One Night
Night 19

Chapter 19

Audrey

“I can’t wait to put the finishing touches on my pantsuit today. It’s gonna look so great!”

“Me neither! I just need to make the hat for my top and skirt ensemble, and then I’m all done.”

As Tina, Avis and I walked to our studio, the sound of their excited chatter brought a smile to my face. I sipped my coffee, feeling just as excited as they were; after all, we would be finished with our entries for the preliminary competition today. How we performed in this competition would determine our placement for the official competition, and we were prepared to wow the judges.

“We’ll have to celebrate when we’re all finished, Tina suggested, our shoes clicking on the tiled floorways as we walked in tandem. “I need a drink

after all that work.”

“Ugh. Me too.” Avis audibly cracked her neck without missing a beat. “These past two weeks have felt like fabric hell. I need a cold beer, some nachos to share, and to dance the night away

Tina giggled. “What about you, Audrey?”

I offered my

friends a smile and nodded as I fished our studio keys out of my pocket. “It’s a date.”

My smile faded, however, the moment the door creaked open.

There, in the center of the small studio space, were our three mannequins–or at least, what used to be our mannequins. Not anymore, though. No, our three painstaking outfits that we had tirelessly spent two weeks constructing had been..

Destroyed.

Avis was the first to react. She let out a small squeak of shock, dropping her coffee to the floor. The milky liquid splashed across the tiles, soaking our shoes, but none of us noticed.

Tina, meanwhile, lifted a trembling hand to her lips. “What the hell?!” she cried out, surging forward and turning in a slow circle. “Our outfits!”

“Someone vandalized them Avis sobbed, already full–on crying. She fell to her knees next to her mannequin, where her adorable pantsuit had been shredded practically down to its fibers. Clutching the torn pieces in her hands, she let out a sob that wracked her entire frame.

I, however, was completely frozen in my tracks. My mouth hung open as I took in the scene in front of us–our beloved outfits had been utterly destroyed, shredded to pieces and strewn all about the studio as if a rabid cat had gotten into them.

Faux fur and scraps of leather were scattered across the floor, feathers floating lazily in the breeze seeping in through the open window, Red paint had been splattered everywhere and smeared across every piece of fabric, and even the Mac computer that the school assigned to each studio space had been smashed to bits.

In short, our little studio–the space where Tina, Avis and I had spent countless hours laughing, chatting, and listening to music while we worked over the past two weeks had been turned into a warzone.

“Audrey, Audrey!” The sound of Tina’s voice snapped me out of my daze, and I blinked to see her and Avis standing in the middle of the room Tina’s face was bright red with fury and Avis’s makeup was running down her face from her tears.

“What are we gonna do?” Avis whimpered, still clutching a handful of fabric. “O–Our project.”

“We.. We still have time,” I breathed, striding over to the window to inspect the glass. It hadn’t been broken, but I knew for a fact that we had closed it before we left last night. Someone must have opened it and climbed in.

“Time” Avis all but shrieked “Audrey, I

“We’ve got two weeks,” I said, running a hand through my hair. “If we hurry, then we can still submit something in time.”

“But the funding.” Tina said. “We’ll get funding if we pass the preliminary round, but until then, we’re on our own.”

“And I already spent the entire allowance my parents gave me on this fabric!” Avis said, chucking the shreds of her outfit to the ground. “They can’t afford to send me more.

“We have to figure this out, guys,” I insisted, already pulling out my phone. “I have a scholarship that hasn’t been disbursed yet. I’ll email the scholarship office and see what they can do. In the meantime, let’s call security up here. I think whoever did this climbed in through the window They may be on the security footage

Tina nodded and quickly pulled out her phone, scurrying over to the corner to make the call. Meanwhile, I tapped out an email to the scholarship

We reded this funding it we were going to afford to make another set of outfits for the competition. And we needed it now.

436 PM

Chapter 19

I strode into the scholarship office, my heels leaving clipped sounds on the tile floor. Clutching the folder containing my scholarship application, I strode up to the desk with my lips pursed.

Not long ago, I had received word from the scholarship office that something was wrong with my application–that I needed to submit everything again. It was a drag, but I still managed to scrape my files together quickly. I needed this scholarship. My team needed it.

At the desk, I was met with the face of the professor who had given me that envelope in front of Edwin’s office.

“Hello,” I said, holding out my folder with a terse smile. “I called earlier about an application.”

“Ah. Yes. The professor took my file and flipped through it. “And your name..?”

“Audrey Thatcher.”

“Right Thatcher. The professor clicked around on her computer for a moment before letting out a huff and slid my folder back to me. “Your application has been denied.”

I felt my stomach bottom out. “I–What?” I breathed, my eyes widening to twice their original size. “That can’t be correct,”

“Well, it is.” The professor shrugged and adjusted her glasses with an unempathetic look on her face.

“But it was accepted before,” I insisted, my voice rising ever so slightly–more because of my own frustration and anxiety over this whole mess than anything else. “You have to be making some kind of mistake, I-

“How dare you.” The professor rose from her chair and snapped her fingers at a passing security officer in the hallway, who pushed through the glass doors to the office and began walking up to us. “Officer, this student is being argumentative. Please escort her out.”

“Argumentative?!” I echoed incredulously, my voice raising another octave. “What, am I not allowed to question your authority? My studio was—

“See?” the professor scoffed. “She’s yelling at me. Please see her out.”

“Come along, Miss,” the officer said, grabbing my arm. “Let’s take you to the dean’s office.”

“No! Wait!” I exclaimed. I felt utterly helpless as the security officer began yanking me away, my cries falling on deaf ears. Meanwhile, the professor behind the desk merely smirked and adjusted her glasses again.

But it was just as we were reaching the doorway that a sudden strong presence enveloped me. I felt a whoosh of dark fabric and a pair of war arms circle around me, causing the security officer’s grip to slacken immediately.

“Alpha-”

Edwin pulled me away, his jaw set hard as he pointed at the professor. His gruff voice was so low it was hardly more than a growl, his grip tightening ever so slightly around my shoulders.

“How

dare u

re you treat my student in this manner?”