Upon being shook violently, Valerie's eyes immediately snapped open in sheer panic. She promptly sat up in her seat and pulled the sleeping mask down to her neck, seeing that Eden was the culprit in her violent awakening. "Val, wake up!"
In a drowsy state, Valerie scanned the environment through the tinted window to the side of her, noticing another load of students flood out of four other buses.
On the opposite side of her, Eden was practically jumping in her seat.
Oblivious to the brunette's despondent expression, Eden took the girl by her wrist, dragging her accordingly with both her own belongings and Valerie's backpack slung on her other hand, colliding with other rushing strident a on their way out. "We need to get good dorms, so c'mon."
Luckily for the seniors, the week had been promised with endless activities for the grade to experience, alongside bright weather, but unluckily for Valerie, she had already reminisced the comfort and air-conditioned environment of her home as she proceeded to step out of the hired bus.
As she was blinded by the expected sunlight, she bit back a low curse, covering her eyes with the tinted sunglasses that hung on the the waistband of the her low-cut skirt.
Valerie opted for a more suitable outfit for the first day, and considering the current weather, she had made the right choice.
Alongside her whitened skirt, she wore a black hand-cutted tank top that had just reached the bottom of her bra, revealing her bronzed figure from her chest down to just above her waist.
Near the edges of the gathered crowd, stood Aurora with the rest of the teachers. In different areas of the student horde, the volunteered chapter ones had assembled, and after a few moments, Aurora understood that Elijah was shockingly one of them.
Ironically, he stood near Valerie, and as moments passed, she realised he'd keep leaning down to talk to her, whispering something in her ear and then vigorously scan the rest of the crowd whenever Valerie would shrug hopelessly in reply.
Before she could even decide in what she would do, a member of the resort had arrived at the set destination, alongside other accompanied staff, causing all eyes to be on them.
"Now before we let you explore, I'd like to explain some ground rules for youse to follow..." The man said in a faded accent, tilting his cap upwards to fully overlook the crowd.
As the man continued to explained the many rules they had to abide by, Elijah excused himself, finding that he wanted to find Aurora himself seeing that there were still buses being unloaded.
In result of the harsh sunlight, Valerie blocked her eyes as best as she could as she zoned out after Elijah left, causing the rest of the sunlight to continue to settle on the other side of her face where some of her freckles came into view.
From where Aurora stood, the woman took note of the student's in-and-out focus as her eyes flickered back to her. The brunette looked as if she had wandered into her own world, oblivious to what she was meant to do.
Aurora, who strolled carefully up to where Valerie stood, slightly colliding with her shoulder, causing Valerie to be pulled back from her daydream.
"Are you listening, Ms Walker?" Aurora hummed out expectedly, her gaze tilted downwards.
Head turning to the velvety voice, Valerie looked through her tinted sunglasses up towards Aurora, internally grateful that Aurora couldn't see the glint in her gaze. "I am now."
"Mhm." The woman hummed once more approvingly, tucking the few strands draped upon the side of her face behind her ear.
Aurora then turned her head back to the instructor, who still explained what the seniors could and could not do.
As she watched the woman's eyes fixate upon the man, Valerie's eyes settled down on Aurora's profile.
Considering their close proximity, it allowed the girl to fully appreciate Aurora's natural beauty.
The student focused upon the evident glint in the woman's eyes, and how her perfected brow naturally raised as she displayed a neutral expression.
"Stop staring at me and look to the front." She mumbled, daring to spare Valerie a second side glance to her lingering gaze.
Valerie lightly chuckled to herself, mumbling another reply as she vaguely smiled."Yes ma'am."
Valerie was luckily enough to be wearing her sunglasses in the moment.
If she wasn't, the woman would've seen the faded glint as she smiled with her eyes, before fully obeying Aurora's request.
• • • • • •
On her last rotation, Valerie played the day off with a few games of volleyball. Similar to the other students on her team the girl strolled over to her side of the net, her feet sinking into the sand with each step she took away from the invisible court.
Her arms had been beaten from the amount of times the ball had bounced off her limb, and her legs were sore from pulling more effort into each step as her figure dug into the sand.
Luckily for Eden, her rotation was closer to the resort campus, so Valerie would expect her to already be at the dorms by now. However unluckily for Valerie, she had a long way to travel.
During her rotation, Valerie couldn't help but notice Aurora seeming more tense than usual, and the fact she'd frequently check her phone for whatever she wanted to see.
And after a few focused moments on her game, Valerie looked back at Aurora, only to see that she had disappeared from the sight, alongside her belongings that she assumed took with her.
Valerie chewed her lip in thought, her mind flooding with scenarios that all linked back to Elijah and what she saw back in the classroom.
The brunette never really got to ask what had happened to neither Elijah or Aurora. But from what Valerie eavesdropped on, and how Elijah acted this morning, Valerie assumed it had to been something serious — important enough for Aurora to put in front of her job.
Opting for an adventurous choice, Valerie steered herself away from the rest of the group, seeing that the supervising teacher had been too occupied packing up the rest of the equipment to notice the girl's sudden absence.
As she took a breath of the oceanic aroma, her feet padded against the sand in a quick motion, each step forcing particles of sand to slip beneath her feet to level her up to the beach front pathway.
In all honesty, Valerie was going out on a limb to find Aurora. And from the way she confusedly navigated her way near the dorms, she had no idea where she was.
I guess that was the downside in zoning out during the tour. Valerie thought as she reached what seemed to be a secluded part of the resort, perhaps the opened backside of where the cafeteria was.
As she turned around to explore elsewhere, she heard quite muffled near her. Quick to pivot her position, she moved closer to where she heard the sounds, and to her luck, she did find Aurora.
And also Elijah. Yay.
Deciding to come closer to the couple, Valerie slightly crouched behind a nearby pillar, far enough so she couldn't be seen, but close enough for her to still audibly hear their conversation.
"I came here because I wanted you to forgive me." Valerie heard Elijah remark, his voice strained with an apologetic tone as his jaw obviously clenched.
"And I asked for you to give me time." Aurora countered stressfully, crossing her arms as she leaned her weight onto the table behind her. "But I guess neither of us are getting what we wanted."
Disgust flooded the woman's stomach as she peered at her fiancée through her sunglasses, which thankfully blocked out the light, and additionally her uninterested gaze.
Elijah breathed hastily, each breath fuelling his anxious state. "I apologised, Aurora. What more do you expect me to do?"
Pressing her lips together, Aurora tightly spoke as her patience depleted with each continuous word that came out of the man's mouth. "Just leave me alone. Go do your job and I'll do mine."
Aurora turned to leave, however upon moving her gaze elsewhere, she felt a familiar hands grasp her wrist.
"Why're you leaving? We're talking this out aren't we?" His eyes pleadingly looked down to Aurora's, who displayed a blank expression.
"We've been 'talking' since an hour ago, Elijah. I could get fired for neglecting my students, I'm done with this. Seriously." Aurora replied casually.
Elijah unwrapped his hands around Aurora's wrist, and accordingly she watched as he did. He instead turned his body around, running his hands through his hair in frustration.
His eyes plunged into the ground, anchoring itself onto the earthly material as he sighed in defeat, his hair falling a little over his eyes.
"All I wanted was you to forgive me. I came to this trip so I could show you that I'm trying for you. Am I not trying hard enough, is that it?"
Instead of facing Aurora, Elijah kept to himself, talking to what seemed to be an invisible body.
Just as she was about to answer, Valerie felt the necessary need to settle the tension. In doing so, she peaked out of the pillar, pretending to be out of breath as she turned the corner frantically, making her footsteps purposely louder.
"Ms Hale?" She called, and upon hearing her, Aurora turned to the voice. "Mrs Kent sent me to find you. She wanted you to know that she already packed up the equipment, and that all you need to do is meet her at the hall with the rest of the chaperones."
Giving a confused look, Valerie flickered between Aurora and Elijah. "Should I come back or—"
"That won't be needed, kid." Elijah spoke, his eyes barely looking up to Valerie. "We we're finishing up this conversation anyways."
The tone in his voice had obvious sarcasm and aggression, but to match his tone, laid a normal expression. "I'll meet you there.. Ms Hale."
Giving a silent nod, Aurora watched as he walked away first, passing Valerie with a simple pat on her shoulder.
Just as she was about to walk away, Aurora called out to her. "You heard us didn't you?" She questioned.
In a confused manner, Valerie replied casually. "No? I just arrived."
"Right." Aurora spoke as she clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth with her tongue. "You're lying aren't you?"
busted.
Reluctantly, Valerie gave a sheepish smile, seeing the exhaustion written on her complexion.. ".. Yes."
"How much did you hear?" Aurora asked, remaining still as she noticed Valerie reading her expression.
The student's voice barely came out as a whisper, the gentleness in her voice seeming to calm the woman she slowly drifted around the corner. "Not a lot."
• • • • • •
a/n - i decided to break this chapter into two, just because i feel that if I wrote what i had planned, it'll be too much on one page.
so next chapter, just imagine it as a continuation of the same night.
see youse next week !!