9 INSIDE THE CAR

Ella was feeling blessed that she was with her girls in a group. Leira excitedly ran towards Zara and Ella; the grin on her face said so. Contrary to the expression of the girl beside her.

Dennise raised her brow in surprise when she saw Leira hugged the two girls full of enthusiasm. And those girls were familiar that she had already encountered them once. Not to mention, with the worst first impression anyone can wish for.

She would be happier to meet Leira's other friends, especially if they too will be joining the sorority, just not the ones she tried to bully with.

"There were just four of us. Who's the other girl?" Leira looked around for someone who would be coming towards them. Since they don't know her, anybody from inside the house could be that girl.

However, no one came toward them yet, and they had been standing beside the red car for several minutes now, with their gooseneck gandering and waiting for the last girl of our group.

Some of the group's cars that were called after them, were already speeding away, while they, who was supposed to be the second group, were still there, stalling and waiting.

Then suddenly, the car engine cranked. Someone had started the car, made the four other girls jump in surprise.

"Shit, you're gonna put me in a stroke! Who was there?" Zara pulled herself away from leaning on the car.

The driver's window opened and a calm-looking and charismatic girl peeked over from it. She looked cool with her fine braided black hair that perfectly matched her almond-colored skin and upturned eyes with the color of teak wood.

She looked so adorable when her heart-shaped lips moved, and she said, "Vamos?"

"Wait! Did you just speak Spanish? By the way, I'm Denise. Are you one of us, the fifth girl, right? Yden?" Denise, the golden-haired girl, and Leira's friend, and the over-sophisticated bully, slipped in the shotgun seat and sat beside Yden.

"Si! I'm Yden, and nice to meet you all. Don't worry too much, I speak English too, and for you Denise, yes, I speak Spanish, but I'm not a Spanish girl. My family and I just stayed in Spain for some time because of work." Then, Yden turned around to look over the three other girls in the back seat. "Are you guys fine in there?"

The three girls simply nodded except Leira, who was suddenly out of the mood after Denise choose to sit shotgun. Leira hoped to sit beside Dennise than being in the backseat with her other friends.

"I can drive. However, if any of you want the wheel. We can exchange places," Yden said while trying her best to build rapport with the group.

"That's good, then let me drive," Leira, without another thought, walked out of the car and transferred to the driver seat, exchanged places with Yden.

Before they drove away, Yden handed the map to Leira. Not actually some clear map, but it looked like just a simple sketch with few landmarks, not clearly illustrated, leaving the girls a room to figure out their destination place. Figuring that vague map alone was part of the test.

"Did any of you figure out what this place is this and where it is?" Leira asked while showing the others the illustration.

"I actually had figured that out while all of you were still busy talking outside the car," Yden quipped. The rest of the girls disregard it. However, not Zara.

"Damn it! Yes, sure, we are busy talking outside the car because we are just waiting for someone who actually was just inside the car all the time, without giving these poor people a heed," Zara rolled her eyes as she said. Even when it was shady inside the car, the rest of the girls knew Zara's reaction behind that sound.

Ella elbowed Zara, because this sounded like going to be the first argument of the group. Ella was worried that it might ruin the first night of initiation. She may not be that eager to be in the sorority at first. However, she doesn't want them to fail just because of indifference.

On the other hand, Ella was relieved that Yden didn't stick to the topic and just let pass what Zara just said.

Instead, Yden took the paper from Leira and looked at it.

"Did you see this moon shape that they drew in a concave? I think this is a bridge and the spiral under it. This could be a whirlpool and a cross sign, which could be a church or a cemetery," Yden explained.

"Wait, I know a place similar to that description. When I was younger, we once visited a monastery. Beside it was a church and was adjacent to a river, and of course, there's a bridge. I'm not quite sure if it was actually a whirlpool, but I noticed and wondered about how the water was moving. It's more like a delta river, but the water was not going in one straightway. It was more like moving around," Denise detailed.

"Well, that could be the place, and have you noticed that we are the only group left here, and wherever it is, we should be heading there right now," Leira decided as she turned on the engine back again.

Perfect coincidence that Denise sat on the front passenger seat since it was her that would serve as the navigator. While on their way, Zara turned on her phone in the loudspeaker with music, and Yden joined in Zara's fun while Ella.

On the other hand, Ella went silent since she was still trying to compose herself from being dizzy.

The whole time they were inside the car, her whole world felt like moving around, but she didn't want the others to know and get herself embarrassed.

She even wondered how these girls felt so relaxed because besides being dizzy and intoxacated, her heart never stopped pumping so hard from anxiousness of what could be the next part of their initiation. Everything that was about to happen slowly got on her nerves.

Ella was just simply thinking that maybe it was their way of relaxing too. She just kept quiet and tried to understand their feelings.

However, it didn't went the same way with Denise, when she suddenly yelled at everyone in the back seat.

"Can you shut that off and be more serious in this quest? Leira can hardly hear my instructions because you are too loud," Denise bellowed and kicked in anger as she looked back to the front, crossing her arms on her chest, like a mad spoiled brat kid.