A Perilous Challenge

→❀ Chapter 6

Flashback:

After drinking two glasses of Eristoff, I decided to look for my best friend, Amy. I was not long in finding it. She went down the steps, hand in hand with Zayn. They had smoked, that could be seen only on their heads. And it annoyed me. Amy never smokes except when she's with him. It's bad attendance for her, but she refuses to hear it. She even tries to persuade us that he pulls her up.
Amy used two glasses of alcohol while Zayn went out to smoke. I took the opportunity to go talk to him.

"By the way." She smiled, before drinking her drink, "You'll never guess what I learned!!!"

"Go gently anyway." I sighed seeing her doing.

Amy did not hold the alcohol. And I already knew that in less than an hour, I would be in the bathroom with her, holding her hair while she gets rid of all the alcohol in her. It was the same every night.

"Everyone in the living room!" Screamed Marlene.

The music stopped as everyone bowed to his order. She made us sit in a circle - in a huge circle - in the living room. She was in the middle.

"Tonight I'm celebrating my eighteenth birthday, the majority in France!" She smiled as she relented quickly. "So I'm giving you challenges that you have to accept, or else you're leaving right now."

She was accompanying her reply with a wink. Obviously we were accepted, we were all under the influence of alcohol.

"Well, here I have a jar where we wrote the challenges you need to achieve."

She was planting her hand in the said jar, which lay on the ground. She got up slowly, a tiny sheet of paper in her hands.

"This challenge is for Charlotte!" She exclaimed. "You have to kiss all the guys on the mouth."

Charlotte, who was a friend of her band, stood up staggering slightly. She leaned toward the first boy, who was none other than Niall. They kissed each other and I could not help diverting attention. Only I was not very discreet because Liam - who was right in front of me - had just noticed. Everyone applauded. Everyone encouraged them. Everyone, except me.
After she kissed all the guys on the mouth, Marlene was drawing lots again.
This time it was a green sheet of paper.

"Ah!" She observed with a smile on her lips. "It's a group challenge! And he is for..."

She quickly unfolded the paper before reading aloud:

"For Amy, Louis, Niall, Liam and Margot. Do you agree to spend twenty-four in the forest without your phones?"

We all looked at each other. Obviously we accepted.

"Challenge accepted!" Exclaimed Amy, smiling.

This is how the nightmare began.

End of flashback:

I lay down next to my friend, who had not moved. She slept peacefully, both hands on her belly. I sighed when my back hit the dusty and uncomfortable floor of the little piece.
I stared at the ceiling, even though I could see it very little. Outside, I heard the boys talking. I can not say whether they were arguing or whether, on the contrary, they were talking quietly.

"Margot." Amy whispered.

I did not move. It was way too dark, and anyway we did not see each other.

"Are you okay?" She asked me, in a soft voice.

I restrained myself from acquiescing. She would not see it. I forced myself to answer, appearing as relaxed as possible:

"Yes and you?"

But Amy was not fooled. She knew something was bothering me. She knew I was not at my best.

"You want to talk about it?" She asked suddenly.

To tell the truth, I did not even know how to approach the subject. How can I tell her all the things that I have been keeping for myself for some time? How to tell her - without going for the girl who loved Niall more than well - that his behavior towards me had changed. It's like he does not calculate me anymore.
So I was content to answer what everyone would have done for me:

"It's just a little pout, it will pass."

She did not answer. I know she did not believe me. I moved, turning my back to her. I passed my left hand under my head, and closed my eyes. I tried to sleep.