Chances of Fate

XIII - The Autumn Festival (I)

10-08-xxxx

Dear Diary,

Me, Marlais, and two of my friends, are going to the Autumn Festival later. Marlais was the one who invited us in the first place and I didn't want to decline it because I know that he would cry hahaha. He's such an i***t. I hope things will go well tonight. I heard that there's a hay bale maze somewhere in the venue. We didn't really had one last year. The people are gonna dress up in renaissance themed clothes during the festival which means, I also get to dress up! I'm super excited so I'll catch you later!

Camellia

- - -

Third Point Of View

"Is this, perhaps, a date?" Amirah locked her eyes into Zodel as she rested her hands in her front.

Zodel stared at her side, avoiding eye contact. "Is it?" He scratched his cheek.

The sound of something clicking made them pause. They later on stared at where the source came from.

It was Laura who got caught of taking a picture of them. She looked away by keeping her eyes focused on her phone.

"Y-yeah, so anyway, six thirty at the entrance of the venue. See you there!" After saying those words, Zodel dashed out of the school gate, leaving a confused Amirah.

.

A knock on the door made Amirah return to reality.

Her hands were clutching her hair as she sat on the floor. It had been five days already since he asked her to come to the festival and it never came to her thought until now.

"My lady, you need to get ready." Laura calmly called outside Amirah's closet. Her ear was placed on the door, checking if she made any movement.

Maybe teasing her master was too much.

"My lady, Azure and Connie are also coming with him. He didn't tell you? Just think of it as a group date." Laura heard a loud clatter coming from where Amirah was as soon as she said that.

"Why didn't you tell me earlier?!" Amirah came out from the closet with a glare written on her face.

After the announcement at school about having a half day because of the festival, she immediately came back to her house just to lock herself inside the closet, rethinking her life choices and making disastrous scenarios in her head. It had been six hours since school ended and her tummy was rumbling.

"My lady, your hair is a mess." Laura bluntly commented as she led Amirah to the vanity. "I thought you knew that they were also coming."

"Laura, if they were coming, I wouldn't have locked myself in the closet for six hours! I wasted all of my time!"

"You still have thirty minutes to get ready." She tried to ease her lady as she braided two parts of hair. "By the way, my lady, I know who ate your pancakes."

"What?" Amirah stood up, staring at Laura's reflection from the mirror.

Earlier, Amirah's class had an activity and used the cooking club's room to make pancakes but when she went to the restroom with Everleigh, someone mysteriously ate her finished pancake and no one saw the culprit.

The only good thing about it was that her work was already graded.

While Laura was clipping in different types of plastic leaves on Amirah's hairdo, Amirah couldn't help but think of the amount of people she turned down because of Zodel.

First, Everleigh, Luke, Ash, Amy and the rest of the literature club, then Aquila and the whole student council.

If Zodel didn't ask her first, she would've definitely hung out with Alec, Aquila and the student council.

Her dress looked like the outift that she wore back in her visit at Wakefield. It was red and had long sleeves that draped.

Amirah asked if Laura wanted to come with her but she politely declined. Laura was going out as well with a few friends.

"I'll still look after you from afar so don't worry, my lady." She reassured before getting dismissed by Amirah.

Since she wasn't gonna be accompanied by her assistant, Amirah rode the car alone, a little excited for this year's festival.

The Autumn Festival is yearly celebrated at Lilac Valley and it was always the same. Food, games, and fireworks. Last year, Amirah went to the festival with Laura and her sister but the two ended up abandoning her. After that, she did meet up with Everleigh, Luke, and Ash so it went alright.

"Are you also going to the festival, Jacob?" Amirah sparked up a conversation, trying to ease herself from the anxiety that was starting to build up inside her.

Her chauffeur stared through the rear-view mirror to make eye contact with Amirah. "Me and some of the butlers already visited the festival two hours ago."

Amirah replied with an, "Oh." and stopped there.

The ride was a little long since their house was at the south while the festival was held at the west. At least she got a ten minute nap while waiting.

"I'll call you when I'm finished. Do fetch Laura too. I don't want her to commute at this time. It'll be hard for her." Amirah instructed before leaving the car.

She fixed her glasses and looked around the entrance of the venue.

Time flies by really quick.

It was already autumn where leaves turn orange and fall from trees. The season where days are shorter and colder.

Amirah could smell the aroma of food from here, the scent was mixed with the soft, loamy, earth air like rain had shortly visited the ground.

She stared at the maple leaves that were slowly falling to their cold and bitter death.

Her shoulders started to tremble, realizing that she didn't bring a jacket with her. "Great." She mumbled.

"You're a little early."

"Zodel." Amirah smiled in relief as she approached him.

"Were you worried that I wouldn't come?" He chuckled, earning an elbow from Amirah.

"Of course. T-this is all new to me..." She looked away, hoping that he wouldn't ask why.

"How come?"

"Oh, look, Azure's here!" Amirah ignored his question and waved at the newcomer who was going down the stairs.

"Wow, you're really pretty today, Amirah!" Azure greeted, earning a smile from her. "Don't you agree?" He casually poked Zodel using his elbow.

"I guess so..." Zodel replied, turning away from Amirah.

"Thanks!"

"G-guys!" A familiar voice called out.

It was Connie. She was covering the top part of her hair with a pouch bag as she rushed down the stairs.

Amirah widened her eyes when she saw that Connie's eyes were tearing up. "W-what's wrong?"

"I-I..." Connie then puts her hand down and revealed her forehead. "I cut my bangs too short!" That's when her tears started to fall.

"But Connie, you look so much prettier! I love your bow!" Amirah beamed and stepped closer towards her to stop her tears. "Please don't cry." She lets out a small giggle.

"I'm—" She sniffed, "still pretty?"

"Of course!" Azure and Amirah chorused, both showing a thumbs up.

"Well," Connie fixed her bangs and tucked some of her hair behind her ear. "I mean, it's not that bad I guess..."

"Wanna go play games?" Amirah smiled.

"Sure!"

Without even asking what the guys want, the two scurried their way to the festival, looking for interesting activites.

Under the brightly lit up night, the four wandered around, starting off with playing games and trying out free food.

"It's rigged." Amirah mumbled under her breath, her arms crossed as she watched her friends play ring toss.

They had already played four games and she's always the first one who gets lost.

"Stop being bitter, Amirah." Connie stuck out her tongue.

She pouted and walked to the nearest food stand to buy mooncakes for them. When she came back, Connie was already carrying two stuffed toys.

"You won twice?" She almost dropped her mooncakes.

"Nope. These two gave it to me." Connie proudly smiled, making Amirah frown.

"Zodel, I thought you were my date." Amirah bluntly said, her eyes squinting.

"It's a group date!" Azure corrected, beaming.

"I even bought mooncakes for you guys."

The three laughed at her and apologized.

"I'll get you the next one." Zodel smiled, which didn't affect Amirah.

She placed her arms on her hips and did a small "Hmp." before saying, "I'll get more for myself so let's go!"

Amirah grabbed Connie's hand and led her to another stand, again, leaving Azure and Zodel.

There was this free face painting activity beside the booth that they were playing but Connie didn't want to go.

"It'll ruin my skin." She pouted.

"How about apple bobbing?" Azure suggested, instantly earning a shaking head from her.

"You dummy! I just cut my hair and now you're saying that I should soak it in water?"

"Let's find other activities, then." Amirah interrupted, breaking off the two. "Oh! How about eating free samples?"

"Amirah, we have money—" Zodel stopped when she elbowed him for the nth time.

"Just shut up."

"Let's go." Azure nervously chuckled as he led them to a different booth which made Amirah a little too excited.

"Is that a shooting gallery, I see?!" Amirah yelled, staring back and forth at her friends. "Can we go?!" She repeated that for a few times even though they already agreed to doing it.

"Take all my money." She slammed her whole pouch bag on the booth's desk but the three were quick to act and calmed her down.

"Woah, not so fast." Zodel grabbed her pouch before the booth owner could. "Don't forget that you still have to buy food."

"Oh! Right. Almost forgot about that." She laughed and ended up buying a bullet for each target.

"There are fifteen targets. For every three bullseyes that you hit, you win a prize." The store owner reminded as he led them to the actual shooting range.

Zodel and Connie seemed confident about it until they saw the distance of the targets.

"Hey, this isn't fair! It's too far!" Connie complained, frowning.

"It's not that far." The owner replied, smiling.

"Is it okay if I go first?" Amirah glanced at her friends who motioned their hands for her to step forward, almost admitting their defeat towards her.

She smiled and excitedly walked to the front, loading her g*n like she already used a real one before.

One by one, using her fake shotgun, she tried to shoot every single target and Connie couldn't help but flinch a little everytime Amirah pulls the trigger.

"This g*n's heavier than an actual one." Amirah mumbled, handing back the g*n after finishing the game.

"Who's next?" She turned to her friends who were now mentally questioning Amirah's existence.

Zodel skeptically looked at Amirah. "W-who are you?"

"I don't know this girl." Connie pointed her.

"Guys!"

"U-unbelievable! You hit every target perfectly!" The store owner scurried towards Amirah. "You must've been cheating. Your eyes are broken, after all."

"Isn't that why she's wearing glasses? You uncultured swine?" Connie stepped forward with her arms crossed. "Are you gonna give her the prize or what?"

"I was just trying to lighten up the mood, Miss." He awkwardly laughed.

In the end, Amirah received five plushies and one from Zodel who kept his words.

And as if Amirah's luck wasn't enough, they stumbled upon a dart throwing game and a crossbow one which resulted to three new stuffed toys.

"I'm exhausted." Amirah sighed as she tucked a few strands of hair behind her ear, looking for other booths.

Zodel glanced at all the plushies that he was holding for her and stared back at Amirah. "You're not the only one."

"I think it's time to eat dinner. We've been playing for one hour now." Azure suggested with a smile, earning a nod from the three.

Amirah had to call Jacob first to deliver her plushies back at the house so that Zodel doesn't have to carry it all the time.

They sat on the prettiest spot at a food stand where it had tables and chairs with them and where the maple trees were above them.

Connie was the one who chose the place so she kept bragging about it.

"Let's drink root beer next and then try more food samples." Amirah proposed as she munched her food.

"Wow, for an heiress, you lack proper manners." Zodel scoffed, making her smack him in the head.

"I hate you."

"Ah! A leaf fell on my food!" Connie whined. "I was only half done." She pouted and pushed her bowl of stew away from her.

"At least the view's beautiful, right?" Zodel scoffed, receiving a glare from her.

"How mean." She looked away from him.

Their meal ended peacefully after some exchanges of teasing and they did do what Amirah requested which was to drink root beer and eat more food samples.

"Should we enter the hay bale maze? I heard that it's fun." Azure asked, staring at the maze that was located at the east side of the venue.

It was a pretty big structure so it could be seen from afar.

"I'm not good with mazes..." Amirah mumbled as she smiled nervously.

Connie looked around, crossing her arms. "What if we get stuck for an hour there, you nincompoop? We're gonna miss out the musical performance and lantern flying."

"That's okay! We'll work together to find the exit!"

"Y-you just want to hold my hand as an excuse for not getting lost!"

"Hm? If you want to, I will."

"What a sicko!"

"Connie, let's calm down for a bit." Amirah scratched her cheek.

"Aw, come on! What could go wrong?" Zodel said with a brave face but the three looked at him with a blank expression.

"Something will go wrong if you say that. Now, I don't want to go." Azure replied, frowning.

"Let's go, you wimps!" He laughed, forcefully leading the three to the entrance of the maze as he heard his friends whining on the way.

- - -

"Ugh, this was such a stupid idea." Ember mumbled under her breath as she kept her head down. "I'm tired."

"But we just got here!" Nicole Ferr, a member of the occult club, clung on her.

They probably know this already but Nicole, Ember, and Laura are in the middle of the hay bale maze and Ember is close to having a panic attack.

"Why did you want to go with us anyway?" Ember kept her eyes on Laura who was a little bit ahead of them. She cursed in her head, thinking that what she said came out as mean. "I-I mean, it's not that I don't want to hang out with you but me and... Nicole aren't really acquaintances... yet? And this might be awkward a-and I thought that you never acknowledged my existence even though we sit next to each other so..."

Nicole stared at her confusingly with her light blue eyes until Ember was done with her rambling.

Laura stopped on her tracks without looking back at them. "Even though there were lots of students that I can be with, the two of you were the ones that I liked the most since you guys help me out a lot."

"Are you kidding? You're the one who helps me out a lot!" Nicole pointed herself. "Especially that one time where we had a voodoo activity!"

"V-voodoo?" Ember inched away from Nicole. "As in voodoo dolls and sticking pins?"

"Don't worry, we didn't kill someone!" She smiled, wrapping her arms around hers. "At least that's what we think!"

"Wha—?"

"You do have a point about us not being friends yet so why don't we start now? I'm Nicole Ferr! A member of the occult club and Laura's clubmate!" She beamed, making a peace sign.

"I'm Ember Sinclair. Laura's seatmate."

"You guys already got along so," Laura finally turned around with a small smile on her face. "Will the two of you be my friends?"

Nicole tilted her head. "I thought we were already?"

"Uh... sure, I'll be your friend." Ember fidgeted with her clothes. "I mean, why would I wear a dress if I didn't want to impress you?"

"Yay! Group hug!" Nicole squealed, attempting to tackle them when they heard a lot of people screaming near them.

"What's—" Laura didn't get the chance to finish her sentence because of the people who were continously yelled at them to run.

"There's a scary clown chasing us!" A person shouted.

"What? But it isn't Halloween yet!" Nicole looked around for the said clown and they were right.

She grabbed her friends and ran with the crowd but they were a little slow since Ember wasn't cooperating enough.

"Why don't we just let the clown catch us so we can leave already?" Ember glanced at the two with a puzzled face.

"No way!" Nicole pouted, pulling her with more force which caused her to loosen her grip on Laura.

"Wait for me." Laura tried to chase them but she ended up splitting with another group.

She didn't want to get caught so she continued running along with the people who were with her until the person who were chasing them couldn't be found anymore.

"Laura? Fancy seeing you here."

As soon as she heard her name, her body stiffened. She didn't want to turn around but she didn't have a choice.

"Alec." Laura calmly called, piercing him with her eyes.

"I guess you got seperated from your group too."

Laura nodded as an answer. Too tired to reply to an obvious question.

Alec quietly chuckled. "Do you want me to assist you to the exit?"

"I don't think I have a choice." She sighed and looked around.

The people who were with them earlier had already vanished.

- - -

"That was fun!" Zodel laughed like no one chased them all the way to exit.

"It was..." Amirah was still catching her breath. "But I never expected a thrilling twist."

"You really did hold my hand! What a perv!" Connie scowled, crossing her arms. "How lewd!"

Azure smacked her in the head. "Dummy, you're the one who didn't want to let go of me, you scaredy cat."

"I'm not!"

The two were about to start an argument again but they paused when someone from the small stage in the middle of the place announced that the musical performance was about to begin.

"They're gonna start! Guys, let's go!" Connie jumped impatiently. "We're gonna stand in the back if we don't hurry!"

"A musical performance?" Zodel mumbled, making the three nod. "Alright, let's go then."

It didn't take them long to arrive to their destination. People were crowding the stage fast.

Everyone was excited until the announcer told them that the performance was gonna be delayed.

"We have to wait for thirty minutes?" Connie grumbled as they walked away from the stage. "That's the lamest thing that I've ever heard today."

Azure and Connie were walking beside Zodel and Amirah who were also busy talking to each other.

"Where do you guys want to—" Azure turned to his side where Amirah and Zodel were supposed to be. "Go?"

But they disappeared.

.

"Wait, where did Azure and Connie go?" Amirah searched for her missing friends but little did she know that they were the ones who were missing.

"I think we followed the wrong people." Zodel sighed. "What now? Do you want me to call them?" He started to search for his pocket.

Him knowing Amirah, she'd probably want to reunite with her friends as soon as possible since she's not comfortable enough to be alone with him in a public place.

"Nope!"

"Excuse me, what?"

"I'm sure we'll meet up with them later." She smiled. "We still have thirty minutes left."

"Are you for real right now?"

Amirah reached out her hand. "How about we spend that remaining time together?"