Uh Oh. Awkward moment between Anna and Cale, and Anna looked like she was ont the verge of tears.
Allie quickly turned on some music. "SOOO...c'mon everyoen DANCE!" she said.
SHe got out her semi-neatly wrapped present for Anna...it was a bunch of chocolate frogs, amd a plastic crown. It wasn'y much since Alliedidn't have much money left after getting the cake, and food, and decorations and stuff.
"Here Anna." she said, handing her the gift. "I hope you like it."

Piper nodded at Daphne and she sighed as the other girl patted her arm."Yes that is true, but I still feel bad for showing up without something at least. That is how I was taught." She said quietly, as she thought about what she could do.. "I could make her a card.. and give it to her later.." She suggested quietly.

"True, they didn't talk that part," Gwen replied. "I'm Gwen Minton. Gwen the Mint," she chuckled to herself as she shook Daphne's hand. "You have incredibly smooth skin."

Hannah caught Allie's drift in trying to distract everyone. "Yeah!" she said, dancing to the music. She just hoped everyone would follow her instead of staring... Maybe some cute guy would ask her to dance She danced her way over to Allie and whispered "Well, this is awkward for them, isn't it? I hope they get things worked out." She kept dancing the whole while she was talking.

Music flooded her ears and Daphne let her feet tap to the beat all the while keeping her hips in check. There was no need to dance and make a spectacle of herself in front of people she barely knew. As she shook Gwen's hand she turned her eyes towards Piper and smiled kindly. "You could do that," remarked the twelve year old before her attention was brought back to Gwen.

Blinking, she removed her hand reigning all impulses to wipe it clean with antibacterial wash, pull out her wand, incarcerate the girl and declare that she had been touched indecently. "Thank you," replied Daphne solemnly, hazel eyes analyzing the girl's face.

For all she knew, Gwen could be the daughter of absent medical parents who paid very little attention to their older daughter devoting their attention and love to the youngest leaving this girl a tantrum away from snapping and becoming a mass murderer who disfigures her victims due to never being able to quite keep up with her parents ridiculous expectations of her.

"You have..." Crazy eyes? A menacing smile? A threatening aura? "A very solid handshake."

Piper was fighting a smile as she watched Daphne talk to Gwen.. She started to tap her foot to the beat as well, and she watched the two girls. She giggled a bit at Daphne's response.. A solid handshake?She thought to herself with a wide smile

Gwen raised her eyebrows. "One has to have one," she said. "A non-solid handshakes shows weakness. Weakness is a very private thing," she said sternly.

"Are you all right? You look tense."

Sneeze looked at Demetria. "Oh, a thousand years in magic inventions." Sneeze held the book up to her.

"Oh awesome! Is it anygood?" Demetria wasn't going to take History of Magic this year, but it still seemed interesting.

Slowly, Daphne retrieved her hand and nearly cradled it protectively in her other hand but refrained from doing so and only slipped both hands into her robes pockets. Right, weakness. Perhaps she should take up Davis on his offer to give her Tae Kwon Do lessons over next summer. "I'm perfectly alright, Gwen," chirped Daphne, a bright (albeit fake) smile on her face. "No need to worry."

Seizing a distraction she let herself gawk at the tall birthday cake. "Do you think they'll cut that soon or do we have to awkwardly stand around and pretend to like each other," mumbled Hopton distractedly before she caught her own words and coughed into her hand delicately. "What I meant, is...that was my attempt at being funny."

Cale loathed awkward moments more than anything else in the world (except maybe Evangeline Green) and as they stood there, staring at each other, the awkwardness just continued to build. As his face turned beet red, he frantically thought of what to say next. "Well, I...uhh...I mean...you got some nice stuff!" he said, looking over at the pile of presents Anna had just opened. His own present lay in his pocket still--if he gave it to her now, he was quite certain she was turn around and chuck it right at his forehead.

He glanced around and people slowly started dancing. Yeah, that was NOT happening--Cale Newell didn't dance. He had hardly ever danced with Anna, and Reese and Allie had to DRAG him onto the dancefloor at another party.

So he just stood there, lamely standing behind the couch he had been hiding behind.

"Yeah. I'm an inventor. I've started selling my products a few months ago. I'm hoping to one day own a shop" Sneeze said to Demetria.

If Anna wasn't so shocked at being face to face with Cale, she may have very well jumped at the sound of loud shrieking feeling the room. She blinked a few times and looked over in Daphne's direction, awkwardly smiling and giggling a little when she discovered just what the noise was. In the short time she'd known Daphne, she'd discovered her to be very stright-to-the-point, yet fun to be around. The card Daphne was opening and closing was definitely something she'd come up with for a birthday gift. Anna couldn't wait to see the card! It seemed really funny!

Anna blinked once again, this time at Allie's startling outburst. Music filled the room, and Allie made an attempt to stop the awkward moment and get everyone to dancing.

"Oh, Allie, thanks!" Anna exclaimed, accepting the thoughtful gift. She tore open the wrapping and stared down in wonder at the perfection of chocolate frogs, with a delicate crown placed inside the box, as well. "My favorite, Allie! ...and I love this crown! Thank you so much!" She leaned over and gave Allie a tight hug. "Thank you for this party, as well. Don't think I don't realize who got it up and going."

When Anna's line of vision was cleared of all possible distractions, she looked back over in Cale's direction, only to find him still standing there. Even though she was angry with him and wanted to throw a...hippogriff or something at him, she could never hurt him in that way. He was Cale Newell after all, and she could see that this little awkward moment was making him uncomfortable.

Without giving herself time to talk herself out of what she was about to do, she slowly put one foot in front of the other and headed over in Cale's direction. She didn't cross the couch, though. She didn't if either one ofthem were ready to stand that close together yet. So with her one on side of the couch and Cale on the other, she spoke to him. "Erm, thanks for coming. It really means a lot. You should have some cake or something. It looks really good," she said.

A part of her wanted to stay longer, yet a part of her was saying that he was really uncomfortable and she should give him an easy way out. "I'm...going to dance. Thanks again," she added, before turning around and heading out to the middle of the floor.

Chris walked into the common room. He looked around, was there a party going on? Then he remembered it was Anna's 16th birthday. He looked around he saw Cale standing by himself. He would talk to Anna later. He went up to Cale. "Hey Cale." Chris told him.

"Hey everybody." Chalice said as she came down the stairs from the dorm. "I can't believe how great this weekend is gonna be." she said to herself. She scanned the room, no Chris Potter, no anybody she knew. This was such a bummer, why did she have to have gone to Belle's last year?

"Erm...yeah," was all Cale managed to get out. He was fighting all his strength to not jump against the couch and just hug her and never let go. Especially after everything that Cale had heard Clifford say before...he was quite ready to just go up in his bed and never come out.

He was quite certain that staying here any longer was going to be too hard for him to deal with. Sighing, he headed towards the door. Maybe he'd linger around the library for a bit--like anything interesting would happen THERE?--until the party was over.

On his way out, he felt into his pocket once more and locked his hand around the small box with Anna's gift in it. He couldn't give it to her face to face, out of the fear she'd chuck it at him, so he casually pulled it out of his pocket and set it on the table, hidden from view by the ginormous pink cake Allie had brought out. After that, he turned and walked from the room without a second glance at Anna.

"Hey, Chalice!" Anna greeted. "I noticed you in Arithmancy class, but I didn't get a chance to speak. We're not really supposed to be chatting during class. Anyway, I believe you asked me how we lost five points, right? If the story I heard is correct, someone was panicking in the hospital wing, and the intern misunderstood that for loud yelling and took points."

Anna nodded at Cale's one and only comment, not sure what else to do or say. Geez, things were so awkward between the two of them. This was such a change from last school year. Or even this summer...

Merlin, she missed him. He was so close, yet so far away at the same time. It would be so easy just to walk a few steps to the other side of the couch, enclose him in the tightest hug she'd ever given him, and do whatever she had to do to make things right again. Ah, if only it were that simple. What hurt the most is that they weren't even on speaking terms. He was her best friend. He was the one she lov....well, nevermind that. The fact of the matter was that things were not simple, and that included the fact that Cale Newell and Anna Greingoth just may never speak again.

She turned around and distracted herself by looking around the room as Cale walked out the portrait hole. Oh, well. At least he showed up.

Allie blushed a little. "It was no problem, really."
She hugged Anna back.
She was glad she liked gthe party, and hoped it would help cheer her up.
"WOuld you like to cut the cake soon?"

"No way that's so cool!! I would totally buy your inventions!" she sat down next to him. Demetria had memories of visiting her uncle's joke shop when she was little. It was all so fascinating to her. She even asked him once if she could live there. Demetria smiled at the memories...

"Hi Anna, how are you? Happy birthday!" Chalice quipped. "I remember that, thanks for getting back to me on that one. That intern really needs to learn how things happen here." she said. "Have a good day Anna. I'm going to try to get some points back."

ooc: LULZ

Gwen gazed at the cake longingly, absentmindedly biting her lower lip. Oh that pink sugary vessel of goodness. "I guess it's up to the birthday girl. Although some pretending will probably be required."

Gwen shook her head at Cale's back as he fled the scene of his ineptitude.

"Forget 'im, Banana," Gwen said, putting her arm around Anna's shoulders. "It's your birthday! Let him be a downer somewhere else." She held her neatly wrapped present in front of her like it was a rare jewel. It was wrapped with shiny red paper and adorned with curly gold ribbons. "You haven't opened my present yet. It's wrapped in Gryffindor colors," she said, wiggling her eyebrows.

"I would like to cut the cake now!" Anna exclaimed, grinning like a five-year-old at Christmastime. "It looks too good to cut, though. Too bad we don't have some sort of camera!" Anna left the "dance floor" and made way over to her cake. It looked absolutely perfect.

"This is the prettiest cake I've ever seen in my entire life," Anna commented. "This was such a wonderful birthday! Everyone gave me such thoughtful gifts!"

"I'm doing....erm, okay, I guess," Anna commented. Cale leaving out the portrait hole a few minutes ago was still fresh on her mind. It still hurt that they didn't even talk anymore. "Anyway, enough about me, how are you? Oh, and thanks for the birthday wishes!"

"Okay, Chalice! You go get those points! I'll see you around!" Anna replied.

Anna noticed Gwen eyeing the cake and called her over to the table. "Gwen! Allie and I are about to cut the cake. Want to come over and be the first to test out it's sugary goodness?" Anna asked.

"I'm trying, Gwen. I'm trying," Anna commenting, looking towards the portrait hole once again. "It's just a tad on the hard side, though. This party has made me feel a lot better, though! It feels good to be surrounded by friends!

Anna looked down the gift Gwen was holding by her side. The wrapping was fabulous, so typical of Gwen and her perfections! "Oh, Gwen! It's perfect! The wrapping ia fabulous, too!" Anna tore into the gift and was soon holding up a diary, a fancy quill, and a book about muggleborn wizards. "Wow! This quill is so pretty, Gwen! I can use it to write in my diary, too! Hmm, now what will I write about?" She actually had a lot to write about. Gwen's gift was perfect for what was going on in her life now. "Oh, and I'll just love this book! I've always been interested in muggles and muggleborns! Thanks, Gwen!" Anna reached over and hugged Gwen tightly, grateful to have a friend like her.

"I have a camera actually." said Allie, pulling it out of her bag of party supplies."I thought it would be good to have memories of the day."

"No, Anna, its your birthday, you should ge the first peice!" said Allie. "Why don't I take a picture of you cutting the cake?"

She was about to snap the shot when she saw a box right behind the giant cake.
"Wait, Anna." she said, picking up the box, and handing it to her. "I think this is for you."

Via rushed to the common room. Silently she joined the others. they had been celebrating Anna's birthday. How stupid of her to forget and she had been hanging around. They had cut Anna's cake when she got there. At least the party isn't over yet.

"You're welcome," Gwen said, hugging her back. "I'm really glad you like it, I wasn't sure what to get! But I saw that and I thought it was perfect."

"Oh, but-" Gwen began, and dropped her arm. A picture? Now? It was as if the cake was getting farther and farther away, down a narrowing tunnel of darkness. I'm supposed to test the sugary goodness.