"What did you just say?" I shouted at Evanna angrily. She had uttered something I had warned her about ten thousand times not to say.

"What?" she asked innocently, though I was pretty sure she had just said something nasty. Aakib and Pratyusha tried to control their laughter, but Kiaan's face gave it away.

"You're so dead for this," I declared, but she hid behind Aakib, urging me to fight him.

"Fight him before," she said, shoving Aakib onto me and hiding behind Samayara. Aakib hates it when someone gets too close to him, except for Samrudh, but he lets Evanna do and say anything she wants. He even held my hand and caged me.

"Evyaan, let it go," he said softly but his grip on my hand was like steel.

"No, leave," I said, pointing at our hands, and he did, but then Pratyusha held it. "Hold him. Cage him, guys." Kiaan gladly ditched me and followed her, caging my shoulders, and Aakib did the same.

"Guys, this isn't right. You're defending her," I protested. Samrudh came into view, saying, "Let me help you," and chased Evanna. She shoved Samayara at him, but Samrudh moved aside and ran to hide behind Aakib again.

"Aakib, save me! Fight him!" she said laughingly. "Bold of you to assume I'll ever fight with Aakib," Samrudh replied, and Aakib turned to catch Evanna with a smirk, "traitor" she screamed when she was just about to get caught by Aakib but then she sprinted to the hotel. 

Both of them followed her, while Kiaan and Pratyusha broke down in animalistic laughs, losing their grip on me and Samayara. Vanie looked too shocked to react."Don't mind them, they're just stupid," I said, and both of them started laughing too.

Between the laughs, Samayara searched for something, and panic covered her face. "I-I think I forgot my phone," she told us."Girl?! What?? How can you—" Vanie said in a frustrated tone. "Anyway, let's go quickly and get it," she added, grabbing Samayara's hand.

"Wait, I don't think they'll allow you to exit now," I said. "Yes, we don't even know if the buses are still there, it's been a while," Pratyusha added.

Kiaan quickly recovered from his laughs and took out his phone. "Do you know whose duty is near the entrance? Is it a girl?" he asked. "Yes, it's Sara," Pratyusha quickly replied.

Kiaan searched for her number. "You have her number? She's from a different branch," Vanie asked, shockingly.

"Kiaan could lack common sense, but never female presence in his life," Pratyusha teased. "It'll be more surprising if he didn't have it," I added.

"I'll ask her to buy us some time," he said, and Sara picked up the call. Kiaan nodded in response. "You both better run fast," he said, taking bags from both of us.

"We'll make the announcement too, so if there are more people who left their things, they could get them back too," Pratyusha said hurriedly. "Let's go," I said, and Samayara nodded in panic and ran behind me. We got short of breath in the middle but quickly recovered from it. I explained to the council members about our situation and they cooperated and we finally made it in time.

Sara saw us and signalled us to go quickly. "Samayara, this is our bus," I said, grabbing her hand as she was visibly lost and tired. We quickly entered the bus, and she fetched her phone. We thanked the driver and all the council members who cooperated. A few more students came right behind us due to the announcement, and then the buses departed.

"I never thought we would've made it," she said breathlessly. "I can assure you with me, you can always make it," I replied proudly, and both of us started laughing. "I'm sure of this now."

"Of course, you do. With Evyaan Jadeja on your side, the universe will always make it happen," I said, and she smiled widely. Before us was a beautiful sunset, it was truly picturesque though  None of us took the picture but admired it while catching our breath from running.

"This must be the most beautiful sunset I've ever observed in my seventeen-year-old life," I said, getting caught in the moment.

"It's really beautiful. Thank you so much, Evyaan," Samayara said, turning her head towards me. Her bronze skin was glowing in the sun, and the beads of sweat looked like pearls on her forehead. Her beautiful messy hair took everything in me to not tug it behind her ear. Samayara is just beautiful exactly like this, just like the view, just like the sunset. If someone would've told me she's an angel out of heaven, I would've believed it.

"Evyaan," she brought me back to the real world, not the one in my head (he's delulu). 

"Oh, thanks, uh? But what did I do?" I replied, stuttering and embarrassed.

"Everything. I know for a fact I wouldn't have been able to do it alone," she said, looking at the view while my gaze was still fixated on her. "Yeah, it's teamwork, I guess."

We reached the lobby, and she quickly thanked everyone. Vanie pulled Samayara into a hug and tickled her as punishment for leaving her phone behind. She struggled when Pratyusha and Evyaan also joined in, she was twisting her body to get out of their grip but breaking down in laughter instead.

Her eyes glistened, and her bunny teeth made an appearance. I admit the way I was looking was creepy, but I was too involved in noticing her features. I even noticed the mole on her palm.

"Let the little girl breathe a little," Kiaan whispered, wrapping his hands around my shoulder."Let your friend breathe a little too. I was just zoned out," I lied, removing his hand.

"Okay, lover boy, but don't forget your duties too. I think Samrudh is looking for you, he's in the second lobby," he said. I informed Evaana about leaving, who also remembered her duty and fixed her posture.

Just when I was about to go, Vanie asked Evaana something, and I wanted to know more, so I stayed. "So we both were not assigned rooms. Are there any chances we can be roomed together?" she finished explaining how both of them were left and had to assign their rooms.

"I'm not sure about this," Pratyusha said, but Evaana was in deep thought. She turned to me, looking for a signal, but if Pratyusha is not sure, then I don't get to manage this. I shook my head and left.

I quickly took my portion of the work from Samrudh and headed back to the first lobby, only to find Samayara surrounded by her problematic friends. I headed towards them mindlessly, without noticing Evaana and Pratyusha had left for their duty, leaving just Samayara and Vanie.

"Hey, ACE Evyaan, what brings you here" one of her friends quickly called me from a distance.

"Oh, hi," I replied. " Samayara told us about the phone incident, it must've been trouble," she said, looking down at Samayara.

"It was nothing. We face this type of situation ten times a day," I replied roughly, and she just nodded. Samayara looked uncomfortable with them.

"You still haven't replied, why you're here, though?" her another friend Prajakta, whom I might know, asked, annoyed by my reply.

"Samayara, you told the school in-charge about the room situation?" I asked Samayara, ignoring Prajakta.

"I did," she said, and I nodded, making my way towards Evaana, who was sitting near the receptionist to micro-manage things. I asked her about the situation, and she said she was making arrangements.

Soon, it was Samayara and her friends' turn to take the keys. Evaana checked the names of her four friends - Prajakta, Aanya, Ojaswini, and Saakshi. I learned their names as Evaana handed them the room keys. Evaana asked them to move forward, but they stayed and when she explained the situation to Samayara and Vanie one of her friend interrupted Evaana.

"You know I can manage to have one more person in the room, there will be a floor bed anyway," she said sarcastically and we all knew who would end up on the floor bed. Evaana stood up, cocking an eyebrow. "It's alright, we don't need your help," Evaana said politely. "You know we can manage keeping her, it might be a little difficult, but we sure can." She finished her useless recommendation when Evyaan grabbed her ID card, pulling her slightly towards her.

"Prajakta," she said, reading her name and tossing her ID card, almost hitting Prajakta's face. "I'm the one who manages and makes decisions here, so next time, try to keep your help for people who ask," Evaana said cockily. And Prajakta quivered with anger but left. Samayara looked at them like she saw a dinosaur but then turned her gaze towards Vanie.

Evaana arranged a separate room for them and handed them the keys. Samayara looked at ease as the situation got resolved, she waved at us and left.

Half an hour later, we handed the last batch of students their keys, and voila, we were done for the day! Kiaan came to us, already changed into a fresh pair of clothes, and Samrudh, Aakib, and Pratyusha joined us too, all looking exhausted.

"So, how's council life treating you?" Kiaan asked, and Aakib grabbed his neck. "Come here, I'll tell you," but he got out of his grip. "Let me go, I'll update you on our lover boy," he said, and again, everyone was invested.

"He was staring at that little girl in every given situation," "Evyaan in his creep era," Pratyusha asked confusingly. "I'm telling you; he likes her. He doesn't even blink, the love basically drips from his eyes," Kiaan said dramatically.

"Yeah, but who wouldn't? She's so cute and soft, and gosh, her cup-cakey cologne! Ugh, it took everything in me to not bite," she said even more dramatically than Kiaan.

"You noticed the cup-cakey cologne?" I asked, wondering how much more she noticed and fearing she might even know more than me.

"Of course I did," she replied, "it seems like y'all are into her, aren't you?" Samrudh asked dryly. "Yes, I'm into cute girls," Evaana replied to him, rolling her eyes. "I'll still stick to the friend crush," I said when they looked at me.

"My bro needs to revise his English vocabulary because a friend crush is a whole different thing," Kiaan said. "He's a dumbo for a reason," Aakib added, laughing. But I'm not lying, Samayara is such a calm yet serene energy to be around, and that's the sole reason I'm so attracted to her.

🔮

The upcoming chapter will include the chaotic love life of one of the Rat Pack member too. Can y'all guess who is it? and I'm really excited to share those chapters. Guys let's reach our voting goal so I can schedule the weekly updates.

I hope you all will like this. please don't forget to vote and comment and do let me know your thoughts on this chapter. Find me on Instagram writereria for spoilers.

SKYLINE SERENADES Copyright ©2023 by ERIAWELSHORCHIDS. Plagiarism is illegal. Any copying or publishing without permission is prohibited. The book is based on the author's imagination and any resemblance to actual people or events is coincidental.