've never been more in love with her!"

Roxy rolled her eyes. "She may not be mocking us, but she's still one of the most popular girls in the school. I suppose it's natural for her to want to remind people of that."

Andy grabbed his own invitation from his locker. Each one was slightly different, with pumpkin stickers or devil horns on them. He saw three lip prints on his made with a pink gloss. He rolled his eyes and held it up for everyone else to see. "I don't like it."

Andy saw his girlfriend's eyes narrow. "She's up to something," she agreed.

"Down girl," Mark said, slightly joking and slightly serious. "We don't need another freak show."

Bloom's glare shifted to him, though it was slightly less angry. "I have a slight electrical imbalance. It happens to people all the time."

"Dude, you hold my cell phone for more than five minutes and it shuts off. If that's a slight imbalance, what's a large imbalance? Can you shut off cell phone towers?"

"Rio," Andy said warningly. "Chill out."

He grinned and threw an arm around Bloom. "She knows I'm kidding. Right, B?"

Bloom laughed and shrugged him off. "Yeah, yeah, just watch your back when I end up with amazing super powers, because I'll remember times like these."

Roxy waved her invite back and forth in the air, bits of loose glitter falling to the floor. "Should we go?"

Ellis raised an eyebrow. "You're not serious, right? That's like...going into the creepy white van because the guy says there's candy in it. Or going into the woods on Halloween with a full moon."

"I don't usually miss Halloween parties," Anna chimed in, "but my lovely twin is right. I say we bail."

Before anyone else could respond, the five-minute bell for class rang. People started moving through the halls before they became completely cramped. "We'll talk more at lunch," Andy said loudly enough for everyone to hear. They nodded, and everyone started heading in their own directions.

Bloom lingered near him, even though her class was halfway across campus. "You ok?" she asked, noticing his scrunched eyebrows; a usual sign that he was deep in thought.

He pulled her close and gave her hug. "Thinking is all."

She squeezed him back. "Don't let Mitzi get to you. As long as Roxy keeps those pictures safe, we've got no worries."

"Why doesn't Anna have them?"

"Her mom likes to snoop in her room from time to time. And since Klaus is usually pretty good about giving Roxy her own space..."

"Right," Andy pulled back, giving Bloom a quick kiss on the lips. "See you in English later?"

Bloom nodded. She'd come to love Andy's kiss, and the way it tasted like coffee and mint in the morning. "Yep. And gym. Prepare to have your butt whipped on the mile today."

"Bring it on baby," he yelled down the hallway as the two went their separate ways.

Roxy had been extremely lucky to get into the Photography class at school. It was usually reserved for upper level students only, but since Roxy's old teacher had written the school with nothing but praise, she was one of the two sophomores (and a freshman) in the class of eighteen. The room was brick, and one wall was covered with pictures, which the teacher Eric (yes, he was cool enough to let his students call him by his first name) called the 'Pupil Wall of Fame', dating back six years.

The pink-haired girl sat at one of the large wood tables, which she share with two juniors who were pretty nice to her. The two girls were currently out getting shots of the school for the yearbook, since they'd finished their work for their day. Roxy was taking advantage of it, and had most of the area around her covered in pictures. She was looking for just the right one for her 'Most Important Things In Your Life' project. She knew there was a good one of her, Rio, Mark, and Andy from their recent trip to Six Flags, but she just couldn't find it...

Suddenly, the light above her darkened. Roxy glance up to find Elle standing near her, a camera in hand. She smiled at her, though Roxy didn't trust it. "Don't mind me," she insisted, "I just wanted a shot. You looked really cool shifting through all those. Is that ok?"

Roxy examined her with a critical eyebrow. "...You should move to the left then, so your shadow doesn't effect the light."

Elle nodded, following her instructions. "Thanks. Now just keep doing what you were doing."

Slowly, Roxy put her head back down and reached out to keep going through the photos. She waited until she heard the click of the camera, then brought her head up to look at Elle, who was looking at the camera screen. Elle's gaze lifted back to her, and she smiled again. "Thanks Roxy."

"Yeah...no problem..."

"You alone today?" she asked, looking around the table as though she'd never done it before. "Where are Caitlyn and Alice?"

"On assignment for school landscapes. And don't take this the wrong way, but why do you care?"

She shrugged. "Just curious. So hey," she continued, taking a seat across for her, oblivious to Roxy's discomfort, "Did you see the hall this morning?"

"Yeah. Mitzi sure went all out this time."

"Totally. You going to the party?"

"Nope."

Elle looked up at her, surprised. "Really? Why?"

Roxy chuckled a little. "Um, how about you guys hate us? Or the last time I went to one of her parties I was the laughing stalk of the school for the entire month of September?"

"We're not inviting the guys who spiked the keg; they were from the other school," Elle insisted (Roxy noticed she didn't try to defend the idea she hated her). "I guess I just thought you'd want to go since...well you know."

Roxy's hands slowed a little as they looked through the frames. She didn't want to be curious, she really didn't, but she was a nosy person. Roxy looked up at Elle. "...Since what?" she asked, regretting how curious she sounded.

She also regretted it when she saw the smug look flash across Elle's face, though it was replaced a moment later with what looked like surprise. "Didn't you hear? About Rio?"

And there went any hope of pretending not to be curious. "What? He's not going to try and scare everyone by leaping out of the pool, is he?"

"No silly, he's going to finally admit that he likes you. I heard he's going to get a bunch of roses and spray paint them so they're orange, black, and pink to give to you."

Roxy felt her cheeks redden. "Rio? Don't be ridiculous. When has he ever been that nice?"

But even as she said that sentence, a little voice in the back of her head told her it might very well be true. Elle was usually hooked into school gossip, and the idea that Rio might finally say that he liked her made her heart flutter. Sure they'd always been teasing toward each other, but a part of her had wondered if there was something more to it...

"Oh come on. You know he's been crushing on you for a while. It's sweet that he's making a move."

"Yeah well," she trailed off, not sure what to say. "Thanks for the heads up."

"Anytime," she insisted, standing up. "Hey, can I see some of your stills from the landscape project? Miranda needs them."

Blindly, Roxy reached into her backpack and pulled out the folder where she kept her other pictures. "I need it back by fourth period."

"No problem." Elle said, taking the pink polka-dotted folder. "See you Saturday."

"Yeah, maybe."

"Ok, if I say 'Me gusta bailar con mis amigos', I said..."

Ryo tapped his pencil against the desk. "I...like to run with my friends."

Bloom shook her head. "I like to dance."

"I'm a samba man, myself."

Bloom laughed. "Rio come on; study hall's over in twenty minutes, and if you don't get this you'll fail the test."

He rolled his eyes, but still straightened up in his chair. "Ok, ok. Hit me again."

"...Nosotros descansamos muchos los fines de semanas."

"...We sleep a lot on the weekends?"

"Bingo!"

"Hey guys," a voice said from behind the two. "What's the Spanish homework?"

Bloom and Rio exchanged a glance, then turned around in their chairs. Standing there was none other than Mitzi, wearing ripped jeans and a green blouse (why was it always green?). Miranda and some other girl (Audrey? Bloom could never keep straight who was who) were near her, hands on their hips.

"Page twenty-nine, exercises four and six," Rio said slowly.

From behind her, Miranda raised an eyebrow. "Why so shaky? Are you lying?"

"Not at all. Besides; what would I gain?"

"Some more of your sick humor." Mitzi smirked.

Bloom rolled her eyes. "Not to sound rude, but what do you want?"

"I need a head count for tomorrow's party."

"Skip these heads," Rio said, giving her a critical eye. "We don't need a repeat incident of the last one."

"I'm sure Bloom wouldn't mind a repeat." the other blonde said with a smirk.

Bloom felt her cheeks redden. "We've already got plans, thanks."

"Hey don't worry. If you're scared to come, it's no big deal."

"Please; what would I be scared of?"

"Maybe how all Andy needs to dump you flat is a short skirt and a lot of glitter."

Bloom stood up quickly, and Rio grabbed her arm to prevent her from leaping at the girl. "Unlike your past boyfriends, Andy actually has a good heart."

Mitzi huffed. "Please. Bloom I don't know if you missed the memo, but all guys are the same in the end."

"Hey!" Rio snapped, "I take offense to that!"

"I wouldn't," Miranda said with an eye roll. "You boys never say what you mean. That's why Roxy's going to have to make the first move at the party and admit she likes you."

Bloom saw Rio's eyes narrow, but she could tell he was interested. "Please. Roxy's not like that."

"She's going to have to be if she wants to finally hook up with you. Though God only knows why she would."

Bloom felt Rio's grip on her shoulder tighten. "Look Mitzi," she said, edging her way back into the conversation. "We're not sure we're going. But if we change our mind's, we'll let you know."

She was rewarded with a cool grin. "Great."

"Are you all insane?" Anna snapped, her fork literally dropping from her hand and landing in her salad.

Bloom shrugged, setting her pasta down (if it could even be called that - it was more like rubber covered in cheese sauce) on the grass near her. They'd elected to have lunch outside instead of being stuck in the cafeteria. "It'd be a good way to spend a Saturday night."

"With Mitzi?" Ellis asked. "Please, I'd rather move to Nebraska. No - I'd rather walk to Nebraska."

Rio rolled his eyes. "Look, if we don't show up we're going to be forever classified as the wimps who are scared of the popular crowd when said popular crowd isn't even being cruel."

Andy stared at him incredulously. Bloom and Rio had been acting strange since the beginning of lunch. It was as though in the three hours since he'd seen them (two for Bloom), they'd completely warped their personalities. His gaze fell to Mark, who was focused on his Geometry homework. "What do you think, man?"

He shrugged, obviously uninterested. "I'm the one with the car. It's all your choice."

"Anna?"

"No way in hell."

"Ellis?"

"Same," his friend replied, taking another bite of pasta. Unlike Bloom, he was unafraid of cafeteria food. "She's up to something. And it must be bad if she's convinced Bloom and Rio that fast."

"There was no convincing," Bloom spoke up from her spot at the base of the tree. "I just think it could be fun."

Andy gave her a look. "And this morning you said she was up to something."

"I can change my mind, can't I?" Bloom snapped, a little colder than she meant. When Andy's eyes widened in surprise, she lowered her head, feeling her cheeks redden. "I'm just saying," she said, her voice softer.

I want to prove Mitzi wrong about you.

Andy's eyes turned to his pink-haired friend, who was eating her cotton candy flavored ice cream, a slightly dreamy look on her face. "Roxy? What's your opinion my future PETA president?"

"Huh?" she asked, snapping out of whatever place she was in.

"The party? Are you in?"

She blushed, though Andy didn't have the faintest idea why. "I think it sounds like fun. I know we were all 'Anti Mitzi' about it, but there could be…benefits."

"Yeah," Rio added, not looking at anyone head on. "You know how it is."

Anna stared at the both of them. "What's with you two?"

Rio and Roxy blushed and turned away from each other.

Ellis shook his head. "Look, I know this is a bad idea, but Mitzi's obviously got something up her sleeve if she invited us. More so if she's got…well," he gestured in a triangle to Bloom, Ryo, and Roxy, which only Anna, Andy, and Mark picked up on.

"Newsflash," Roxy said, "You don't have to come."

"Oh yes we do," Andy replied. "I don't need two of my best friends and my girlfriend alone at one of Mitzi's drug houses."

Anna sighed. "I don't like it but I'm in. I've got an old Mulan costume I can wear."

"Ellis?"

"A nun outfit. Don't ask," he added when everyone – even his sister, turned their surprised glares to him.

"I'll need a costume," Mark spoke up.

"Same here," Roxy agreed. "There's that Halloween shop two blocks away at the plaza. Who wants to hit it after school?"

"I've got a Spanish quiz I need to make up, but I'll meet you there later." Rio said, still not looking her in the eye. Andy saw the pink haired girl roll her eyes and mutter what he thought was the word 'chicken' under her breath.

"Ok," he said, turning to face everybody. "After school those who need costumes can meet up and walk to the store. Meet here at two-fifty – five minutes after final bell. That ok?" People nodded. "Are we having dinner at East West Pizza tonight?"

Ellis shook his head. "I've got a shift to work. I'll be done at eight."

"Don't poison anybody," Rio muttered.

Roxy took another bite of ice cream. "Well, my Dad needs help setting up the Frutti Music Bar for it's opening next week. We can help out, and he'll probably grill some stuff for us as a thank you. Plus if it gets late we can crash up in the loft. It's a beautiful day."

Bloom nodded slowly. "That sounds good."

"I'll text the 'rents," Mark said, pulling out his phone.

"Why do you always text our parents? I have thumbs you know."

"Because Rio, my dear friend, parents love me."

"It's true," Anna said with a glare, "If Mom and Dad had it their way, they'd throw both of us out for him."

Everyone laughed, and Andy felt a sense of familiarity fall over the group. He sat down on the grass next to Bloom, plucking the grapes from her plate. "Then it's settled."

Bloom rolled her eyes and playfully took the vine of grapes back, popping a few off and dropping them into her mouth. "Buy your own food."

"That's what a girlfriend's for." He grinned, leaning down to kiss her.

Rio rolled his eyes. "Please, if you were a loyal girlfriend you'd –"

"Say 'make him a sandwich' and you won't live to see that party." Bloom cut off, momentarily detaching her lips from Andy's.

That resulted in another eye roll, but he still leaned back against the brick wall, his big mouth quiet for once at his best friends' displays of affection. Especially since he knew a few of Bloom's motives behind it.

Well, tomorrow certainly was going to be interesting.

Here we go again,
It's like you're calling all the shots before I shoot them,
And I hate that.
Every time I turn my back I wonder what you'll
say to make me sound like someone different.
It's not worth it anymore...

Rumor Mill (We Are The In Crowd)