Hell University-Chapter 23 - 22: Preparation

Zein’s Point of View

I don’t know how I managed to fall asleep last night because of Supremo’s smile. I mean, it’s a once-in-a-blue-moon kind of thing, and this was the first time I had seen it, but it affected me so much.

I shook my head firmly. I stood up as the bell rang, signaling the start of lunch break.

"Where are you going? Aren’t you coming with us?" Mia asked curiously as she packed her things.

"No, we have something to do today, Supremo and I."

"Do?" Matt asked, frowning. "What exactly are you going to do?" He emphasized the "do."

"Do, as in, as a secretary. Gosh, Matt. Since when did your mind get so dirty?" I asked, shaking my head.

I wasn’t slow, I knew exactly what he meant. I wasn’t innocent, nor green-minded. I was open-minded.

"You two! Zein, could it be..." Vanessa squinted at me. "Do you like Supremo?" she asked with a smile.

I winced at her question before rolling my eyes. "Be scared of what you’re saying, Van. We’re not even friends, let alone lovers. I have no idea what you’re talking about!" I replied, pretending to be annoyed.

But honestly, it was true. How could I possibly like Supremo? He even outdid us girls during our periods, except for last night when some good spirit seemed to possess him, overall... he was still a complete monster. And I guess that was reason enough for me to hate him.

"Tss..."

Matt suddenly walked away as he ran his fingers through his hair. He only did that when he was annoyed or angry.

Dave and Jerome exchanged glances before laughing. What was with them?

"Boss walked out! Do you know why?" Dave asked me, laughing.

"Hungry?" I replied absentmindedly.

I didn’t see any other reason for him to walk out, unless he was really hungry and could no longer hold himself back.

"Or maybe... nature’s call?" I added. "UGH! Never mind, I have to go! I might get scolded again." I said goodbye as I slung my backpack over my shoulder.

"Take care! Someone still loves you out there!" Jerome shouted, but I didn’t pay him any mind.

Those two were really crazy. I stopped walking when I saw who was approaching: Roxane and Mr. Poser, I mean, Raze, supposedly.

Roxane raised an eyebrow at me before looping her arm through Raze’s and pressing her chest against his. Bitch.

Was she showing off her boyfriend to me? The leader of Devil God Warrior? The King of HU?

I just shook my head. If only she knew.

"Hi, Ms. Shion," she greeted me arrogantly.

I glanced at Raze, who was avoiding eye contact. Pft. Guilty. I thought Raze was supposed to be scary? Frightening? Why did he look like he was afraid of me? Haha.

"You probably know who I’m with, right?" she asked smugly, looking at Raze, who was now staring at me. "You’ve already experienced his ferocity. Right?" She laughed loudly.

"Yeah. And I must say, it tastes like hell," I replied with a smile. "I was so scared back then," I added.

Roxane laughed loudly. "Next time, don’t ever cross me again if you don’t want to disappear from this world quickly. Let’s go, babe." They brushed past me.

I couldn’t help but laugh. Poor Queen Roxane. Pathetic, powerless queen. I knew something she didn’t, a secret that would shatter her world if she ever found out.

When I arrived at the SSG Office, a huge pile of papers stacked on my desk immediately greeted me, "What is this for?" I asked Onel, who was busy with his own work.

"Supremo said to put it in the stock room," he replied without even looking at me. He must be really busy, huh?

My gaze landed on Supremo’s empty desk. "Where is he?" I asked.

"He’s checking on the students and those who break the rules," he said, laughing.

I reluctantly carried the papers from my desk. I was about to leave when Fritzy suddenly entered, pouting.

"Wait for me!" she said, grabbing some papers from the desk and carrying them as well.

"I’m not even his secretary anymore, yet he still tries to boss me around! Hmp!" she muttered irritably.

I laughed, so she shot me a look. Supremo had also instructed her to help, thankfully, because I had no idea how many trips it would take me to finish all these papers.

We walked together, and she kept whispering constantly.

"What? Enjoying being Supremo’s secretary?" Fritzy teased, trying to annoy me.

"It’s fine."

"Fine? Doesn’t he make you carry papers every day? Send you to buy things? Scold you? Haven’t you experienced harsh words from him?" she asked.

"You’re right. Well, that’s just how he is. What can I do?" I replied briefly to her long question.

That’s just how Supremo is. But he does have kindness, when possessed by a good spirit, though most of the time, it’s an evil one that inhabits him.

I suddenly remembered his smile from last night. Would it happen again?

"Why can’t he just carry these himself?" I complained now, since the stock room was still far away.

"What? Supremo? You want him to carry papers like these? In your dreams! He probably hasn’t even wiped his own desk yet! He always orders me to do it!" she complained.

Then I suddenly remembered when he had helped me wipe the tables in the cafeteria. "You’re not so sure..." I replied.

"What do you mean by that?! Ugh! I don’t know about you!"

When we arrived at the stock room, we immediately dropped the papers and left because the dust was making my nose hurt. How many decades had it been since this place was cleaned?

"So tiring!" Fritzy said while stretching her arms. "Let’s get some juice from the cafeteria first," she added, not even waiting for me to agree or disagree.

She was a different kind of girl. I shook my head but followed her anyway. I was thirsty, too. Carrying those useless papers all that way had been exhausting.

Many people were eating because it was lunch break, but I didn’t see any of my friends. They were probably in the dorm, they apparently preferred Matt’s cooking over the chef’s here.

I winced as Fritzy suddenly cut into the long line. "What the–?! Gorgeous goes first!" she shouted, leaving everyone else no choice but to step back and give her space.

I decided to go to the back of the line since I wasn’t like Fritzy who always tried to overtake everyone.

"Hey! What are you doing there?" she asked.

"Standing in line. Is that not obvious?" I retorted, raising my eyebrow in response to hers.

"There’s a policy here! Gorgeous first! So you go to the back of me!" she said.

I hunched over and moved behind her, not wanting to hear her deafening shouting, which reached all the way outside the cafeteria.

Where did she even get this "gorgeous first" policy?! This girl, always inventing ways to cut in line. I was thirsty, too.

"Where’s my guava juice?! How dare you keep the goddess waiting, you might get a bruise!" she complained impatiently.

"Just a moment, miss..." said the woman pouring juice into a glass.

"Five seconds!"

I couldn’t help but laugh at the drama and fussiness of this girl. The glass of juice was quickly handed to her.

It was my turn.

"What would you like, miss?" the woman asked me.

"Orange ju-"

"Give her guava juice." My eyes narrowed as Fritzy suddenly spoke up.

Was there no freedom to choose anymore?

The woman looked at me hesitantly. I just nodded, knowing Fritzy wouldn’t back down, and guava juice wasn’t bad anyway.

"There! We’re partners!" Fritzy said happily, even clinking our glasses together.

The taste wasn’t bad, but I still preferred orange juice.

It was already afternoon by the time Fritzy and I finished moving the papers. Her dramatics didn’t help, she kept on checking and applying make-up on herself every time we passed by a restroom, rested on the bench, and even scolded the people we passed, so it took us all afternoon to finish.

I was about to leave the SSG Office when Supremo arrived, clearly tired as well.

"Done?" he asked. I just nodded.

His hair was messy, and his glasses were crooked, as if they had been roughly handled. I couldn’t help but laugh at the thought.

"What’s so funny?" he asked, frowning, which made me stop immediately.

"N-nothing," I replied..

He was grumpy again. See? He must have just been possessed last night because that was definitely not him.

"Are you ready?" he asked, causing my brow to furrow.

"For what?" I asked.

He shook his head and rummaged through his drawer. I was about to leave when he spoke again.

"Wait." He handed me a rectangular box.

"What’s this?" I asked. Was it a gift? Why wasn’t it wrapped? It wasn’t even my birthday.

I just tucked it into my backpack and walked home. Suddenly, I remembered that Bloody Week was starting tomorrow.

When I arrived at the dorm, I covered my mouth in shock. There were so many knives on the table, being fussed over by Matt, Dave, and Vanessa.

"What are these for?!" I exclaimed, and they all turned to look at me.

I walked closer and examined the knives. They were so sharp it felt like you’d get cut just by touching them.

"We need to prepare," Jerome said.

"I don’t want to! No matter what happens, I won’t touch that!" Vanessa said from a distance.

Preparation for Bloody Week? Gosh! Even I couldn’t bring myself to touch something like that. It was terrifying. "This is just for emergency purposes. We’ll just keep it in our bags," Dave said.

I glanced at Matt, who was clearly opposed to the idea as well.

"That’s a bad idea." I muttered.

"Starting tomorrow, Death will be right beside us. So if you don’t want to be caught by it, take one of these and hide it in your bag," Dave said, clearly the one who had planned this.

My eyes narrowed when I saw Mia take one. "I won’t use this unless it’s absolutely necessary," she said.

Dave nodded at her before turning to Vanessa, who shook her head.

"Not me," Vanessa said, walking into her room.

Jerome simply sighed and took two, probably for Vanessa.

Now, it was just Matt and me they were looking at.

"No," I spoke.

Matt looked at me, clearly worried. "I’ll take two, just in case you change your mind," he said. 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

"My mind won’t change. I will not use those knives. No matter what," I replied firmly.

"We are in danger, Zein. If we don’t help ourselves, who will help us? No one," Jerome said.

I shook my head. "I just don’t want to," I repeated.

They had no choice but to put the knives away. I lay down beside Vanessa, who was deep in thought.

"Do you think we can survive this?" she asked absentmindedly.

I sat up and gently urged her to sit as well. I turned her to face me, she was clearly losing hope, and I needed to give her strength.

"No one among us will die. Remember that," I said.

"How can you be so sure? Our lives are no longer in our hands!"

Her face crumpled as she looked out the window.

"We’re right here beside you. We won’t leave one another starting tomorrow. We’ll protect each other." She looked back at me and smiled, and I couldn’t help but smile as well.

"I hope so, Zein. I truly hope so..." she said softly.

I didn’t fall asleep right away; I simply watched Mia and Vanessa, who were already asleep.

"I won’t let anything bad happen to you," I said into the silence.

My eyes fell on my backpack, and I remembered the box Supremo had given me earlier. I went over and opened my bag.

I studied the wooden box carefully. What could be inside? Why had he given it to me all of a sudden?

I opened it slowly. My eyes widened, and I dropped the box. I covered my mouth and my heart started to race.

Shit!

What is this?