Minutes stretched into hours, and before we knew it was morning. I and Jason had talked all through the night in front of my room. Thinking back now, I was reckless; he could have raped or killed me.

Thankfully, he turned out to be a nice guy who had no problem in telling me he liked him. Well, he was cute for sure with green eyes and a nicely cut bad boy brunette hair. But dating was still a big no-no, that and I was still a tad bit scared.

I told him I would talk to him later, and somehow I knew he would be waiting. I thought about him as I prepared for class.

Lost in my thoughts, I almost didn't hear my phone ring.
"How could be calling me by this time?" I muttered.

"Cole?" I asked out loud. I had actually forgotten about him.

"Hi Cole." I answered after the third ring.

I heard a slight sigh, "Hi Amelia. It's been a while."

Nodding my head I replied, "Yes it has. How have you been?"

"Everything has been alright. How's Italy?" Somehow his voice didn't sound the same when he said everything had been alright, but I didn't ask.

"Italy's fine. Umm, I have to get to class now. I'll chat you up later."

"Alright, bye." He said, as I cut the call.

I made a mental note to chat him up after classes.

*************

"Mia, you're finally back. Oh, how I've missed you so." Leo laughed as I dragged my box into our room.

Rolling my eyes, I replied, "Well, I didn't miss you." That was a lie, but he didn't have to know.

I quickly sent a message to Cole and Jason telling them I had safely gotten to my room. Over the past week, I had talked to them quite a lot while noticing their more than friendly feelings for me.

Frankly, I was quite confused. On one hand, I had Cole, my first crush, who called me beautiful, lovely and encouraged me to be the best version of myself. On the other hand, there was Jason my now ex neighbour who played loud music just to get my attention and made me stay up all night talking (not many could). I liked both of them, but I couldn't keep leading both of them, I should...

"Cat got your tongue, Lia?" I heard Lucy snicker. I was already planning a retort in my head when Ms. Briggs came up to my desk to caution me for getting lost in thoughts in class, especially when she asked questions. I turned back to see Lucy and her minions smiling wickedly.

"Gosh, I wish she would disappear." I muttered, while deciding to push the boys until a later date.

********

A later date apparently was one week later.

"How do I look Daisy? Is my hair ok? Do I need more gloss?" I frantically asked, as she smoothed down the purple floral dress I was wearing before helping me with my jacket.

"You look good, mi casa. Go on a date with me instead." Leo started, earning him a smack from me while Daisy nodded to reassure me.

Frowning, Leo opened the door to my date Jason. I walked out smiling, determined to enjoy my weekend movie date. Just like always, Jason was a gentleman with a playful hint of bad boy. During and after the movies, we talked about everything till almost the next morning. When I finally got home, I was almost certain I would date him if he asked.

School, however, was becoming increasingly difficult. The first and second mid term tests were combined into projects, requiring us to sew and design five clothing items of our choices  as well as explaining everything used in detail and on paper both in English and Italian. All this to be completed in two weeks, yay school.

The good thing was we were being paired so naturally it was I and Daisy. Ms. Morena wasn't even done explaining the dynamics of woven threads before everyone was out to get materials, drawing boards, pins, sewing machines and the other requirements. Fortunately, we got everything before the day was over, giving us time to go to our shared elective Swimming (the last lecture of the day). As I swam my last lap, I remembered how I kept postponing telling my dad I took swimming classes. He would go ballistic, especially because I nearly drowned myself when my mother passed on. Personally, I didn't have the slightest urge to do so anymore but daddy dearest wouldn't hear anything of it. Swimming was quite therapeutic for me now, I could swim aimlessly for a while and feel calm.

Lily must have noticed my complete ease in the water as she swam under me and dragged me under, playfully I hoped. In no mood for drama, I got out of the chilling water, dried myself while ignoring her. Walking a few yards ahead to where I had dropped my clothes, I spotted Daisy searching for something.

"What happened? What are you searching for?" I asked, crouching down to her eye level.

"Our stuff, Amelia it's gone. Our materials, sewing kit, drawing boards, everything."

"How? Everything was in your room, what happened?" I prodded, as I changed out of the swimming outfit into my normal lecture wear.

Pacing back and forth, she responded, "After swimming, I got a call from my roommate asking why our room door was ajar, I told her that I had locked the door after putting our supplies inside. She said they weren't any supplies in the room and when i got there, everything was gone. Not even one pin could be seen."

Basically running, we got back to the room and searched everywhere, with Leo and Camille helping. We looked everywhere, but it seemed they had all magically vanished. The next morning, we reported the issue and asked for new ones but it would take another one day for the new supplies to arrive which meant we would be three days behind an impossibly tight schedule.

I was livid and cranky, and it didn't help that whenever I crossed paths with Lily she was smiling sweetly like there was something she knew that I didn't. I was almost convinced she was to blame, but asking her was pointless she would never say. Camille volunteered to check her room along with that of her friends, but still nothing.

"I'm very sure all the stuff would appear when we're done with our project, just like I'm certain it was Lily. This is so annoying, Ms. Morena didn't even do anything when we reported the situation to her. We'll be keeping guard of the new supplies." I commented, waving my hand over the new supplies that were delivered.

"Well, let's get to work. Let me see your drawings, it's going to be a long night." Daisy concluded, at the same time I started cutting the materials to shape.

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