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The Deans had been kind enough to give the students a break in between challenges. This meant they could actually relax and get their bearing in the afterlife without worrying about what was going to come after them this time.
Somehow or another, the students all conclusively decided upon doing a campfire on the school grounds. The weather was fair and there were no bugs to be worried about. Any monsters that lurked about, did so behind the fence.
Several campfires were created and set up and students brought out snacks to roast over the fires and drinks to chug down. Duke had found the Dean's alcohol, and no doubt many demerits because of this, and had liberally distributed the drinks.
It was surprisingly strong and why Annabel found she had to pretend to drink from her cup once she began to feel the dizzying effects hitting her hard. She had a charade to maintain and she feared that drinking anymore would lead to her running into Lenore's lap. Not that it would be far. For some reason, Lenore's and Annabel's groups had gravitated towards each other and were sitting by the same campfire. Perhaps it might have had something to do with how this was the last available campfire and the two groups had decided to duke it out over who should have it by way of a drinking competition that left everyone more drunk than they'd wanted and sitting together anyways.
Lenore was sat right in front of Annabel a fire burning between them, and Annabel could feel her eyes drifting upwards to glance at her before she physically restrained them. The combination of alcohol and Lenore so close was making Annabel's heart beat harder.
Luckily, a lot of the group was steadily drinking themselves into the dirt. Maybe she could chance a glance?
Lenore was drinking from the cup in her hand, her top buttons and neck tie undone to help with the heat filling her body, a look that Annabel greatly appreciated. Duke was on her left, doing magic tricks by making the shot glass mysteriously fill with alcohol without a bottle around, while Pluto sat on her other side contently smiling at Eulalie who was rambling on about butterflies needing homes.
Berenice sat by Eulalie's side and was drinking like a fish, singing some jazz song before she and Ada clinked cups. Ada was barely able to sit on the log but Morella was holding onto her waist with one arm though she wasn't that far behind Ada in terms of drinking. They'd soon need a rope to keep them upright and from falling off the log.
On the other side of Duke sat Montresor who was holding a bottle of whiskey and was talking with Will about something while Will laughed gently, admiration in his eyes for his supposed friend. Prospero sat next to Annabel, staring into his cup. If not for the bright tint to his cheeks, she never would have guessed he'd drank, holding himself very well composed. Though there was a slight sway and dip to his shoulders ever so often.
“This was a grand idea,” Berenice said, raising her glass in the air, to toast Lenore. “A nice sit down is just what we needed. Though it could do without a few pests.” She glanced over at Montresor and Will.
“Now, don't be like that,” Montresor said, puffing out his chest, his drawl dragging into a crawl due to all he had drunk. “I actually like the little lady. Shame she's intent on rebuffing me. We could have been great together.”
“Wait, you have a crush on her?” Berenice asked, blinking rapidly.
“I more so want to sleep with her, but sure, we can call it a crush, ” Montresor said, grin spreading and making a sick feeling make itself known in Annabel's guts that had nothing to do with drinking too much. She wasn't surprised he had interest in Lenore. He clearly saw her potential, her extraordinary nature. Annabel had warned him off once not so long ago, how did she warn him off a second time in a way that would the threat stick?
She thought about it, to try and distract herself from the ugly feelings Montresor's words had inspired in her.
Lenore stuck out her tongue in disgust while Duke made a scandalized face and grabbed Lenore by the shoulders to keep her safe. “As if she would ever deign to go within five feet of you willingly!”
He held up his hands. “That's fine with me. The chase makes it all the more sublime.”
“You stay away from her!” Berenice threatened. Her liquid sloshed around in her glass as she gestured violently at him.
“Hey, Monty's allowed to like who he likes, and so am I,” Will said, slinging an arm around Montresor who nodded his head but then stopped to arch a brow at him.
“You like someone?” This was news to him. He thought he knew everything about Will and held it in the palm of his hand.
“Well, I like her cause you like her,” Will said with a happy smile as Montresor shook his head as if of course that would be the reason why Will liked Lenore. Annabel felt another unpleasant jolt go through her. Will too? Well, he was no threat. He was merely a follower of Montresor's.
Montresor tipped the end of the Will's cup up and forced Will to finish the rest of his drink.
“Don't waste a good liquor,” Montresor urged, filling it with more whiskey from his bottle when Will happily complied, before turning to Berenice. “And be careful little lady. You're awfully defensive. Don't want people thinking you're the one who has a crush on her.”
Berenice's cheeks colored.
Duke gasped and grabbed Lenore again to hold onto her more tightly. Lenore let out a small noise of protestation. She was merely trying to drink her drink in peace.
“Say it ain't so!” Duke exclaimed.
“I did. A while back,” Berenice said, scoffing. “I mean, could you blame me? Lenore is so gallant when she comes to the rescue. And she's tall.”
Berenice's words received a few head nods of agreement. Annabel felt her stomach drop to her feet. Berenice had liked Lenore?? Her hand grew tight on the cup she was holding. Annabel had to keep an eye on Montresor, Will, and Berenice.
“I had a crush on her,” Eulalie said. “I still do. Something about Lenore is so mysterious and other worldly.”
“Other worldly?” Lenore mouthed. She was beginning to look intensely uncomfortable with this situation. She tried to catch Annabel's eyes but Annabel was pointedly not looking at her right now and into the bottom of her cup.
Pluto's head dipped down but Eulalie latched onto him. “Don't worry. I like you more!”
At this his face turned bright red and Berenice awed at how cute Pluto was.
Another person to add to the hit list, Annabel concluded internally. She was beginning to genuinely fret. How was she to keep track of all of these people while manipulating all of them and trying to get her and Lenore to the finish line?
“Well, at least I know Pluto doesn't like me,” Lenore said, chuckling at Pluto's flush. He shook his head and held his forefinger and thumb apart, minutely.
Lenore's eyes bulged out and she yelped out a “what?!”
“I liked you a bit. At the start. Especially during the maze. You have a very calming presence,” he said shyly, ducking his head down. Eulalie squealed and hugged him to her.
“We're twinning!” she exclaimed. “Now we can both talk about how we crushed on Lenore.”
Annabel's eye was twitching. No, perhaps they could not talk about how they both liked Lenore. In fact, this entire topic should be stopped.
“Why don't we talk about something else?” Annabel began only to be talked over by Ada. Who was very belligerently drunk.
“Ha!” she exclaimed loudly. “You guys only liked her a little? Well, I liked her a lot! She was suave and cool and had that whole bad girl appeal. I tried to push her away for the better good, but my heart kept tugging her to me,” Ada said, throwing a hand over her forehead dramatically.
Annabel was going to kill Ada. Suffocate her with a pillow in her sleep.
“And then when I fell down the stairs, she held me aloft, all with one hand. Like a knight out of a book. We were so close, if only she'd reach down it would have been a perfect moment for a kiss.”
A pillow was too kind. Annabel would beat her over her head with a heavy book.
“And then she helped me lace up my corset,” Ada said, with a dreamy look on her eyes. “The way her hands expertly laced me in, touching me up and down-”
“I didn't do any of that!” Lenore protested heatedly.
No, a book was too civil. Annabel was going to put Ada's head in between the doorway and slam the door shut on her multiple times. Her hands were shaking with anger. She curled them up to try to get them to stop.
“Maybe not but a girl can dream~” Ada sighed out, trying to rest her head on her fist and missing, only to plop down into Morella's lap ungracefully face first.
Morella kindly helped her up.
“Wait,” Ada said loudly, grabbing onto Morella's face. “You've seen Lenore undress before. Since you're roommates. What does she look like!” She then grabbed for Morella's hands to squeeze tightly and Morella chuckled awkwardly.
“I don't look when we change,” she said.
Lenore gave a grateful thank you to Morella.
“Oh don't try to be bashful,” Ada said. “You've told me how you wished you could get to know Lenore better. Didn't you like her?”
Morella turned beet red and sheepishly looked down at her shoes. “I did have a crush on her.” She admitted. “She was so kind to me. And caring. It really helped me out when I first got here.”
Morella too?
Oh Annabel hated to kill such a sweet girl, but it must be done. She began to tick off on her fingers how many people she would need to eliminate to make sure Lenore only had eyes for her. So far most of them were seated by the campfire.
“Not my roommate liking me too,” a flustered Lenore chugged back the rest of her drink and began to make herself another one. She was going to need a lot more to get through the night.
“Since we're at it, I liked you as well, mon amie!” Duke said.
“My best friend too?!” she yelped out.
Annabel was furious. She wanted to rip Duke away from Lenore right now. Rip Lenore away from everyone here and lock her in a room where the two of them could just exist without this outside world bothering them.
“I thought you were gay,” Lenore said to Duke.
“I am. I simply thought you were a guy for a little while,” he said, laughing to himself and Lenore shook her head in amusement.
“Surely someone hasn't liked you yet,” Duke suggested and they all turned in unison to stare at Prospero who sighed out begrudgingly.
“I contemplated a relationship with her, contemplated being the key word,” Prospero said and everyone gasped. Prospero had thought of such a thing? He wasn't the type to. “You are charming, and if you put your dedication to good cause you could be unstoppable. Winning with ease instead of earning demerits.”
He glanced at where his nails would be if his gloves were off. “However, it was mercifully very short lived.”
Annabel felt horribly betrayed by Prospero admitting to this. Of all people she trusted him not to like Lenore. What the hell! Her friendship with him was over.
“Is there anyone that hasn't had a crush on Lenore?” Duke asked.
“You've been awfully quiet queenie,” Montresor said and Annabel's stomach lurched to the ground. They all turned to look at her and her heart beat began to increase as breathing began to feel difficult.
“Did you have a crush on Lenore?” Montresor said, and Annabel felt the pressure fall onto her shoulders. Panic quickly was replaced by false confidence and Annabel placed a hand to her chest. “ME? I've never had a crush on Lenore.”
“I find that hard to believe,” Prospero murmured into his cup and she almost reflexively elbowed him but her manners saved her. Honestly, why was he adding fuel to the fire.
“Lenore is the one that had a crush on me!” Annabel added on. At this everyone's heads whipped over to Lenore in scandal. She almost choked on her sip and coughed, Duke patting her on the back until she recovered.
“Of course she'd like Annabel,” Ada slurred. “It's why I tried so hard to keep Lenore away from her. To protect Annabel.”
“She did call out your name a few times while she slept,” Morella added on to which Duke slapped Lenore on the back, almost knocking the cup out of her hands while everyone roared in laughter. To them, this was irrefutable evidence that Lenore liked Annabel.
“What kind of dreams were they?” Eulalie asked, no doubt in an innocent manner but Duke only grinned.
“Oh the sordid sort I am certain,” he said nudging Lenore who turned bright red.
Pluto flushed in solidarity and then his own shame when Eulalie turned to him. “Oh, I wonder if you've ever had those about me?”
“So, is it true?” Montresor hummed. They all leaned in, waiting for Lenore to answer. She gulped, unsure what to say. Annabel felt bad for putting Lenore on the spot, but better to consider Lenore had a crush on her- after all she was the roguish scoundrel- then the other way around. It would call Annabel's leadership and motives into question.
She hoped Lenore would understand. Lenore straightened out her shoulders and got up, everyone following her motions with eager eyes. Lenore strode up with determined steps and approached Annabel, dropping down to one knee in front of her and taking her hand into hers.
“I suppose since you've caught me, I have no choice but to confess.” She pressed a kiss to the back of Annabel's hand and gave her her most smoldering look. It struck Annabel right through the core, rendering her brain to mush. “Annabel Lee, I harbor feelings for you of the romantic sort. My heart aches for you each and every day. Will you give me a chance to court you?”
Annabel's face turned red and there was no hiding it. She was disarmed in the face of Lenore's charm. She couldn't even find her tongue to gaslight her way out of this situation.
“Ha, looks like Lenore got another one!” Duke cried out as they all erupted into laughter.