With that, the tournament came to an end. The closing ceremony would be held the following day, after the remaining competitions finished for the third- and fourth-years. In the meantime, the winners of the second-year tournament began to party!
The second-years flooded back out onto the streets. The stalls had preemptively refilled their stocks in preparation for the rush of second-years. Some students excitedly partied with their friends, while others drowned their sorrows in whatever they could find. Aayla was dragged along by Jacki as the Halcyon students left to celebrate.
They pushed through the crowd of scouts blocking the entrances. Each one of them was desperately searching through the sea of second-years to find the top 25 contestants, especially those in the top five. Whenever a competitor was found, the scouts would rush towards them like sharks that picked up the scent of blood.
Eventually the Halcyon students found a restaurant that wasn't already bursting through the seams with people. Chris brought Daren shortly afterwards. Aayla had no idea how they escaped the scouts. Those people had eyes like hawks and scary intuitions. Anyways, the second-years cheerfully partied all throughout the night.
Blissfully uninterrupted by a certain delusional woman, the party went on late into the night until the restaurant started forcing people to leave. Several students decided to try alcohol for the first time tonight. They were not very good drinkers. After hauling them back to their dorms, Aayla went back to her own residence hall with Chris and Daren in tow.
Rubbing her tired eyes, Aayla was regretting staying up so late. She had an early morning the next day. Judging from the continuing parties off in the distance, nobody might get any sleep tonight.
Back at the dormitory, a small party was raging in the lounge. Even Dormi got swept up in the celebration. Curtains and pieces of furniture happily swayed to the unseen piano playing in the room. Many congratulated Daren and Chris when they entered. Eager bootlickers fawned over them, offering wine, food and excessive compliments to gain their favor. Chris just smiled and easily intercepted all of the drinks offered to Daren, who awkwardly tried to escape from the crowd.
He looked like a sad puppy, so Aayla took pity on him. She started rounding up the party goers.
"Alright people, you need to move this party into the dining hall! NO FOOD OR DRINKS in open containers are allowed in the lounge. Also, keep the noise down during quiet hours! Dormi, I expect better from you."
The furniture wilted in place then started to push people into the dining room. The curtains and rugs took on a pink tinge, as if blushing in embarrassment. After Daren escapes the literal clutches of the fawning suck-ups, he quickly runs up to his room. Who knows when Vanessa and The Butterflies will arrive? He's already delt with enough for today.
Chris decided to happily network with the new residents. By networking, he meant partying. Aayla just left him to his own devices. If Chris decided to be totally hungover, then that was his problem. She won't defend him from Headmaster Marin's wrath if he's caught. Serves him right for ditching work all the time. Hmph.
**********
The next week, Aayla met Theo and Daren in the dining hall after they dragged Chris out of bed. Chris spent some time seriously 'networking' and 'gathering information' in the lounge the days after the tournament, and it was catching up with him. His version of networking seemed much like partying to Aayla.
When they finally arrived at Headmaster Marin's office, there was a long line of students already waiting to enter. Secretary Laraz was busy registering the students and arranging the report schedule.
Junius was already there, politely chatting with a stern young woman with a bob cut. Aayla felt the young woman's gaze linger on her for a few seconds. Soon after they registered with Secretary Laraz, the first students were called in to report.
"Student Council President Eileen Bennett and Disciplinary Chair Junius Ahroyor, you may enter."
The stern young woman politely bid farewell to the surrounding students then led Junius inside the headmaster's office. Their meeting took almost an hour before next students were called inside. Each group of students went in confidently, but left exhausted and depressed. As the stream of students steadily flowed in and out of the office, only Junius and the young woman didn't come out. Finally, Aayla and her group was called in.
Headmaster Marin motioned for them to proceed when they entered. Ramona slightly waved at Aayla. She couldn't show too much favoritism during official business. Just like Aayla's first report, all of the deputy headmasters and other important staff members were present in the office. However, this time two more people were present: Junius and the young woman.
"Good morning, Miss Glowery. I see that you brought the entire team with you today. I hope that Mr. Forolan and Mr. Vear haven't caused you too much trouble during the school year."
"They are a very studious bunch. I rarely ever see them because they love studying so much."
The headmaster chuckled. Aayla quickly presented her report to the faculty from the beginning of the year to the mass transfer of students. Though the incident with Lysander Foryl has long been handled, several faculty and staff members were still concerned about it. After all, the gremlins had proven to be a dangerous threat. A dangerous threat that was on the Chinebarian endangered species list and therefore couldn't be touched.
Before the bickering could get any worse, Headmaster Marin raised his hand and the room immediately went silent.
"Enough! We've already been over this issue many times. The gremlins can't be moved. Yet, we cannot have another repeat of the Foryl incident. That leaves us with few other choices given our current situation."
He turned his attention towards Aayla.
"The Disciplinary Chair has also given us a brief report about Nafriton Residence Hall. Since a certain pair prefers to stay low-key, then keeping the newest residents under control with the current staff will present many difficulties. As such, starting today a new council will be created to manage the residence hall underneath the Student Council. For now, we will call it the Nafriton Hall Residence Council."
The Nafriton Hall Residence Council would report directly to and receive support from the Student Council. While Aayla was now the official head of the residence council, other members would be added as support. Chris and Daren would be fully fledged resident advisors, and would join along with Theo. Renee would hold a dual seat on the residence council and the Disciplinary Committee until more appropriate resident advisors could be found.
Thus, Aayla got her first promotion without a pay raise.
"That's all for today. You all are dismissed. Daren, Chris, wait for me after the other reports are finished. We need to have another little talk."
Before Aayla turned to leave, she briefly saw Ramona's hand form the 'wait for me' signal. She and the boys bowed then left the office. Aayla felt several gazes on her back as she left.
Aayla sighed as she walked out of the headmaster's office. Meetings with the various higherups were always so stressful. Though the magical pressure wasn't as bad now that she had magic. Her ears barely popped at all.
"I have class now, so I'll see you all later."
"See you later!"
"Have a safe trip."
Daren simply nodded his head while Chris and Aayla waved goodbye to Theo.
"Aren't you leaving too, Miss Glowery?"
"Not yet. Deputy Heston asked for me to wait a bit."
Chris merrily chatted away while Daren pulled out a book to begin reading. Aayla twiddled her thumbs while half-heartedly replying to Chris's questions. He was as nosy as always.
She didn't have to deal with Chris for long. The hallway only had a few groups of students left. These groups soon dwindled down to none as the last group was called in. Their meeting only lasted a few minutes.
Soon after the last group walked away, the faculty and staff poured out of the headmaster's office. The young woman and Junius left with them. Aayla hastily stood up when they approached.
"Hello Mr. Forolan and Mr. Vear. It's been a while since we've last spoken."
"Hey Ms. Bennett. How's our Student Council President doing today?"
"Good morning."
After a very short greeting, Daren was back reading his book. Eileen's mouth twitched. If she wasn't aware of Daren's book loving nature, then she would have thought of him as very rude. When he really focuses on a book, getting even a few words out of Daren was rare.
"Junius, this is the young lady that was in your report, correct?"
"Yes, Madam President."
"Good morning. I'm Aayla Glowery. It's a pleasure to meet you."
"The pleasure's all mine. My name is Eileen Bennett. I look forward to talking with you more at the Student Council meetings. I trust that Junius and Mr. Vear will keep you informed. Now, if you all will excuse Junius and I, we have classes to get to."
Just like that, Junius and Eileen were gone.