Orison | Celeste Academy Series BK #3

Chapter Seventy-Two ۞ Last Day

The rehearsal that night went smoothly, but Zion had not attended. Raziel set off before the practice to look for him, only to come back empty-handed. His absence made the Twelve wonder, but they figured that, with his personality, he'd find a way to crash the whole practice by coming around so late. Unfortunately, that hadn't been the way of things.

They ended up practicing without the lead guitarist, making the entire thing seem empty. In the end, they lost all the motivation to practice and ended things early. They had the routine down anyway, and there was still the last minute practice tomorrow.

The last day of the festival came around and the members of the Twelve were in high spirits. The pressure they were feeling the past few days was gone, and only then did they feel the need to play and enjoy the entire thing.

Originally, the rankers had planned on going to their posts. Breakfast was the same, except that Tamara had another idea.

"Hey, you guys," she said. "Let's play." A devious smirk pulled on her lips as she glanced between each member, her brows dancing.

"What do you mean?" Keelan asked as he shoved a spoonful of egg in his mouth.

"I mean, it's boring if we go to work. Let's leave it to the other students. I'm sure they can handle it."

"Shirking responsibilities on the last day?" Charles said, wiping the corners of his lips with the napkin. "No."

"Really." Tamara rolled her eyes. "Why do you always have a stick shoved up your-"

"Don't you dare finish that sentence, Tamara," the fourth-ranker firmly told her, his eyes as sharp as knives as he looked her way.

Valeriana shook her head as she continued to nibble on her bread, smiling at the usual exchange between the fourth and third-ranker. Nothing had really changed between the two of them, although the tension was cut down so much. It seemed lighter, and Tamara was even more energetic and easygoing than she usually was. There was a twinkle in her eyes that didn't seem to be there before.

Elfre was now occupying the seat of the sixth, yet Raziel did not care about it a bit. Valeriana turned to the newly appointed sixth-ranker and nudged her a bit. Despite how rough their relationship felt when they first met, it wasn't as bad as before.

"How did the battle between Tamara and Charles go?"

"Hm." Elfre smiled. "It's because most of you guys were not there to watch. It was a good fight. I think Tamara and Charles settled some of their differences through it."

"Oh come on!" Tamara yelled. "Guys, be reasonable! We worked hard for this festival so we ought to enjoy it! It's the last day! It's the best festival we've had so far, how can we not join the games?!"

"Me." Brindon raised his hand, speaking out on his own for the first time in a while. "Want to play."

"See! Brindon gets it!"

"Tamara does have a point," Rowe said. "We've worked hard. I think it's justifiable if we enjoy what we broke our backs for. I will certainly regret letting this opportunity pass by."

The rest of the Twelve eventually agreed and Charles was the only one left who did not. Seeing that all eyes were on him, he found himself sighing.

"Alright, fine. Inform your teams in advance that we're not going to our posts today. We should at least do that much."

"Yes!" Tamara pumped her fists in the air. "To make it more exciting, let's make it a competition."

The Twelve turned to her, a glint of excitement in their eyes.