By the time they finished the novelty events it was just after 12pm. Shortly after the event concluded, Emily and Cassandra were awarded plastic participation ribbons and they posed for a photo, the fabric still tying their ankles.
Almost immediately afterwards Cassandra went to meet with Jake whilst Meghan and Emily headed over to the courtyard to grab a snack before taking photos of the other events.
Many photos later, it was nearing one o'clock, so they headed back to the courtyard to watch the demonstration.
Cassandra and Jake were standing off to the side, both dressed in black martial arts uniforms. Cassandra's long hair was tied up into a ponytail instead of the usual loose braid and so, from a distance Meghan had trouble recognising her. They stretched for a bit before walking to the centre, bowing to the audience and then to each other before assuming a basic stance.
Meghan nudged Emily, "Hey can you watch the video camera, I'm going to try to capture some stills". Emily happily obliged, moving over to stand behind the camera. Their demonstration consisted of a "fighting" choreography which involved different throws, sparring and flashy demonstration kicks. This was then followed by a brief outline of some of the moves they used, replaying them slower.
Watching from the side Emily was awed. Cassandra's moves appeared purposeful and powerful and above all timed impeccably with Jake's. Their short response times clearly reflected the amount of practice they had put in.
During the demonstration, the limp she had on her left leg was masked by all the flashiness although Emily subconsciously winced slightly whenever Cassandra flung it around or landed on it. However, most of her moves were constructed to allow her land on her dominant leg, so although it may appear slightly repetitive to one who was more experienced, the performance as a whole satisfied the audience that had gathered.
After they had finished, they high-fived and bowed once again. Afterwards, Jake took over and invited those in the audience to learn a few self-defence moves.
Cassandra however, walked over to Emily and Meghan and asked them, "how was it?"
Emily was grinning as she replied "You were awesome out there, I had no idea you were that good."
Cassandra's ears turned a brighter shade of pink as she replied, "haha thanks, Jake did the choreography I just participated."
"You didn't just participate, you brought it to life, damn that was entertaining. How long did the choreography take to master?"
"About a week?" Cassandra replied. "We modelled it off last time just with a bit of extra flash now that we're more comfortable with each other."
"Jake was here last time? At the orientation?"
"Yeah, he wasn't on a placement, he was just assigned to help with the initial set up and to ensure everything ran smoothly for the first few weeks."
"Oh I see."
"He wasn't assigned, he volunteered" Meghan interrupted.
"How do you know that?" Cassandra asked.
"He told me." Meghan replied bluntly.
"Oh, I see…" Why didn't he tell me then.
Emily looked at her watch and it read 1.15. The choreography part of the demonstration had only lasted around 5 minutes and the following explanation had been around 10 minutes.. I still have around 15 minutes before I said I'd go to practice. Maybe I'll get a snack…
"Oh yeah, do you guys want to grab lunch?" Cassandra asked. "I'm starved, I'm sure you guys ate while I was gone though. Didn't you?"
Emily looked away guiltily, "Only a snack…"
Cassandra grinned and said, "As punishment you both have to accompany me to go eat. Let's go then."
"Punishment for what?" Meghan asked.
"For ditching me to enjoy good food of course."
"Is it okay to leave Jake to do the teaching alone though?" Emily asked.
"He said it's alright for me to go off and do other things afterwards. This is something he's passionate about after all, I wouldn't want to interfere."
"I'm not too hungry, you two can go grab something I'll see if I can get any good stills from his lessons. I can't have all the photos being of you two." Meghan replied.
And so Emily and Cassandra headed off to the courtyard to have lunch.
"What time does your training start?" Cassandra asked.
"1.30" Emily replied.
"Seriously? We'd better hurry then. Let's get something nice and quick."
"You don't have to rush. I'm a fast eater so I don't mind waiting a little." Mikaela even said it's okay to be a few minutes late. But I can't believe I actually might be late. Emily couldn't help but sigh slightly.
After finishing lunch, Cassandra dropped Emily off at the gymnasium. It was just after 1.30 and Emily was relieved to not be late. "I'll catch you later" Cassandra said. "Thanks for having lunch with me."
No problem, it was nice. See you later then ." Emily replied.
"Have fun practising. You got this" Cassandra gave her a thumbs up before walking off.
Emily walked into the gymnasium and was greeted by Mikaela and her team members. Mikaela had a wide grin on her face as she said "Called it. I knew you would be late. So you had lunch after all huh?"
"Yeah…" Emily replied, her red face a dead giveaway.
"Let's get practising. Don't overdo it, you don't want a stitch." Mikaela said, tossing her a volleyball. "We'll start with drills; you can set for us while your lunch settles."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"I can't believe the recreation day's almost over already" Cassandra whined.
"Not before we have a drink it's not" Meghan replied.
The two of them were waiting outside the dining hall for Emily and Jake to arrive. Following Emily's volleyball game she had celebrated briefly with the team before coming to join them.
After much persuasion Meghan had managed to convince Jake to join them following his demonstration. She shamelessly points out how he's off duty and so has no further formal duties to attend to besides general surveillance.
Eventually, Jake arrived, shortly followed by Emily and they all made their way into the dining hall. Once inside, they immediately noticed a few loosely strung celebration banners. Looking beyond that it became apparent that the counters where the food used to be served had been transformed into a make-shift bar, with many of the centre's residents standing in small groups, glasses in hand.
After finding a table Cassandra stood up and offered to bring the drinks over. "Alright, what do you guys want?"
Meghan rolled her eyes, "Whatever you're having is fine."
"I'm on duty later tonight." Jake replied.
Cassandra smirked, "I'll find something weak, don't worry. Emily?"
"Do they offer apple juice?" Emily asked meekly.
Soon after Cassandra returned with the 3 drinks and an apple juice. She sat down and prompted "Cheers". Their glasses clinked in the centre of the table.
Cassandra looked at Emily and smiled sadly. Apple juice huh. I guess I should watch my liquor today. She sighed, closing her eyes and tilting her head slightly, she propped her head on her hand. I guess I won't be able to tell her after all.
Noticing her absent minded stare, Emily enquired "Cassandra? Are you there?" She waved a hand in front of her face and Cassandra blinked.
"Is your tolerance that low?" Meghan teased, "You had one sip, it's not the booze. What's on your mind?"
Cassandra smiled softly, "The volleyball game". It wasn't completely a lie. Cassandra had found herself transfixed by the game. Emily's first wobbly serve. Her smile as her teammates scored. The small jumps and claps she did after her ace serve. Their eventual win. How could she shatter this temporary ideal?
Emily's face flushed slightly. Jake interrupted "You weren't even playing."
Cassandra shot him a glare, "Watching is just as fun. Right Meghan?"
Meghan sighed tiredly, "I've watched too much today. This whole photographer thing is exhausting".
Cassandra just grinned, "it's good experience."
"Good experience my ass" Meghan grumbled as she took another sip of her drink.
"Are there any more events?" Emily asked.
"Man I wish there were fireworks, but of course there's no budget for that. Hmm, there might be another event I've forgotten…"
"If there isn't then we can make our own event." Emily suggested.
"Ok, what sort of event?" Meghan asked.
"How about truth or dare?"
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Due to the celebrations, the dining hall closed at 11.30pm. After talking and messing around for almost 4 hours it was time to head back. Out of the four of them, no one had bothered going back to refill their drink so, as a stark contrast to those around them, they were able to return to their rooms relatively level-headed.
Emily couldn't help but feel relieved. Alcohol changed people. She knew that much firsthand. And seeing clusters of drunk young adults stumble around she couldn't help but subconsciously recall the events of that night. As much as she trusted Cassandra, Meghan and Jake, she couldn't help but be fearful of tonight's events, lest they drink too much and turn on each other. She shivered involuntarily.
The three of them bid farewell to Jake and made to head off to their rooms. Near the intersection of the building's courtyards Cassandra spoke up.
"Do you want us to walk you to your room?" Cassandra asked.
Emily shook her head, "It's ok. I haven't had any liquor. I should be able to find it."
Meghan replied, "We'll walk you anyway, better safe than sorry. It's not much of a detour."
Once they had dropped Emily off and were in the courtyard outside her building, Cassandra stopped. "Meghan, I need to tell you something."
"Hmm?" Meghan responded.
"Actually, Isabelle made me promise to tell Emily by tonight."
"Tonight?" Meghan exclaimed.
"Yeah."
"You didn't"
"I didn't."
"So what she's just going to outright tell her then isn't she. And you're ok with that? Are you really okay with that. Cassandra you're such an idiot."
"I don't have a choice, I really can't tell her myself."
Meghan sighed exasperatedly, "You told me so I'm prepared didn't you."
"Meghan I-"
"All we can do is hope she takes it well. At this stage that's practically impossible though isn't it."
"Yeah…" Cassandra agreed dismally.
"She'll hate me too, I doubt I can help that much. Hopefully the fallout will resolve itself."
"Yeah…"
"You speechless?"
"I'm scared. It's gonna ruin everything Meghan."
"If everything is built off such shallowness, it's for the best. You can't keep it a secret forever."
"I know. But you know, sometimes I really wish I could."
"Don't we all."
The two looked back at Emily's building in unison before glancing at each other and slowly walking towards their own building.