The Unfortunate Partnerships

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NIGHT FELL FAST. In no time, the sun dipped below the horizon and disappeared from the eye's view. Twilight colored the skies a brilliant scarlet before darkening it into a deep purple. Heaven flicked white paint daintily over the dark canvas, placing stars all over the myriad of colors.

On this night, the entire cohort gathered at the edge of the forest, a place that was notorious with ghost stories both real and imaginary. Our campsite was somewhere in the forests of Riverside Creek with an ominous reputation. Be it ghosts, spirits, or unexpected deaths, the locals had spread tales of them all.

The school had arranged a group activity for us, the 'test of courage', they called it. The students would be paired in twos and sent into the dark forest one after another. They had to venture through the deepest parts, trek through the darkness and face their fears to get to each checkpoint. Each checkpoint had a teacher-in-charge stationed there to sign the card the students had to carry along with them. The activity was supposed to enhance the bond between students and forge strong friendships since the pairs were chosen via a lucky draw.

The way the lucky draw worked was that we would be paired with the other person that drew the same number as us. Two of each number can be found in the box and the odds of picking someone we knew beforehand was slim.

After all, when in high school, one would make more enemies than allies. That was the way our teenage society worked.

"Jules!" I called my best friend's name, running over to her immediately after she picked a number. Her hands were clutching a small white slip of paper very similar to my own. "What number did you draw?" I asked.

Slowly, she peeled open the folded slip of paper to reveal the number inside. "Twenty-six."

My heart immediately dropped. I had asked Harr beforehand for his number and his was the lucky number one, the first pair to head into the forest. The number I picked was smack in the middle of these two.

"What's with that face?" Jules asked, laughing as she smoothened out the creases of my frown. "What number did you get?"

"Thirteen," I replied with a pout. "What an unlucky number."

"Guess we're partners, then." From behind me, a deep voice mused with a hint of laughter.

I recognized the melodious voice before I had even seen the face, quickly glancing at Jules with a sigh before turning around to meet the speaker. When my assumption was confirmed, I couldn't help but curse a little in my heart.

Xavier held his own slip of paper up in my face for me to see, the jagged edges of the sloppily-torn paper a little too close to my face for comfort. I took a step back, pushing his hand away with a light slap.

"How unfortunate," I mumbled with a sour heart.

However, Xavier paid me no mind. His attention was fixated on Jules, staring right over my head at her. He gestured behind him casually, a bright smile accessorizing his face.

"Eugene's got twenty-six as well," he said. "They're already pairing up. You might want to head over soon."

"Got it." Jules nodded once before patting my shoulder. She gave an encouraging smile, one that didn't quite reach her eyes for some reason. "Chin up. I'll see you after this."

With that said, she jogged over to where Eugene was. I didn't have a face to the name in my mind so I leaned out, peering past Xavier's tall figure. When Jules stopped in front of a familiar face, my eyes opened a couple of sizes wider at the coincidence of it all. Eugene was apparently the same guy that had confessed to Jules right before Xavier did, the poor boy that got rejected nearly immediately.

I looked up at Xavier, lips curling. "You do know that this Eugene is also the same guy that confessed to Jules about fifteen minutes before you did, right? That makes him ahead of you in the line if we're considering it on a first-come-first-serve basis. Which also means he's your competitor. One with an edge."

Xavier swiveled back, his head turning to look at Eugene and Jules's interaction. All the while, his expression neither brightened nor darkened. It stayed neutral before finally, he shrugged.

"He's no competition," he declared egotistically.

I scoffed at Xavier's unbelievable confidence, scanning him from head to toe once. "Yeah, but after tonight, who knows? He's got time to bond with Jules. That's the whole point of you working at the same place as her, remember?"

At once, Xavier's delighted and cocky expression fell into despair. I watched with silent glee as his grin crumbled into a gaping look of helplessness, staring at Jules's disappearing figure like a lost puppy wishing for its owner to return.

I relished in the downcast expression Xavier wore. All of a sudden, there was an itch in me to continue teasing him, filling his mind with possible scenarios that might prompt him to work harder.

"You know, she let him down pretty nicely. Said that he was a good guy but they just didn't seem to fit. Well, it was certainly much kinder than the way she rejected you shortly after."

Storm clouds gathered in Xavier's eyes. Even though a layer of plastic covered his dark irises, it still failed to conceal the growing rage and hideous green of jealousy that glowed. He seemed so painfully upset that I nearly felt bad for teasing him.

"Xavier," I called his name, tapping his shoulder twice in succession. "Chill out. Jules won't fall in love that easily."

I didn't miss the quick glance Xavier threw me. While it was filled with hope, the scowl was deep, bright, and burning. If it weren't a crime, I had no doubt that I would already be six feet under.

He scoffed, finally tearing his eyes away from the direction Jules and Eugene had disappeared from. With his arms folded across his chest, he took a step towards me, towering right over me with such an incredible height that I had to strain my neck to look him in the eye.

"What, was that funny or something?"

I grinned broadly. "Very."

"You know, Aiko, you're going to do something one day that might get everyone you hold dear to hate you. You tease people without much care for their emotions. Judging by what Jules said to my face about the points she disliked about me, I'm surprised that her best friend is someone like you."

As much as Xavier's words should've pricked, they held not much effect on me. The walls that I had long set up around myself deflected those arrows like they were nothing. It blew the hurt away with the wind, carrying them off into the night. While I should've frowned, my smile only deepened in reality.

A movement caught my eye from behind Xavier and I soon came to realize that it was Harr. He was with another girl in our class, someone else whose name I couldn't be bothered to remember. There was never a reason to know all those names until some form of gossip revolves around them. Otherwise, they were irrelevant in my life.

Harr has approached us, the nameless classmate following dutifully behind him. When he neared, he offered a silent wave and a smile.

I turned my attention back to Xavier, raising my hands so that I cupped both of his cheeks. Pulling his face closer to my own, I murmured words that only he could hear.

"Tell me something I don't know, Xavier. That's nothing I've not heard before."

Tapping his right cheek twice, I quickly let go of him and skipped over to where Harr stood. I didn't dare to turn back, my heart thundering madly when I finally came to realize what it was that I had just done.

Xavier's face had been so close to mine, his skin smooth and warm beneath my palms. Even up close, there wasn't a pore in sight. He was devastatingly beautiful, painted with colorful eyes and light hair that would otherwise be unachievable by natural means. Our bodies weren't made for such Western looks but he pulled it off so well.

If our world had been nothing but black, white, and gray, Xavier gave it colors that I couldn't have imagined beforehand. For someone like me, it was a frightening thought.

"Aiko!"

Harr had his arms stretched out, spread far open and inviting. I didn't need any other prompts. Spreading my own arms, I jumped into his embrace, fake-sobbing into his shoulder as he smoothed down my hair.

"I had to pair with Xavier of all people, Harr! What is this injustice!" I lamented.

Harr's chest rumbled along with his laughter, shaking up and down with my ear pressed against him. I could hear his heartbeat thudding in his ribcage, a solid thump.

"Oh poor you." Harr sarcastically pouted, parting the top of my head a few times. "What a horror indeed."

"Believe me, the horror is all mine," someone scoffed from behind.

Ever so rudely, a large hand was clamped on my shoulder. It pulled me back, forcing me out of Harr's hug. The latter simply let me go, watching with a light, amused smile as I staggered back a few steps before hitting a hard surface. It took me a second to register that it was Xavier that pulled me back and it was Xavier that I had hit.

"Quickly run before this crazy bitch keeps you locked here forever. I think that the teachers are calling for the first ten pairs." Xavier spoke to Harr rather monotonously. However, there was a hint of teasing beneath the stoic exterior that made it obvious it was a playful exchange between the best of friends.

All throughout, Xavier's hand never left my shoulder. If anything, it only clamped down even harder, preventing me to leave.

"Yes, sir!" With a two-finger salute, Harr turned to leave. He only took a couple of steps before he turned back, cupping his hands over his lips to amplify his voice. "Xavier!"

"What?"

Harr raised a hand, displaying a thumbs-up. He accompanied that with a beaming smile.

"Take care of Aiko for me!"

Before Xavier could shout out a word of protest, Harr was gone. He had jogged away, a flurry of hands and legs as he and his partner disappeared from our view.

Once he was truly out of sight, Xavier swiveled around and gave me a look of disbelief and doubt.

"Are you sure the both of you aren't dating?" He asked.

I let out a bark of laughter.

"Maybe in an alternate reality, Xavier Park. Maybe in an alternate reality."

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