Hold You In My Arms

"Did you call us?" Ezlyn managed herself and asked with a low voice.

The boys were looking at the girls standing in front of them from their toe to head. One of them even makes some bad sound and another one whistles at them. 

One of the boys in the group asked with a devilish smile in his lips, "What's your name? And which year?"

Ezlyn answered in fear, "First year."

Another boy looked at Calista from her toe to head. But his gaze was locked on Calista's tiny waist. The boy pinched another boy next to him and gestured to him to ask  questions to Calista.

The boy looked at Calista and asked, frowning his brows, "And what is your name?"

Calista wasn't able to utter a single word from her mouth out of fear. 

Calista is an introverted girl. She doesn't have any communication skills. What she does is look at what Ezlyn is doing. And Ezlyn hates this fact of Calista. Ezlyn wants Calista to fight for herself. Only Ezlyn knows how Calista passes her days. Ezlyn suggested Calista many times to protest for herself when her stepmother torture her but Calista does nothing. She just endures everything.

Calista was afraid that she started swallowing. Ezlyn took a glimpse of Calista and understood that she wasn't gonna talk.

 So Ezlyn took a deep breath and uttered, "Her name is Calista."

The leader of the group took a glimpse of the two girls in front of them and spouted,  "Don't you know you have to show respect to your seniors on campus?"

Ezlyn looked down and answered, "Yes, we know."

The leader said with an angry voice, "Then you saw us and left without greeting us! That's how you show respect!"

Another boy uttered mockingly, "Shame shame! They have no manners."

Ezlyn uttered, "Sorry seniors, we both have done wrong and it will not happen again."

 The leader said again, frowning his eyebrows, "You're the only one talking. Can't she talk or dumb?" The leader said the last sentence while looking at Calista.

 Everyone started laughing out loud when they heard their leader. 

How can Calista talk? Her throat went dry with fear. She lowered her head and leaned closer to Ezlyn's body. 

Ezlyn said seeing Calista's condition, "Senior, she is actually a little shy. She can't talk to anyone easily. That's why she is quiet."

The leader said, more like mocking, "Shy! My God. Like seriously!"

The leader looked at the boys and uttered,  "You guys heard her? She is a shy girl."

Everyone burst into laughter. Tears came to Calista's eyes for fear. Ezlyn was angry inside but couldn't say anything. Because she knew if she said something to them, it would be worse. 

After everyone laughed for a long time, the leader  said again with a devilish smile, "Hmmm, then what do you say to break the shame of this shy girl?"

At once everyone agreed. 

One said, "Yes, bro, you are right. You should break her shyness."

Calista and Ezlyn got scared after hearing them. Because they didn’t know what they would do. They could do worse. 

"What do they mean by breaking my shame?" Calista whispered in Ezlyn's ears in a frightened voice.

Ezlyn heard Calista and swallowed at Calista's question. Ezlyn was frightened too.

Ezlyn somehow managed to talk to them and uttered, "No no, she is fine like this. She doesn't need to break her shyness. Please let us go."

One of the seniors asserted, "Uh! Let you both go! Sorry dear, we can't let her go. But we can let you go."

Ezlyn swallowed and didn't know what to do. She doesn't want to be there but she also can't leave Calista with them. Finding no other choice, Ezlyn stayed there.

But she begged, "Please, seniors, we will never do what we have done. We will listen to you. But please let us go."

The boy said, "You can go but it's the responsibility of the seniors to help the juniors. So our responsibility now is how to break her shame."

Another one said, " Umm, what can we do to break her shyness? Let me think, let me think."

 He said the words in a thoughtful manner with his hand on his cheek.

 After a while he blew the trumpet in front of his face and narrated,  "Yes, I got an idea."

 Then the boy raised his hand and pointed towards the main gate of the university and said to Calista, "You see the gate, right? Go and stand in front of that gate. What you have to do is notice the first person to enter through that gate after standing. Whoever he is, you have to kiss him. Don't worry, it will work. It will definitely break your shyness, girl."

Saying this, all the boys shared glances with each other and smiled with cockiness.

Calista was about to faint after listening to them.

" What are they saying? I can never do that. How can I kiss anyone entering through that gate? No no, I can't."  Calista was thinking this while in fear.

On the other hand, Ezlyn breathed a sigh of relief after hearing their seniors. 

Ezlyn thought to herself, "I was scared by their words. I thought they wanted to do something wrong to Calista. That's why I was scared. But It's so easy. Calista just needs to kiss someone. She can do it easily." Thinking that Ezlyn smiled out of relief.

The leader of the group said, " Go then and get started." He looked at Calista and gestured to her to go.

Calista shook her head helplessly and explained, "Senior, I'm so sorry. I can't do that." Calista said that while looking down. She was stuttering.

While Calista was talking Ezlyn was looking at her.

 Ezlyn thought of something and said to the boy, "Senior, can I do the work in her place?"

The boy narrowed his eyes and answered, "No no, only she has to do the work."

The leader uttered, "Okay, as it's her first time then I can make the task a little bit easy."

Hearing the leader both Ezlyn and Calista sighed in relief. But that was not actually a relief when Calista heard him.

The leader uttered, "Girl, you don't have to kiss the person on his lips. You can kiss him on his cheeks. You just have to do it with the first person entering through the gate when you stand there."

Calista uttered, still looking down, "But senior…"

The leader didn't let her finish and said, "There's no but. Look, if you don't want to finish the task then you both will be punished. And the punishment could be even worse. Now think about what to do."

The leader came a little closer to Calista and  bent down a little and  looked at Calista and murmured, "Think girl what you want. Think you want to get punished or just randomly kiss a person."

Ezlyn swallowed when she heard the boy. She took Calista's hand and moved away a little from them to discuss with her.

Ezlyn said to Calista softly, "Look Calista, do what they are saying. Otherwise they will not leave us. You see how terrible they are. If we do not listen to them, we will not be allowed to survive here. Just a kiss on the cheek. It doesn't matter who the person is."

Calista started to cry this time. 

She said, crying, "How do I do that? What if it's a boy? I'm scared. Not by me." 

Ezlyn said to give Calista some support, " Hey, I'm wondering if that person could be a girl. Girls are also studying here. You think positively. See, how hard you worked to get here. Do you want your studies to be harmed because of their troubles?"

Calista was still shaking her head indicating that she couldn’t do it.

 Ezlyn said, wiping Calista's tears, "Girl, I know you can do this. You have to do this. Or we can't imagine what they will do to both of us."

Calista looked at Ezlyn and nodded her head and agreed. 

The leader's boy said in a hurry, " Girls, are you done with your discussion? Or do you want us to stand all day?"

Ezlyn grabbed Calista and went in front of them and said, "We are done and Calista is ready to do the task."

 The boy smirked and uttered, "Good,  then go and start the work. And you will stay here."

He gestured to Ezlyn to stand there with them and told Calista to go alone at the gate. Ezlyn looked at Calista and told her to calm down with her eyes. 

Calista was walking towards the gate with her trembling feet. She repeatedly looked back at Ezlyn. Slowly she reached the gate. Calista took a long breath and stood there. Ezlyn and the group of seniors, all were standing in the previous place and watching everything. 

Calista was just praying in her mind that the person would be a girl. After a while Calista saw a middle-aged woman was approaching the gate. Calista breathed a sigh of relief.

"God has saved me. It's a female person. Now it will not feel worse."

Still, Calista was afraid. She was thinking, "What if the lady is a professor? Let's not think so much now, or we will be punished."

Calista went and stood in the middle of the gate so that the woman could not go. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Then she opened one eye a little and saw that the woman had come closer. Seeing that Calista closed her eyes again. After a while she felt the existence of someone in front of her. 

Calista thought that the woman might be in front of her. That's why, Calista closed her eyes and without thinking of anything else, she kissed the person in front of her on the cheek. Calista stood with her eyes closed in fear of the kiss. After a while, without getting any response, she slowly opened her eyes and looked ahead.

 Looking ahead, Calista's eyes became as wide as football's as if she was trying to get out of the hole right now. She was now in fear, amazement.

 At the same time, Calista put her hands together and pressed them on her ​​face. Calista couldn’t believe her eyes. She kissed the woman then where did this boy come from!