CHAPTER TEN: ONE CRAZY CRUISE

"Hey, what happened?" Sianna asked confused about why Leslie was crying.

"I feel so bad Sianna" Leslie said crying uncontrollably.

"At least everyone's had their fair share of feeling bad. But what happened?" Sianna asked concerned but nobody wanted to answer her.

"Angelica?" Sianna said so that Angelica would tell her what had happened but Angelica ignored her.

"Okay, about what I said in the bathroom earlier I'm sorry, I didn't mean it. I was just mad now someone please tell me why Leslie is crying!" Sianna stressed frustrated by her friend's behaviour.

"Leslie kissed Daniel" Mindy said sadly.

"What?!" Sianna exclaimed.

"I had no idea he was THE Daniel!" Leslie stressed in her defence.

"So why are you crying?!" Sianna asked confused.

"Because I liked it!" Leslie stressed annoyed at herself.

"Well is Angelica mad?" Sianna asked.

"I'm kinda mad" Angelica responded.

"But she had no idea who he was!" Sianna exclaimed in Leslie's defence.

"But she liked it!" Angelica retorted.

"Unbelievable! Next, you're gonna tell me that you're also mad at Daniel" Sianna said.

"Well maybe I am!" Angelica retorted.

"Oh my God, are you even listening to yourself?!" Sianna retorted and immediately Veronica began to laugh. Mindy followed and so did Leslie. Sianna then began laughing and lastly, Angelica. The five friends all sat outside Luca's patio laughing like drunkards. Moments later they all started crying.

"This party had so many upsides and downsides. Sianna told me about Jesse cheating on me and I was literally about to have sex with that piece of shit" Veronica said as she wiped her tears away.

"I might come off as experienced when it comes to relationships but umm... I had my first kiss with my friend's crush, upside...it felt good. Angelica, I swear if I had known he was Daniel I would have never agreed to it" Leslie said sadly and Angelica smiled at her as a sign of forgiveness.

"I hate that I saw my Leslie kissing Daniel but at least I know he cares about me and maybe one day I'll have the guts to tell him how I really feel" Angelica said with a smile and everyone cheered her on.

"The only downside I experienced was having to see my friends sad after a party. Seeing you guys sad makes me sad" Mindy said and then they all went for a group hug leaving Sianna out of it. Veronica noticed how Sianna felt left out so she called her to join in in the group hug and she went for it.

Muhammad Ali once said that friendship is the hardest thing in the world to explain. It's not something you learn in school. But if you haven't learned the meaning of friendship, you really haven't learned anything. These past hours I've spent with Angelica and her friends made me realise that I had wronged Epictetus the Greek philosopher. I was wrong about everything and everyone. I judged blindly. The truth is that I needed friends to get through this rollercoaster that is college.

My downsides of the party? Well, let's see... I tripped over Luca Castaigne, got drenched in punch juice, socially scarred by the crowd thanks to Brody, insulted my friends, taken to school by Luca and had to tell Veronica the truth about Jesse, gosh my whole life is an L. My upsides... I think Luca Castaigne likes me.

The five friends couldn't get a cab so they decided to walk back to the hostel. It was kind of a long journey but they took the risk. As they walked, they sang out loud as though they were drunk teenage girls.

"I fucking love my friends!" Veronica yelled.

"We love you too!" The rest of them yelled and then they laughed and continued singing. Suddenly, a car pulled up right beside them. The owner of the car wound up the window and asked them if they wanted a lift.

"Callum?" Mindy asked to be sure it was him.

"Yeah, It's not safe for pretty girls like you to be walking all alone in the middle of the night" Callum said concerned sticking out his head through the window.

"Well it's not safe for boys like you to be stopping girls like us because for all you know, we might be serial killers" Veronica jeered as she used her hands to make a "pulling the trigger of a gun" gesture and then they both smiled.

"Come on, I mean no harm. I promise" Callum insisted. Then they all agreed to enter his car. He took them to their hostel safely. They came down from his car and thanked him immensely. As Veronica was about to get down from his car he held her back gently.

"Hey, not to make you feel bad or anything but...you're single now, right?" Callum asked nervously.

"Look Callum, thanks for the ride but I'm not ready to give my heart to anyone at the moment. I've not had the best of luck with my love life everyone knows that" Veronica stressed.

"Maybe that's what you think...but I'll prove you wrong, just give me a week" Callum insisted and after many contemplations, Veronica agreed and then she got down his car and went inside her hostel. Angelica, Sianna, Mindy and Leslie were waiting for her so she would tell them why Callum stopped her and when she met up with them, they pressured her into telling them and she did. They warned her not to go into any relationship for now though they admitted that Callum seemed genuine, and Veronica agreed. They wished each other good night as they all entered their respective rooms.

When Sianna and Angelica entered theirs, they met Gabby sleeping and they decided not to make that much noise so they wouldn't disrupt her sleep. They wished each other good night and then got on their respective beds. Angelica as usual fell asleep quickly. Sianna, who was about to fall asleep then got a text from an unknown number. She asked who it was and then the person replied with "the only victim of the grim reaper" and immediately, Sianna recognised the person she was typing with. They talked all through the night until Sianna told Luca she was feeling sleepy and then he wished her a good night. Something about Luca made Sianna smile genuinely. She felt something for him but she wasn't entirely sure what it was. All she knew was that her friends especially Mary must not know that she and Luca had gotten close.

Callum got to his lodge and parked his car right in front of it. As he entered his room, he got out his phone and called Jesse and he picked up.

"How's the bet going?" Jesse asked.

"Dude that bitch is hella messed up. This is fucking suicide playing her like this men" Callum proclaimed as he laughed in between.

"You know what you're supposed to do right? If not you lose the bet and you know how annoying Brody can be" Jesse said sternly.

"That fucker's gonna mock me for months. But I get it...in less than a month I'm gonna have sex with Veronica Rodriguez" Callum said with a grin.