35

It's finally the last day of Greece, tomorrow, we're leaving.

We burst into Daniela's room, the door clattering against the wall as it slammed shut behind us. Before I could say a word, her arms were around my waist, her lips smashing against mine.

I gasped in surprise, my arms instinctively wrapping around her neck. Her body pressed me against the wall, pinning me there as her tongue slipped into my mouth.

You would think of it as a heated kiss, but no, it was filled with passion.

I giggled as she made her way to my neck, tickling me as her teeth scrapes against my flesh.

"Let me take you out to dinner tonight." She murmured against my skin, her lips leaving a trail of soft kisses along my neck.

Her hands slid under my shirt, caressing the bare skin of my waist, making me shiver.

My hands slide down to hold onto her shoulders. I hesitate, thinking about how safe it'll be for us. "What about Iris?" I ask, but focused more on her kisses moving down my neck.

She paused for a moment, her lips hovering just above my collarbone.

"Iris can entertain herself for one night." She whispered, her fingers beginning to unbutton my hawaiian shirt.

Suddenly there was a knock at the door and we both paused.

"Vic, I know you're in there." Iris' voice drifted through the door. "I'm boreddddd." She whined, knocking again.

My shirt hung open, my bikini top underneath peeking through.

Daniela leaned her forehead lazily against mine, and a deep sigh escape her lips. "She has the worst timing ever." She grumbled, her fingers digging into my waist.

I chuckle before I pushed her lightly off and quickly began rebuttoning my shirt.

Daniela stared at me with full amusement in her eyes before stepping back even more. She walked to the couch as I made my way to the door and opened it.

Iris stood there, phone in hand, and an expression of pure boredom on her face.

"Finally." She groaned, pushing past me and into the room before I could say anything.

The second Iris saw Daniela sitting there, she spin around and walked back to me. Her jaw was hanging wide open as she pushed me outside the room into the hallway.

The door shut behind us.

Iris faced me with wide eyes, a more excited glare. "Did I just interrupt you two having sex?" Her head was tilted down, speaking low and quiet.

A blush crept on my face. "What, no! I mean... we were getting there I think."

"So wait, you actually did talk to her?" Iris started smirking, "atta' girl!"

A goofy smile spread on my face too. "Yeah, we talked and..." My smile grew, too happy to make out words. "Yeah."

Seeing Iris stand there with a huge grin, it gets on my nerves. And immediately, my mind was racing.

I can see the excitement in her eyes and I'm grateful that she's happy for me, for Daniela and I, and that she's not freaked out. But Daniela wanted this to be kept a secret, and I agree with her. If one person finds out about our relationship, bye-bye Daniela's reputation, and hello jail. Not like she can actually be taken in to custody for this, because I'm an adult and gave my full consent. I want her, I do. And I want Iris to know, but it's too risky and I have a feeling she already knows too much.

I didn't want to lie, but I had too.

A million different excuses came up to mind, but I want for a more logical one. "Yeah, actually I'm going to call it quits after today." I said as if it was nothing big, but it was even difficult forming those words.

Iris furrowed her eyebrows, a look of confusion. "Wait, what? Why?"

"Well..." I try to find the correct words to make her believe me, "She's our professor, and we both know it would effect her job. Plus, it was just a fling. I'm not like... in love with her or anything."

She stared at me blankly, her mouth hanging open as she process the information. "Huh." She shrugged and nodded, "That it makes sense." She pouted. "But I really thought something would happen between you two. I would've kept my mouth shut."

Here comes that guilty feeling.

I took a deep breath in, trying to stick to the act. "Yeah, well, I'm still young. I don't need to jump into relationships right now, especially not with a teacher." I sighed. Iris continued staring at me with a frown, so I tried to change the topic before she could say anything else. "Anyways, let's not talk about that right now." I wave a hand.

"You're bored?" I asked.

Iris took a few seconds before nodding.

I knew she wanted to continue this talk about professor and I, from her face, but she held it back.

She looked around the hallway, left and right. "Yeah, this place is gorgeous, but too much peace and quiet makes me lose my mind." I knew she wanted to scream right here, right now, so that there's just some kind of noise.

As we were talking and thinking about some plans, the door opened and Daniela came out into the hallway next to me. I could feel my face heat up and I glanced at Iris, worried she'd notice, but she was too caught up complaining. Her eyes were glanced to the floor, deep in mind as she rambled to herself.

Daniela glanced at us curiously. "What's all the complaining about?"

"Iris is bored." I explained, amused. "Apparently, she thinks being on a beach and drinking cocktails isn't exciting enough."

The way Daniela's emerald eyes stared right through my soul send shivers down my spine. I knew she was trying her best to keep her hands off me. After this little time that we've been together, I learned that physical touch is her love language, and spoiling.

A lot of spoiling.

"Well, you're both in luck," she said, "The administrators just contacted me, and we need to go back to the hall. The results are in."

Just like that, Iris shut her mouth by a pout forming on her lips.

By the time we arrived at the hall, the sun was nearly setting and the sky was painted in a wash of orange and pink. The hall itself was grand, like when we wrote in here-- the large room with

white walls and a high beamed ceiling.

It had rows of chairs set up in front of the stage.

There were already students and professors there, everyone waiting anxiously, chattering amongst themselves.

I was sitting in between Iris and Daniela.

My hands clenched in my lap, trying to keep my nervousness under control. Daniela must have noticed my tension because she reached over and gently squeezed my knee.

I turned my head to her a flashed a smile, and she returned it.

But just as the moderators, administrators, and the host, Nikolas, entered up stage, her hand disappeared.

Mr. Antoniou took the podium and smiled at the room, "Welcome, all contestants and audience." He began, "I'm sure you know why you're all here today, so without further ado, let's get to it."

"The results of the contest have finally been calculated and confirmed. As you know, we've had a number of impressive submissions, and it's been a close call between each one of you. I would like to call upon Head Moderator, Doc J. Smith to announce the winners of the Greek Writing and Language Contest, and will be moving on to the next round."

Head Mod, Doc. J Smith stepped up to the microphone, a small but polite smile on her face. She had very short blonde hair and a bunch of piercings in her left ear, dressed very formally in a black suit.

"Thank you, Nikolas." She said, her voice calm and collected. "I know everyone is very anxious and excited for us to announce the winners, so, we'll get straight to the point."

"The writers who have made it to the final three are..." She paused, her eyes scanning over the room before finally settling on one side of the room.

"Lilian van Tonder, AJ Marks and Cassidy Davis."

In that moment, my heart sunk and my shoulders fell to the chair.

There was a pause in the hall as the names were registered, before everyone erupted in applause and congratulated each other.

I looked at Iris who gave me the same disappointed eyes back, and then at Daniela.

I looked at her, half expecting to see disappointment mirrored on her face. Her expression was still neutral, but there was a flicker of an emotion I couldn't quite place in her eyes.

That was until she turned her head to me with a sigh, closing her eyes for a split second.

She suddenly speaks up, grabbing my attention. "Let's go."

Once she opened her eyes and they locked onto mine, there was so much emotions beneath that emeralds.

A frown spread across my face.

"But, we can't leave until it's--" I tried speaking, but stopped when I saw the look on her face.

"We can and we will." She interrupt me, getting up and grabbing her things.

I had no choice but to stand up too, not wanting to get on her bad side even more. Iris looked up at us with a frown.

"Wait, what?" Iris got up too, "Are we leaving?"

"We are." Daniela said coldly, "Come on."

So, we, at least me and Iris, did our walk of shame through the rows of people. Everyone was still so busy cheering and talking to one another, they didn't care about us leaving, let alone saw us.

Security escorted us out and now we stood outside on the sidewalk, looking up and down the road.

I stated to myself, "The driver's not here yet." Iris heard and groaned out loud, pacing up and down.

As I look at Daniela, it was clear she was disappointed, and now having to wait was slowly ticking her off.

Iris, who couldn't stand, was also starting to lose her patience. "Why'd we have to leave so early?" She huffed, crossing her arms over her chest.

Professor leaned against the wall. "Because there was no need to be there." She closed her eyes, trying to calm down and tilt her head back.

I frowned as I heard her tone of voice, a bit pissed off. She better not be speaking like that to us for not making it through to the next round.

I turned and stepped closer to her.

"We tried our best." I said and Iris kept her distance, staring at us from afar, not wanting to interfere.

Her eyes flickered to me, but the seriousness in them didn't go away. The longer she stared at me, the more I got self-conscious, but I tried remaining my ground and hold the eye contact.

The shine of the moon in the night sky casted a glow against her and the building she was leaning against.

She's pretty.

But I kept angrily staring at her, trying to mask my nervousness.

"I know you tried. You and Iris," she said, her voice strict, "And I'm proud of you for that. But the results speak for themselves, don't they?"

I scoff, staring at her in disbelief. "Seriously?" She raised her eyebrow at me. "There's students from all over the world. What was the chances either one of us got through?"

"No, you, Victoria, represented NYU." She said, "You're one of the five students that actually understands Spanish to it's fullest."

My frown deepens as she speaks.

Iris mumbled, "I'm here too."

"Trust me, me and the other lecturers from the universities spoke. They all agreed that you had a chance to win. But it's because you two have been slacking off these past few days, not learning and just being all over the place except for your studies."

I shrugged sarcastically. "Guess my luck ran out." I said harshly.

She pushed herself off the wall and stood up straight in front of me, clearly not appreciating my attitude.

"Watch your tone," she warned, her voice low. "I understand you're disappointed, but that doesn't give you an excuse to act like a child."

I stare at her with wide, shocked eyes before stepping back. My jaw clenched and unclenched, looking back at Iris.

She quickly look away into the distance with wide eyes-- whistling awkwardly as she do.

I sighed before walking towards her.

I grab her wrist, yanking her down the street with me. "Come on, let's get out of here." She was confused, but didn't mind the fact that she was getting dragged like a dog.

As we began to walk away, Daniela spoke up. "Where do you think you're going?" She said, flames in her eyes. "I told your dad I'd keep an eye on you!"

I paused, my hand tightening its grip on Iris's wrist. The urge to turn on her and snap back was overwhelming, but I kept my cool.

I then started walking again and tugged on Iris' sleeve.

Iris looked at me with concern, and also a bit uncomfortable having to choose sides between me and Daniela.

She had no choice but to follow me as I dragged her with. "Are you sure this is a good idea?" She asked, normally being the one who'd be up to breaking the rules.

"No."