"It seems we have a new player with us today, I am Castor, the live of the party and the host of all and any entertainment, I electrify the guest until the games begin. And what is your name my dear!?" he spun to the side of me and grabbed my arm, leading me into an empty corner.
"Cherie," I said nervously.
"oh, what an electrifying name, for a beautiful girl," he smiled widely and pulled me close to him.
"Care to dance?" he waited, but before I could say anything he grabbed me and started dancing.
"You're going to dance." he whispered into my ear as we twirled. I pouted and he just chuckled to himself.
"That lad seems quite fond of you."

"What?"

"I said that lad seems quite fond of you, he has been talking about you since he arrived. He said you were amazing and fantastic, that's why I asked you to dance, to see if it was true."

"Well, is it?" I asked, turning my head to look for Erik's face.

"In fact, it is. There's just something about you that's," he twirled his finger in one of my loose strands of hair.
"Different."

"Is that good?" he smiled and twirled us again.

"It's what he needs." we stopped and he pulled my face close to his.

"Remember to change the game to the advantage of other words, take yourself out of the equation." castor bowed and then released me with a smirk. I bowed to and hurried back to all of my girl friends. Eponine ,Hermione and Luna stared at me with disbelief, but then Erik came by and asked if he could introduce me to all of the guys. I nodded and he took a hold of my hand and proceeded to lead me to them. The first people he introduced me to where Javert and James.
"Hello, I'm Javert , and this is James." we then shook hands.

"It was nice to meeting you again, Javert and James."

"Please, just call me Jamie."

After that, Erik took me to meet the other guys, then as soon as we were finished the games were going to start. We all gathered in the front room, while Castor announced the rules and plans for today.

"Good Afternoon, boys and girls, and welcome to our Game Day! Today's Battle is of the sexes! That's right, man vs woman, who is the elite sex?, we will find out today!"

"Now we shall take a vote for the first game, we have the twisted twirls and tangles of Twister! Or the Money ,Mayhem and More in MONOPOLY! Vote wisely for this could cause you your dignity!"
We all clustered together and spoke silently about what we should vote for.
"We should do twister! I know Peeta and he is as flexible as concrete!" giggled Katniss.

"No, we should try monopoly! It would confuse the Mad Hatter like crazy!" shouted Alice. Everyone started arguing, but I got them to stop and agree on twister, which was a smart move because most men are not flexible.

Earlier that day

I woke up in the morning, finding Jareth searching through my room. I tossed my pillow at him to get his attention, he turned and pouted.

"What's wrong your Majesty?"
He growled, then went back to digging through all my personal belongings.

"I can't find my pendant." he pouted.

"You mean your necklace."

"No, pendant, there's a difference."

"well then, why in the world would I have it!"

Jareth paused, then walked out of the room, with a devious smile on his face. I decided to get up and change, then see what Jareth was smiling about. After changing, I walked to the kitchen to make some coffee, but I found Jareth, sitting on one of the chairs near the breakfast bar, staring into a crystal.

"Will you stop staring at the girl, she's sleeping for crying out loud." he nearly dropped his crystal onto the floor when I spoke.

"No, I will not, I believe she has my pendant from last night."

A feeling of anger rushed over me when he said this.
"What did you do to her last night, I swear Jareth if you did anything to her that she was not aware of at the time, I will strangle you!"

Jareth just smiled and stood up.

"All I did was comfort her from a bad dream. I think someone is getting jealous, how about a little bet between you and me," he came face to face with me.

"what kind of bet?"

" the one to get the longest kiss from Cherie, gets to go on a date with her without any interference from the loser, and the loser pays the bill."

"deal." we shook hands and were about to go our separate ways when Jareth pulled me closer and whispered "Prepare to be bankrupt."
Then he left in a puff of glitter,Just to spite me.

Back to present time

Cherie POV

"Looks like the twist and twirls of Twister have won the vote! Now let's see who are first two competitors are!" shouted Castor, as he pulled the name out of the hat we put them in earlier.

"Looks like its Jamie vs Hermione!" and that's pretty much how the day went. We watched as the many twister games went on, and then it was my turn, the girls had five points, while the guys had three.

"since we are close to the end of our game, we'll make this a double point round."

Crap. Did they seriously have to do this when it was my turn, all of the inflexible men had gone already. To top it off, Jareth arrived and put his name in the hat. I was screwed either way, so I just smiled and dove right in.

We waited as they sifted through the man's name hat. The suspense was getting to me, but I still stood there, smiling. Hoping that my opponent wasn't Jareth.

"it looks like Cherie's going up against... Erik! How electrifying!"
Cried Castor, he gave my shoulder a quick pat, and a big sly smile. I could tell Castor had this rigged from the beginning.

Both Erik and I nervously shook hands and prepared for the game to start. The first few moves were pretty easy, but soon we started getting ourselves tangled together. At one point, Erik was nearly on top of me, but then when he had to place his hand under my waist, he slipped, causing him to fall on me.

"Looks like the Ladies win this round!"

We all cheered, and the rest of the day went by like that, the girls had won almost every game (except for Monopoly and Yahtzee).

We all said our goodbyes to each other, and I also made plans to get tea with Castor and Reginald in the morning. After I left the apartment, I decided to go for a quick walk. I walked until I got to the bridge that overlooked the meadow and beautiful stream. Sitting, I watched the meadow as it blew in the wind. I then saw something move below the bridge, I immediately gasped, causing the figure below to look up. It was a peculiar man, who wore baggy grey jeans and a black hoodie. The reason I say he is peculiar is because his eyes were a crimson red, like that of blood.

"Hello There, I didn't mean to startle you. I'm Alto, who might you be?"

He offered me his hand to help me down on the soft grass.

"My name is Cherie."

"Cherie huh, that's French right? I like your name."

"Isn't it beautiful, the way the stream cuts perfectly through the grass." he glanced at me and then back to the stream.

"I know it's beautiful. I always come here." he looked back up at me and smiled.

"You seem very nice, maybe we should hangout more often."

"How about tomorrow morning, at the tea place down by the campus." He thought for awhile. "Sure, why not?"

We watched the sunset, then he walked me home, We said goodbye, and I gave him a hug. Stretching, I walked into my apartment, and made for my room, but then I saw Erik, standing in the corner tapping his foot.

"Where were you, I was waiting for you to answer the door, but you never came, so I let myself in." he stood, still tapping, waiting for my reply.

"I went on a small walk and met someone new, don't worry, I was being safe." he seemed to calm down, and I gave him a hug. He returned the hug, and mumbled into my shoulder.

"I just want you to be careful, not everyone is as they seem."

"His name is Alto, he seems pretty nice. We are meeting up tomorrow with Reginald and Castor, you're welcome to join us."

"I'd be delighted to join you. It's getting late, I'll see you tomorrow, Goodnight." we hugged again, then he kissed my head and left.

How magical today was, I can't wait until tomorrow.

Walking to Erik's apartment, I knocked on his door, and found him ready to have tea. We both hugged, then proceeded to take my car to the tea place.

"Well, here it is!" I shouted excitedly. The place was called 'Tea For You', it was a very beautiful tea shop, with several themed tea rooms.

"Hello Cherie, nice to see you again dear, and you two Erik." smiled Reginald.

"Oh and look someone new." I turned and saw Alto, waiting by the door. Jumping, I hugged him very tightly.

"Uh.. Hi?" he laughed

"I guess I do have to work on my surprise hug moments."

We all walked down to a booth and ordered our teas, with a side of cookies for Alto. We chatted about casual things, then Erik explained his past to him. Occasionally he would get a nod or the simple ' I'm sorry that happened look'. After Erik's story it was time for Alto's.

"I use to live in country called Panem. I lived in district twelve. Life was hard back then. I had to hunt illegally in order to keep myself and others fed. The other thing that made it hard was the fact that we, districts one through twelve, were ruled by the Capital, a very rich and strong area. They host every year an event called The Hunger Games, where twenty four kids age twelve to eighteen fight to the death for the Capital's entertainment. I was in it."

I gasped as he explained all the events he had been through, but recovered after Erik squeezed my leg, warning me to not react so quickly because it might cause a gruesome flashback.

"The things I saw and had to do... they still haunt me."

I stayed silent until the end, when I couldn't take it anymore, I jumped up and hugged him.

Erik, surprised, mouthed the words, 'be gentle, don't remind him'.

"..."

"sorry , let's talk about something else, how about this amazing tea place!" I waved my hands dramatically in the air.

"Hn"

"I agree, the variety is simply astonishing." Erik replied.

We sat quietly and sipped our tea, while Alto nibbled on his last cookies. I thought silently about Alto's story, but then pushed away that thought, and continued to hum a song. For some strange reason, Alto and Erik started humming along, then to my surprise, they started singing.

"Nature, nurture, heaven and home...
Some moves all and by them driven..."

"To conquer every mountain shown, but I've never crossed the river..."

"Brave the forest, brave the stone..."

"Brave the icy winds and fire..."

"Brave didn't beat them on my own"

"Yet I'm helpless by the river,"

Erik POV

"wow, guys, wait. I think we just had ourselves a musical moment!" we all turned to Cherie and laughed to ourselves.

Alto then checked his watch and frowned.
"I'm sorry guys, I have to go study for class now, it was nice having tea with you." he waved and then left.

"I must depart as well, you may come along if you wish." she smiled and took my offered hand.

We walked through the park, and visited the farmer's market in town, but we didn't buy anything. Deciding it was a day, we went home.

"Cherie, I have to tell you something important." I sighed, and tried not to look as if I was vexed by this thing. Holding both of her hands now, I took a deep breath, then spoke.

"Tomorrow I have to go to Paris for my music students' trip, I'll be gone for around two to three weeks, I'd love to stay but I can't." she gave me a saddened
Smile, and gave my hands a squeeze.

"Don't worry about me, go have fun in Paris, I'll be fine here with Jareth and the others. Just don't forget to get me an Eiffel tower key chain!" I hugged her close, then we both went our separate ways.

Jareth POV

He wasn't usually this sad, especially if it was after spending time with Cherie. Probably got rejected I thought. I watched from behind my book, carefully analyzing his every movement. Judging from the things he was doing, depressed about going to Paris, for he would be without his little 'Belle Dame'. I silently chuckled at this, but apparently not silent enough, for Erik glared at me, then returned to his blank stare out the window. I wonder how Cherie's doing about all this. Pulling out my crystal, I've decided to check up on her. She is sitting on her couch with a sad expression, constantly asking herself what she should do for the next couple of weeks to keep herself busy. As I watched her there, an idea came to my head. What if I were to make a second Erik to accompany Cherie? I knew just the spell to do it as well. I would just need to perform it after Erik left, which would be easy.

The Next Day

I awoke to the noise of Erik debating against himself, if he was slightly crazier, I swear he would have sounded like the demonic hobbit (or hobbit has been) that calls himself Smeagol and Gollum.

Eventually, after half an hour of debating, Erik had decided he would go on the trip. I watched him leave, he tipped his hat while I leaned against the wall and waved.

Now to create the duplicate Erik. Sneaking carefully into his room, I tip toed over the various forms of traps to his mirror. There I found what I was looking for, a small piece of Erik's real hair, I could tell because it wasn't black. Then back I went through the maze into the living room.

Cherie's POV

I sat on the couch bored and reading a book, I had decided that Erik presumably left earlier for Paris, and hoped that he had a fun time in his home. As I was turning the next page, a knock I heard on the door. Peeking through the eye hole, I could see Jareth, who was adjusting his collar and vest. I leaned against the door, before taking a deep breath and opening it to see why HE was here.

"Hello my love, I have a wonderful surprise for you, so go put on something nice so I can show you!" he sounded overly excited, which frightened me a little, but since I had nothing else to do, I did what he said. After putting on 'something nice', I walked out of my apartment, letting Jareth take me to his apartment. Walking in front I could tell Jareth was staring at my ass, I knew this dress would get attention there.

"Okay Jareth, do you mind telling me what this surprise is instead of staring at my ass." he smiled slyly.

"in time I will tell, but first, that dress looks 'splendid' from the waist below."

"Well, well, well, what have we here." I turned to the sound of a familiar voice, and it was Erik.

"Erik, I thought you would be going to Paris today!?" he smiled, as I hugged him tightly.

"I decided that I go to Paris almost every year, so this year I sent the other music teacher."

"No Erik, you need to go I'm always here."

"I've already decided , I'm not leaving you." I stood there with my hand on my hips, but he didn't even make a frown, he just stood there taking me on. This is weird I thought, he usually listens to me after I do this.

"Well, I'll leave you two lovebirds alone," Jareth said suspiciously.

Even weirder, Jareth would never say something like that, he hates it when I'm alone with Erik. Something fishy is going on, but I'll just go with it and see what happens.

"Would you like to join me on a walk through the park." he asked, offering me his hand.

"I would love to, but I get to drive." he smiled playfully and poked my nose.

"Of course, I love it when you drive."

Now this is really weird, I thought. Last time I got to drive we had to have a debate about it. When we had reached his car, he stayed behind me. It felt as if he was staring at my butt, which was very unlike Erik for he was a gentleman, unlike Jareth .