Dorm 1: Twist and Shout

Riley had recently been in touch with his case worker and she told him she had some stuff of his mother's for him. It had been over the summer when he had gotten these things and all of the things were put into his room. One of those things was an old record player. He knew his mother wasn't that old so it had to have been passed down to her or something like that. How cool would it have been if it was from his grandfather or grandmother? The people he had never met and would never meet. He decided to bring the record player with him to school and show it off to his roommate, Bo. It had fit in his trunk and he was very careful with it and made sure it was between clothes so it wouldn't break.

He finally had it all set up and put on the first record he saw in his trunk. He didn't know any of the music on these things but they were still super cool. "Hey, Bo," he grinned. "Isn't this thing cool? It was my mom's and I got some of her stuff over the summer." He was sure that Gregory got the rest. A song with a great dancing beat was playing. He didn't know the song but he liked the beat. He tapped his foot and began unpacking his other things. He wanted to dance, but he was no good at it and didn't want to embarrass himself in front of Bo.

Bo hadn't accumulated much more items since the last time he had to unpack his stuff for school. He was glad that at least this time around, he knew his roommate better and wasn't shy about anything personal that might come from his trunk. Namely, Aisha; his old stuffed elephant he had since he could remember. It was the only thing he had gotten from his birth parents and he cherished her beyond belief.

He was laying down the stuffed elephant on his bed pillow when Riley called for his attention. "Oh sweet a record player!" He had something of an interest in collecting old records. His collection was pretty moderate and mostly Oliver's old records he didn't want anymore since Bo didn't have the money to buy new records.

He recognized the tune nearly immediately as Riley put a record on. "Hey, it's the Beatles!" Beauregard relayed. They were an old band from the sixties but were still popular enough for Beauregard to know their songs. "This is a great song. Really fun to dance to," He stood up and snapped his fingers along to the tune. He wasn't a graceful dancer but felt comfortable enough around Riley to jive a bit to the tune. "C'mon, dance with me! It's fun," He said, taking Riley's hands moving them around to the beat.

He was proud of his record player, it had been his mom's afterall. That made it extra special. Even though he didn't have many records and he hardly knew the songs on the records. He grinned a bit when Bo recognized the song. Good thing he did because Riley had no clue what the song was even called. He had a feeling that it had to do with the three words that were repeated over and over. Twist and shout. He liked the beat and the sound of the singer's voice.

He blushed brightly when he insisted on him dancing with him. He couldn't dance, it was like he had two left feet. He was hardly ever out of his comfort zone to try anything new and he just knew he'd be no good at dancing. He would get too nervous and step on feet. "I-I don't dance," he tried to argue. But it was too late, Bo had grabbed his hands in his. His hands were warm and Riley's worries melted away with the warmth. "Okay, maybe one song," he said softly.

He bit his lip and tapped his foot to the beat as best as he could. He looked down at his feet instead of his dance partner, not because he didn't want to look at him but because he could accidentally step on Bo's toes. He didn't want that to happen.

Beauregard liked the addition of the record player in their dorm. It brought a certain livelihood to their small room and Bo made a mental note to ask Oliver for some of his records during winter holiday. He couldn't help but move to the music and despite Riley being shy to dance, Bo insisted and coaxed the boy to join him.

He mostly just bounced his knees, not being the most graceful of dancers, and slightly moved his feet around. "Hey," He uttered, when he noticed Riley's eyes were locked on his feet. He lifted Riley's face with his hand and playfully flicked his nose. "Eyes up. You're doing fine," He told him and then threw Riley into a spin, before pulling him back in. The song was almost over and Beauregard wondered if the next song would also be a good one to dance to. He certainly hoped so. It was a fun break from unpacking.

Riley's blush grew as his friend made him look up at him then flicked his nose. He scrunched up his nose and let out a small chuckle. He was no good at dancing and Bo couldn't blame him if he stepped on his foot since he had made him look up. "Your feet are in danger," he laughed. He didn't believe he could do much damage but he could cause him a bit of pain. He was a short skinny boy after all and he still looked like he did when he was ten. He hadn't grew or put on any weight since then, so he couldn't cause much damage to his friend's feet.

"Whoa." Riley thought he was going to fall over but Bo still had a grip on him. If he hadn't then there was no doubt that he would have fell over. If he had, he could only hope that he fell on something soft like his bed. "I have no clue what's next," he admitted once the song was over. He had no clue what the songs were, didn't even know who the Beatles were. But he hoped that the next song would still be something by them.

He paused and listened carefully for the next song. Like both of them hoped, another upbeat song began to play. The voice sounded the same and he assumed it was still the band they had been listening to in the first song.

Bo scoffed at the comment about his feet being in danger. "It's not my fault my feet are so big," he joked and winked at his friend. Riley was actually doing fine. He had yet to step on his feet and even managed not to fall down when he threw him into a surprise spin.

Riley stopped dancing as soon as the song ended and Bo feared that maybe his friend was done dancing. He wouldn't make a fuss about it if Riley was already bored, but he'd have to mask his disappointment if that was the case. Another song came on and it was still pretty upbeat. Beauregard smiled and shrugged as he held out his hands for Riley to take in case he wanted to dance to this one too. "We'll be really good dancers for our dates when we're old enough to attend the Valentine's day dance," Beauregard offered.

He was nervous to start dancing again. He had gotten lucly the first time, he was sure of it. But then again he was doing well and he hadn't stepped on Bo's feet like he had worried about. So when he held out his hands, Riley took them and began to dance once again. He wasn't dance much, he was still nervous about the whole thing. "That's forever from now," he said softly.

A grin spread on his face. "How was your summer?" He was dying to talk about his own but he wanted to hear what Bo had been up to.

"Right. Then we'll be incredibly prepared for it when it happens," Beauregard noted and continued to move to the song. He was enjoying himself. It was fun to unwind and just goof around for a bit. He knew the upcoming weeks were going to be a nightmare, full of homework and obligation. But for now, he needn't worry about it.

"It was alright, I suppose. I didn't get much of a chance to practice for quidditch, since I live in such a muggle populated area, so I'm sure Lucie will be glad to see how out of practice I am," He noted with a sigh. "Though I learned some pretty cool skateboarding tricks." He still was an awful skateboarder, but he enjoyed doing it nonetheless. He heaved another sigh and then smiled and looked towards Riley. "And how was your's?"

It was such a long time till the Valentine's Day dance for the two of them but now Riley wanted to count the days until they were allowed the attend. It sounded very exciting even though he couldn't dance and wouldn't do very well on the dance floor. He liked just having fun instead of worrying about unpacking or about the work that would be gathering up soon.

Half of him was listening, the other half was still worried about stepping on Bo's foot. He looked up at his tall friend when he mentioned skateboarding, he didn't know he skateboarded. "You skateboard? That's so cool." He wished he could see him perform a trick or two. He would never be able to stay on one of those boards because he was always so clumsy. He wouldn't have been able to stay on it. "I went through some of my mom's old things. I also..." He paused. He could trust Bo with his little secret. "I've been writing letters back and forth with my old friend David. He was my best friend back in the orphanage." One of the orphanages.

Riley simply would not take his eyes off of his feet, which was a shame to Bo, but at least it seemed that the other boy was enjoying himself. He supposed that was all that mattered in the end.

The other boy perked up at the mention of skateboarding and Bo blushed as he told him it was cool of him. Bo liked the attention so much he didn't want to mention the fact that he was absolutely horrid at the sport, despite all his efforts. He'd rather Riley think he was some really cool skaterboy than have him know the truth, so he nodded and shrugged as if it weren't a big deal at all.

Bo smiled as Riley confided in him about his secret friend. "That's great, Riley!" He exclaimed. He hadn't kept in touch with any of the kids in the orphanages he had been in, but then again he hadn't made many friends back then. He sort of always kept to himself. "Are you going to meet up with him? I think you should. Both of you have probably changed so much. It'd be cool to see him again, right?" Bo relayed. He could tell by the way Riley spoke of the kid that he was found of him, much how he was found of Riley. Friends like that had to stick together.