Chances of Fate

XIX- An Autumn Walk

There was a faint light inside my friends' tent so I'm guessing that Luke's staying up late again.

I looked around, making sure that no one was outside, before unzipping Ash and Luke's tent. I mean it's past our scheduled bed time so I guess everyone's on their own tents. 

Everleigh was beside me with a flashlight, nodding for me to continue.

And so, when I finished unzipping, there he was, with no other source of light but his phone.

Ash was sleeping soundly on his sleeping bag and beside him was Luke, minding his own business until he saw us.

"What the—Amirah! It's ten in the evening!" Luke whisper shouted, a bewildered look was written all over his face."What are you guys doing here?"

Are you kidding me? 

Is he actually using his phone? 

In the dark?

"The important question is why are you facing a gadget without a source of light above you?" After entering their tent, I leaned in, my curious stare turning into a menacing one real quick.

Does he not know the dangers of this—that kind of action?

"Do you know that your actions have consequences?" I removed my glasses for him to take a hint or something. "I'm taking your phone the next time I see you like this."

Gosh, I know that he sleeps late but why play with the lights off? That'll just make you sleepy.

I jolted back when I realized that my face was wet—again.

"A-again with the spray?!"

When does he not carry that thing?

Everleigh collectively sat beside me and took some random cloth from the tent to wipe the water on my face. "Calm down, Luke. Amirah just wanted to ask you something." She finally said something after watching us whisper shout at each other. 

"Make it quick." He replied, glancing back at his phone like nothing happened.

I won't!

"How about you turn on a light before you continue with your game?" I suggested, grabbing the flashlight from Everleigh which he didn't notice.

"I'm too lazy. Just ask the question and leave me be."

With no hesitation, I turned on the flashlight and flashed it on his face. "Nope." 

I'm not stopping until he miraculously finds a lamp or just stops playing. 

Everleigh hushed us as she carefully placed down my hand where I was holding the flashlight."You guys are gonna wake up Ash."

"Fine. But you better take care of your eyes, Luke! You don't want to end up like me now, do you?" I placed my hands on my hips, glaring.

"I certainly do not." He scoffed, turning off his phone before playfully raising his hands. "So? Why are you guys breaking into people's tents?"

"W-we're not breaking in!" I denied and tried to calm myself down by taking a deep sigh. "Okay, so, I was just wondering how you and Ryn memorized the character's lines back at the play. You can say that it was all scripted... I won't be surprised."

"Me and Amarynthia can memorize stuff easily. Also, the script was like handed out to almost every club. It was annoying."

Oh, I didn't think about that.

I was handed a script at our club too but I didn't really read it because I found out that it wasn't from our club. 

"So it wasn't planned or anything?" I asked again just to confirm it.

"No."

"Alright! I was just curious so thanks for clearing that out!"

"But did you really have to ask right now? At this time?" He raised a brow as he grabbed his blanket.

"Why not?"

"I think it's time for us to leave." I felt Everleigh's warmth on my shoulder.

Well, I did get an answer.

Before I zipped back the entrance of their tent, I turned around to face Luke. 

"By the way, Everleigh will be sleeping alone in our tent tonight. I'm saying this because I want you to keep your eyes on her—assuming that you'll stay up all night." I said, squinting my eyes at him. "And if you do something funny to her, I swear I'll rip you to shreds."

"Noted. Just go already." He shooed with his hands, making me zip up the tent, leaving him there. 

Everleigh was already waving at me with the flashlight from a distance.

She's so fast at walking... 

I waved back, smiling, before turning my direction to the main building with the flash—wait, Everleigh has the flashlight!

Oh, great.

With the moon being the only light source, what could go wrong?

I mean, the school staff did leave a few lights on inside the building so I should be fine... right?

To be honest, I don't know what kind of sorcery Celeste and Azure did to the person who they asked permission for the rooftop but hey, at least it worked well! 

To my relief, the main building wasn't really dark so it was easier for me to find my way to the rooftop. I just left my stuff for sleep there and didn't really get the chance to play those board games with them because I had to ask Luke first. 

I just hope that they aren't finished playing. 

When I got there, I noticed that the place was nearly empty.

Celeste's silhouette was at the edge of the rails. Her shoes were off and it was placed beside her.

Don't tell me—

"Celeste?" I hurried myself towards her. "What are you doing?"

She turned around with a smile. "You're back." Celeste wore her shoes back and stepped away from the edge. "I was just enjoying the wind and the coldness of the floor. You should try it."

"I don't think that's a good id—wha—Celeste!" I yelled, looking down at her who was already trying to take my shoes off. "I can take them of m-myself!"

Geez, how persistent.

"I appreciate how you like the chilly wind and the cold floor but—" I couldn't finish my sentence when my feet that were still covered in socks touched the floor.

With that, I shivered, making Celeste laugh at my reaction.

"Isn't it fun?" She asked, taking her shoes off again to join me.

"You should stay away from edges." I reminded her as we both walked to different spots.

She nodded with a bright smile. "I promise!"

"Where are the others anyway?"

"Oh, yeah. They went to look for you or something." She looked around. "I guess... I don't really know."

Huh, how weird. 

Me and Celeste danced around with our socks for a while, until we heard someone slam the door open.

"I finally borrowed it!" It was Zodel, grinning from ear to ear. He was frantically waving a board game at us.

The one who agreed on letting him borrow the game must've been a mad lad.

"From who?" I tilted my head.

He beamed, placing the board on the floor near his sleeping bag. "From Luke, of course."

Wait, really?

"That's quite... unexpected."

I'm guessing that he annoyed Luke to the point that he just threw him the board for peace.

"By the way, what's with the socks?" He scratched the back of his head.

"I don't know. It was Celeste's idea." 

Azure and Connie entered the place, their faces filled with disappointment until they saw me.

"I thought you disappeared all of a sudden." Connie scoffed as she took off her shoes. "Why aren't you guys wearing your shoes?"

"The floor's cold..." Celeste replied, staring at her feet.

I later on received an explanation about the three's disappearance. It turns out that Connie and Azure were the ones that were looking for me while Zodel reminded Celeste that he'll be on the hunt for some board games—which Celeste didn't really listen to.

Zodel faked a cough to gain our attention. "Why don't we just play the game that I risked to get?"

As far as I know, no one even asked him to get a board game. I mean, Azure already got one but I'm assuming that they finished it already.

"Come on!" He insisted on grabbing me by the hand and making me sit on the cold floor.

The game was the same as the first game that they finished earlier but with a few changed rules. I don't know, I'm not really good at playing board games but if it makes them happy then I'm fine with that.

"Goodnight." I greeted as soon as I lost for the fifth time, making my friends laugh at me. 

They didn't stop teasing me throughout the night as I watched them finish the game.

I may look like I'm not worrying over things but I'm really afraid of Everleigh being alone. She did tell me that she was fine on her own because she had a book with her but that reason didn't really satisfy me.

I just hope she's alright. 

Who knows what her real feelings are. 

Celeste pulled out her vacuum flask and served me and the others hot chocolate as soon as she lost. Her drink kind of calmed me down and I'm relieved about that.

We had a peaceful night together, staring at the stars and making weird assumptions about ourselves before turning in for the night.

-

"You what?!"

I looked at a different direction, avoiding Ash's terrifying glare.

Well, I can't blame him for being angry with me... I did leave Everleigh alone in our tent last night.

It's five in the morning and he just woke up, immediately finding out from Luke that Everleigh slept on her own. And now we're inside our tent, Luke was insisting to play go fish—even though I didn't know how to play.

At this point, I'm just waiting for Everleigh to wake up.

"Ash, you're a bit loud." 

And just like that, my prayers were heard.

Everleigh sat up, rubbing her eyes, looking like a princess that just woke up from a true love's kiss. 

I've seen her like this before but I just can't get over the fact that she's still pretty even though she just woke up!

Gosh dang it.

"Were you yelling at Amirah?" She continued, a curious face written all over her face. "You'll apologize... right?"

"O-of course!" Ash replied with a smile, completely shrugging his anger off me.

He did apologize to me for the rest of the day—and it was getting quite annoying.

We had a typical camping day at the campus with activities and cooking our food—I almost burned my fish.

I should cook with Laura more and ask for some tips.

After lunch, we were free to do anything until sundown so I had this brilliant idea to gather my friends and take a walk around the forest where the trees were blooming—er, withering in yellow and red leaves.

And maybe after that, a part of my checklist will be uh—checked! That would be great.

I couldn't find Everleigh, Ash, and Luke after consulting my friends. It's weird because the three were just beside me, talking to each other when I started walking away.

Huh. I'll find them later after the walk, then. I just hope that they aren't looking for me and just waste their time.

Together with only Zodel, Celeste, Connie, and Azure, we asked for permission to venture in the forest.

Thankfully, it was okay for us to walk around the forest. We just need to follow the strings that lead back to the campus in case we get lost.

I intentionally stepped on the crispy leaves that fell on the ground as we started talking about our plans for Christmas. 

I mean, I guess it was too early for me to answer that question. I still don't know what my parents' plans are and I don't think I'll be doing anything special in the house so I switched the topic to Halloween instead.

"We should have a horror movie marathon at your house!" Connie shook me by the side, smiling with excitement. "And we'd get to sleep over as well!"

I smiled back, not knowing what to say. Nobody's ever wanted to sleep at my house—well, I told Leigh and the others that I'm not comfortable with the idea of having any event at my house so maybe that's why? Usually, I just hang out at my friends' houses.

"I-I guess I'll think about it." I awkwardly laughed, scratching my cheek and then placing my hands behind my back.

"I'm already ahead of you! I'm thinking that Zodel should bring the snacks and Azure should bring board games—because I'm assuming that Zodel doesn't have any board games at their house."

"How mean!" Zodel pouted.

I don't know when they started calling him by his fake name but I guess they got used to me saying his name almost all the time. 

"You should've told me that you wanted to play board games though. I have loads of them just lying in my house." Azure chuckled along with Connie who was enjoying this way too much.

"Should we check out the small lake that's just beside the forest?" Celeste suggested as soon as the laughter died down.

Connie gave her a thumbs up. "Ooh! Good idea!"

Oh, right! Didn't Amarynthia tell me a rumor about that last night?

I felt a chill run down my spine.

"You okay there, Amirah?" Zodel curiously glanced at me, which I replied with a small and hesitant nod.

Well, it's just a rumor, right? A-and isn't it in the middle of the afternoon?! I shouldn't be afraid of ghosts at this hour!

And so, we started to travel from the forest to the pond that Celeste and Amarynthia were talking about.

As we were walking to our destination, Connie just couldn't stop talking about her so-called plans for Halloween night.

That reminded me of the Halloween events that we'll be having this year at school.

Last year, our section had a costume party and I was extremely tired after all of the shenanigans that everyone had done. 

I don't even know why I bothered to show up in an angel costume. Leigh insisted that I'd be the angel and she'd dress up as a devil. And you know what, Leigh was still pretty despite what she was wearing.

If she was the devil herself, I'd probably let her steal my soul and Ash would agree.

Leigh suggested that we'd dress up as Alice and the queen of hearts but she's still thinking about it. I bet that she'd let me be Alice since she's super nice and Ash would practically beg to let him match with us.

"Someone's here..." Celeste mumbled as we were nearing the pond.

And she was right. Someone with long, light blue hair was admiring her own reflection from the water.

"Hello?" Azure called out, making the girl in front of us panic and stand up from her position.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Are we not allowed to get this far?" She recollected her composure.

"I don't think so. We're just here for a walk." He smiled.

I felt Celeste's presence behind me as if she was trying to avoid getting seen by the person we just met.

"Cele—" I tried to call her but she shushed me.

"You." She slowly pointed at me with doubt in her eyes. "The person behind you... isn't that... Celeste?"

"Damn it." Celeste cursed under her breath as I turned around to face her. "Y-yeah." She unwillingly stepped out from her hiding place and tilted her head a little. "Do you need something?"

"I knew it." Our attention brought us back to the stranger. "You're my classmate who just joined in. I want us to get along since... you don't have a lot of friends back in our section." 

Ah, so that's why.

"Oh, I mean... I don't mind." Celeste replied which was barely heard.

"That's a relief. I recognize you two from class one." She sighed with relief and then made eye contact with me and Zodel. "I'm Naida from class two and the vice president of the ecology club, specializing in aquatic ecology."

"That's some intro..." Zodel snickered. "How did you recognize us as students from class one?"

"I see you guys walk out from class every lunch break." Naida shrugged. "Anyway, can you guys move along? I'm kind of... suffocating."

I glanced at my friends before apologizing and walking out from the place.

Naida, huh. 

Oh, now that I think about it, I did see her one time outside the campus. She helped me pick a brand of water—not that I needed one. She just suggested I buy one... which was actually odd.

"She's a little weird... and maybe too introverted." Connie exhaled as soon as we were far away from the pond. She glared at Azure who chuckled.

"That's not so nice coming from someone like you." He replied, I could hear how he was trying hard not to laugh.

"What's that supposed to mean, you misunderstood delinquent?"

"D-delinquent? Amirah, do you think that I look like a delinquent?" Azure tapped my side, pouting, which I replied with a shaking head.

"Whatever." Connie rolled her eyes, walking with a much faster pace. "Let's jump on a pile of leaves or something."

"W-wait for me!" Azure yelled, chasing after Connie as I stared at Zodel with a meaningful stare about the two.

And here I thought that I wouldn't have fun without Ash, Luke, and Leigh.

- - -

10-11-xxxx

Dear Diary, 

So far, the camp has been super fun! I had the test of courage with Camellia last night and she was so scared that she wouldn't even let my jacket go! I thought she'd faint when we saw someone appear from the bushes hahaha! How cute. It was fun laughing at her. I also slept with my friends at the rooftop! We played games and my friends were dancing without their shoes. We still have one day left here and I'm planning to spend the rest of those hours with my friends.

Marlais