Flashbacc
Leo smiled to himself. "You said it yourself, there's a lot of things to like about Nadine. She's cool, charismatic, charming, and funny,"
"You're the talkative type. How come you haven't confessed to her yet?" Asked Carmilla, putting her hand in the water.
"Confess?? Don't you think its too early? I only know her for like, three months. Anyone would just get surprised when someone confessed to them even though they didn't bond for a year," sighed Leo, putting his face in his hand.
They stayed quiet again, before Leo spoke up. "Time's complicated. I need your help in getting to know her longer."
Carmilla gave him a smile. "All you need is the perfect event. And coincidentally, I heard the school's hosting a party,"
Leo shook his head. "Its a party... what can it possibly do to me?"
"Oh you hopeless human being. In the party you get to know Nadine better! Then you can confess to her, duh! What better way to do that than a party?" Sighed Carmilla. Leo was probably as hopeless as Jaiden. A sprinkle of her Car-miracle and she'd get those two together. Voila!
Leo looked up at her. "Is the party even confirmed to be real??"
"Of course it is. It's held every damn year in Gēnie University! So will you take the chance or not?"
Leo nodded an continued to stare at his grim face in the fountain's reflection. "I can't thank you enough for helping me. Thanks, Carmilla."
End of Flashbacc
--
It was nighttime.
Carmilla furiously itched her back on her bed, groaning. She couldn't sleep at all! She needed a stuffed toy, a teddy bear or plushie, just something to hug!
Grumbling, she got out of bed and walked out of her bedroom, then walked to the opposite room.
"Annie? Annie are you awake?" Squeaked Carmilla.
Ann looked up from her blanket and smiled through the dark.
"No, I'm totally sleeping right now."
Without hesitating, Carmilla threw herself beside Ann. "I can't sleeeeppp!"
Ann chuckled as she ruffled her hair. "You can sleep beside me if you want. After all, you wouldn't want Annie to get lonely, do you?"
"No," replied Carmilla, wrapping her arms around her. "Just shut up,"
Ann looked down and smoothed Carmilla's hair. "Comb your head once in a while,"
She suddenly felt a punch on her stomach.
"I said shut up. Trying to sleep beside you and you won't let me."
--
It was Monday again, and time through classes passed by like a breeze. Once the final class was over, the crew eagerly ran to the gym to start planning. Given the responsibility of the party was an honor. And as for the best part, the faculty had even announced that the Detective club wouldn't have any detective duties while planning until absolutely necessary, which was a total relief.
They arrived at the gym, permit in hand, only to see the cheerleading club practicing cartwheels. They turned to them and Penelope raised a brow.
"What are you doing here?" She snapped, walking towards them.
"Important stuff," replied Oscar.
"PARTY PLANNING?!" Screeched Penelope, gawking at the PuzzleMaster crew, showing her a signed piece of paper for planning. "WHAT DO I HAVE TO DO WITH PARTY PLANNING!?"
"Penny, they got a signed permit. What do we have against them? And plus, the front yard is a great place for practice. Let's just not use the gym today," said Lesley, trying to soothe down Penelope.
"Think about it, the front yard has grass! We can sit on it for our recess! We don't have to deal with them,"squeaked Olive, eyes darting between Penelope and the crew.
"Besides, I heard Kenan practices there too! Let's get out of here. They're planning a party! Isn't that exciting!?" Squealed Teresa. The cheerleaders behind her nodded in agreement.
"Ugh! Fine!" Said Penelope. "Let's go!" As the cheerleaders left the gym, Penelope threw the crew one last dirty look and slammed the door behind her.
"So now what?" Asked Leo.
"Are we decorating the gym right now? The party's next month!" Sighed Lea, inspecting the gym. "Oh well uh, now that I think of it, this gym's kinda uh... big. Might take some time to uh, decirate it."
"Not to worry, I got it covered!" said Meghann, hastily opening a clearbook tucked under her arm. "I set up a list for volunteers and they're showing up today,"
"Really? Thanks, Meghann," said oscar, as the crew began walking around the gym. It was spacious and large, so decorating would be harder than usual.
"How are we supposed to decorate this place when we don't even know the theme!?" Cried Lea, her voice echoing throughout the gym.
"Let's ask the volunteers when they arrive!" Squeaked Nadine, hopping off the stage, brooms and dusters in hand. "First things first, we have to rid the whole place free of dust."
"Can't the janitors do it?? That's their job, not ours," groaned Leo as Nadine gave him a dustpan.
"Let's just do it for fun. And besides, we can't always rely on the janitors," Oscar snorted.
Suddenly the gym doors burst open and a large group of students spilled in, led by the council. Gabriel, as usual was up front.
"Hello, PuzzleMaster crew. These are the volunteers who all wanted to help in decorating, older years included," declared Gabriel.
"Uh, yeah, thanks. And uh, stop addressing us formally," said Oscar, itching his neck uncomfortably.
"Whatever," Gabriel snorted.
They all got to work cleaning; they swept dirt off the floor, wiped all windows clean, and dusted the curtains. It took long, since the gym was enormous, so they always had to take breaks.
Nadine and Leo brought in ropes for the ceiling cleaning, and dragged some of the cleaning volunteers with them.
"So, our plan right now is called Rapunzel!" Squealed Nadine.
The students raised their brows in confusion.
Nadine sighed and pulled out large, thick, ropes. "Okay, so our plan here is to hang ropes from the ceiling with this hook, and we'll be able to clean it. Don't worry about falling, we have a large cushion and protective gear!"
"But the roof is too high! How can we reach the hook up there?" Asked a short boy with freckles.
"That's for me to handle," said Leo. "In the meantime, keep cleaning and prepare duating supplies,"
The students shrugged and continued cleaning as Leo and Nadine walked to the center of the gym.
"How exactly are you going to get the hook up there?" Asked Nadine. Veronica had said the gym was sturdy and they'd made sure of harder construction before this year's enrollment.
"With this," said Leo. He pulled out a small remote and pressed the large, red button.
They heard a buzzing sound as a drone flew in, buzzing excitedly. Nadine's eyes widened with excitement as it took the hook from her.
"A drone?! Oh my god! Where'd you buy it??"
"Buy it? I made it, silly," snorted Leo. They watched the drone place a large hook on the ceiling and throw the rope down below.
They both watched the rope on the ground in silence. Now that they thought of it, this job was actually quite dangerous... no. Risking the students' lives for the ceiling would be selfish.
"Uhm, can your drone dust off things?"
As for the council and the crew, they huddled at the stage for decorating plans.
"The party theme is a Masquerade. In this case, lets do something formal and classy," said Gabriel, pulling out a few printed pictures. "We've done some research on the theme for inspiration, what do you think?"
Oscar peered at the pictures. They were
old, crumpled, but still fully detailed on how an actual ballroom looked like.
"Uhm, don't you think these are too fancy?" Meghann squeaked. "I don't think the volunteers are willing to do designs these complicated."
"Nobody's asking for your opinion, we're simply showing you these pictures," Gabriel replied icily. Meghann gulped and backed away slowly.
Maybe it was the way how cold Gabriel was, or maybe it was how offended Meghann felt. Whatever it was, it made Oscar put a hand in front of Meghann in defense.
"Gabriel, I don't like your tone," Oscar scorched. Meghann looked at him and glowed pink in embarrassment.
Gabriel nodded, and threw a look at the council, who were peering at Oscar in surprise. "Focus," he told them.
Meanwhile, as they continued planning for the Masquerade party, Lea couldn't help but glare at Meghann in jealousy. The worst part was that she didn't know why.
Why was she so bothered about Oscar defending Meghann? Oscar was nice and matbe he just did it as a generous gesture. Or maybe it was because...
Lea snorted. No, she couldn't like Oscar. His eyes were all over Meghann. She'd stolen glances at Oscar, and everytime she did, it would always either be Oscar focusing on a task or him gazing glassily at Meghann.
Lea saw how he looked at her. It was in a way Oscar would never to do to her.
She gulped and continued to focus on the catering plan of the party, erasing all thoughts of her jealousy.
As for Leo, Nadine, and the volunteers, they'd finally finished cleaning up. With the help of Leo's drone the ceiling was also wiped clean and dust free.
"Thank you all so much for your help!" Said Nadine, smiling at all the volunteers. "We couldn't have finished the gym cleaning without all of you,"
"It wasn't a problem! We love cleaning!" They cheered.
"Are we going to help in decorating, too?" asked a sophomore.
"Oh, I'd love to help!"
"Can we, Leo? Can we, Nadine?"
Nadine couldn't help but give them another smile. "Don't worry, all of you can help! Even me, Leo, the crew, and the council will help! And guess what? Decorating will be more fun because the clubs will all help us!"
The crowd cheered and did high-fives with each other in excitement.
"I'm glad they agree to do it!" Squealed Nadine. She excitedly turned to Leo. "Well? What clubs should we ask help from?"
Leo tapped his finger on his chin. "Uh, how about the cheerleading club?"
Nadine blinked at him. "Pardon?"
"If you think about it, they can reach tall spots in the gym with human pyramids," said Leo, as if he were spilling out his own thoughts. "Plus, they can do the pyramids as a practice session! They'll decorate and enhance their cheerleading skills at the same time. Even Penelope would agree to that."
"Ooh, you do have a point!" Said nadine, hopping excitedly. "Let's ask them tomorrow, the volunteers are too exhausted and need some rest."
Noontime passed by and soon it was almost dinner. As the volunteers and council members waved the crew goodbye, they walked out of the gym to head for the dining hall.
Still red in the face, Meghann ran after Oscar, who was lagging behind Lea, Nadine and Leo as the three of them were deep in gossiping.
"Uhm, Oscar? Can I ask you something?" Meghann peeped.
Oscar raised a brow. On Meghann's cheeks were the usual red, shy blush and he couldn't help but blush too. "Sure, what about?"
"When Gabriel raised his voice... why did you defend me?" Asked Meghann.
Oscar flinched, embarassed at the thought. "Well, you and I have gotten... close, for the past months ever since we started the club. It's wrong for me if I just stood there without doing anything for you," he replied, itching his neck.
Meghann glowed bright pink at his reply. "Really...?"
Oscar managed a smile. "Really. Nobody treats the ones close to me like that." Meghann nodded, and couldn't help but widen her eyes as Oscar's arm suddenly settled on her shoulder. She hiccuped and stole a glance at Oscar, who was snickering down at her.
"S-stop laughing," murmured Meghann.
But soon, she couldn't help it and now she and Oscar were both laughing together.
--
Unicornbabygirl56: Oh mah gawd! Just shut up will you?
Dontcallmeangel7: YOU shut up! Im just telling you this poem is relatable! WHY are you making it so complicated!?
Unicornbabygirl56: uhm, hello??? You're just saying its relatable because you're looking for attention!
Dontcallmeangel7: You're just jealous 'cause I actually have more love experience than you ever will!
Carmilla snickered at the last comment. One thing she liked about her poem posts was how two random fans started arguing in the comments for no reason.
Sure... it wasn't something supposed to be entertained at, but surprisingly, it was.
She suddenly heard a loud knock on her door. Carmilla raised her brow and glanced at the time on her computer. It was nine fifteen in the evening, which meant most of the students should've been in their dorms.
This student couldn't have possibly known a world famous blogger is in this University, Carmilla groeled to herself, hastily approaching the door.
She opened it and saw a girl in a hot pink hoodie at the doorway, with straight hair flowing out of the hood.
"Uhm, sorry to burst your bubble, sweetie, but hot pink hoodies don't really make you look mysterious," sighed Carmilla.
The girl took off her hoodie and snarled at Carmilla, who recoiled in surprise.
"You're Pink Moon, right? Now, I need you to tell me how to break a bond between two close friends," Lea snapped.
--
Drone-A small remote controlled robot, similar to a remote controlled airplane. A drone can fly and carry small, lightweight objects. The drone is also used for taking pictures from a more suitable perspective.
Thank you for reading the book! :3