Chapter 35 – Inspection
After a few more exchanges with the council members, Benjamin bid them goodbye, expressing that he looked forward to seeing them again at the party. Nova still didn't seem very happy with his participation but the combo of the two guys and Maisie had managed to convince her, although barely. Nova told him that she would go directly from school to the party location to check on the final details before students started to come. Benjamin went back to his classroom and to his friends, who were waiting for him to come back from the toilet.
"Sorry guys, I met my sister Nova on my way back. She was with other members of the student council and we talked for a bit."
"Oh, right, I remember you talked about her. She is the president, isn't she? Even though I am still not sure what the student council does exactly. We didn't have anything like that in middle school."
"I was the same but they just explained it to me. Apparently, they just help students and organize events. That makes me think, they invited me to join the party they are organizing this evening and I said I would go. Do you two want to participate?"
"Ah, that party. I didn't plan on going but I don't mind joining you if you want to go. What about you, Nathan?"
"I won't be the only one left behind, let's all go together."
"Great, thank you, guys!"
Their conversation didn't escape the sharp ears of the girls in the class. Soon, the ones which had proposed to him to go to the party before came to their group and one of them asked.
"Did you change your mind, guys? Are you three going to participate in the party?"
"Yes, sorry about refusing last time."
"No, no, it's fine, super fine. If you are going then I will join too."
"Me too!"
"Me too!"
Soon, all the girls in their group started to claim their participation, quickly followed by the other groups of girls, who didn't want to miss on the opportunity. In the end, it was decided that the whole class would join, except for a few boys. It was clear that it was impossible to have a private discussion in this class and Julian and Nathan smiled wryly at the direction the whole thing took. The two boys' reaction was still a much milder one than before, where they would have been disgusted or would have simply canceled their participation. On the other hand, Ben thought the situation to be funny and his smile full of amusement didn't fail to make a few girls blush or avert their eyes.
The rest of the lessons went by slowly, most of the girls being very distracted from what was being taught, clearly looking forward to the evening. Once the last teacher declared the end of his class, half of them cheered, before hurrying out and leaving the school premise. Ben shared the address of the villa with his friends, told them that he would see them later, and started going home too. After he arrived at his house, he prepared a simple dinner for his family before telling Olivia, who had just come back from school, that they were to eat what he had prepared without him and Nova since they were going to a school party this evening. He then went to take a shower and put on a better attire than usual. Now ready and left for the villa, located approximately twenty minutes on foot from his house.
The closer he got to the place, the more students he could see going in the same direction as him. Once he arrived at his destination, he caught sight of a three floors house, with a large floor area and a vast garden. There was no other term than villa to describe the building and students from all directions were in the middle of converging there. Benjamin spotted the student council members at the entrance and headed toward them. It looked like they were inspecting everyone coming in, checking bags and holdings, and even doing a body inspection. A small queue had formed and he joined it, looking at the other students being inspected. Nova's angry voice could be heard from where he was, scolding a girl who had her head down in shame.
"A full bottle of Vodka? Are you kidding me? Confiscated!"
And less than a minute later, another girl got caught.
"What's that?"
"M-my medicine. I need to take it every two hours."
"Are you taking us for fools? You're the seventh girl coming with her medicine this evening. It's probably some weird aphrodisiac or something this time too. Confiscated!"
The girl then entered the party with a pitiful expression on her face.
When he arrived at the front, Nova's angry look eased a bit and the council members smiled at him, Maisie speaking before everyone else, unsurprisingly.
"You're here, Ben! We're inspecting everyone so there is no exception, even for you. But don't worry, boys get checked by boys, you can just go to Roy and Saul."
She pointed to the two male members and he approached them when they waved him forward. He greeted them and they quickly inspected him before telling him that he could go inside. Benjamin turned toward Nova and asked.
"Do you need any help with managing the party, Nova?"
She shook her head negatively and answered.
"We will manage. You can just enjoy yourself. But do things in moderation and especially don't follow any girl anywhere!"
"Don't worry, I can take care of myself. Good luck, everyone!"
He waved them goodbye before going to the entrance of the villa. Just before reaching it, he heard Nova's voice one last time.
"Sleeping pills?! Are you KIDDING me?!"
He took a mental note to never accept any food or drink from a girl in the future, opened the door, and went inside.