2.2. Pandora's Box

Rose

“If you will keep on staring at me like that, I will think that you like me.”

I was startled when Mal suddenly say that. I looked away, and I heard her laughed. Did I stare at her that long?

            “Then, why don’t you stop studying and just play games instead? It sure pays you a lot, right? Or maybe you’re not just a gamer, and you’re doing this streaming for—”

            “Watch your mouth Benjamin, you perv! You’re watching that kind of live stuffs?” Mal teases Benj and tapped his shoulder. I smirked. There she goes, Mal always teases them while they’re bickering, and Benjamin is always quick-tempered when someone teases him.

“What are you saying Mal?  I don’t know what are you talking about.”

Benjamin looks like he’s pretending to be innocent. Why does he need to look like he’s guilty of something? His face is hilarious. But I know, I’m not the only one who noticed Benjamin’s awful facial expression.

Mal is aware of it too, and by the looks of her, she’s enjoying this too much. “Okay fine Mr. Perv. You’re not guilty, you are innocent of watching that kind of live stream.”

I know Benjamin is not convinced, because Mal sounds like she’s joking. “Right, we will keep it as a secret since were good friends Benj.” Ron joined Mal.

Ron just chuckled as Benjamin's piercing stare fell on him. Yes, of course. This is a normal sight for me. Mal and Ron have a habit of teasing Benjamin, and Benjamin is the one who is always the target of their antics.    

I just let them tease Benj because I don't know what else to do, also it's entertaining to watch them do it.

Were near the gate when I saw Venice waiting for us in the exit. I raised my hands and call her.

“Ven!”

She looks towards me and nodded. That was her usual expression. Ven is the type of person who doesn’t show much emotions. She always kept her poker face on and smiled a little.

“Ow, Venice is already here.” Mal seems to notice her too. She walks towards her and greets her.

“Hey there Ven, how are ‘ya?” She asked.

“Fine.”

Mal has her usual wide smile, but Ven just greet her with a small smile.

Venice is always hanging out with us; she occasionally joins us, but because of her reserved demeanor, it is always awkward. I'm not sure if it's because she's shy, but she wasn't like this when she was with me.

I walked towards them. I think Ven is uncomfortable with her.

“I’m happy that you are coming with us again Ven.” I said and smiled.

“I just want to go out before the midterm.”

“Right, midterm is coming. Still, it's only the first quarter of the school year, we should relax a bit, right Ven?” Mal commented.

“Right, so where are we going now?” Ven asked.

I feel relieved by that conversation. I think, I’m overthinking so much. They appear to enjoy each other's company just by looking at them.

Venice is always hanging with us since grade 7 too, I thought she’s still uncomfortable with them. I’m happy that they got along well. Venice is not from the inferior class like me, she was a student of class A the highest section in SSA.

It is weird for a student like Venice to hangout with us, but she still chooses to spend time with us. I know why she’s doing this, it is because of me. 

Venice doesn’t have to do this, in fact she just can ignore me because were from different classes. But Venice is my closest friend since elementary, and she doesn’t want to ignore me just because I’m in inferior class.

“Were going to that place.”

We were all staring at Mal. She seems serious. I'm not sure what she's talking about, but her tone of voice is peculiar. Not only me who have no idea about what Mal is talking about, but they do as well.

We just followed Mal and when we arrive to ‘that place’, were all dumbfounded.

“Have you finally loose all the screws on your head? What are we going to do here?” Benjamin asked while staring at the place that Mal bring us to.

“I just want to relax myself before the midterms examination, but if you’re going to do some gangster work I might go home instead.” Also, Venice thinks this is crazy.

I understand why they’re saying that.

 Inside our school, there is an abandoned warehouse. There's a place inside SSA that looks almost like a forest because there are so many trees planted there. They intended to build a park on it at first, but due to an incident, the park was never completed, and this area of the school became a restricted area for students, and I'm sure the teachers avoid it as well. Because the campus buildings were too far away from this place.

SSA has a big land, and this forest is also part of that school. “This will be our place now.” Mal said and went inside the warehouse.

Benjamin tried to stop her, but she just continued to walk inside. I looked at them, and same as me we have this look of uncertainty. Shall we follow her?

“Hey Ron, Mal is your childhood friend, right? Go and get her before a ghost possess her.” Benjamin said and pushed Ron to follow Mal.

Ron looked at us and smiled. “Why don’t we trust her?” he asked.

I don’t know what he’s talking about, trust? Why does that word sound different or maybe it was just me who is weirded out by that word?

“Y-you, I know Mal does crazy things, but! This is a restricted area; we shouldn’t be here.”

I noticed Venice looking at me. Is she asking me if I want to follow her? I looked at the warehouse again, it is true that this warehouse looks scary. It was big, and this place was left here for many years. By just staring at it creeps me out. But if Mal was inside I think she has something fun to show us.

Why I’m thinking about that? I chuckled by that thought.

Mal Pandora is the type person who enjoys ‘fun’ things, and maybe I liked that about her too. Bringing us here must be fun, and maybe there’s something fun inside that warehouse. I also want to know what Mal wants to show us.

“Why don’t we try to go inside first? Let’s all get Mal Pandora out of here.” I said.

I'm relieved that Benjamin agreed to what I said, however, he doesn't have a choice because if he doesn't want to go with us, we'll leave him outside.

 As expected, there are a lot of scraps inside this big warehouse. It was extremely dark inside, with no natural light coming in from the outside, and given the fact that this warehouse were placed in the middle of a shady forest.

But thankfully, it has a dim light lamp on its wall so it’s not too dark inside. It looks like someone put those wall lamp to light this place.

Ron led the way like he was familiar of the place. Why does it feel like Ron knows exactly where we should go? Is this some kind of pranks that Mal planned?

When we reached the warehouse's corner, Ron took his phone from his pocket and began to type something on his phone. Suddenly a portion of the wooden floor suddenly opened, and he smiled at us.  No, I think this is not a prank.

He pushed up the wooden floor that turns out to be a door. “Let’s go in?”

We followed him down the stairs, as we followed him it makes me wonder what kind of place this is.

 When we reached the bottom, he opened another door. When Ron opened the door, we were greeted by a large, well-designed room. This is similar to a hangout spot. There is a sofa and a flat-screen television, as well as a separate room that appears to be a conference room. There's also a kitchen and a dining table, and a wide bed and a computer set on the second floor.

“What the hell is this place.” Benjamin asked while looking awestricken by the place.

“I thought you don’t want to come, but it looks like you followed me.”

We all looked at Mal who is on the second floor looking at us. She smiled at us and talked again.

“Welcome to the Pandora’s Box.”

I know everyone has secrets, just like me I have my reasons why I choose this hell school. Among us, Mal Pandora Alvarez is the most interesting in that class, but I didn’t expect that she will be the first one to open-up.

I don’t know what her intentions are, but I’m sure of one thing, everyone in this room has their own secrets to hide.