To Tatum, there were only two good things about the first day of parents weekend. First of all, Friday was the only day that she got to dress herself. Her parents had arrived after class, and so she was already showered and wearing her own choice of clothes. She had no doubt that her step-mother would be trying to 'help' her dress up the next few days that she was around.

The second good thing was her plan to give her parents the slip later, a perfect plan dreamed up with Sam. She was more than a little bit pumped for watching Dawn of the Dead. It had been far too long. With her head in the clouds thinking about zombies, she was glad to have something else to think about except this stupid tour she had to go on. Every single year since she had started at Blue Ridge, her step-mother liked to go on the student lead tours. Even though things rarely changed all that much, she always insisted on going and Tatum was almost always the one who got stuck going with her.

After the second year, everyone else learned to make up excuses.

With her headphones hung around her neck, the redhead had every intention to pull them up and listen to them once the tour actually got going. "Isn't that your friend, dear?" Madeline asked from beside her, snapping Tatum out of her thoughts and making her look up. She felt a weight lifting off her shoulders. She had lucked out and gotten Sunny after all.

Lifting her hand weakly, she gave the other girl a little wave. Beside her, the redhead's step-mother frowned a bit. What sort of greeting was that meant to be, the older woman wondered. It sometimes confused her how her oldest daughter could be so.. strange.

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"Oh hey Tate!" Sunny called enthusiastically, giving the red head a wave. Distracted momentarily by a worried mom asking about parental supervision for trips into Bluebell Town, Sunny quickly explained that there were trips every other Saturday and no one was ever left in town.

She started walking the group around the campus. Bringing them from the quodpot field down to the muggle sports field and the quidditch pitch where she explained the sports programs at the school. She brought them down around to the green house. After that it was to the gym, the library, and then back around the housing buildings and the two class buildings. Sunny, as always, interjected a few stories throughout the tour to liven up the monotony of the tour. She answered a few more questions from first year parents and then meandered toward the back where she knew she had seen Tatum.

"Hey you, how was your first week back?" she asked brightly.

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Tatum was more than glad to keep to herself for the majority of the tour. She would look up occasionally when her step-mother would raise her hand for a question, the redhead pulling her headphones down a bit to listen and make sure she wasn't asking something silly or embarrassing. But aside from the repetition of the tour, she spent every day navigating these grounds after all, it didn't seem to be going so bad.

When Sunny sidled up to her, she managed a weak smile and pulled her headphones down again. "N-Not bad," she replied quietly, looking to see that her step-mother was chatting happily with another mother. Presumably a first year's mom, as Tatum could now softly hear Madeline re-assuring the other woman that her son would be just fine, the staff were just brilliant and the student government was wonderful as well. Her daughter and her best friend were on it, she was saying, and Tatum quickly turned back to Sunny instead of listening to more endless praise for Sera.

"Just trying t-to, y'know, plot my escape.. no offense," she added, smiling sheepishly. "Sam is going to r-rescue me for a while later, I think. After the concert.. I'm pretty pumped."

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Sunny smiled warmly. "Yeah, Sam told me you were going to be on the tour again so I looked up the assignments and snatched your group from a second year," she beamed. Quietly, she leaned in a bit, "I'm actually surprised she still makes you go on these things," she said behind her hand, laughing a little.

"What are your plans? Going on a secret date?" she teased gently.

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"You sneaky girl you," Tatum murmured, smiling back quite fondly. When Sunny mentioned her tour incarceration, the redhead rolled her eyes and sighed heavily. "I think she does more drugs than I do sometimes," she whispered back, watching the older woman's back. "Every year, and you'd think like.. she'd make Sera go, but no, everyone always has an excuse before I do. I think she just likes to come and socialize with the other mothers. Especially since Sera made prefect, just in case you haven't heard her the other six times she told someone about it today."

Her cheeks flushed a bit as Sunny teased her, and she quickly shook her head. "Just.. you know, chilling and whatever," she replied, ducking her head a little. "Dawn of the Dead is on tv? We'll probably watch that, I guess. If he's not too scared," she smirked.

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Sunny laughed lightly and nodded. "I know, I'm a bad influence," she snickered. "Right? Next year, we'll come up with something real good. I'll volunteer to take her myself to give you a break," Sunny laughed. "I did hear she made prefect," she snorted.

She laughed again. "So true," she nodded. "That's kind of adorkable though," she said poking her friend. "Sounds a lot better than my plans, I gotta entertain the folks all night," she rolled her eyes. "I was promised midnight pancakes after the concert though," she grinned.

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"You and the whole rest of the school," Tatum joked. "I don't know how much more hero worship I can take, it's like she's made of solid gold or something," the redhead muttered, still watching Madeline to see that she was still occupied. "I'd like, give you all of my wordly possessions if you did that next year," she added, half-seriously. She did not want to be a second year college student and still get forced onto the tour.

Sunny could only save her so many times. What if they had gotten their original guide? Tatim reckoned she'd be asleep already. "Pancakes are good though! With like, blueberries.. I could so go there," she said, stomach grunting a little at the thought. "I was going to say come join us but your folks probably don't want to.. watch zombies."

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Sunny laughed. "Parents are like that," she nodded. "No one ever heard the end of it from my dad when I made captain," she laughed. "But wait til she sees our garden display," Sunny smiled warmly. "And the concert is gonna be wicked good too!"

She laughed. "I'll keep her busy," Sunny smirked. "Maybe I'll give her a little hat and she can be my assistant!"

"Oh hell yeah. Blueberries and whipped cream," she nodded. "I don't know how I'm going to make it to midnight," she giggled. "I wouldn't want to interrupt or anything," she grinned. "And I could not imagine my mother sitting through a zombie movie," she laughed. "Mom would be flipping the whole time and hiding under the covers."

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"Oh yeah the concert," Tatum breathed, looking dazed for a moment as if they hadn't been talking about her escaping from it a few minutes before. She had forgotten she was actually going to be in it. She quite enjoyed band, when she was just with the other members, but being on a huge stage in front of everyone and their families.. well, that was a bit scarier. The redhead paled a bit. "I h-hope I don't fuck it," she quickly added, eyes on her step-mother's back again.

Sunny's comment about the little hat made her feel better, allowing her to crack a crooked smile. "I so want pictures of that. She'd probably love it too, though she'd probably want you to wear the hat and be her assistant."

All of the talk about delicious pancakes was definitely making Tatum's stomach grumble even louder, and she vaguely wondered how much longer Madeline wanted to be out here. She was starved. Rubbing her stomach a bit as if to soothe it, she regarded Sunny with that same crooked smile still. "Y-You wouldn't be interrupting, it's so.. probably sort of maybe not like that," she laughed, feeling her cheeks flush a bit. "He doesn't even l-like me like that. I'm like, a goof."

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"You'll do great," she said cheerfully. "We were all spot on at practice the other night," she knew her friend could get a little shy at times and nudged her shoulder. "'Sides, you can always just close your eyes and pretend no one else is there."

She giggled. "Yeah, I'll definitely take pictures for you. I'll have to trick her though, a hat would ruin my hair. Maybe I'll let her handle the Q and A at the end," she grinned.

"He's kind of a goof too," she said, noticing Tatum's cheeks flushing. "And besides, if we're saying a boy wouldn't date a girl because she's a goof I would have like negative boyfriend situations," she laughed, doing her best to conceal any sadness that might have slipped through at the mention of boyfriends. Stas was still struggling back in Burnham while she was there in Georgia. She forced a smile and shrugged. "Anyways, you two would be totally cute!"

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Tatum groaned, laughing a little. Madeline was the only person she knew who was more long-winded than Sera. "Oh man, you'll be doing Q and A for straight hours, I warn you."

Ducking her head a little, with her cheeks still pink, Tatum shook her head. "You t-think? I dunno," she murmured. She had known Sam for years, she considered him one of her best friends before anything, but if he did like her.. well, it wasn't like she would want to say 'no'. Maybe the evening was going to be weirder than she expected. "He is pretty cute.."

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Sunny laughed and shook her head. "Well it'll keep the first year parents entertained and give the poor kids some time to relax," she grinned. "I might have to bring my gameboy though," she snorted.

"Totally," she said brightly. "He's totally cute, and I definitely noticed him giving you the look the other night. Like... I'm your friend but I'm sort of seeing you in a new light look," she explained. "That's another thing about Sam... easy to read," she grinned.

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Tatum managed a little smile, probably mostly looking sheepish, but she knew all about <>the look</> Sunny meant. Boys always got that look, it had turned many of her best friends into awkwardly brief boyfriends. It was the look they got where they just woke up one morning and realized one of their bros owns a pair of legitimate, albeit tiny, boobs.

Sam probably wasn't just after boobs, and he was pretty cute. For a boy and all. "I like e-easy to read," she commented. "Its too complicated otherwise. I h-hate drama bullshit.. I don't have like, the nerves for it. I like chill boys."

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