Bottle

"Come in, come in." Estelle ushered them in before closing the door behind Jade and Melina.

"Are all of the dorms the same? Ours looks exactly the same!" Jade excitedly looked around the main living area with curious eyes. This was an exciting experience for her as sleepovers rarely happened. Being able to spend time with two angels made her so energetic.

"They probably are. It would make a ton of sense." Melina commented, taking a seat on sofa and slouching her shoulders back.

After a moment of pause, Liandra walked out of the bedroom and was confronted by a lively location. Before her was her sister, a friend, and a beauty that she had never seen before. Seeing Melina almost made Liandra feel insecure about herself.

"Hi, you must be Jade's roommate. I am Liandra, you've already met my sister." Liandra quickly introduced herself to Melina, projecting a firm smile. She was a little nervous talking to someone that seemed so attractive. She was already competitive by nature, now she had to confront someone that was of such caliber.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Melina." Melina replied, grinning innocently.

"Melina… You never smile like that when you talk to me… I thought we're best buddies." Jade pouted. She was clearly a tad jealous that her roommate was friendly with the two sisters.

Estelle's gaze fell on Liandra and Melina. She was concerned and at a lost for words. She knew exactly who she was dealing with but she was unable to control the situation. Before her was the novel's protagonist, Melina. Born into a commoner family and raised as such, she was found to be a magical genius from an after she came of age. Due to her newfound status as a potential mage prodigy, she was enrolled into the academy, sparking the novel's main plot.

In a world where nobles reigned over the common people for better or worse, Melina was thought to be a threat to the basic order of the academy. Low ranking nobles regularly flexed the power and harassed her while the side characters slowly became attached to her. Eventually she found herself crossing paths with Julian. What was originally a working relationship which involved studying, soon became a friendship and eventually a romantic relationship.

This of course was the trigger point for Liandra's fall into the role of the villainess. This was the one thing that Estelle wanted to stop at any cost, no matter what.

"I must apologise, everyone. As I have never been part of a sleepover before, I must ask for your help. What shall we do tonight?" Estelle humbly asked.

"I know! Let's spin the bottle!" Jade immediately responded with a hand up.

"What do you mean by spin the bottle?" Liandra asked. She had never heard of such an activity. Was it literally just spinning a bottle? She did not know.

"Okay, okay… I'll explain the rules. We get a bottle and we all sit around it. One person spins the bottle and we wait for it to stop. The person the drinking side of the bottle points to has to kiss the person that's pinned the bottle! After that, the spinner person changes and we repeat." Jade explained.

The reception was more or less met with an awkward silence. Estelle was obviously not a huge fan of kissing others, Liandra was not sure about whether this game was appropriate, and Melina seemed to be deep in thought.

"How do we kiss?" Melina inquired after a moment of thought.

"Mouth to mouth. Imagine you're kissing a hunky guy." Jade explained with no shame, not even stuttering.

"I'm in. I see no harm in it." Melina confirmed her interest.

"I'm in too!" Liandra immediately shouted after Melina. Estelle could immediately tell that it was herd mentality at effect. Peer pressure had won Liandra over.

Unfortunately for Estelle, she found herself as the last person that had not made a choice yet. She personally did not feel comfortable with the prospect of kissing Liandra again. The first kiss goodnight had affected her mentally for a time, causing her to have lapses in concentration. Estelle was not confident she could manage it well if she had to go through with it again. However, she could not disagree with the protagonist.

"I'm in." Estelle finally caved in.

"Great! It just so happens I also had a bottle on me. Everybody sit down and We'll pick who goes first." Jade suddenly dropped down to the ground cross legged and placed down a bottle before her. The rest of the girls followed and sat around the bottle.

"Who wants to go first?" Jade asked.

"I would like to have a try." Melina immediately replied, touching the bottle with her fingertip eagerly.

"Alright, make sure to give it a good spin. The suspense is the best part."

Estelle looked around to check who was where. On her left was Liandra, on her right was Jade, and in front of her was Melina. She could see that Melina held an excited expression on her face.

Liandra was nervous and a little excited simultaneously. While she had her heart set on Julian, she still felt the excitement of playing such provocative games. It was something new and it was something she could do with friends.

Melina finally spun the bottle with a firm slap. The speed was fast enough that a normal human eye could not properly see the shape of the bottle, only the constant after images following each other as he bottle spun like a tornado.

Suspense built up amongst the girls as each one of them wondered if they would be the first ones to kiss another girl. Liandra and Estelle were nervous, neither of them blinking as the bottle began to slow down. Meanwhile, Jade was as excited as she could be, her mouth showing a toothy grin.

The wait soon drew to a close as the bottle was on its last sprint, slowing to a halt.

A mind was soon engulfed in absolute turmoil.