ᴋᴇᴇꜰᴇ ᴀɴᴅ ᴛʜᴇ ᴅᴇx ɢʜᴏꜱᴛ

Biana and Sophie

"Keefe!" A familiar voice called out through the crowd of excitedly speaking prodigies and their family.

The crowd had been moved outside after the dance where they could regroup with their loved ones, though he'd simply intended on congratulating the triplets and thanking Kesler and Juline once more before heading back to his and Fitz's shared room. The latter of which, he was attempting to do in that moment. He was already on the math of glowing foxfire mushrooms leading back to the silver tower.

Slowly, Keefe forced himself to turn back around to greet Sophie and the others who were no doubt behind her. He'd make this quick, he decided. After all, it's a bit awkward seeing your friends who's last memory of you is of you sobbing at the funeral of your friend who's dead butisn'treallybecausehe'saghostandhe'shauntingyou.

"Hey, Foster. Ah - what's up?" He asked, nervously rubbing the back of his head.

"You're just gonna ask her what's up? Boi, you've been ignoring her for months and you're just gonna- I can't." Dex mumbled. The ghost let himself fall to the ground where he decided to sit in protest as the others came walked up.

That is, until he saw Jolie.

Keefe forced himself to hold back a gag at the look of her. She definitely... wasn't as pretty up close. He could practically smell the burning flesh as Dex ran into her arms, causing her to giggle.

Prying his eyes away from the two ghosts behind Sophie, he focused on his friends.

"You've been ignoring my calls." Sophie stated.

"Wow, right to the point, huh Lady Foss-boss?" Keefe teased. "No 'I missed you, Lord Hunkyhair!' or 'Keefe, you've gotten even more beautiful than the last time I saw you.'"

The girl sighed at the same time Jolie smacked Dex's arm. "I'm just worried."

"We all are." Biana piped up. "Then again, I do hear you're rooming with my brother."

"Yeah... It's probably gonna get a little chaotic. Don't be surprised if he comes home with pink hair." Keefe chuckled nervously. Maybe he could get a room of his own at some point if he played it up a bit however... Not that he planned on sharing that information with anyone yet.

Dex and Jolie were cackling at something, the Technopath practically doubling over.

Good lord they were probably sharing embarrassing stories of Sophie and Keefe.

Biana grinned at him as though approving of the idea. Or maybe she was approving of the fact that he seemed to be the same as before.

"Anyways," Sophie said, "you should really call me sometime."

Keefe sighed at the feel of her emotions becoming all warm and fuzzy - almost like how she used to be around Fitz. She'd missed her chance with him long ago. And now the person he had a crush on was dead and annoying. So not cool.

Dex's mouth gaped open at Keefe as Jolie patted him on the back.  Keefe really wanted to raise an eyebrow at the two, but he didn't have the strength.

"I will, Foster. Hey - don't look at me like that! I promise I'll call you sometime. It's just been..." How did one explain being haunted by a ghost? "It's just been a little crazy lately. You know, with moving out and all."

The Inflictor looked down at the reminder. "Yeah, I know. But still..."

"I know." Keefe mumbled gently.

Biana cleared her throat. "By the way, Tam and Linh were wanting to see you too. I think they're with Terigan right now, but they told us to let you know if we found you first."

Great. Just great.

"Bangs Boy? Wanting to see me? Lil' ol' me?" Keefe pretended to be shocked, but really he wasn't even the least bit surprised.

"Yes." Biana said, rolling her eyes a bit.

Keefe looked away for a moment only to find Dex and Jolie wrestling each other to the ground. Dead people were so weird.

"I'll find them before I head in for the night." Keefe promised.

"Alright well..." Sophie said slowly, before wrapping his fragile body in a hug with her fragile arms. She pulled away a moment later, her emotions screaming with worry and sadness and shock and a bunch of other shit Keefe wasn't in the mood to sort through.

He pulled Biana into a quick hug before the two girls could say anything else. He raised his voice to catch a certain someone's attention as he said, "Well, I should probably get going. I'll call you two though."

Dex broke free of Jolie's grasp and sprinted towards Keefe, using him as a shield once he was close enough.

"Bye!" Sophie waved.

"You'd better call us!" Biana threatened.

Keefe gave a small laugh and waved back at the two of them.

Hopefully he could get to his room without running into anyone else. He'd just say he couldn't find Tam and Linh.