Hazing

Doubtful he followed Kim to the terrace where his 'Welcome Party' would take place, something inside him told him it was hazing, but he relaxed when he saw a party. The terrace was decorated with lights, blue balloons, and a large banner that read 'WELCOME', in one corner there was a table full of bowls with chips, soda, and gummies, there were armchairs arranged circularly leaving a space in the half that served as a makeshift dance floor. He so felt slightly guilty that someone took the effort to organize such a nice meeting at the last minute, he had to thank that person. Two redheaded girls walked towards him.

"Hi new kid," one of them said in her honeyed voice, as she linked my arm through hers.

"You're even cuter than we imagined," said the other, entangling the boy's arm.

"I'm Mila," said the first.

"And I'm Marie," said the second.

Their faces, bodies, hairstyles, and outfits were the same, Tanou had never seen such an identical pair of twins, if they stood in front of each other they looked like a mirror.

"What's up, sweetie?" Asked Mila.

"Did the mice eat your tongue?"

He slipped out of their grasp as fast as he could and appropriately introduced himself with a respectful bow. They both burst out laughing.

"So well-mannered!" One of them yelled as she giggled, holding her stomach.

"And respectful!" She completed the other laughing and clapping as if she couldn't contain herself.

"My mother would love him ..." she said, lowering the volume of her voice and wiping a tear with her index finger.

"I know, it's adorable" replied the other with heavy breathing.

He so almost felt dizzy, as the girls moved from one place to another, and he could not identify them.

"It's a shame that he's not going to stay long" concluded the second, appeasing her laughter and that of her sister.

That sudden change caused chills in Tan, a hand rested on his shoulder taking him out of the stunned state and to some extent; fear. Turning around he found Luk sporting a less sporty style than the one he was wearing earlier, his hair was styled and perfectly styled as well.

"From your face, I'll assume that you had the pleasure of speaking with Mila and Marie."

"Are they always like this?"

"Yes, over here things are a bit monotonous, everything is always the same."

"Someone else I should be careful of?" he smiled knowingly and noticed how behind Luk someone, who seemed too angry to hide, was looking at him. "Because it looks like Ohm wants to hit me."

Luk turned and made some hand gestures to Ohm that Tan couldn't see, whatever he said worked because Ohm's expression softened, and he stopped looking at him.

"There's someone else you have to meet"

Luk led him through the crowd to a girl with wavy black hair who greeted them with a sweet smile. He remembered that girl, he saw the picture of her at the reception.

"Hi, my name is Evangeline Rose, they usually call me Evie." The girl greeted him bowing in the most respectful bow that he had never seen, perfect manners, totally contrasting with those of the previous girls that he had met in the place.

"Call me Tan." He smiled at her in the same way.

"Evie is the one who organized this party, she's a freshman," Luk explained. "She is the daughter of Candace and Ralph, the guardians of the residence."

Evie looked like someone kind and popular, the moment she accompanied them more than one person greeted her affectionately.

The volume of the music increased, many began to dance excitedly, Luk apologized before going to one of the lower floors in search of Ohm, and so he was receiving the greetings of several strangers, introducing himself to all of them, Evie was busy carrying and bringing snacks, and Kim had disappeared from their sight since they arrived.

During the night, Tan met many people, some university graduates from Berrycloth who lived in Cloudhouse, other aspiring boys live there, the graduates told him to get the best and learn from the experiences lived in the residence, the others said that I was very lucky to have been accepted.

Although that day he had little desire to socialize, he wasn't bored, the music was good, and the company was pleasant, the night had been short for him, for a moment he forgot his initial idea that they would be the worst years of his life, but Kim appeared putting his arm around his shoulders. He ended up being dragged into the terrace room, before entering Kim told Ryan to take out strangers.

Tan began to panic and struggle even more, but stopped his movements when entering he saw Luk, Evie, the terrifying twins, Malik and Ohm, heard Ryan shouting outside: "Everyone who doesn't live here leaves now!" within seconds I heard a female voice say:

"I can't believe we're doing this again April, we were already twelve, I have to waste the whole night on this ridiculousness just because that idiot Wad decided-"

The blonde he met when he arrived he entered talking to a girl with brown hair and light eyes.

"Ah, Tanou, you're here, thank goodness. Let's get this over with."

Tan was still being held by Kim, but it didn't matter, because he wasn't moving, he was looking at the people around him trying to decipher what would happen next and how he could evade it, everything indicated the first suspicion of him; a hazing without a doubt.

After that, a tall, slim, dark-haired girl entered followed by Ryan who closed the door behind him.

"Welcome to the real party pretty boy," Ryan said with a wicked grin on his face "You know what to do tie him up!"

A burning pain settled in Tanou's back.

☁️

The blonde looked at herself in the mirror with an expression of disgust, the wound on her back was still burning, and she shuddered just thinking of the red mark on her skin, she put on her uniform shirt carefully, she questioned it once more. Why had her family taken that path? Why was she there? Should she go?

As much as she wanted to refuse, as much as she resisted it was inevitable, being there and bearing this mark was her destiny, it was the destiny of her parents, and it would be that of her children.

She sometimes looked at her classmates, imagined their lives, how they would deal with typical teenage problems; overprotective parents, strict teachers, and inflexible rules, all sorts of nonsense that she would gladly take on even in exchange for her fortune.

She had to stop fantasizing and adapt, it was the healthiest thing for everyone, to play her role perfectly and without complaints, there were no more options, she was in Cloudhouse now, and once you cross the glass doors the only escape is death.