"Sorry to interrupt you Ray, but Mariah is turning a bit blue. From what I've just heard, I'm sure she is your 'oxygen', but she definitely needs oxygen to breathe, right now." "Kai!" Both of them said in unison, quickly turning to the door. There stood Kai, leaning against the doorframe, his eyes half-lidded and a smirk already blooming on his face. Ray turned red, immediately let go of Mariah and stepped away from her.

Mariah's legs buckled, still weak from last night as Kai mentioned something about 'sudden oxygen deficiency', but Ray came in again and caught her. Mariah sat down on the bed and after making sure she was feeling alright, Ray started once again "What are you doing here?" He asked, still not meeting Kai's eyes, embarrassed to the core.

"Oh, stop with the embarrassment Ray. You act as though your captain here hasn't been snogging his tease of a girlfriend at every chance, in every empty classroom or staircase he or she could find. And if rumors are to be believed, they've gone beyond the innocent kisses." teased Mariah.

"Mer!" Ray chided, glancing at Kai to see how he'd handle the retort, but Kai seemed pretty chill. "A gentleman doesn't kiss and tell." was all he said before getting himself a cup of water. "Well, then there's no problem there – you don't qualify." Mariah sassed back, satisfied with herself.

There was a pause, where Kai no doubt thought of saying something inappropriate, but given that she was his best friend's girlfriend, he must have refrained. But the guy recovered lightning fast. "Yet your boyfriend does, even after what I just saw? The show I just witnessed was anything but gentle, Madame." He retorted, handing her a glass of water. Mariah wasn't expecting the small act of kindness from him, but didn't let it refrain her sharp tongue. "There's a difference between passion and lust, you know..." "They all boil down to the very same thing at the end of the day." "I'm sure both of you have a lot to say on this topic, but if either of you don't want Ray to combust on spot due to embarrassment, I suggest you stop now!" ordered Aunt Rosa, silencing both of them. She made a beeline to Mariah, hugging her tight. "I'm so glad you're all right. I was so worried when Ray called me to tell me about you and your friends."

Happiness suddenly seemed to have seeped out of the room, replaced with tension. In her hurry to make it up with Ray, she had completely forgotten about her friends. Her aunt caught on too late, the damage was done. "Oh my god, where's Isa and Zen. Are they all right? Zen was hurt pretty badly, and what about Lizzie? Did she reach home fine?" Ray took a step forward. "Mer, you still need a lot of rest. We could talk of this later-" He started, his hands raised, trying to calm her down but Mariah got all the answers she needed. "What happened to them! I can't just go l to sleep without knowing what happened to them! I'm not some little girl" She exclaimed, pushing him away, but she was so weak that he didn't even budge. "Tell her Ray, the sleep will not soften the blow." Kai nudged, sounding as though he knew all about it.

"I'm so sorry honey." Her aunt said, hugging her again. Ray took a deep breath before plowing in. "Zen is in a coma, not responding to any of his medications. Isa wasn't badly hurt, but had a complete meltdown when she heard of what happened to him. She had to be restrained and sedated so that she wouldn't hurt herself in grief." "And from what I gathered from Laura and Casey, you guys weren't the only people ambushed. Fifteen to twenty people at the very least were attacked and mugged yesterday after the party, amongst whom at least ten of them are  hospitalized in this locality. People aren't even sure who all made it back home yesterday and who else are yet to be found." Kai quietly added.

******

For a school that had at least fifteen of its students attacked less than twenty-four hours ago, the atmosphere wasn't tense at all. Classes were running as usual, teachers behaved as though they didn't know of anything at all, and even the students were back to normal. The sudden normalcy was kind of jarring to Hillary. But when she did voice it out to Aubury during their lunch break, all she said was "People get attacked everyday, die every now and then on the streets. You can't lead a life if you let that bother you that much. And anyway, except for one, no one's seriously hurt." The apathy would seem harsh if it wasn't true.

The discussion had quickly moved on to the results of the first round of school elections that had just released. Amongst the top four elected from each house, her chart was placed second from her house, not that anyone knew of it. The second round would consist of answering questions from both students and teachers and based upon their answers, the top two would be selected from each house to make a speech. Only the teachers would get to vote after the final round though.

But all this took quite some time. They had their first internal assessment next week. The results of round two would be announced on the last day of their assessment, and the final round would be held the next Monday after exams. The result would be declared two days later. But she couldn't bring herself to bother about it yet.

She made her way to the auditorium after lunch. Amity club was assigned to group up and decide upon their activities there, not that anybody did anything there. The club had been started with good intentions, but had slowly eroded into a pass-up club for those who wanted an early weekend. It did not help that the club leader, a sweet girl named Elisabeth, would not force anyone to come. "There should be no compulsion where charity is concerned." was her motto. Now all that remained of the club was a handful members among the hundreds who met up every week at the auditorium before heading out to an orphanage nearby, where each of them would help students in primary school with the subjects they were having difficulty in.

But that was not the case that day. Elisabeth, nicknamed Lizzie, was talking with another girl in the auditorium, looking miserable. "Don't ask." warned a voice behind her. Luke joined her side, a small frown on his face. "What is she even doing here?" muttered Ahanaa and Aarohi, quickly coming up from her other side. "What do you mean?" Hillary asked. "The guy Aubury mentioned, the one who was seriously injured, that's her boyfriend." Aarohi quickly filled her in. Hillary was shocked. She couldn't imagine how difficult it must be, going through such a thing'. No wonder she was a mess.

On getting closer, Hillary realized it was Cassandra, much to her discomfort. She avoided the ex-swimming champion as much as she could. "Why do we have a meeting today of all days! And more importantly, what are you even doing here?" she demanded. Hillary hadn't even known she was in the club. "Did you know Cassie was even in the club?" Hillary quietly asked Luke. Luke looked just as comfortable as she was talking about her. "Yeah... I did. She was very active in the club before. But something about the kids upset her last year. She hadn't turned up since then. The same cannot be said for the rest of her friends though." he added darkly as her friends joined in. "The school wouldn't let me miss school." Lizzie quietly replied. "Are you going there afterwards? I'll come with you." She promised, just as she saw them, her face hardening suddenly. All the warmth in her eyes vanished for a second.

If she wouldn't sound silly, Hillary would say that the reaction was not for her, at least not her alone. She didn't understand what she had done wrong to incur such wrath from her now. Except maybe take away her title few months ago, her mind mumbled. Hillary sighed internally. Luke quickly gave Lizzie a hug, not having any words for her. "Hey Cass... Long time no see." Luke smiled. Cassie rolled her eyes. "You wouldn't take up any other work here. What could I  do?" She sassed back. "May I introduce you to the newest members of this club? This is Aarohi and Ahanaa Gupta, they're twins. And this is Hillary Tachibana, but I guess you guys have already met." He said, cracking up.

"Not funny!" Aarohi admonished him, jabbing her elbow into his stomach. "Ouch!" He complained, rubbing the area, but the twinkle in his eyes didn't diminish. Hillary quickly flashed Cassandra a smile that she hoped didn't look boastful in any way. She didn't receive the same in return. Lizzie informed her to be prepared to present her idea to the club today before going to talk with someone else. They were all saved from the awkward silence that was soon to follow between them as more and more people trickled into the auditorium.

Fifteen minutes in, the entire auditorium was packed. Hillary knew their club had the highest number of members, but until then, she hadn't really understood what it meant. Lizzie climbed up to the podium, and the auditorium quietened down a bit.

"Hey guys... Long time no see." She tried to keep an upbeat tone, but was falling short. "I see a good deal of old faces, and new ones too... Well, I would have welcomed you to the club two months prior if anyone had bothered to show your faces here, but better late than never, I guess. Welcome to the Amity club guys, the largest club at our school, dedicated to make this world a better place, one baby step at a time. I'm Elisabeth, the club representative. Here, we come together, or at least were supposed to come together every week and volunteer at a place decided beforehand. We usually change the place every three months so that we could experience all the sectors that could use volunteers."

"But in the last year or so, the club has gained a lot of new members, but the number of active participants has only dwindled. Maybe expecting teenagers to willingly spend their time doing the-so-called boring charity work was an error on my side, but I still stand by my stand. No one should be forced into charity. But maybe I'm the one being old-fashioned here. What if we weren't forcing anyone, but there were actual, substantial benefits for volunteering?" The entire auditorium had completely quietened down by then.

"Well, you heard that right. Actual credits for volunteering. One of our newest member came up with this idea and presented it to me and Ze-Zen."

"That was her boyfriend? What happened to him?" Hillary asked Luke, remembering the sweet boy she'd talked with on a lunch break a few days ago. "Head injury, slipped into a coma later." He quickly replied. "And we'd been discussing it. I guess it wouldn't hurt anyone to gain a few benefits from volunteering. They may even motivate you. All in all, I approve of this idea as the last act as the representative of this club. I would call upon Hillary Tachinbana, the one who came up with this idea, to explain this idea today and to take this idea forward and accept the role of club representative to do so."

The room erupted in an angry murmur then. "What the hell just happened?" "Who's the girl anyway?" "How come a new member gets the representative position!" were a few snippets of questions she caught. 

"Oh my god Hillary, congratulations!" Ahanaa exclaimed, giving her a quick hug. Hillary couldn't believe her ears, what the hell was happening here? A feeling of panic quickly settled in her. Luke caught her hand. "Did you know of this?" When she didn't respond, he pinched her. "Hillary!" "Ouch! What? No, of course I didn't know!" She whispered, holding his gaze and trying to calm  her racing heart. He held her gaze for a moment, before saying. "Don't worry then, I've got your back." He said, lightly squeezing her hand in assurance as she got up. "He's right, we three have got your back." Aarohi promised, giving her a thumbs up. Hillary walked down the auditorium, her shoes echoing loudly the entire way. She could almost feel the hundred something set of eyes staring at her, passing their judgements.

The moment she climbed the stage, Laura stood up, looking pissed. But Hillary was used to Laura being pissed with her. This funnily gave her a feeling of normalcy. Before she could start with whatever she had to say, Hillary interrupted her. "Just a sec Laura, sit down. I'm sure you are not the only person who has something to say on the matter here." Laura sat down after Lizzie glared in her direction. 

After making sure that Laura actually sat down, Hillary continued. "Hey guys. I'm Hillary. I'm just as surprised as you are to be here, because a certain someone forgot to mention this when we were talking a few minutes ago." This earned her a few laughs. That's good. "But before things do get messy and complicated here, I want to present my idea here. I believe it is a pretty good one, which could even turn the rough phase this club is in now. And since an idea needs the entire club's approval after the rep's approval to take it to the principle, I want to present this idea before we get into the details of who would present it to the principal."

With that, she started her explanation. Keeping aside the fact that her introduction didn't go the way she had planned, she thought she did okay. Looking at her friends give her a thumbs up did boast her confidence, but she did fumble for a minute when she caught Tyson's eyes. Gods, she had forgotten Tyson was in in the club. Not that he had ever bothered to attend, but still. His grin with his dimples poking out kind of always made her forget what she was doing. She didn't dare make eye contacts with anyone after that. Few of them pointed out a few minute loopholes, which she promised to look into, before concluding her presentation with a vote. Thankfully, it turned out in her favor. 

She turned back to Laura then. "Thank you for the time-out. Please continue with whatever you had been about to say." If Laura had looked pissed before, she looked downright murderous now. She must not have liked that the club liked her idea now. "You can't just name the next rep this way. I'm pretty sure that the handbook refers to an election. And anyway, why should we let this newbie take the title when we have one of the founding members of the club right hear?" She exclaimed, gesturing to the person beside her, that being Cassie. If Hillary was certain of one thing then, it was that this was so NOT going in her favor.

 Cassie got up then, looking a bit vexed with Laura more than her. Not that it was obvious. She just had a knack to pick up on the smaller details. "That's right, I challenge the validity of the ex-reps last decision. I call for a vote immediately. All those in favor of me being a representative, raise your hands." All of her friends and a good deal of the people in the auditorium raised their hands. Hillary heart sunk. Now that she had the club's approval for her idea, she had hoped that maybe she had a chance. A club representative in her very first year would be very good. But maybe that was not the case after all. Maybe the audience had two very different opinions on who would represent them and whose idea they would represent.

She was just about to get down the stage, determined to keep a poker face until she was alone,  when Luke got up. "Why should everyone here get the chance to vote anyway, especially when a good deal of you are showing up here for the very first time? and a few others after months?!" countered Luke, looking at Laura with a steely gaze now. People do not like their own shortcomings to be pointed out. 

An uncomfortable silence ensued, interrupted with angry mutterings. One of Laura's friends, a guy built like a rugby player, tried moving towards Luke, flexing his arms, no doubt planning to counter verbal jabs with physical ones. Luke didn't back down from the challenge, much to her annoyance. But before things could escalate, Lizzie came up beside her and called for their attention. "That's true Luke. Passive members shouldn't get to vote. Lets narrow down the voters here. Everyone who's attended at least three meetings in the last six months please step forward. And Cassie, do come up here." Lizzie gestured her to stand at her other side. 

The room once again erupted in an angry murmur as twenty something students came ahead. She was glad to know that she recognized at least half the faces. "All right guys, let's do this the old-fashioned way. All of you take a small piece of paper, write your rep choice on it and put it into the box here. One way or the other, this meeting concludes with a new rep!" Lizzie concluded. She doubted the thought cheered either her or Cassandra as much as it cheered her.

******

Words: 2966

******

A/N: Another update after a long, long time. This chapter is slightly longer than my usual ones, but I didn't want to cut the flow. I'm sure you guys will like it. The story will mainly focus on Hillary from now on, so by extension Tyson and Kai. Do keep voting and leaving comments (+/- appreciated). I appreciate all of you who do leave me comments in the chapter. I do read them, but I find it difficult to acknowledge them if they aren't questions. I hope you get what I'm trying to say here. All in all, Happy reading!