The Otherworlders Academy - An Original Teen Fantasy

Ep. 3. 16 (R) - Can I Tell You Something?

A/N - Just a quick note. If you use the app and you're not comfortable commenting on a chapter, did you know you can always use a sticker to give an author feedback? The Wattpad stickers are supposed to be like emojis and allow you to give at least some feedback to  the author about the story but still remain anonymous.

Honestly, I don't know if it helps a story as far as the algorithm or HQ, but I thought I should mention them if you weren't aware. And even though they'll never replace the emoji, using them as well might actually help the author and/or their story even more. Just something to think about. 🤷‍♀️

Okay! I'm done. Time for the story! Time for The OW!! 

PREVIOUSLY: Patrick, Aidan, and Farid had high-tailed it out of the Kikatua Shifter compound because they were being set up to participate in a knock-down, drag-out, Fight Club style ceremony. How do you think Aidan would have fared in that one?! Now, they're headed home, but they've been forced to make a pit stop, that--although it starts off innocent enough--in subsequent chapters will go horribly, horribly wrong. 😱

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Aidan, Patrick, and Farid are standing in the lobby of a worn-down, mid-level hotel on the outskirts of a beach town, tucked far away from the freeway, along the Pacific Northwest coast. Caught in a rainstorm on their way back to the Academy from the Kikatua Shifter compound, they're still about two and a half hours away and the roads are slick and dark.

Patrick is on his cellphone, talking to Headmaster Pierce. He hangs up and turns to Aidan and Farid.

"Pierce says there are warnings to stay off the coastal highways tonight, but the weather should clear up by morning. He suggests we stay here overnight and head back tomorrow instead."

Aidan looks around the hotel lobby, taking in the peeling green, gray, and maroon floral wallpaper and the fraying brown furniture and purses his lips. "Great," he says, "just where I wanted to be on a Friday night."

Farid catches sight of some of the clientele--older, tired, scruffy, and just plain sad and adds, "Yeah, I'm not crazy about hanging out here all night either."

"I'm with you guys," Patrick says, looking up at the water stains on the ceiling. "Look, why don't we go ahead and crash here for the night, but we'll bounce and find some dinner, ASAP. Maybe even play a game of pool? I know of an upscale pub in the next town over, about ten miles away. We could go there. It's totally chill. Good food, good beer, and great pool tables."

"Yes!" Aidan pleads, clasping his hands together. "Can we do that?"

"That sounds excellent!" Farid says with a sigh of relief. "What do you say we drop our bags in our rooms, freshen up, and then meet back here in half an hour?"

"I'd say that's a plan!" Patrick hoists his duffel bag up over his shoulder and heads for the front desk to check them in.

***

Later, Patrick and Farid are waiting for Aidan in the hotel lobby, ready to head out to the pub. After about fifteen minutes of waiting, Aidan finally arrives.

He'd taken longer than the other two to get ready because he wasn't sure what to wear, especially to a bar or a pub.

Except for hanging out with his gamer friends and the occasional Comic-Con, Aidan didn't get out much, so he kept vacillating between dressing as he always does--in his worn-out jeans and whatever clean t-shirt was handy--or dressing up a bit, trying to look dope without looking extra.

For some odd reason, he really wanted to impress Patrick and Farid, let them see another side of him that wasn't quite so dorky. Unfortunately, he didn't manage to achieve his desired look in the end.