Knock! Knock! Knock!

"Five more minutes," Selena grumbled as she snuggled into her pillow. An annoyed groan escaped her throat when the knocking continued without any hope of stopping.

"Alright, fine! I'm getting up!" Selena stated out loud. She propped herself up by her elbows into a sitting position. She reached up to rub the sleep out of her eyes. "This better be good!" she grumbled, pulling her front door open.

Selena's right eyebrow twitched when she looked up to see Cedric with a big smile gracing his lips. "Why do I get the feeling you woke me up this early in the morning for absolutely no good reason," she stated before letting out a yawn from still being half asleep.

"Well, besides me wanting to check in on you. I wanted to tell you the organization will be having a party today," Cedric mentioned with excitement glittering in his eyes.

Selena grimaced when she realized that Cedric really didn't have a good reason to drag her out of her peaceful slumber. "One, I'm fine, and two, why would I go to a party when I could just study harder to get better as an exorcist?" she asked with annoyance, lacing each word that spilled from her lips.

A gasp escaped Cedric's throat when Selena didn't seem interested in the slightest about the party. "Are you sure you're not feeling sick? Normally, people are thrilled about the party," he stated, waving his hands around to emphasize his point more. "Plus, you can study pretty much every day when parties only happen after so many weeks," he brought up.

"Yeah, I don't think I'm interested. Thanks for the suggestion, though," Selena stated, about to close the door. She paused when a look of determination crawled onto his face.

"Come on, Selena. It'll be fun. You and I can bond more. Plus, you can see some of the other exorcists who will be there. Plus, I'll answer any spell questions or anything else you have on your mind. Please? I'm begging here," Cedric whined, clasping his hands together, hoping that Selena would give in to his suggestion.

Selena rolled her eyes before sighing. "Fine, you win. I'll go," she grumbled, unable to say no to him when he pleaded.

"Perfect! I'll see you later tonight then," Cedric stated with a bright, happy smile. He walked off with joy in his steps.

I just know I'm going to regret wasting my time, Selena thought, crawling back into her room. I'll just sleep for a while longer, she thought, staring at her bed and falling into it.

—--

Selena walked toward the main plaza when the sun went down, revealing all the twinkling stars above. Her eyes widened in awe when she saw string lights hanging above, softly illuminating everything below. When she got closer, she could hear people laughing amongst each other.

"Selena!" a woman called out to her.

Selena quickly turned around when she heard the woman's familiar voice. The woman charged at her, causing her long locks of light brown hair to bounce with each step she took. "Lyra, I wasn't expecting to see you here today," she stated before Lyra pulled her into a tight hug.

After a couple of minutes passed, Lyra pulled back. "After I heard about the party, I decided to show up, figuring that I might find you here. But I wasn't so sure since you aren't exactly the type who likes to party," she stated with a chuckle.

"What a minute! I'm the one who should be mad at you," Selena said, stomping her foot and pointing at Lyra. "You were supposed to meet me on the day of my arrival, but I haven't seen you until now," she pointed out, bothered why her friend hadn't tried harder to come visit her.

"Sorry about that. After receiving your text about your arrival date, I tried my best to show up, but because I was with the first batch of rookies. I ended up getting stuck on nothing but missions lately," Lyra stated. A long exhale left her lips, wishing she had been able to see her friend sooner.

Selena shook her head and crossed her arms. "Yeah, I know what you mean about missions. I had my first mission yesterday, and let's just say it didn't go as smoothly as I hoped it would," she stated with a look of defeat in her eyes.

Lyra lightly patted Selena's shoulder, trying to cheer her up. "That bad, huh? But don't worry, I'm sure your next mission will go much better," she said, trying to reassure her friend.

Selena cocked her head to the side as she tried to imagine the next mission she and Cedric would go on, only to see it going up in flames. "Yeah, for some reason, I highly doubt it's going to be any smoother than the last one," she said, reaching to pinch the bridge of her nose in frustration.

"That reminds me," Lyra said, clasping her hands together. "I was lucky to be paired with such an amazing partner. He's super nice and hot," she said, putting extra emphasis on how good-looking he was.

Selena let out a sigh as her head drooped forward in disbelief. "I should've known you were going to get distracted," she stated, causing Lyra to chuckle.

"Come on, surely you must have gotten distracted by the hot guys here. So, did you also get paired up with quite a handsome partner?" Lyra teased with raised eyebrows.

Selena's breath hitched, completely taken aback by her friend's comment. She felt a warmth spread across her cheeks. "I don't know what you're talking about!" she blurted out, trying to change the subject.

"Oh, wait! So, you do think he is handsome," Lyra teased, following after Selena since she refused to answer the question.

"I-I guess he's good-looking," Selena grumbled with a blush on her cheeks as she finally gave in to her friend's pestering.

"I knew it, so where is he?" Lyra asked, looking around the area.

Selena looked around the plaza where the party was occurring. All she saw were people she didn't recognize who were eating snacks, having a couple of drinks, chatting, and having a good time overall. "Strange, I don't think I see him. Funny, considering he's the one who begged me to come out here," she complained, crossing her arms.

"Well, in the meantime, why don't we sit down at a table, and I'll bring us some drinks," Lyra said with a smile before she ran off.

Selena shook her head before smiling. Doing as Lyra asked, she walked over to a table and sat down. Why bug me so much if you weren't going to show up? If it wasn't for Lyra being here, I would've been all alone, she thought while placing her hand in her open palm. She perked up when Lyra came walking over to the table.

"I brought some drinks," Lyra said with a bright smile on her lips. She placed a glass with pink liquid in front of Selena.

Selena pulled it close and sniffed it, smelling the alcohol right away. "I don't know if I want to drink this since I plan on studying a few spell books after the party is over," she explained, only to frown when Lyra barely heard a single word she said.

"I honestly think you should relax today and just worry about your studying tomorrow. Plus, it isn't like you'll become a great exorcist overnight; it'll take a little bit. So, don't be too hard on yourself," Lyra stated, pulling her drink toward her and taking a sip of it.

"Since your date isn't here. Can I hear what happened on your mission?" Lyra asked with a pleading look in her eyes.

Selena let out a sigh. "If you really want to know. We went to a club, nearly got killed by hypnotized people, battled an overpowered demon that almost killed us, and we practically destroyed the entire place," she explained, causing Lyra to make a face, regretting that she even asked about it.

"Now, I'm really starting to feel bad for you," Lyra pointed out before she took more gulps of her drink.

"I hope I didn't make you wait too long," a male called out to Selena.

"I thought you weren't going to show up?" Selena grumbled with a raised eyebrow as she turned to look up at Cedric.

"Sorry, I kind of had to do something first before I headed over here," Cedric sheepishly admitted with a nervous chuckle. "Whose your friend over here?" he asked, looking at the woman sitting across from Selena.

"Oh, this is Lyra. She's been a friend of mine for a long time," Selena explained to him.

"Wow, I feel cheated that I didn't get to meet a beauty like you sooner. My name is Cedric," Cedric stated with a grin.

"Aw, that's sweet of you to say," Lyza said, waving her hand, completely eating up his compliment.

Selena felt her eyebrow twitch. This hopeless damn flirt, she thought.