#syf!event

                         Laissez Les Bons Temps Rouler!                             

                                               LET THE GOOD TIMES ROLL!

It’s Mardi Gras at Ginsburg! In addition to passing out beads and having free pancakes in all the dining halls on the day itself, Ginsburg University is throwing a whole Mardi Gras celebration. Beginning with a PARADE on Friday, expect to see huge, colorful floats making their way around campus, with jazz music and brightly-colored fashion on full display - don’t be shy about cheering along! Rolling into Saturday, the party doesn’t stop with a MASQUERADE BALL, where all attendees are expected to go all out - especially with their masks, which should be designed to cover their identity as best they can. There will be door prizes and a contest for best dressed! Recover from the night before on Sunday, with free brunch at the dining halls, and discounts at the restaurants around campus - time to stock up on your shrimp & grits, your etouffee, and if you’re of age, some restaurants also have a milk punch special. Take a walk around campus and enjoy the good times!

Blaine really started to wonder if he should have just skipped classes today and stayed in his apartment. He had managed to do a decent job of ignoring the strange things that happened to him this week. Brushing them off as figments of his imagination, Blaine did his best not to put any stock in them. He was stressed about school, the whole situation with Rachel which included her meeting Cooper, the fact that he was cheating on her but somehow could not stop, and their whole relationship was a lie. Yeah, Blaine had some stress and anxiety present in his life to say the very least. 

The dream is something that Blaine can’t shake and knows he won’t be able to for a while. The anxiety attack in the bathroom at the union the day before was...unfortunate. He felt embarrassed by it and prefers to ignore that it even happened in the first place. But waking up not knowing what you dreamed but knowing how you felt in or from the dream was almost worse. Yes, things like this had happened before where Blaine would wake up and still carry the emotions from a dream but unable to remember exactly why. This was different. His heart raced and every tiny noise or slight movement made Blaine jump and that feeling of being watched was back. It was terrifying. 

He should have stayed home in bed. 

The whisperings started back up as he went to class but it was just paranoia. The dream had caused his brain to think back to the events in the days before. There weren’t any whispers just Blaine’s mind playing a cruel trick on him. Even as Blaine told himself that, it wasn’t much comfort. But. Why wouldn’t the whole campus be talking about him? That gossip about his “secret secret identity’? Did someone know, other than Sebastian, that his relationship with Rachel was anything less than a complete joke. 

He was a complete joke. Blaine could hear it in the tone of the whispers and the eyes he felt on his back. Focusing in class was impossible. He sat in the very back so he could keep an eye on every student in the room because, if he sat in the back there could be no eyes on him. NO eyes watching him from behind. Yes. He solved the riddle. Blaine was starting to feel insane by this point. He trusted no one he came across and he couldn’t trust anyone to understand what was happening or why it was happening to him. 

Because you cheated. 

He could have sworn he heard someone say that but no, that was just his brain. 

Because you’re lying to Rachel.

Stop it.

Because you’re lying to Kurt.

Just. Stop. 

Because you’re lying to yourself!

Blaine stood abruptly from his spot in the back of the class the moment it had ended and briskly walked to the bathroom. He just needed another minute alone and away from those fucking whispers. Away from the judgement. He went into the handicap bathroom and locked the door behind him. Alone. At last. He breathed a sigh of relief and closed his eyes leaning back against the door. He takes this time to use the bathroom for what it actually is used for and to just soak in the silence.

He turned the water on at the sink and let it run a moment before lathering up his hands with soap and meticulously cleaning them as he told himself that everything was fine and it was just in his head. He leaned down and splashed some water in his face and reached over for a paper towel. That felt better. 

As Blaine stood up straight to do his best and brave the world and whispers outside he froze. He felt a chill wash over him as he stared at the mirror. Not the reflection in the mirror because it was just Blaine and obviously that was to be expected but there was something he wasn’t expecting. Something that couldn’t be there. He didn’t notice it walking into the bathroom and the door was locked. 

C O N F E S S 

Blaine let out a shaky breath and slowly reached out to the mirror to touch it. It seemed real enough. But it could just be another figment of Blaine’s elaborate imagination. He took the paper towel, damp from drying his hands and face, and extended it to the mirror. Blaine was terrified of what he was about to do and about to test. He rubbed the paper towel across the bottom of the F and sure enough, the black began to smear. 

Blaine jumped back as if the writing on the mirror had shocked him. It might as well have. He felt his entire body buzzing with the signs of an oncoming anxiety attack. This wasn’t real. There was no possible way for that to be here or for anyone to know that Blaine would be here in this bathroom. He clenched his jaw in an attempt to prevent himself from breaking down and crying there on the spot. 

It’s not real, Anderson. It’s just..not. 

He thought to himself. Blaine backed away from the mirror never turning his back to it. His hands fumbled behind him to find the door handle and once his fingers wrapped around it, Blaine quickly left the bathroom and closed the door hard behind him. 

He exhaled and slowly turned to walk away. This was just another thing he needed to pretend didn’t happen. After a moment or two of walking through the halls on his wya out of the building and to his next class, Blaine was met with a chorus of whispers but this time they all joined together to form one word. 

CONFESS

Blaine threw his hands up over his ears and ran through the crowd of students and burst out the door into the open air, thinking it may stop. It didn’t. It was everywhere now pounding in his brain and on his eardrums. 

CONFESS

“Please..stop..” He begged, his voice cracking. There were students looking at him now. They were all talking about him. Because he cheated, because he lied, because he was a fake. 

Blaine felt sick, and his chest started to tighten. His heart beat wildly and it was hard to breathe again. Everything felt like it was spinning and he just wanted to sit down until it all stopped. He tried to get away from everyone but there were just too many students and too many whispers to get away from. 

He rounded the corner of one of the campus buildings and found it to be empty of students on the other side and immediately he flattened himself against the bricks and slid down until he was seated on the cold ground. Blaine was trembling trying to get his anxiety under control but he was spiraling and there wasn’t anything in his mind that he could think of that seemed to help. Everything he thought about was turned around on him. Blaine slammed his eyes shut and brought his knees close to this chest wrapping his arms around them to keep them there and buried his face. 

Please stop. I’ll do it. Just...stop. Please!  He thought desperately just wanting this whole ordeal to be over.

It had to be a joke. Right? 

Hunter was in the middle of studying for a midterm when he saw in the corner of his eye, something being slipped underneath his dorm door. Once he marked his place in his textbook, Hunter made his way over to the, apparent, envelope, and picked it up, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion as he did so.

His first thought as he opened it up and starting reading was it must be a prank. It wouldn’t be the first time someone fucked with him just to get a reaction, but the gold piece of paper was far too sophisticated for some frat guy to use, let alone write on.

Being told he was being watched didn’t unsettle him, but it most certainly confused him. He liked to think of himself as observant, and he would have noticed if someone was physically following him on a daily basis. His next thought was to assume it meant someone was watching him in the sense that they saw his accomplishments being posted on the school website and in the hallways.

Hunter quickly came to the conclusion that the paper in his hand was an invitation to something prestigious, whether that be a club or an event and that he absolutely deserved it. Now, was he supposed to accept in terms of writing back or speaking out loud? The former seemed impossible and the latter seemed ridiculous. There was no way someone was activity listening to him, unless the person who dropped off the envelope was outside the door, waiting for his answer.

“I accept your invitation,” Hunter stated, assuming the latter. “But if I find out this is a prank, you have my word that I will find you. And you will pay for it.”

“Uh…what?”. She turned the envelope over in her hands, studying it closely but finding nothing to give anything away. Frowning, Lauren peered outside the front door of her suite through the peephole, finding nothing but an empty hallway. Of course. Whoever had dropped it off was long gone and she wondered just how long the letter had been pushed under her door. There was no way in hell she was opening that door to check either, considering the ominous message in the note.

We’ve been watching. 

‘Cause that wasn’t creepy as hell. She wondered how whoever had apparently been spying on her would even know she’d accepted their invitation. “So are you listening now, ‘cause I accept. I guess…” 

Her second thought drifted into ‘this is how organs get taken’ territory, but that seemed like an extreme reaction to what was probably a harmless prank. Still, she double-checked the front door’s lock for good measure and carried the note back to the couch, still studying the black type as she sat down. 

We’ll be waiting. 

What the hell did it mean?

Sugar should have been more focused on the books in front of her, but she couldn’t find her any of her highlighters. Honestly, how was she supposed to truly understand the material if it didn’t have the added pizzazz that only highlighters could offer? She was about to start rummaging through her backpack for the third time when movement in her peripheral drew her attention to the middle of her desk. The glow from her laptop casting whatever it was in a creepy shadow. 

Scrambling to her feet, she flicked on the light switch to get a better view of whatever the hell had decided to invade her room. If it was spiders, she would scream, then she was going to sue. She blinked rapidly as light flooded the room and peered over at her desk, mentally preparing to bolt if need be. Which turned out to be unnecessary as the intruders weren’t scary at all. 

“Hey, how’d you guys get in here,” she whispered, eyes widening at the impressive number of ladybugs in front of her. They paid her no mind until the hit the corner and decided to make a beeline for her. “Whoa, okay, not the hair, not the hair.” Giggling, Sugar twirled around as the ladybugs landed on her. “I’m gonna have so much good luck! Thanks, guys!”

A few minutes later her laughter subsided as she came to the sad realization that she couldn’t keep the tiny creatures. She was so not cut out to be a parent anytime soon.  She’d set them free, then she’d go buy a couple of packs of highlighters and attempt to get back to studying. “Let’s get you guys outside, it’s so much brighter out there and the snacks are much better than any I could provide.”

It had been a confusing day. He wasn’t really the type of guy to leave anything behind; what he carried in his bag, he made sure to put back in it, if he took it out and used it. When was the last time he’d used a pencil or a pen? Was it in the library yesterday? Whenever he did his notes at home, he had a pen that was already on his desk. Did he use it to write something down, after looking at the message boards? Where the hell had his pens gone?! 

Walking into his apartment, the door closing behind him, Sam rushed over to his bed, almost falling into it, as he reached for the charger that was normally placed on his bedside table. Fuck, fuck, fuck - 1%. He’d insisted on playing Pokémon Go on the way home from class that day, but after noticing the little red bar saying 5%, he’d practically sprinted home, his fingers still swiping to catch that Ponyta. He remained defeated, but he was seriously not about to let his phone die on him, and then make him wait for it to boot back up - Sam just couldn’t be bothered with that. But as his hands reached out for the cable, he found nothing but air. His eyebrows furrowed and he looked over, seeing nothing there. 

Sam got up from his bed, his hands gripping the wooden furniture and pulling it towards him, to check if it had fallen behind it. Still nothing. “What the fuck” He whispered to himself. Quickly grabbing his bag, he looked through it - he wasn’t the type of guy to bring his charger with him, if he was only going to class. So it wouldn’t make sense for it to be in his bag. 

His hand shot to the back of his head, scratching at the short soft strands. Turning around as he searched for his charger, he saw his laundry basket, and once again, his eyebrows furrowed in pure confusion. Where the hell were the socks that he’d worn the last couple of days? Shaking his head, Sam immediately grabbed his keys and ran out of his apartment. If anyone was there stealing his socks - and not even all of them, then he wasn’t going to spend another minute in there!