CHARLES 38

Billie Eilish ft Khalid: Lovely

~A true friendship is often one sourced from hatred ~

~Mina.

SERAPHINA'S POV

"But why?"

"You'll know when the time is right." She smiled, walking backwards.

"Wait, I do...

"Watch your back, Seraphina. " Darkness clouded her eyes as her voice slowly faded into the background. I reached a handout but was swiftly swept off my feet and thrown into a dark pit, my screams muffling with depth.

"Sera! Sera! SERAPHINA!!!" I leapt up with a hand secured on my palpitating heart. I looked around me and saw Severina standing by my bed with a tight scowl on.

"Oh, she's up." Miskha walked in with a bucket of water filled to the brim. I stared at them in confusion, oblivious to the scene unfolding around me.

"Has she bathed?" Severina only rolled her eyes at Miskha's question.

"I guess not. Well, there you go. You don't have to stress over showering anymore." Before her words could register in my mind, I got drenched in ice-cold water from head to toe.

"What is wrong with you?!" 

Miskha's unbelievable.

"What a masterpiece. Cuteness overloaded." The bitch gushed. Severina leant against my closet, laughing her ass off.

"You, you." I was at a total loss for words.

"Amazing friend? So are you. Now get up, Ecology is in an hour."  And so what?

"What will it cost you to go alone?"

"Everything. I haven't touched a single page in that Atlas of a text, so all hope lies on you."

"You're sick. You could always rely on Kabia." I scoffed, getting up from the soaked bed. Miskha silently stared at me like I've grown two heads.

"Kabia of all people, Seriously?" Severina laughed.

"What? isn't he offering Ecology?"

"Dude doesn't even know the date for the paper." Miskha sighed.

"That is Kabia for you," Severina smirked.

With time being was against me, I threw on a pair of white, high-waisted Armani skinny Jeans, accompanied with a black, long-sleeved cropped turtleneck. For the finishing touches, I went with black vans and a high ponytail.

"Your outfit depicts today's mood perfectly." I looked at my reflection in the mirror and back at Miskha, bemused.

"You wore almost all black and would be seating Ecology today," Severina explained, but I was still clueless.

"Oh my, Seraphina Katara Del Varia what does black represent?" Miskha exclaimed.

"Oh." I giggled as realisation dawned on me.

"You're making it sound like it's a difficult course." Honestly, Ecology wasn't hard. It's just too much reading.

"You're promising me a hundred per cent then, yeah?" Her lips stretched into a sheepish grin. She must be daydreaming. Here I was, having a mental debate on which section to begin my guessing game at and she's talking about a hundred per cent.

"Pray you get a twenty, Miskha." Severina snorted.

Miskha eyed her with distaste. "Evil."

"Just saying."

I double-checked the blinds and made sure all compartments are locked before leaving with the duo.

The hallway was pretty crowded today. Students were scattered everywhere, each with a huge text in hand. Some were seated on the floor and others were either leant against their lockers or the wall. The tension in the atmosphere was so thick to the point of being penetrable with a knife.

"So, all we needed was Ecology to turn NYU into a graveyard. " Miskha whispered. There was a pin-drop silence. Not even the quietest of breaths could be heard.

"Good luck to you both. I'm moving now, bye Miskha, love you, sis." Severina pulled us into a comforting hug after which she left.

"Now silence bores me."

"Don't you dare do anything stu...

Too late, "HOWDY MOTHER FUCKERS!" She screamed at the top of her lungs, startling the once peaceful crowd. Although I have to admit, their reactions were worth dying for. The funniest was the girl who leapt to catch her flying phone only to end up hitting her head on the locker and butt planted on the tiles.

Miskha's chortling, I was certain could be heard all the way from the administrative block. "Holy asparagus." She placed a hand on her knees, trying to recover from her laughing fit.

We received several weird looks, but the most dominating was of annoyance and amusement. Since the sun will freeze before Miskha even considers it, I took it upon myself and apologised to the crowd for interrupting their studies.

I scolded her on our way to the examination hall."You just had to be a caveman."

"Relax, I just wanted fun." She defended. We exhausted almost ten minutes before reaching the nerve-racking building.

"This is it." She exhaled, breathing in and out rather dramatically. I rolled my eyes and bumped past her into the entrance. We put our books inside our bag packs and submitted them to the porter before proceeding to the designated stationary used purposely for exams. I took my supplies of pens, pencils, erasers and other mathematical instruments that might come in handy while Miskha does the same in a similar slot.

"Trust this school to make exams more distressing  than they actually are."

"Tell me about it," Miskha grumbled. We reached the familiar hall, which was surprisingly already halfway filled and took our usual seats.

"We're thirty minutes early," Miskha checked her wristwatch.

"Yeah, because we've studied enough."

"Correction, you've studied enough. Girl my case remains the same either way, that zero is reserved for only me."

"Exercise positivity." I snapped.

"Motivational quotes doesn't work in exams. You either know it or you don't."

"I'll pretend you're right." Wanting to recollect topics I studied the previous night, I closed my eyes and leaned my head against the wall. This was short-lived as Miskha was suddenly injected with a giggling serum.

"Are you allergic to peace?" A gruff voice piped, making me redirect my gaze behind Miskha. Kabia sat with a hand under his chin and heavy lids almost drooping.

"How long have you been seated here?"

"Long enough to be disturbed by your loudmouth." Misha frowned and smacked his arm. Gradually, students filled the room in large groups. Miskha tapped my wrist and pointed to a girl seated in a corner at the far back.

"See that chick over there?"

"The one with the thick curls, yeah. What about her?"

"I won't say curls." Kabia lowly laughed.

"So, I'm not the only one who noticed." Miskha giggled.

"What are you guys on about?" It's no secret I was the only one in oblivion.

"I won't call them curls. Girl that thing you're seeing right there is an entire closet of papers. " Miskha whispered.

"What!" My eyes are the size of saucers at this point.

"That's Kaitlyn, the living legend of Examination malpractice." I couldn't believe my ears, despite Kabia confirming Miskha's accusations.

"Haven't you noticed how immobile her head is, focused at a particular point?"

"And have you ever questioned how she's a party animal but yet always secures a 3.92?" Kabia added and it was that moment everything clicked in my head.

"Oh my, you mean this is the miracle Kaitlyn!?"She was given that name by the students. Kaitlyn Mayho is tagged the school's biggest party animal in the history of partying. Not even Kabia could beat her record, yet surprisingly, one of the top brainiacs in school, second to Kimberley of course.

Although praised and commended by lecturers, most students couldn't help but question the genuineness of her exam results and college credits. Back in junior year, a source revealed that there might be more to Kaitlyn's perfect result than she let people know.

Whatever it is, I just hope she knows what she's doing. Whether people are right about her or not, I don't care, at the end of the day, it's just some damned rumour that must've been cooked for all I care.

At exactly nine-thirty, the supervisor walked in with another guy and stacks of papers in hand. His gaze travelled the corners of the room and he nodded in satisfaction, handing the white bundle to the young man next to him. They exchanged some words and the guy patted him on the shoulder before he left.

"You're grown-ups and I'm expecting you to know the rules, good luck." He advised in his deep voice. Wait a minute, that voice sounds very familiar. I angled my head to get a better view of the guy's face which was hidden under the cap he wore but it was almost impossible, except for a glimpse of his stubble. He distributed the papers starting from the left to the last seat, that being mine.

"Long time no see princess." He lifted the cap, not much but enough for me to get a clear glimpse of his face. I gasped and covered my mouth, not wanting to draw unwanted attention.

"Mr Black!"

"You got that right honey, now shh you're in an exam hall. We'll continue this later." He winked. My mouth hung open until he took his seat at the huge desk placed in front of the smartboard.

"Sis, this is already -100% for me." Miskha's voice ended my train of thoughts, redirecting my focus on the paper before me. I uttered a silent prayer and held my breath, slowly turning the sheet. What I was met with made me both relieved and anxious at the same time. Relieved at the fact that the first question was based on the last topic I studied and anxious because the questions were too lengthy. The bell went off signalling the beginning of the paper and I wasted no time in answering.

"Sis, sis." I felt a kick on my shin and I turned, only to be met with Miskha's intense glare. Didn't she know there's a supervisor?

"You better not ignore me bitch or you're dead. The only question I know how to answer here is my name. That too I'm not so sure about the spelling and all that crap."

Well okay. I ignored her and returned to my answer sheet, although glad she didn't bother me again.

Thirty minutes into the paper and the door barged upon. Two hefty officers, alongside Mr Harts, walked in with cold and furious expressions on.

"Everyone drop your pens. It had been brought to my attention that the Ecology marking scheme is missing and nobody is leaving campus until it's seen!" He roared, hitting the door with his fist.

Whispers and murmurs broke out across the huge room with most throwing dirty glances towards Kaitlyn but she remained calm, unbothered and collected. You go girl.

"I've heard enough of this unlawful practice, but today marks the end of whoever's behind it.!" Mr Harts booming voice couldn't cease to make us have a jump fright1.

"Loads of love to whoever did it. Tt least they saved my ass from a zero." Miskha giggled.

"Sir! Sir! we found it." Mrs Smith rushed in with a paper in one hand and what seemed to be a bag pack in another. Mr Harts head snapped in her direction so fast that I thought he'd suffered a whiplash.

"You did!?"

"You won't believe where we found it." She hissed. The noise in the class subsided, replaced with fear, anxiety and anticipation.

"I don't have time for petty talk Samant...

"The search team found it in Miss Del Varia's bag."