Free Web NovelChapter 96: Chapter 96
Errol did get what he wanted - a big picnic. Right after his race, he just horded them all to the shady area, hardly sparing time to even change out of his sportswear.
He had come in third in the 200m dash and while everyone else congratulated him and got over it, Nael was stuck in an awed trance. He didn’t blame the others for not being affected as him, however, he had been the one present to see how much work Errol had actually put in to get to where he was.
Errol let him fawn over him, too busy getting everyone to the shady area and making them wait while he went off to request for picnic blankets.
Nael snapped out of his trance then, a slight frown on his face. "Where are you going?" He asked.
He had held onto Errol’s hand ever since he changed into his uniform at the track and had been following him around mindlessly.
Errol looked at him indulgently. "To get picnic blankets, do you want to stay behind?"
Nael stopped moving at this, forcing Errol to do the same. "No, I’ll get them for you." He said adamantly. "You just ran, you should get some more rest."
Errol chuckled nervously, knowing that budging Nael was next to impossible until he decided to move. "I’m fine, I don’t need..." He started to disagree.
"I’m glad we agree," Nael said shortly, turning around and heading back to the group. He didn’t have to pull Errol because the older Alpha gave in with a soft smile.
"We might need like four blankets, can you carry them all by yourself?" Errol worried as they went back.
"Don’t worry, I’ll take Audie with me."
Audie whipped around. "I heard my name."
"Yeah, come over for a moment." Nael gestured at him, dropping off Errol on a nearby bench.
Audie strode over, "What?"
Nael just snatched him up by the collar and pulled him along without any further explanation, the both of them returning with picnic blankets not long after.
Dodie got up at this point, Fleur doing the same. "We’ll go get the food." She said nicely, slapping a hand down on Louis’ shoulder.
Fleur went straight to Dio and hooked him by his cheeks. "We’ll come with you."
Errol was pleasantly surprised by this, when he suggested the picnic, he had been prepared to handle everything himself but it would seem everyone else had other ideas.
The picnic blankets were laid out, the people left behind all lending a hand. Well, it was mostly just Valentin and Henri peacefully laying out the blankets. Nael was trying to convince Errol to keep resting while Audie was trying to drag him off by the collar as payback.
By the time food was brought, they had all settled down. Valentin was sprawled out on the blankets while the others sat on nearby benches.
The four picnic blankets turned out to be more than enough space because Valentin and Henri did the unexpected and joined the blankets together, making it one big picnic blanket instead of four separate ones.
It was already well into the afternoon by the time they had their picnic. There weren’t a lot of competitions left at this point as the day was already drawing to an end. freeweɓnovēl.coɱ
Although the picnic blanket was a single cloth that took up all the space under a wide-branched tree, the students seated on it in an uneven circle unconsciously paired up.
Nael only ever gave a hundred percent of his attention to Errol and Fleur hung off Dodie’s arm. Louis ceased every chance he was offered to fuss over Henri while Dio was the silent but ever-present third wheel.
This left Valentin and Audie. Valentin wasn’t even left out as he held conversations with everyone else, Audie was the one left out and as Valentin was the only one who humored him, he gave his undivided attention to him.
Although this was clearly done to spite his sister, Valentin humored Audie still, giving him his full attention.
Dodie watched them for a bit, a dark shadow cast over her brows. She was interrupted by Fleur excitedly showing her grilled fruit on a stick.
After the picnic, everyone dispersed, going off to do whatever they wanted now that they didn’t have any more competitions to attend.
Henri sat on the benches next to where they had their picnic, he was already drained from the busy day he had and just wanted to return to his dorm for a well-deserved nap.
The award ceremony would be happening soon though so there was no time for that. He couldn’t ditch the ceremony because he was among the winners of the various competitions.
"Do you want to check out the stalls?" Louis offered.
Henri looked past him to Dio who had also followed him around because of Louis. He wondered how they both managed to remain so energetic, all he wanted was to curl up on the bench and close his eyes.
"No, I’m just fine where I am but you can both go without me." He said, going on before Louis could protest. "Win me a prize, or two." He tagged on, shooing him away with a flick of a hand.
Louis still looked reluctant to leave but Henri could see the struggle in his eyes and he knew that he had won this round. "Fine," He agreed. "We’ll be back quickly."
"No, please, take your time," Henri called softly to their retreating backs.
He watched them disappear into the thinning crowd with a sigh of relief, relaxing further into the bench. It wasn’t as comfortable as Henri would have liked but he wasn’t in a position to be picky.
For the first time all morning, he was all alone - he looked around at the students walking past his field of vision - well, as alone as one could get in the middle of a crowd.
But for someone who was used to spending all of his time alone, it was draining to constantly keep up with so many people. It was much nicer to people-watch, even the noise didn’t seem so bad anymore.
