Chances of Fate

XIV - The Autumn Festival (II)

"How about we spend that remaining time together?"

Zodel blinked a few times, confused and flattered. He accepted it with a sigh as he looked away. "You're... really weird today."

"Am I?" She asked, turning her head to his direction. "I don't think I am. Maybe I'm just excited."

"You're definitely more... jolly now." He refused to make eye contact with her as she led him to another food stand. "Mooncakes... again?"

"You can't just have enough of them during the festival!" Amirah laughed, handing a fistful of money to the store owner.

For Zodel, Amirah being carefree and merry towards him was a rare sight to see. Yeah, when other people are with them, she's happy and all but this was different. It was just the two of them.

"Does your money ever run out?"

"I don't know? I'll spend some more to find out!" Amirah tried to pull him but Zodel didn't budge.

"Okay, you know what, let's chill for a second." He looked for a spot where they can take a break and noticed a bench just beside the pathway.

The two watched people pass by their spot while eating their mooncakes and talking about the next event that's going to he held at their school.

"Amirah!"

The said girl looked around, realizing who's voice it was. She stood up when she found her friend walking towards their direction.

"Leigh!" Amirah ran up to her for a hug. "You look so pretty!" She let herself drown in her cologne.

Everleigh giggled. "You're prettier."

Ash, who was with Everleigh, turned to Zodel with a bored expression. "Sup?"

"Sup." Zodel casually replied.

The two had been cool with each other for a few days now because of that one group activity about math and they were the only ones who understood it.

After their greetings with each other, Amirah noticed something different.

"Hey, Luke didn't come?" She asked, c*****g her head to the side.

Everleigh jumped a little and looked around. "That's weird. He was with us a few minutes ago."

"It is getting crowded in here."

"Well, we better go find him now." Ash interrupted. "He's incapable of finding his way back to us."

"Speak for yourself, loser." They heard a scoff from behind, making them turn around.

"Ah, Luke!" Everleigh beamed, waving at him. "Where have you been?"

"I'm supposed to be asking that."

Amirah noticed something that was dangling from his neck so she asked, "Are you a photographer now?"

Luke rolled his eyes. "Everleigh insisted that we take pictures since we didn't have one last year." He glanced at Zodel. "Why don't I take a picture of you guys?"

"Is that alright?" She leaned in a little, earning a shrug from Luke.

"Why not?"

"After that, let's all take a picture together!" Everleigh clapped as her lips formed a bright smile, thrilled from her own idea. "Oh, have you taken the picture of the moon tonight? It's the super hunter's blood moon, you know."

"Of course, I did."

"Oh, right! The blood moon! I almost forgot about that." Amirah took the time to stare at the sky.

The way it glowed red in the sky trully took their breath away. It was indeed the blood moon.

After taking a few pictures and asking a stranger to take a photo of them, Luke finally wanted to take a break.

"Send us the copies tomorrow, okay?" Amirah lightly tugged Luke's outfit continously and didn't stop until she heard a positive answer.

Everleigh chuckled and looked at Zodel and Amirah. "Do you guys wanna hang around with us for a while?"

Amirah placed her hand on her chin to think as if she was going to make a decision that will change her life.

"Okay! Just for a few minutes because I want to show Zodel something." She answered, grabbing both Zodel and Everleigh's hand.

So, the two ended up tagging along with Everleigh, Ash, and Luke, visiting and revisiting a few booths just to experience it again with them.

Amirah sensed something was different about Luke tonight but she shrugged it off and decided to ask about it next time.

That "Just for a few minutes." ended up in thirty minutes and Amirah never got to show Zodel the coolest part of the festival.

Amirah kind of felt sad about that. But as she ignored her worries, she had to say goodbye to her friends because the three wanted to buy something first before heading to the stage.

Time kinda seemed short for the both of them. But then again, they did hang out with Everleigh and the others.

"There's Azure and Connie!" Amirah jumped up and down, pointing at her friends as she tugged Zodel along with her.

"There you are!" Azure jogged towards them with a cotton candy on a stick. "I wanted to look for you guys but Connie said—"

Connie immediately elbowed him in the gut and glared at him. "I told you we'd look for them after we got our cotton candies."

"Yeah, you also told me that we'd look for them after we finished our corn dogs before we even got to the cotton candy stand." Azure huffed.

Amirah calmed then down with her hand. "It's fine, guys. We actually ran into our classmates while we were venturing on our own."

"That's good to hear." Azure sighed and later on smiled. "Now, the duet is about to start. Shall we?"

Amirah nodded. "We shall."

The four made it on time for the performance. They were a little far from the stage but it was enough for them to at least see the faces of the people who were on stage.

There were three instrumental duets for tonight and the last two performers were the least that the four expected—well, except for Connie who already knew that this was happening.

On the stage, there stood two girls from Silverstone Academy. One had a violin and the other sat on a chair, facing a piano.

"It's C-Celeste?!" Amirah's eyes sparkled, completely awed at her friend's appearance.

She saw Celeste just the other day practicing in the school's music room and kept her company for a while. Celeste never told her that she was going to perform at this event.

During the performance, she couldn't help but admire her friend's stage presence along with the other girl who neatly played the violin. With that, Celeste's piano stood there, shining with a soft tremulous light in the sparkling stage as if it was the moon below them on a bright night; clear,  beautiful, and breath-taking.

Amirah and Connie clapped—hard and even encouraged their friends to do the same. The two applauded along with them even though they were still taken aback by the unexpected performance.

After the show, they made their way to the backstage where Celeste and her friend were staying for a bit.

Amirah spotted her immediately and called out her name.

With a smile, Celeste greeted them and invited them for a conversation.

"Fancy seeing you here, Owen." She inspected him from head to toe. "I didn't know that you were the kind of person who'd go out on festivals."

"I was thinking the same thing." He replied, crossing his arms as he lets out a small smirk.

"It's my first time here too, you know. I didn't get the chance to come here last year so of course, I came." Celeste chose to ignore him and focused on Amirah and her friends. "It's good to see you outside the campus, Connie. You too, Azure." She let out a smile.

Amirah looked at them back and forth. "You guys know each other?"

Connie nodded. "The music club and theatre club are working together for the camp play and I was the pianist for Azure's big sister's birthday." After realizing something, she let out a frown. "It's a shame that Connie decided to quit though."

"You quit the theatre club?!" Azure faced Connie with disbelief written on his face.

A few people who were also in the backstage turned to face them so Connie instantly shushed him.

"Why?" Amirah added, concerned. "But you were so pumped up about it."

They didn't get why she suddenly quit since  she's been busy with getting ready for the play for weeks now.

"There's no point in asking. She won't give you a clear answer anyway." Celeste chuckled. "Isn't that right, Connie?"

"I just had the feeling to quit." She shrugged. "I had to trust my gut, okay?"

Azure squinted his eyes at her. He knew something was definitely up.

"I forgive you because you look cuter than usual tonight." Celeste stepped closer towards Connie to pinch her cheeks.

"Wha—of c-course I am! Now, stop it!" She broke free from Celeste but suddenly stopped. "You know what, continue your compliments about me."

Celeste laughed as she waved her off. "No way."

She wrinkled her nose, her face slightly red. "You're being giddy today and it's uncomfortable."

"I'm done packing my violin." An unfamiliar voice called as the sound of footsteps neared their place.

"Come here. I want to introduce you to my friends." Celeste motioned with her hand and as soon as the unknown person revealed herself, Celeste placed a hand on her shoulder. "Guys, this is my friend, Kaori Tanaka."

Kaori greeted them with a warm smile. "Nice to meet you. I'm Kaori Tanaka, the music club's president." she glanced at Amirah and Azure. "You guys are from the student council, right?"

Amirah's eyes widened. "Y-you know me? Even though I occasionally enter the office?"

"I only saw you once when I reported our club's status at the office but your pink hair is hard to miss." She winked.

"Pink hair, huh." Amirah thought.

"You're really pretty tonight, Connie." Kaori commented as she stared at her and then at Zodel "Oh, and you must be the new guy everyone's talking about."

"Nice to meet you, I'm Owen Thorne from class 2-1."

Amirah didn't listen much about their conversation because she was still salty about how he got so popular in a short amount of time. She spent the remaining thirty seconds staring at the floor while her friends kept talking about random things.

She suddenly remembered a certain feeling that she almost forgot and it kind of made her grit her teeth.

But it didn't take long until Kaori got her attention.

"Well, I'll be going now. Please take care of Celeste for me. I'll come back for the last event though so see you there." Kaori waved and walked herself to the exit.

"What are your plans for tonight, Celeste?" Azure asked.

"Hmm..." Celeste placed a finger on her chin. "I dunno, maybe cut my wrist or something?"

"Celeste!" Amirah and Connie chorused, both glaring at her.

"You shouldn't joke about that!" Connie retorted with a sharp stare.

Celeste giggled. "I'm kidding! There's no way I'd do that again!" She lets out a small grin. "Anyway, I'll probably wander around the festival and try some snacks. I just arrived on time for the performance earlier so I didn't really get the chance to explore."

"Do you want us to go with you?" Zodel raised a brow, trying to hide the fact that he was somewhat nervous about leaving Celeste all by herself.

"I can take care of myself." She confidently smiled, placing her hands on her hips. "I'll be fine, so don't you guys worry."

"You just made a self-harming joke, you dolt." Connie gloomed. "We can't just leave you alone like this."

Celeste blinked for a moment and then cackled. "Y-you guys thought I was going out alone? You guys are so funny! I don't trust myself that much to let myself wander off! I'm not stupid, okay?" She wiped a tear off under her eyes. "I'm exploring the festival with a clubmate."

They didn't end that conversation there, no. Amirah and the others were still hesitant about leaving Celeste so they waited for her so-called clubmate to appear just to make sure that she wasn't lying.

It turned out that she wasn't lying after all so Celeste gave them a big fat, "I told you so."

"You guys wanna throw darts with me?" Amirah glanced at her friends one by one, asking for permission. "I haven't tried that one yet."

"Sure..." Connie looked away, a little regretful of her answer, knowing that Amirah will probably take all the prizes in one go. "Why not."

"Let's go, then." Zodel started to walk along with Connie and Amirah, already accepting his fate.

Azure tailed them, still unsure. "Well, if you guys say so."

.

"Oh, yeah. You didn't tell us what happened back at the hay bale maze when we got separated by that evil mascot clown person." Nicole pointed out after they finished watching the musical performance.

They were now sitting on a bench near the stage, eating ice cream despite of the cold weather.

Laura carefully observed her lady who walked out of the back door of the stage before replying, "I met..." she trailed off, contemplating whether to tell them the truth or not. "Alec on my way to the exit."

Nicole hovered her hand in front of her mouth. "Alec?! You mean Alec Lowell, right?! The student council president?!"

"Keep it down." Ember inched closer to her friends to shush Nicole. "We're not the only ones here, okay?"

"Okay, but is it really Alec Lowell?" Nicole's eyes were almost twinkling in excitement.

"...Yes." Laura answered with a shrunken voice.

"Oh my goodness! Do you have any idea how big my crush—" Nicole froze, realizing that what she said was against her personal rules. She faked a cough, "I mean, yeah, I have a small crush on him but I still love 2D men more, okay?!"

"2...D?"

"2D is short for two-dimension and it refers to characters from anime and video games. Characters that doesn't exist in real life." Ember replied, making eye-contact with Nicole after emphasizing a certain word.

"Hey!" Nicole frowned. "They're my happiness, don't judge me!"

"What do you guys like about the president anyway?" Ember looked away as she played with her hair. "Yeah, he's good looking, I'll admit that but he's... lacking with personality."

Laura pondered, her fist resting on her chin. If Amirah heard that statement, she'd probably make a powerpoint presentation about how Alec is likeable—including his great personality and such.

"H-how can you say that with a straight face?!" Nicole yelled, her mouth wide open.

She had never heard of a girl say that before so Nicole was taking her opinion in bit by bit.

"I didn't and I'm not."

"Not what?"

Ember looked away with an aloof face. "Nevermind."

"I'm not fond of Alec as well." Laura admitted.

"What?!" Nicole glanced at her friends with a funny look on her face. "You guys are so weird."

"I'll take that as a compliment." Ember showed a small smile. "Anyway, how about we go buy a lantern in advance? I don't want us to run out of lanterns when we get to the last event."

"That's a good idea." Laura nodded in response.

.

When they found out that it was almost ten in the evening, the people at the festival started walking to the clearest part of the venue where a few trees were visible from afar to fly the lanterns as a closure for the festival.

Amirah and her friends decided to sit on the grass after choosing it as their spot. They could see Everleigh and the others across them who were also settling down.

Each of them started to write their wishes on the lantern to follow the usual tradition every Autumn Festival.

"What are you gonna wish for, Zodel?" Amirah curiously asked.

Since it was his first time at the festival, she couldn't help but wonder what he was wishing for.

"Hmm, you first." He replied with a cheeky smile.

She pointed herself. "M-me?! What about you, Azure, what are you wishing for?"

Azure, who was quietly writing his wish on the lantern across the two, perked up with a small smile. "I'm wishing to be friends with you guys forever."

"That's so sweet!" Amirah smiled back.

Connie inched away from him. "That's so... girly."

After making that comment, Azure smacked her in the head. "Can't you keep your judgements to yourself for once?!"

"What about you, Connie, what's your wish?" Amirah asked as she caressed Connie's head even though she was chuckling at the whole situation.

"My wish is to be prettier of course!"

"But aren't you already pretty?"

"I know." Connie proudly smiled. "What about you?"

"Uh, my wish is..." she slowly slouched as her voice shrinked. "t-to become t-taller and have a b-boyfriend!"

Zodel bursted out laughing. "How cute!" He exclaimed.

"H-hey! What's so funny?!" Amirah yelled, pointing at Zodel and then at Connie who were cackling like it was the funniest thing anyone had ever said. Tears were starting to form in her eyes as her cheeks showed a deep shade of red.

People were starting to give them stares so Azure helped her into scolding them.

"It's just that, why would you want a boyfriend?" Connie wiped her tears off. "Is it because almost everyone at school has one? Or is it because you're jealous of couples that you see everyday?"

"It's not like I want one right away..."

"What a poor soul. You know, I can give at least a hundred reasons why you shouldn't get a boyfriend."

Zodel raised a brow. "Oh, yeah? Can you state all of those right now?"

Connie glared. "Well, for one, boys are annoying."

"If you want to grow taller, you should take some vitamins, eat healthily and sleep early. It's the most effective way." Azure pointed out.

"Yeah, I might just give up on that one." Amirah gloomed and stood up to open her lantern. "Hey, we already told our wishes. Now, tell us yours." She then lightly kicked Zodel on the back.

"Ow!" He also stood up along with Azure and Connie. "You really want to know more about me, huh?" He teased.

"Do you want me to kick you even harder?"

"Aw, fine!" Zodel raised his hands in defeat. "My wish is.." He started filling his lantern with air.

"What?" The three chorused, impatiently waiting for him to continue.

"To hang out with you guys more!" He beamed, earning a whack on the head from each of his friends. "Hey! That hurts!"

"You should've said so earlier. You were making it all intense and now I want to light you up with fire." Connie grumbled as she lighted up the lantern's fuel source.

When they were done with their lanterns, the four of them watched the rest light up theirs and after a minute or so, they let the lanters go along with the wishes that they wrote on it.

Amirah backed away a little and ended up sitting down on the grass, gazing at the floating lanters that looked like lost stars on their way returning to the heavens.

It didn't take long for the three to join her on watching the final activity that strikes it as being a movie scene where peace and tranquility were finally in favor of them.

"Ah! I'm now in the mood for ice cream!" Amirah stood up and faced Zodel. "Come with me. I need you to carry the food."

"Why me?" He frowned but followed her order anyway.

The two of them excused themselves and walked back to where the food stands were.

Connie sighed and started to lie down which startled Azure a little.

"I quit the theatre club because you once pointed out that I didn't look happy." She turned her head to Azure. "And you were right. I was uncomfortable and I always tried to be nice but it never paid off."

"But didn't you get the main role?"

"What's the point of getting an important part if no one ever pays attention to your efforts? They only picked me because they thought I was pretty."

Azure gave her a comforting smile. "Well, I'm glad that you decided to quit. I don't like it when my friends are unhappy!"

Connie sat up and smacked him in the head.

"What was that for?!"

"Let's change the topic."

.

"Hey, Laura, what did you write on your lantern earlier?" Amirah asked on their way back home.

Laura didn't stare down to face her lady who was lying on her lap and just focused on the car's window as she answered, "I wished for my lady and my lady's sister to be safe."

A small smile played on Amirah's mouth. "That's a little selfless of you. How about you make a wish about yourself now?"

"Right... now?"

Amirah sat up and faced her assistant with an encouraging expression. "Yes."

"If my lady says so," Laura sighed. "Then, I wish to be also safe."

"Great." She smiled. "Now that that's settled, you won't believe what I just did at the festival! After telling you my story, you should also tell me what happened, okay?"

"Of course, my lady."

- - -

10-09-xxxx

Dear Diary,

Tonight at Autumn Festival went really great! Me, Camellia, and my friends had fun playing games and eating food! Camellia was bummed that the fireworks got cancelled though. I found out my friends' wishes back at the lantern flying event and noticed that Camellia didn't tell her true wish. Her wish was actually to have more friends in the future! I didn't intentionally peek at her lantern though. It was just an accident! Overall, the festival was memorable and I hope to hang out with them next time!

Marlais