Sereia's heart dropped further into her gut. Her eyes wandered over the colourful heads and no body in front of her stood up. She clenched her jaw and stood up nonetheless, her mind repeating, "Fuck it, it's all good," like a mantra.
"Ah, good, all of you will coordinate with the Minor and Elective representatives from Professor Mildred's and Professor Harris' class for the upcoming trip. You will plan everything, via public consensus of course and I want a detailed report on my table this…Friday. Am I clear?"
Sereia whipped her head to find two people standing behind her: A slouched boy and an extremely beautiful girl. The three of them nodded in synchronisation as Sereia's heart soothed itself upon the prospect of not being the worst all by herself.
"Good, be seated now. Ms. Ambrose, begin when you can."
After doing thorough calculations in the Quad, Aren and Sereia came to a conclusion.
"Your presentation will be held on Thursday if no one delays or stutters," Aren clapped the small diary close with sheer confidence.
"I would like that but if I hadn't this trip to plan," Sereia sighed with her head in her hands. "Well, thanks for yesterday, though, I realised I never I said that. For saving my life as well as being my proxy, I appreciate you," Sereia leaned in and hugged Aren's side.
Consequently, she received back pats of affection.
"You get on with the planning thing. I'll ask San about when we can check the body again," Aren said, an easy smile played over her full lips.
"Yeah, thanks," Sereia pulled back and stood up, "Let's meet later!" she waved as she retreated backwards, one step at a time. Knowing Aren was fun, Sereia concluded, as she turned to walk forward, past the Quad and another four buildings, to reach the Administrative Block. She had been on a lay-low for a good eighteen-months and suddenly she's visiting the hotspot of chaos two days in a row. What misfortune had befallen her?
She greeted the guard with a two-finger salute and stepped inside the building. As if luck were on her side for the first time of the week, Sereia climbed up two flights of staircases and found her classmates leaning against the imperial windows of the lobby.
The beautiful girl was a brunette with wavy curls, perfect no-makeup makeup and form fitting clothes accentuating her assets for all who wanted to appreciate. The boy was on the greasier side with messed up dirty blonde hair, oversized tee and shorts along with a backpack which he wore over his chest.
"Apologies, am I late?" Sereia asked as she reached them, slightly panting.
"It's quite alright babe, why are you missing credits? You seem perfectly appropriate, darlin'. I'm Sicily, yes, like the country. I'm not actually from Sicily, no darlin', it was my mum's dream honeymoon destination. Teehee, I know, but my dad conned her with a green screen and long story short, she thought she conceived me in Sicily. Poor her, everyone knows this story but her."
Sereia raised her brows in acknowledgment of the info-dump. "You're lovely and yeah…" her words dragged miserably, unable to finish the sentence. So, she turned to face the boy instead.
"Sup? Neil," the dude gave her a quick nod and looked away.
Sereia crinkled her eyes with understanding and introduced herself. "Should we head into the office now?" Sereia asked.
"I am a streamer, you know darlin'? underscore c dot I-L-Y, yeah, that's my handle everywhere," the brunette leaned closer to emphasise, "everywhere. But yeah, I also have a boyfriend…do you have a boyfriend?" Sereia shook her head in response and Sicily continued, "Didn't think so, darlin'. I work, I study, I date, I am a very busy woman, do you understand, darlin?" Sereia nodded, begrudgingly, "Good," Sicily said with an amused smile and a humorous nod of her head.
"Good," the boy repeated.
"Good," Sereia obliged. "Should we work as a team and go in now?" she asked but did not wait for an answer.
The boy followed her leisurely whilst Sicily grimaced, then thought of her public image, pulled up a camera smile and followed with poise.
Sereia knocked and entered Professor Mildred's office.
"Good morning, Professor, we're here for the trip manage—" her perfectly planned introduction fumbled at the somewhat familiar sight of the boys from last evening.
Did they have permanent residence camped in here?
She scoffed when the taller ravenette held out his hand in front of Sicily and Niel in introduction.
"I'm Lawrence, this is my friend Felix. We're the Minor and Elective representatives," he informed with a pleasant smile on his face, directed only to Sicily and Neil.
Sereia scoffed, turned to face her classmates which happened to be a dud because they were in a daze, so she turned to glare at Felix instead.
The tall brunette shrugged but held out his hand only for Sereia's introduction, "If it helps," he grinned.
"No, thank you," Sereia nodded, beaming a corporate smile.
"Of course," Felix nodded and retreated his hand with utmost haste.
"I'm Sicily and this is Neil," the extrovert introduced, still shaking both of Lawrence's hands because Neil never initiated contact. "I'm Sicily like the country, yeah but like I'm not actually from –" her rant was cut short by Professor Mildred as she entered her office.
"Ah! You kids are here! Spectacular! First things first, shortlist places and post a poll on the community tabs. Give me your attendance and—" she paused, did a quick headcount, "Brilliant, all of five of your expenses will be handled by the department but you can always pay for a friend if you feel so rich."
Sereia had always imagined Professor Mildred to be a snotty and judgemental short woman who walked around looking down on other professors. But she stood corrected under the Professor's warm brown gaze and a genuinely pleasing smile.
"Thank you, Professor, we appreciate it," Sereia couldn't help the words escaping upon instinct. Professor Mildred spoke with such eloquence and smoothness that Sereia had to vocally appreciate it, like all good things should be.
"Oh please, what you'll have to do will be worth it! The professors are not a part of this year's planning committee because of university evaluation lined up and—" she gasped, her eyes widened as she huddled up the students in a close-knit circle where Lawrence deliberately shifted away to stand opposite Sereia (not that she noticed), "Did you know Nicholas Quinton was kidnapped from Knightley's last night? Scary times, so be safe please! He had so many documents to sign, meetings to attend and now he might be chilling like a vegetable in some nefarious criminal's basement. So, remember to enjoy every moment like it's your last."
At first Sereia choked out laughs, then she wore a confused frown because how did Clark Mildred have the ability to be scandalous as well as didactic in the same breath?!
"You-uh, knew Mr. Nicholas? Personally? Is he a…?" Sereia's question dragged out under the pressure of four pairs of eyes staring her directly in the face.
"Oh, he's the owner of this university, of course, Quinton Hill University, didn't ring a bell?" Professor Mildred brushed a hand in Sereia's face, as if she considered Sereia extremely smart and pretending to be oblivious for plot's sake.
"Ah-ah," Sereia dragged, carrying on Professor Mildred's tangent, because who the fuck looks at their university board every day before entering? And who the fuck randomly meets the owner and drags them home?! "But are you sure he's kidnapped…? Um, I thought it was a friendly fight…eh?" Sereia proposed as swiftly as Felix interjected:
"You're quite nosey."
"I try to keep up," Sereia shrugged and distanced herself from the circle.
"Why yes, he was in a scheduled meeting last night and he's been missing since then, after all that chaos, wouldn't the obvious conclusion be kidnapping? Which is quite audacious, if you ask me, kidnapping a mob boss in broad barlights?! I think the Vincents might be having new competition," Professor Mildred stepped back to pat Lawrence on the back.
"Oh, it was an amateur deal, all right, nothing close to being competition," Lawrence scoffed, tongue coated with eloquence but dark eyes glaring at Sereia with vehemence.
What the fuck did he know?!
"Oh! I do adore gossip. It is always welcome in here!" Professor Mildred clapped, "Now get to work, all of you! Be responsible and safe!" and ushered all of them out of her office.
Sereia was the first to rush out and hastily announced to the rest of the team, "I'm sorry, I really need to go right now. Add me in a group chat and I'll do all the work you designate to me!! Sorry!" she exclaimed, footsteps already retreating backwards. She did not wait for their response, for she knew she wouldn't receive a positive one and ran down the stairs with her phone in hand.
'EMERGENCY! CODE FUCKING CRIMSON. MAROON. MAGENTA. NO, NOT MAGENTA, IT'S BLOODY RED. ASSESSEMBLE AT SAN'S APARTMENT ASAP!!'