13 THE FLAG OF EVE

"Where is Ella?" Leira asked as soon as she joined them in the water. Since she believed that she was the eldest of the group, she found it her responsibility to make sure all her friends were safe.

"I'm just here," A small voice uttered from the one side of the river bank. It was Ella, and she was hiding behind the tall grasses at the side of the river. That part of the river where they stayed was just knee-deep, so they need to crouch and cross their hands to cover their body if they are shy and not confident enough to let other people see their nakedness, just like what Ella did and some of those shy girls from other groups.

However, Zara found her way to cover her body by crawling down the water since the water was high enough to cover the front part of her body and some part of her back.

Everyone thought they would just stay there and spend the whole night, splashing and splattering in knee-length water until they got bored. Nevertheless, what they didn't know was that the initiation was just about to begin and more was about to come.

"Girls! Listen up. Your quest will start now," One of the initiators said. Clamors around the girls are forming again.

"What the hell was she talking about?" Yden looked over towards her group and asked.

"I don't have any idea," Dennise replied.

"I guess none of us did. Let's just listen more." Ella suggested while she never took her eyes away from the talker and her hands still across her upper torso and covering her bosoms.

"I need you all to cross the river. You will be swimming towards the other side of the river and come back here using the bridge," she then pointed to the bridge that was almost one hundred meters away from them.

"Oh, shit, that was far…." Zara covered her mouth. It looked like she was starting to doubt herself if she could really do it.

"Oh dear, they want us to walk that long without anything to cover our body in the street?" Leira pressed her head with her palm. They can stay naked in the river since it's dark and nobody was around except them but what worried her was that they would be walking on the road to get unto the bridge, and even the bridge itself was a driveway. How can they be sure that no car will be passing even this late?

"Uhm, maybe there are some other ways we can pass that we don't really need to walk on the road?" Ella muttered. She wasn't sure if her suggestion can help to calm everybody down. She was even scared of thinking of herself walking out of the water, how much more on the street.

However, she needed to raise their spirits. Since she felt it was too late for them to quit. She had all her mindset to aim for the free boarding house and the scholarship. So, she must do whatever she needs to do and take whatever she has to take.

Nobody said, commented, or made a remark after that. Everyone was seemingly nervous about taking the quest. That silence made Ella worried that she needed to pull over Zara. She thought she needed to know what the other girls really think about this challenge if they will go for it or not.

However, before she can even have a private chat with Zara, Yden stood up, showing her entire body to everyone, and with her arms wide open to the side, she spoke. "We are brought to this earth and born naked. This body is a gift from God. Tonight we should be proud of what God had given to us. Let's raise the flag of Eve. Let's not be ashamed of our body because confidence is beauty."

After that speech from Yden, Dennise stood up as well as Leira. Other girls from other teams were also standing and starting to swim their way to the other side of the river bank.

Yden pulled Ella and Zara up. "How about the two of you? Let's go!"

With a smile and more courage, all five girls find their way swimming across the river. Since most of the girls from other groups were crossing together, they noticed that most of them turned back and walked back to the ground and got their dresses.

The five of them haven't got to the center of the river yet. After they found out that some other girls were backing out, they can't help but ask why?

"Wait, what happened to them?" Dennise asked with a slightly worried voice.

"Don't mind them, and it's their problem if they wanted to quit. Let's move on and get through this." Liera started to swim further, followed by Zara.

"Shit! Shit! I can't get my feet on the ground!" Zara screamed and flapped on the water hysterically. "I can't swim, and it's deep!"

"What? Come hold my hand!" Leira swam back to hold Zara and reached her hand out to her. Since Leira was the tallest aside that she knew how to swim, Zara depended on her in crossing that river.

The three other girls Ella, Dennise, and Yden swam after them.

However, some group of girls was screaming the moment they reached the middle part of the river, giving them chills and more worries.

"What happened to them?" Yden asked. She was half smiling, thinking that the other group of girls was just playing and having fun. But, some part of her mind was screaming that something in there was not normal and that they should be worried.

But Yden's other friends were already swimming forward and without minding the shrills from the other group. Nevertheless, Yden also noticed that there were already two groups of girls who turned back and quitting the quest.

However, if the group of girls she was with was still striving to cross the river and was fixated on their goal to be part of the sorority, then there will be no reason for her to quit too. Since she was dreaming for a better life, she would rather not quit and go on aiming to be in the sorority than to stay in the life of hell forever.

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