The Blood's Elegance

Chapter 8

Chapter 8

A SMART PERSON HAVE A BACKUP PLAN.

“This is the beginning,” Cellyn, the president announced. “We are all taking business management here, and usually, the reason why the students are in this program is because they want to build a business someday. Probably, most of you dreamed to be an owner of either a small business or a big company. Someday, we might meet each other as the chief executive officer or the president of the company. One might hold the biggest shares in stocks or might be an investor. That is why, for today, we plan to conduct an activity which will help you build a foundation in that matter—your foundation as a leader.

“We will begin by forming yourselves into groups with nine members. Of course, that isn’t the final grouping. I will give you five minutes to do so.”

I immediately turned around to Seth with a triumph on my face. I wiggled my eyebrows at him.

“Let’s find someone who wants to be part of us,” he said. He initiated talking with the people. I was just behind him, but when he cannot encourage them to join us, especially the girls, I do my part.

“I love your outfit.” My smile showed off my teeth. My friends complimented my complete set of tooth. They told me it was beautiful. I was using this as an asset now. “Where did you buy it?”

“On the shop near the Galleria Street.”

“I didn’t know about that one. Can you accompany me there next weekend?”

“Sure.” She became active. “Oh, em gee, girl, I’m sure you would like it! Their dresses are all great even though they sell it a cheap price!”

“Were they second-handed?” I asked, a bit concerned although my primary concern right now was to have her as a part of our group.

“No, they were just overruns,” she answered. In fairness, she’s a good endorser. I laughed in my mind. “By the way, are you already completed?”

I glanced at Seth who was recruiting more members. Luckily, he turned to my direction. I nodded my head to the girl beside me, and he gestured ‘ok.’

I excitedly held the girl’s hand and pulled her to our location. “My name is Seah.”

“Adamaris Quinn here, but call me Adi or Aris,” she said. “Nice meeting you.”

“Same here.” I gestured Seth. “This is Seth. If ever we need a leader, he will be the one.”

Seth suddenly looked at me. “What are you saying?”

“You will be our leader.”

“We don’t need—”

“You will not be needing a leader here,” Cellyn interfered our talk. She stood beside me. “I want you all lead yourselves.”

That made us silent. Our members, who were recruited by Seth and yours truly, threw a glimpse at each other. I thought that all of us held our breath by the sudden appearance of the president of the organization.

“Take a breath sometimes.” It was the vice president. We still had not catch our breath from the surprise, and then another person who was overwhelming the every bit of a freshmen came. “Do not be scared of her.” He must had notice the atmosphere. “And don’t be afraid with me, too. No one is going to eat a freshman, so I will not eat you. Best of luck.”

He left. We released a nervous breath.

Seth broke the silence. “We’re complete.”

The nine members composed of Seth, me, Adamaris, and the others gathered. We consumed the five whole minutes.

“Now, line up,” Cellyn commanded in a stricter voice. We did as we were told. “You”—she pointed one member from another group and the other one near us—“and you, too. Exchange.”

The members didn’t hide their gasp.

“I saw you one by one who you arrived with here earlier—”

The vice president cut her off. “She has a photographic memory,” he bragged, but Cellyn slapped the finger he used to make it clear who he was referring. “Her ability is a big help.”

“Stop it.” She glared at him. “The reason why I am going to take out someone familiar from your group is for you to work with complete strangers. I observed how you treat each other, whether you know someone or not, and I took that into consideration. Now, let’s proceed.”

She continued taking one member from one group and changing it into another.

“You, the guy who’s wearing the steel toe shoes.”

Seth and I stared at each other before paying the attention back to the president.

“What a nice description,” he remarked and laughed it out. “I guessed it was me.”

Yes. He would be the one taken out from our group, the group where most of the members were gathered because of him. Cellyn could have just chose me instead of him.

Her head eyes moved to look at me. Did she hear my thoughts? Did she understand what my face is saying? Did she intentionally let me to stay within this group?

“Seth.” The name came out of her mouth plainly. Did she hear his name? She must have. “Go in that group, and you, girl with the red ribbon on her head, be part of Seth’s group.”

The lady obliged. She smiled at me shyly, and I returned the same.

Adamaris stepped to my side and whispered, “She must have noticed that Seth is good at talking that is why she chose him instead of you.”

“You think so?”

She nodded.

“We are settled,” the president declared. “For our activity for today, you all have nine members in a group. You will be assigned to the four parts of this gymnasium where we placed five tokens each in different places. What you are going to do is find the tokens. The number of tokens you will find can be used determine the value of the prizes that you will receive.”

“What are the prizes?” the vice president asked in a serious tone. He put his hands behind him. In his hands, he showed us nine tickets. “This a ticket to the Waves of the Band.”

I heard some were surprised, so I asked Adamaris what is it.

“The Waves of the Band is the most famous local band in Imperial. They write songs about love, youth, friends, and everything that seemed relatable to the people our age. We are apparently their market.”

“Okay.”

I focused again on the stage when she talked.

“Why do you not know of them? Everyone has hear about them, especially girls. The main vocalist is very handsome, so it’s impossible that you were not aware of their existence.”

I gave her an apologetic look. It appeared that she was a fan girl. “I might have heard about them or listen to their songs, but I was really not fond of remembering something like bands because I am not into music.”

“What a pity. You should try listening to their songs. I love the one that was about s*x. It was so meaningful.”

“I’ll try.”

“I can tell that most of you are excited.” The vice president grinned. “Another set of prizes were Galaxia’s insulated vacuum stainless steel water bottles.”

Galaxia was a well-known brand name nationwide. They sell variety of items including shoes, clothes, lingerie and undies, and perfumes. They had a high sales in every kind of item, so getting a Galaxia’s vacuum water bottle was like getting the concert ticket. That’s how expensive it is for a bottle that only holds water. I was sure that it would only be used by students like in flexing.

“Next in line are Violet’s fountain pen.”

A fountain pen that costs more than the amount of one Galaxia’s insulated vacuum stainless steel water bottle. Why would you use such expensive pens? It would be a waste if you have a terrible handwriting. In my side, it would be great to win it because my handwriting was always mistaken as from an engineer.

“Then we have vouchers to April’s bakeshop,” the secretary announced. “Lastly, these entrance tickets to Java Water Park.”

I bit my tongue, astonished by the prizes they prepared for this activity. An activity that wasn’t even necessary, but only to familiarize the students from our batch.

“Where do they get the money to have those?” Someone had spoken out what’s on my mind. I was literally questioning the same thing. All the brands they mentioned were known. The ticket to Java Water Park might be not that expensive, but it was hard to have one because of the long line that pisses the visitors.

“I know that look on your faces.” The vice president put on a smirk on his face. He raised his chin proudly. “I am friends with the lead vocalist of the band. You know Kio? Yes, that man. He gave me three tickets for their upcoming concert. Cellyn received two tickets from her friend— the drummer. The remaining four tickets, we bought it.”

“Our family owns the Violet. Nine pieces of fountain pens are not that big of a deal since we use it in school,” one of the twins said. “Cellyn, our president, their family owns the April’s bakeshop while the tickets were because of her father who was a manager in the Java Water Park. We shouldered the price of the Galaxia’s insulated vacuum stainless steel water bottle, and to remind you, all the money spent to buy the prizes were from our pocket money. It may seem that the prizes were a bit costly, and we were only students. Do not forget that we are taking business management.”

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