Under the Tree

Sunday - February 23 / Monday - February 24

 Jaylen and Devon walked along Sherwood Ave, towards Chipotle. They were meeting Cece, who had asked them to study in LKD with her. Even though they had just come back from a tournament, they decided why not. It was around 9:30 and even for a Sunday night, Georgia Ave was busy with cars driving up and down. Chipotle was surprisingly packed, despite the restaurant about to close in a half hour. Cece was seated on the stools, facing the window. Her head was down as she ate.

Cece perked up as she saw the girls come in. Both carried their food from the restaurant that they'd stopped at on their way back from the tournament. The three of them ate, making jokes together and cutting up until an employee began to flicker the lights.

"You don't have to go home but you can't stay here. Chipotle is closed."

The girls decided it was time to get to LKD anyways. They scrambled up the hill, hoping to catch someone leaving the building. Even though Devon was an engineering student, she had no after-hours access. Fortunately for them, someone was leaving just as they reached the side entrance. They took the elevator up to the third floor, the stairs were hell and there was no way they'd be willing to walk up any of them.

The trio navigated the hallway slowly, looking for an empty, unlocked classroom. Spotting a janitor down the hall, Cece asked him if he could unlock the door for them. The janitor put in the code to the door, Cece watching carefully so that she could remember it.

Jaylen headed to a computer deciding to pull up her anatomy notes. Devon sat in a chair next to her, while Cece pulled out all of her physics notes and spread them across the tables. The girls talked as they worked, Devon deciding to pull up one of her digital systems labs. When they ran out of topics, Cece pulled out her iPad and began to play music. It was all slow love songs, which the girls didn't mind. They began to sing their hearts out, as if they'd even begun to experience the type of love being mentioned in the songs. The music affected them so much that they'd stopped paying attention to their work. All three of their voices blended together, the harmony echoing in the space.

"Oooh!"

"Okay!"

The slow ballads continued, more harmonizing. The girls stopped abruptly as they saw the light turn on in the other room. Jaylen looked hard at him, she felt like she'd seen him before, but couldn't place it. All three girls however, could smell his cologne, drifting from the other room into theirs.

"Is that... is that him?" Devon asked, looking up. The room was empty now and the lights turned off.

"Yep." Jaylen said getting up. She walked into the room, the lights still off. Cece and Devon laughed, waiting for Jaylen to return. As she did, there was a cheeky grin on her face.

"Now that is a man."

The three girls burst into laughter. Cece was up now, inspecting the work on the white board. She studied the equation carefully, clicking her tongue.

"This isn't right." she grumbled, reworking the equation. She then launched into her spiel about how engineers were more than eager to round numbers and tended to make errors in equations because of it. Devon laughed, defending herself and the rest of her major.

A while later, Jaylen found herself hungry and wanting a snack.

"I'm hungry." she whined.

"There's a vending machine downstairs in the reading room." Devon.

"Where's that?"

"When you get there, head to the left. I think the number is like 2008." Devon said, but she sounded unsure. Jaylen nodded, realizing she'd probably have to find it on her own. She left the room, propping the door open with a trash can. The empty hallway was eerily calm as she walked along, but Jaylen couldn't help but let her mind wander as she glanced into dark classrooms.

Reaching the second floor, Jaylen turned left as Devon had instructed. She studied the room numbers as she walked, sighing in relief as she found the reading room. Jaylen looked in the machine, deciding on a bag of regular potato chips. Luckily, there were four quarters in the pocket of her hoodie, which she used to buy her chips.

Jaylen stood in the doorframe, trying to retrace her steps. Suddenly, she smelled the same cologne from earlier. Hoping she could get a peak at the cute guy from earlier, she followed the scent. As it got stronger down the hall, she began to hear voices. She slowed down, stepping carefully, the closer the got the more she tiptoed. One thing made her stop in her tracks, she was close enough now to hear the voices. It was a mix of patois and English. Jaylen's heart was pounding in her ears, but still she continued to get closer to the source. The voices faded away, as Jaylen sank to her knees, crawling underneath the door to keep out of eyesight. She rose slowly, peeking through the bottom of the glass window. Her jaw dropped as she saw Miles standing with his arms crossed against his chest. Leo was there, and so was the mysterious man from earlier. He's in the Ark! Jaylen watched them carefully, thinking to herself that she should've known. The Ark was beginning to be in every facet of her life.

The voices stopped, and chanting started. Jaylen nearly fell back as the chanting grew louder. When they began to step, she got up and ran back towards the elevators. She bent over to catch her breath as the elevator dinged. She could hardly wait for the doors to open fully, before she sprinted back to the room. Devon and Cece jumped as she burst into the room.

"The Ark is downstairs!" she blurted, breathing heavily.

"Who?!"

"Where?!"

Jaylen tossed herself into the nearest chair, rolling halfway across the room. The other two girls waited for the answer anxiously, while Jaylen pulled herself together.

"They're... downstairs..." she panted.

"Who?" Cece asked, still out of the loop.

"Alpha Rho Kappa. We call them the Ark." Devon answered.

"You saw them? Did they see you?" Cece asked, concerned. She was the council on all things Greek for the two girls.

"I don't know. You want to go look for them? I know Devon does." She said, swinging in the chair.

Cece was hesitant, but she got up and followed the two girls downstairs. The hallway was silent, no more chanting or stepping could be heard. The girls got closer and closer until they heard voices out in the hallway, rounding the corner. They froze as the voices got closer to them. The shadows got smaller, meaning they were about to appear. They recognized the voices, Roman's was the loudest. Thinking quickly, Cece dashed into the reading room. Jaylen took off into the men's restroom, crouching on one of the seats. Devon turned and ran into the stairwell, collapsing onto the floor.

She rolled over as the voices came through, and echoed as they descended. Her heart skipped a beat as she heard Dominic's voice. When the voices finally disappeared, she returned to the second floor to find her friends. Cece was standing in the hallway, looking for Jaylen. The two girls stood in the middle of the hallway, wondering where she'd gone. The door to the men's bathroom opened, Jaylen clutching her chest.

Devon checked her watch, the time showing 2:45 AM. It had been an eventful night and now morning. The other girls must've felt it too, as all three of them collectively packed up their stuff.

"Roman would've punched all of us in the back of the head if he saw us."

Devon burst out laughing, pulling the backpack onto her shoulders.

By the time they made it outside, it was 3 AM, the girls hugging before they parted ways.