Chances of Fate

XX - Not Your Typical Friday Night

Third point of view

Amirah jolted from her seat as soon as she heard her phone ring.

She just got home from school and was about to change her clothes. 

With an anxious look on her face, she glanced at Laura who was staring back at her.

"I-It's Everleigh. Sh-should I answer it?"

Laura answered with a small nod.

It wasn't like her friend's call was unexpected. Amirah told Everleigh to call her if she doesn't reply to her texts in five minutes.

But then again, Amirah's not a fan of phone calls—except when Zodel's the one who's calling. He always has interesting stories—real or fiction—which makes her listen more and talk less to him.

Amirah sighed, pressing the answer button. With a shaky voice, she started, "H-hello?" 

"Are you okay?"

A wave of shock crashed onto her when she realized something. 

"I'm sorry! Did I make you worry?" Amirah replied, her eyes depicting the panic on her voice. 

Everleigh's chuckle ringed in her ears. "A little bit. Is everything alright?"

"I'm sorry if I kept ignoring our discussion about the sleepover." She lets out a sharp exhale, relieved that she finally got it out from her chest. "It's just that... something came up..."

Since Amirah, Zodel, and her other friends are gonna have a Halloween sleepover at the end of the month, Amirah decided to have a separate sleepover later with Everleigh, Luke, and Ash at Leigh's house.

"Oh... well, that must be important so I advise you to take care of it first."

Amirah shut her eyes as she distanced her phone away from her ear, not wanting to hear the disappointment coming out of Leigh.

"N-no! I mean—yes, I'll be taking care of it first but it's alright if I catch up after, right?"

"Of course, Amirah! You're always welcome to join!" 

"A-alright! I should get going now. I'll tell you all the details later." 

Everleigh hummed before saying her goodbye.

"Ah! I had a conversation with Leigh!" Amirah smiled, darting her stare at Laura after her phone call. "And I didn't stutter!"

Laura faintly smiled as she walked towards her with a ribbon on her hand. "You've had multiple phone calls with her already." She pointed out, sitting beside her and tied Amirah's hair.

Amirah frowned, too shy to even say that she can do it on her own. She switched her thoughts on tonight's agenda, making her groan in disbelief.

"I'll be meeting two men tonight?" She dramatically dropped her hands on the bed. "Two?!"

Amirah flicked Laura's hand away from her hair and threw herself on the sheets in retreat. "I'm not in some kind of romantic movie! Why is this happening to me?! I don't want it!" She wailed as she continuously punched her pillow.

Laura didn't want to reply with, "Don't you want boys to chase after you?" because she knows too well that those kinds of boys aren't her type. "I'll get you some snacks." She slowly rose up and excused herself.

When Amirah heard her door close, she sat up with a sour expression and tried to find her phone that was on her desk.

Now wasn't the time to procrastinate, she knew that. But of course, she couldn't resist the temptation now that her phone was on her hand.

With a face that looked like she just lost her soul, she used her thumb to scroll through the messages and reread some of them. 

Her lifeless eyes landed on the balcony where the curtains were dancing along with the wind. If she were a fairytale princess, she would walk towards the balcony and sing a song about how she isn't happy with her life.

But then again, she can't be a fairytale princess if her life is bad.

She shook her head, not wanting to think like an unsatisfied brat.

"My lady?" Laura opened the door in a rush after hearing a scream coming from the room, the plate filled with cookies on her hands almost fell.

In the middle of the room, there was Amirah, crouching, her hands on her messy hair, tears threatening to fall.

And for the first time, Laura was actually worried for her. She placed the cookies on the table and rushed to her lady. "Everything will be alright." Her hands slithered around Amirah who didn't budge.

"I'm sorry..." Amirah mumbled, staring at her hand where she kept the ribbon from earlier. "My curse must be coming." She continued.

The curse—which every girl suffers from every month.

After nodding in acknowledgement, Laura asked, "Are you feeling better now?"

Amirah hummed as an answer, embarrassed of the tears that escaped from her eyes in an unhurriedly fashion. She wanted to swear. 

She was left with a plate of cookies and a slice of confetti cake that her parents bought for her two days ago for no reason at all.

The silence made her think of her current situation which was actually not that horrible now that she was able to think clearly.

Her parents are coming later for dinner and so are two families with two boys for the whole romantic cliché novel drama. She couldn't understand it at all. 

It wasn't like she's inside a cringe-worthy book.

She ended up thinking about Wren—that guy who she misunderstood for the nth time just because he sounded like he was bragging a lot—which was kind of true. She never got his phone number or the name of his school and she didn't want to search him up on the internet because that would seem weird.

Her forehead instantly wrinkled as soon as she saw her phone light up on the table with Zodel's name displayed on it.

She was supposed to be having her peaceful alone time. 

Amirah didn't hesitate and pressed the answer button. "I'm not really in a good state to listen to your day."

"Hmm?" He paused for a bit, leaving Amirah curious as to what he would say next. "That's weird... I haven't heard you in that kind of tone before."

"Because!" She inhaled sharply before telling him almost everything, not even caring about her peaceful alone time anymore.

When she finally finished, that was when she just realized something.

"Why'd you stop?" Zodel asked from the other line.

"Forget all that I just said. I'm... gonna go now." And with a face as red as a tomato, Amirah ended their call, not even letting Zodel finish his final words.

Two maids that got out from cleaning near a room came barging in after hearing a scream that sounded like someone just died.

Laura followed the duo, thinking if it was time to call a therapist or hold on to her assumptions.

Everyone at the mansion started to worry for her after the word rapidly spread across the place. 

Amirah was mostly quiet and calm so of course everyone would worry when they suddenly heard about her unusual behavior. It took Laura an hour to shush the staff about it.

Amirah refused to say anything as she stayed in her reddened state until it was time for her to get ready for dinner.

She couldn't just tell anyone about how she  told Zodel that she just wanted to marry Alec and run away from her family or something like that.

As Laura and Amirah walked their way to the entrance of their house to welcome people who've arrived, the maids and other workers couldn't help but glance at them—specifically at Amirah. Some even asked if she was alright, which was replied with, "I'm fine now, thank you for asking." by the youngest Hearst. 

They were supposed to do the same routine: greeting each other formally and introducing the families that they will be eating with.

But the greetings didn't turn out great when Amirah found out who her parents introduced to her.

Beside a married couple who had blonde hair, two of their children stared at her with their mouths partly open.

"Amirah?" Their son called, glancing at his older sister who has already regained her composure.

"Oh, the two of you know each other?" Amirah's mother smiled.

Amirah frowned at her parents' reactions. "H-he's my friend." She turned to the left where the other family stood. They were familiar to her as well. "H-hello again, Wren." 

"You're looking pretty as usual, Amirah." He replied with a smile. 

Her cheeks turned red at the sudden compliment and tried to avoid eye contact with him as she covered half of her face out of befuddlement.

"I apologize for bringing our daughter with us. She insisted on wanting to learn more about negotiation in person for future references." Mrs. Blood smiled.

Amirah didn't listen to the grown up's conversation and just stared at the eldest daughter of the Bloods who was paying attention to her parents.

Unexpectedly, she caught her eye and smiled at Amirah who was still recovering from what Wren just said so her reaction was quite...

"Why is this happening to me." She mumbled under her breath as she smiled back at the student council president.

As usual, the parents dine in the main dining room while the kids eat at the other dining room near the parents.

"So, I'm assuming that you guys are schoolmates." Wren started as he glanced at Amirah and his friend.

"Yes..." Amirah replied, looking down at her plate. "Why don't you guys introduce yourselves to each other? Since I already know the two of you already..."

"Good idea." Wren smiled and introduced himself to her friend.

Amirah listened to them as they talked while slowly eating her meal. She felt a little uncomfortable knowing that her parents set her up with her friend. It was weird.

"I'm sorry if you got dragged into this mess." Amirah frowned at her blue-eyed friend and turned her head to her other guest. "That goes with you too, Wren. I didn't know that we'd meet again just because I didn't oppose my parents."

Wren released a chuckle. "You did say that we'd meet again sometime." 

"Y-yeah, but..." Amirah sighed. "I didn't know what to say, okay? A-and I never thought that it would end up like this." She placed a spoon full of food on her mouth to avoid talking to him.

"Oh, by the way, I don't want to be a part of this whole... engagement thing. I like you a lot, Amirah and I look up to you all the time but I only see you as my big sister."

"That's good to hear, Azure." Amirah wanted to melt.

She was relieved, of course. Azure wasn't her type anyway.

Wren stared at Amirah and Azure before smiling. "With that said, Azure, I guess you don't mind—"

"Haha, of course I do." Azure smiled back. His reaction reminded Amirah of the student council president who did the same expression when she found out that Zodel barged in the girls' bathroom. "Like I said, I see her as my big sister and I don't want—er—but you know, it's always up to Amirah." He stopped himself from talking too much. 

"Uh... thanks for your concern?" Amirah nervously lifted her glass of water. The heavy atmosphere grew even heavier. She couldn't help but gulp down her water.

Wren hummed in amusement. "That's so cute." He laughed. "I'm genuinely interested in Amirah. She seems fun to be with."

"Heck, yeah, she is!" Azure replied with enthusiasm. "Whenever she's with me and our friends, we feel safe beside her! She's really funny and caring!"

Amirah almost choked on her water. She didn't expect him to think like that about her so she couldn't help but get flustered again.

"I see." Wren laughed. "Tell me more about her."

Her face tensed up as she tightly gripped her utensils. "H-hey, wait a minute. I thought you were against this?" She faced Azure who was already smiling.

"I don't think Wren's a bad guy and I want to tell him our stories—but of course, that doesn't mean that I trust him." He replied.

Well, that's Azure for you.

"Wha—" Amirah looked at the two before giving in. 

She'll be sure to tell her parents about this.

. 

Wearing her pink, satin pajamas that were covered with her white hoodie, Amirah stood still on the porch of Everleigh's house, hesitating to ring the doorbell. But she can't just back out now, can she? Not now that she already told Leigh that she was coming.

The door swung open after finally deciding to push the doorbell and was greeted by Everleigh's mother.

"Good evening, Mrs. Mira—" She didn't get the chance to finish her greeting when she heard continuous thuds upstairs.

Coming down the stairs in a rush was Everleigh followed by Luke and Ash who were just casually walking down.

Everleigh wasn't wearing her usual and iconic hairstyle which were half-up space buns. Her hair was just casually tied in a low bun. 

"Amirah!" Leigh jumped, quickly tackling her friend for a hug.

"Oh, h-hey!" Amirah couldn't help but laugh at her reaction. "What did I miss?"

"A few games."

"And what's our agenda for tonight?"

Everleigh gently pulled her up the stairs while talking. "Face masks, baking, ice cream, theories, and many more!" Her smile made Amirah at ease somehow. "Ah, Right! We were about to watch a movie!"

"I just love it when Everleigh's enthusiastic." Ash commented as he followed their footsteps. 

"It's the sweets." Luke said, making Amirah turn her head towards him.

"I thought you were busy?" She asked even though she knew why he came.

It was always like that. Everleigh would invite them over and Luke would tell them that he was too busy but would end up at her doorstep anyway.

He didn't utter a word and just rolled his eyes.

"Mrs. Miracle's gonna make tea to calm Everleigh down." Ash informed, turning the doorknob to Everleigh's room.

Amirah sat down with her friends on the bed. Luke threw the remote to her, saying that she should pick the movie since nobody could decide which one to watch.

She picked a horror movie since you know, it's almost that time of the year.

They didn't get to finish it since Everleigh told them that she couldn't handle it anymore after the movie showed a dark basement scene. No one even knew that she had a fear of basements.

Amirah constantly apologized even though she didn't know that something like that would appear in a movie that she hasn't seen before. 

Everleigh didn't mention it again and just suggested a new activity with a smile like nothing happened, making Ash worried.

He made a mental note to talk to her after the sleepover.

They went down to the kitchen to drink tea and bake cookies. Everleigh seemed to have calmed down from her sugar rush and was able to laugh at what happened earlier.

After baking their treats, they made their way back to Everleigh's room and wore their face masks while talking about conspiracy theories and urban legends.

They played a few games together and of course, did karaoke.

Everleigh slept on the floor with the others in her sleeping bag. The only person who stayed up late was Luke—as expected.

Everleigh's phone lit up from her bedside table, notifying that something had happened while she was away from her gadget. 

Coincidentally, Everleigh's eyes fluttered open and noticed this, making her get up from her sleeping position and grab her phone.

The time on her phone read three in the morning and Luke just fell asleep but Everleigh immediately received an adrenaline rush after reading a certain message.

"Hey, Amirah, Luke, Ash..." She gently pushed her friends who were all crammed in one place together despite the large space that they had. 

"Is it morning already?" Ash yawned, his eyes weren't even fully opened yet and was still laying down

Luke didn't budge, a sign that he wasn't near awake, and the only thing that was moving in Amirah was one of her arms, trying to find her glasses.

"Let's go sleep in the basement." 

-

"You're kidding, right?" Connie tried her hardest not to laugh. "And? What happened next?" She stirred her cup of espresso.

"Amirah left us after finishing our meal." Azure replied, frowning. "She said that she had to go somewhere important." 

Of course he had to tell Connie about last night. They were friends and project buddies after all. He's thinking of telling Zodel too but maybe Amirah already did. He'll just have to ask her first.

She nodded, brushing her stray strands away from her face. "Anyway, I called you here because of the project."

"Oh, yeah. What about it? I'm doing pretty good. How about you?"

"It's turning out fine. Amirah's editing the heck out of it because she says that some of my entries are 'inaccurate'." Connie blew a raspberry as she stared down at her mini cake.

It was true, though. If it wasn't for Amirah, Connie would have ruined her own project.

Azure chuckled at her response. "She hasn't really complained about my entries. I'm glad that Amirah decided to help us even though you kind of forced her to do it."

"T-that's because it was weird being partners with you at first, okay?" Her brows furrowed.

"At first? So you're finally warming up to me?"

"As if!" Connie placed her cup on the table. "You weirdo."

"Do you have any plans after this?" 

She rolled her eyes. "I don't know, go home and sleep? What about you?"

"Maybe bake a cake?" Azure shrugged. "My family's been busy these days including my sister who has her student council responsibilities and I wanted to improve my baking." 

"Good idea, I'm in." Connie stood up from her seat, grabbing her drawstring bag. "Let's go." She then proceeded to drag a confused Azure out of the café.

It didn't exactly work as planned. They ended up in an arcade that was just a walk for a few minutes from the café. Connie was whining about not wanting to go there because she didn't want to look stupid. 

She ended up having fun with him anyway.

It took them about an hour and a half of beating some of the arcade games before finally stopping by a baking supply store and proceeding with their original plan.

- - -

10-17-xxxx

Dear diary,

At first, I didn't know why Marlais suddenly called me in the middle of the night—which was what happened just now. It turns out that he wanted to meet me tomorrow at a café! He's so annoying. 

But could it be?! Is he gonna confess his feelings to me?! Hahaha! That's so lame! I hope he doesn't because that's just so... weird.

Anyway, it's past my bedtime and I need beauty sleep so if you'll excuse me, I'll be going now.

Camellia