Chapter 36

Serene's POV

I dumped myself on the bed next to Ayrden after taking a bath. "I can't believe we did it," I exclaimed.

"You were literally flying girl, that was so cool to watch." She looked at me excitedly while propping herself on one arm. "I think we clicked as a team and I am glad we have begun to get along," I told her truthfully and she nodded.

" We should get ready for the party or we will be late. " Ayrden tried to drag me off the bed. " Ugggg, again as if the last one went so smoothly. I don't wanna go. " I told her with a bit of irritation in my voice. "Well I am not letting you out of my sight this time plus we will have seniors watching. I don't think anyone will dare do anything stupid. Come on now, we will have fun. I promise, please " She pleaded with her hands clasped together.

"Ok, fine." I gave in with a sigh. She hugged me so tightly. I got up and rummaged through my cupboard. I took out a teal-colored A-line skirt and a white belted blouse and white gladiator sandals to go with it as my feet were tired.

Ayrden chose a short blue coloured bell dress with blue high heels and matching jewellery. I didn't want to wear any makeup but Ayrden refused to let me go without makeup. So, she applied a little bit of lipstick and an eye pencil. I wanted to put a flower in my hair but I couldn't find one. As we were about to leave.

We heard a knock on the door. I, opened it to find Alvene standing there. She was wearing an emerald tunic top with silver bell-bottom trousers. "Hola! girls, I am here to escort you to the party today. It's a tradition that seniors escort their juniors to this party thrown by seniors. And, it's always in a secret location so you won't find it on your own." Alvene explained.

"Why a secret location?" I asked her out of curiosity. "Tradition was to leave clues for first years so they will find it on their own. But, then gradually it just came down to a secret location and seniors escorting them. It was more of a way to make them feel welcome and accepted." She clarified.

"We are ready to roll," Ayrden shouted full of excitement. Alvene took us outside, we crossed the grounds and entered the forest. There was no sign of a party. Woods seemed creepy at night with spontaneous howling and screeching of night animals.

"Are you sure, this is the right way?" I asked her rather nervously.

"Yes, it's just ahead."

Suddenly, something came out of the woods and grabbing Alvene it disappeared. It was dark and movement was so swift we couldn't see anything. All we heard was a muffled scream from her. "What's going on? Who's there?" I shouted shakily. Someone jumped right in front of us, it was a hideous creature with curly unkempt hair, claws instead of hands and a grotesque face. Ayrden screamed loudly and hid behind me. My heart was pounding thunderously in my chest as I took position to tackle it, my legs were shivering so badly.

It shrieked ferociously and jumped on me, I kicked it in midair but it dodged and landed on my left side. More similar creatures began to crawl out of the forest. Damn what was going on, we definitely couldn't fight them alone. They made a circle around us and began to close in. I made a protective shield around Ayrden and me. She wasn't carrying her wand so she also made fists ready to take them on while standing back to back with me.

A rope came flying towards us but was repelled by my shield. One of them rushed forward and tried to punch me but my shield pushed him back. I wasn't giving in without a fight. But, I was terrified and sweat began to dribble down my face and back.

The creature who had attacked us first came close to me, looked me in the eyes and reached toward its head and pulled down the fake wig and mask it was wearing. " Zilver," I shouted in bewilderment as he began to laugh. Gradually, all of them took off their masks. They were all our seniors.

"You gave us a heart attack." I tried to punch him lightly which he didn't dodge and smiled at us. "Well, the real tradition is to scare the first years and I think we pulled a good one on you ladies. Your faces were worth seeing. But, we couldn't capture you thanks to your shield. We captured quite a few of you novices and they had a scare of a lifetime when we told them we gonna eat them." They laughed hysterically.

"Haha, very funny. I was so excited about the party." Ayrden glared at them with a childish angry expression.

Zilver patted her on the head: "Oh! we will have a party. This was just a prank. Let's go."

"I don't trust you guys." I squinted my eyes at him and he laughed again.

"Come on, now. You are just being a sour loser." He chuckled.

"Fine," as if we had another option. We followed them and soon enough we reached a clearing in the forest. There was a small bonfire going on in the middle. Lots of chairs were strewn all over the place. On one side there were tables with drinks and food.

Alvene rushed towards us with an evil smile and shouted: "Surprise," and began to lead me towards the centre. A lot of our seniors and some of our classmates were already there. Mikasim and Tanzil were standing with Lourden and her friends, laughing. Zilver joined Ziva as they kissed each other and he began to tell her all about us.

Ayrden saw Frela and waved towards her who joined us and began to share her experience of how they frightened her. I spotted Ralph and Xin Li and waved at them but my eyes were searching for Zeph who was nowhere to be seen.

Ralph came rushing towards me with a broad smile on his face. "Hey, you made it and you look beautiful. A small birdie told me you love flowers." He held out a teal flower for me. Its texture was so smooth to the touch. I was beyond words: "Thanks a lot Ralph, it's very beautiful." I beamed at him and placed it in my hair.

"By the way, where is Zeph?" I asked him. "I think he got kidnapped in the way like most of us did. He will be here soon, I guess." He replied. He spotted Alvene and took his leave, he had another flower in his hand. He was so smooth with girls and everyone just loved his carefree and caring nature. I saw him hand over the flower to Alvene who was already smiling back at him.

I turned around to look for Ayrden and bumped into someone as I was about to fall strong pair of hands caught me by the waist. I looked up and it was Zeph, his chest inches apart from me. I could inhale his perfume which smelled like a mixture of woods and petrichor. The tight black shirt he was wearing clung to his torso and muscles. His hair was still wet and his gaze was sharp and intent. "Watch where you are going." His voice was less sarcastic than usual.

"Sorry," I stammered.

He took a step back after steading me and removed his hands. I felt embarrassed and lowered my gaze. We stood there for a few seconds in awkward silence. "I am not a party person." He finally spoke up.

"Yes, I am not really a fan either," I told him.

"Why are you here then?" He asked casually.

"Ayrden dragged me along," I answered truthfully.

"Why are you here, though? " I asked rather curiously.

"Zilver, promised me 5 extra points if I participated in everything they had planned today. I want to be the best, so if it takes attending some cringe party then, let it be." His voice had so much determination as if he wanted to prove himself.

"Care for a drink?" He asked, pointing towards the table.

"Sure, why not?" And he began to lead the way. "What would you like to have? " he asked.

"Anything with mint." He fetched me a green drink and grabbed himself a blueberry slush. We sat on some chairs and he lazily tilted his head on the side of the chair, observing his surroundings I couldn't help but stare at his perfect face from the sharp jawline to those thin lips.