Chances of Fate

XVII - The First Night

I raised my hand and was about to say something when Amarynthia crossed her arms.

"No, we didn't 'kiss'." She replied sharply and took out her phone. "I kissed him on the cheek. That was it."

"I-How d-did you—"

"Your face says it all."

Everleigh chuckled beside us. "Technically, you two did kiss."

"What are you guys, five? That was for the whole act." Luke interrupted with a scoff. He had his water bottle spray with him.

Wait, that means—

"Hey!" I jumped back, trying to avoid Luke's spray. "You're spraying water on me even in this kind of situation?!"

Well, I haven't received that treatment from him for a while now so I guess I'll excuse this for once.

"I'll go on ahead. See you back at the classroom." Ryn lazily waved her hand and walked away.

Sometimes, I feel like Ryn is missing something.

Hmm, how should I put this?

It's like—

"Oh, Laura, you're going now?"

My attention quickly shifted to Everleigh and Laura.

Oh, right. Laura's leaving now that the play's finished.

"I'm afraid I am." Laura slightly nodded with her usual cold stare.

"Take care." I walked towards her and patted her shoulder.

Everleigh smiled. "See you next week."

As we watched her leave the area, Ash and Luke suspiciously stared at us.

"Hey, why are you guys so buddy-buddy with that cold—"

Before Luke could even finish his sentence, I already elbowed him in the gut.

"I told you to watch your words towards her!"

"Geez, are you guys secret best friends or something?" Despite his obvious expression that showed pain, he still had the guts to ask a question.

"Yes... something like that, I guess." I pouted. "Let's stop this right now. I don't like it when you guys talk about her."

"What? Why? Wait—don't tell me you guys are dating—ow!"

"You i***t! Where on earth did you get that kind of thought?!"

I didn't stop punching him in the stomach until Ash finally held me back.

"You're so lame, Luke." Everleigh commented with a smile that held pity.

"I agree." Ash added.

"Whatever. Let's just head back to the classroom."

I glared at Luke who rolled his eyes at me.

-

I clapped my hands in joy as I saw the tent stand up. "Thanks, Ash." I flashed a smile.

Ash smiled back and showed us a thumbs up before running back to Luke and Zodel.

The sun was almost setting, pastel orange with a mix of golden yellow illuminated the setting as the day softly fought with the twilight.

It's like five thirty but the teachers already made us set our tents.

Night falls so quick when it's autumn.

Oh! Right, thinking about it made me remember my autumn checklist!

I don't know why I made one but I guess I'll give it a try.

"He's so helpful." Everleigh commented beside me.

"That's because he likes you." I giggled, facing her.

She shrugged and carried our stuff inside the tent. "I know."

As I helped her set up our things, I asked, "It doesn't bother you that he's always like that?"

I wanted to ask that question ever since I met them. I just never got the right timing.

"He's not 'always like that'." Leigh chuckled. "The reason why I don't bother is because he knows when to stop... sometimes."

Oh, wow, so even when they're alone, Ash still acts like an obsessed fan.

Once we were settled, I excused myself to go look for Azure.

It didn't take long for me to spot him. "Azure!"

He waved and ran up to me. "Amirah, let's go find Zodel?" He suggested.

"Let's!"

Wait, why are we looking for him anyway?

"Hey, don't exclude me!" Connie yelled from afar.

She was running towards us as she waved her hand.

"So, where are we going?" Connie grabbed our hands and excitedly stared at me and Azure.

"To Zodel..." I quietly replied.

"Wait, why?"

"Why not?" Azure smiled.

Connie rolled her eyes.

We made our way to Ash and Luke's place where they set up the tent. I asked where Zodel was and Ash told us that he was somewhere on the rooftop.

Huh, that's pretty weird of him.

Why the rooftop though? Especially on a day like this.

Well, we need to find him now because we heard that the camping activities are starting soon.

Faint creaks were heard as we walked our way up the stairs.

"Geez, Zodel's so weird." Connie grumbled, crossing her arms.

Azure grabbed her and pinched her cheeks. "Stop judging people!"

"S-stop! You're gonna make me trip!"

I released a deep exhale before turning the knob of the door. "Zodel?" I called, looking around.

A gust of wind blew past me, ruffling my hair a little as I saw the person who we were looking for turn his head to us with a peaceful expression.

His lips instantly formed a lopsided grin. "Missed me?"

"We were just wondering where you were." I replied.

Along with Azure and Connie, we walked up to him.

"I just needed a place to collect my thoughts." Zodel shrugged.

"Oh, wow. You actually think?" Connie scoffed behind Azure.

Zodel smiled at her and pulled her away from Azure to angrily poke her cheeks. "What are you implying, blondie?"

"Ow! Why do you guys like harassing me?!" She whined. "Amirah! Help!"

I scratched my cheek. Well, she did sorta start all of this...

"Oh, yeah, when will the activities start?" He changed the subject as he kept poking on Connie.

"We're just getting started." Azure answered.

"Alright! We should go now." Zodel smiled and hugged Amirah from the back.

"Ever heard of personal space?" Azure raised a brow as I tried to push Zodel away from me.

"What's that?"

-

"This sucks!" I slammed down the string that's half-covered with beads.

I can't braid it properly!

The sun has already set and this is our first activity.

Stupid friendship bracelet making.

Things shouldn't be used as symbols of friendship because I believe that feelings are enough.

Why did Alec approve this activity?

Why can't girls have cool activities like gathering wood for the bonfire? Wait, no. That actually sounds really boring.

Ha, their activity sucks.

Leigh scooted beside me with her finger resting on her chin. "Amirah, do you want me to help you?"

"Yes, please!"

She already finished hers and yes, I'm a little jealous.

Everleigh is so perfect. She's as perfect as Aquila.

I wonder if Alec likes her or Aquila.

I sighed as I watched the boys do their own activity.

The girls are inside the building with three kerosene lamps on the floor.

The supervisors turned off all the electricity for tonight to give the place a spooky vibe— which was effective because I occasionally got goosebumps as we were in here.

It's dark and chilly, the whole place gives me the creeps.

But on the other hand, the moon is beautiful.

"There you go, Amirah." Leigh gave my bracelet back that's now perfectly knotted together. "Who are you gonna give that to?"

I thought for a while.

The instructor said to give it to people who aren't part of the bracelet making so I can't give it to Leigh or Connie...

Maybe Azure?

B-but that means I can't give one to Zodel!

They only gave us materials to make for one person.

I also wanted to give one to Laura...

That's okay! I'll make some for Zodel when we have another activity about giving!

I nodded to myself.

"I'm giving this to Azure." I replied with a satisfied smile.

-

I stopped below the stairwell and catched my breath.

When a streak of light caught my eye, I immediately crouched down, fearing of being found.

This all started when the next activity was announced and it was called flashlight hide and seek.

I got split up with Leigh and the others and I don't know when and how that happened.

Me and Azure's section are the hiders while two other sections are the seekers.

My eyes widened and I tried my best not to scream by covering my mouth when a hand touched my shoulder.

I quickly turned around to see my classmate, Luke Reece, signaling me to be quiet.

"This is my hiding place." He scowled.

"I thought you didn't want to join since you were so busy with your game." I whispered.

He didn't answer and just shooed me with his hand.

Luke is a nice guy but the fact that he made me leave makes me want to punch his stomach.

I bet he was just wasting his time down here by playing random games on his phone.

I won't be surprised if he wins the game. This is a pretty good spot.

I unwillingly came out from Luke's hiding place and began to run up the stairs, praying that I won't bump into one of the seekers or worse, Zodel.

Don't get me wrong, having an ally is pretty sweet but I don't think I'm comfortable being with Zodel in the dark.

It's a bummer that the seekers get to have flashlights and the hiders don't.

The glow from the moon is the only source of light I have.

I saw a streak of light pass on the other hall, making myself run to the other direction.

I stopped at the clinic and decided to hide inside. I chose to crawl beneath a table and rest there for a few minutes.

The door creaked open, leaving me frozen.

That's it. I'm gonna get caught.

"Amirah?"

I stopped to identify the person who crawled on my hiding spot.

It's kind of hard to point out who's in front of me since the blinds covered the moonlight.

When my eyes started to adjust in the dark, I realized that it was Azure!

I unconsciously hugged him out of happiness. "Thank the Gods, it's you."

"I know this is bad timing but," I trailed off and fished something in the pocket of my shorts. "I want you to have this. I made it earlier in our bracelet making activity."

He blinked. "T-this is beautiful, Amirah. Thank you!" He whisper-shouted and we got to share a hug again.

Just before we finished, a light directly flashed in our faces.

The person who caught us shined her light away and grinned.

"Kissing in the dark? That's cute."

It was Bella.

We didn't even hear her come in!

I guessed that I flushed a deep red in my face because I felt really hot all of a sudden. "I-I wasn't—he w-wasn't—w-we weren't—!"

Azure remained silent and looked in the other direction, a small blush formed on his cheeks.

"You're so funny." She laughed at my reaction and wiped away her forming tears. "Now, get out."

"Well, I have to go group up with my classmates. I'll see you after the activities!" Azure said and waved goodbye.

While Bella was busy seeking for other hiders, I walked back outside the building where I spotted Ash and Everleigh.

"Amirah! Thank goodness you're okay! We lost you on the way, are you alright?" Leigh greeted me with a tight squeeze.

"I-I'm fine. When did the two of you get caught?"

"Just now. Have you seen Luke, though?" She asked with worry.

"I happen to intrude his hiding place so yeah, he's going to be alright."

Surprisingly, Luke didn't win but he got fifth place though. Good for him.

The last activity before dinner is a scavenger hunt with flashlights.

Of course it had to be with flashlights.

So basically, we were given a list of things we need to find before the time runs out and the class with the most things they bring with them that's on the list, wins.

What I hate about scavenger hunts is that they only set up clues for the things we need to find.

But I do understand that it's for the sake of fun.

Our class president cleared his throat. "Okay, so here's the first clue: One, two, buckle my—blank."

"It's definitely a shoe." Luke scoffed.

"Where are we gonna find a shoe?" A classmate of ours asked.

Shoe...

Where do we usually have shoes?

"The shoe locker, perhaps?" I suggested.

They looked at me like I was some kind of weird creature.

"Amirah, you're a genius!" Leigh hugged me.

"Oh, stop it." I giggled.

It was just a wild guess.

We hurried to the entrance of the main building. It's where our shoe lockers are.

Ash tried to open one of the lockers. "It won't budge."

"Try opening all of the lockers." Leigh suggested, her hands behind her.

Of course, Ashton did what she said and tried to pry the lockers open. Some of my classmates started to help because let me tell you, there are a lot of lockers.

"I opened one!"

Our class gathered to Luke who found an unlocked locker. There was no name on it so it means that it's vacant.

"A key?" I blurted out.

That doesn't connect with the word shoe at all.

"I get it now!" Our president snapped his finger. "The answers from the clues are still clues! So it doesn't necessarily mean that a shoe is the item we need to find."

That makes sense... right?

"What's the next clue?" Ash asked.

If it's going to be three, four, shut the door, then this has to be a joke.

"Three, four, shut the—"

"Door." Amarynthia cut him off.

I exhaled.

"But there are so many doors here." A classmate of ours whined.

"What about the nearest door here? Like that one." Leigh pointed out while looking at the closest classroom door.

We all agreed to go there since we're really clueless of what to do next.

"It's locked." I sighed and freed my hand from the knob.

"Use the key that we just found in the shoe locker." Ash said, seeing a clear picture of what's happening.

Well, he isn't the top one for nothing.

Our president tried to unlock the door and it was a perfect fit.

We entered the room and pretended to search around because let's face it, we don't know what we're looking for.

"I found scissors taped on the back of the door." Amarynthia announced, waving the item with a vacant stare.

A-are we gonna cut something?

I hope we don't cut something crucial.

"Alright, the third clue is more like a poem." The class president said.

"I'm here when you need me,

Where you can easily see.

I'm here when you sleep,

And here as you dream.

I'm used for crying or hugging,

Or maybe just for resting.

You use me for comfort at night,

And leave me in the daylight."

That's easy.

Poems are my specialty—sort of—so solving this is a piece of cake.

"Pillow." I muttered. "It's a pillow."

"Alright! Let's go!"

"Go where?" Luke asked, his sight on his phone.

And where can we find a place with pillows?

"The clinic has pillows in there. They have beds, right?" Leigh wondered.

Correct.

Amarynthia softly smiled. "That's right, Leigh."

All of us ran up the stairs with three flashlights, creating loud creaks and lights pointing everywhere but we didn't care.

We wanted to win.

When we reached the third floor of the building, the president turned the door knob.

It wasn't locked.

I decided to stay outside since they're crowded inside the clinic. It should be easy to find because there are only like, six beds in the room.

While fiddling with my hair, I recognized a familiar sound.

Music.

Piano.

Someone was playing the piano.

It was beautiful.

I looked around and saw that my classmates were still busy searching the clinic.

It won't hurt if I find the source of the music, right?

I mean, it probably came from the music room just around the hall.

With no flashlight at all and the moon that's only my guide, I walked my way to the music room, a little shaken.

There are reasons why I want to slap myself right now because one, I'm afraid of the dark and two, I have no one with me.

The door of the room was wide open and I was still thinking if I should go and take a peek or run away.

"Amirah."

I jumped when someone grabbed my hand.

I-it was just Everleigh.

"Leigh, you scared me. What are you doing here?"

The piano stopped playing.

"I saw you walking away from class and I got worried so I followed you. Come on, they already found the fourth clue." She said and started to lead the way back, pulling me along with her.

When we got back at the clinic, I decided to ask her something.

"Leigh, did you hear the piano?" I looked back to see if someone was right behind me.

I'm starting to get paranoid. I shouldn't have followed the sound.

"What piano?"

"Someone was playing the piano."

"No, I didn't hear it—" She covered her mouth. "Amirah..."

"What?"

"Have you heard of the rumor about..." She stopped, looking around before whispering to me. "The ghost of the music room?"

"A-A ghost?"

Oh, crud.

Ghost rumors exist in this school?!

I-I mean, why would there be ghosts in here? T-that's absurd...

"To keep it short, the ghost was this grand pianist who hanged herself in the music room fifty years ago." She pointed at the end of the hall.

"She tries to lure you in the room at night to listen to her play. There are two kinds of songs that she plays, each with different meanings. One can give you good luck and the other one..." she trailed off.

"You'd have to run because she'd drag you in the room and lock you in there for the whole night, forcing you to listen to her songs." Leigh continued.

I shivered at her story. Why does the rumor have to be this dark?

"Were you familiar with what song she played?"

She really thinks it's a-a ghost?

"M-moonlight sonata."

I saw her skin turn pale.

It's the latter one, right? The g-ghost will drag me in the room and lock me up.

"B-but I was here with you s-so it doesn't really matter what song she played." She tried to find her composure. "It is said that if you're with a friend but you're the only one who heard it, it means that—" Leigh stopped when she saw me flinch.

T-the ghost started playing again. Despite that we're back in the clinic, I can still hear her music.

"Amirah, are you okay?"

"Y-yeah. Go on." I held my tears.

I wanna go back home.

"It means that the ghost wants to steal your soul." She giggled. "But that's just a rumor."

I laughed along, my voice was still shaky. "Y-yeah. I guess it's just my imagination. You know, I haven't slept much since there were long quizzes." That was a lie.

She patted my shoulder with a smile. "You should sleep more, then. Being sleep deprived will make you hallucinate stuff."

I'm gonna die, am I?

"Leigh, I think I forgot something. I'll catch up with you guys later."

If I don't come back to the music room, the music won't stop.

"Well, okay." She said with doubt in her eyes.

"Don't follow me." I whispered and dashed through the hallway, leaving her behind.

What am I doing?!

"I'm crazy. What has gotten into me?" I nervously smiled as I walked into my doom. "Do I want to die?"

The music room's door was still wide open when I got back.

I sharply exhaled before entering the room.

Even though I had my glasses on, I couldn't clearly see the picture in front of me so I squinted my eyes.

In the middle of the room was a piano and the music was still going.

I jumped when it stopped.

"Amirah? What are you doing here?"

After hearing that soothing voice, my legs had already given up.

I thought it was the ghost.

She stood up from her seat and kneeled down to face me. "Hey, what the—why are you crying?!"

"C-Celeste..."

I could hear myself sounding like a kid who just got scolded by a mother for eating all the cookies in the pantry. "I thought you were a ghost!"

"Ghost? What ghost?" She looked around as she caressed my back. "Wipe your tears off, Amirah. You scared me."

I scared her?!

What's she doing here anyway? Isn't her section supposed to be scavenging as well?

Celeste wiped off my tears even though she was the one who told me to do it. "Let's go back to the entrance. I think you've had enough of the scavenging."

- - -

10-10-xxxx

Dear Diary,

Today, I'm camping with my section and three other classes. We're still in our first night but we already won one activity! There's really nothing much to write about but I did find out that my friend cried her way out of the school's building and after knowing why, the teachers refrained us from telling any rumors for the whole night.

I'll write more tomorrow.

Marlais