The homecoming dance has finally arrived at Europe-an University. Homecoming dance was a foremost event in the school’s annual calendar. During such occasion no one wanted to be left out; whether alumni or current students. It was a major event to bring the university community together to fraternise and socialise with all stakeholders. Participants planned their yearly activities by reserving the third Saturday in May for the event and that year’s one was no different. During the homecoming dance, participants spent frivolously the money they had saved over the year on special dress, shoes and jewellery for the occasion.
Rita Martinson, a final year Sociology student and her friends have been looking up to this day. They had spent the whole year preparing for this day. Now months ticked by, weeks ticked by, days ticked by, hours ticked by, minutes and seconds ticked by, until exactly 4:15 PM, when Allison Boyd, Bridgette Tate and Warly Warly con-verged at Rita’s room getting ready to hit the road to Osborne Hall, where the homecoming dance was taking place. Warly-Warly was a black American pursuing degree in French Renaissance at the school. She was a course mate of Bridgette. They bonded so well from the very first day they stepped into the lecture hall. Meanwhile Rita, Allison and Bridgette were neighbours from the same Canton in Vevey. This naturally brought Warly into the group and together the four girls had been very closed on and off campus.
On that occasion the students entreated their visitors with their respective country’s interesting brand of culture, tradition and custom, so that they learnt from each other, in order to sustain the old age inclusion policy of the University. That year’s celebration was the turn of Rita to receive the girls. Almost all the girl-friends with the exception of Warly-Warly speak French, Deutsche, Italian, Romanische and of course English, because they are Swiss nationals. Rita served the girls with Fondue: a local staple food made from cheese and placed in a pot with fire underneath to melt it. Hard bread has been cut into smaller pieces, of which the girls used fork to dip into the melting cheese. They then enjoyed red game meat made from roasted rabbit to go with the Fondue and finally washed the menu down with four bottles of red wine. Indeed, the alcoholic level of the red wine was very appreciable. The girls started getting tipsy even before they set off to Osborne Hall at 6:10 PM leaving the remnants of the food, meat and drinks behind.
It was a warm late summer night in May with the Sun seemingly moving away gradually towards the Southern Hemisphere. In this part of the world, one could see clearly twelfth hours’ day light and twelfth hours’ night. Judging by the time the girls arrived at the hall, it was unusual to record a full capacity of three thousand happy go gay audiences. There was no space for them and many others who came after them. Nonetheless, the weather was good outside: warm and windy with the twilight Sun rays and the emerging Moon beams spotted at different sides of the cosmos to give a picturesque view. The four friends settled for chairs and table at the right hand side of the giant Amphitheatre called Osborne Hall. They called for cocktail of Appletini and Apple juice and began to whisper to the Pop-Rock music being played inside the hall. The deafening noise mixed with the background music in and around the hall was unimaginable. One cannot hear the other in any way whatsoever. If one talked, hardly can one hear the other. One cannot talk without shouting. As the night inched farther, the spaces outside were filled to capacity as well, so that all the tables were removed. Even with that, people were finding it very difficult to dance around. However, the girls tried to keep close to each other, danced to every tune played, until they worn out. Rita was staggering, while Bridgette wobbled about. Warly and Allison held the two girls tightly as they managed to walk to the main road. They did not spend a second when a black Mercedes Benz Estate driven by Charlie White, a Business Management Student and his other three friends pulled a stop. “Hey Allison, where are you girls going? It is late, hop in, hop in.” Charlie White signalled. Allison turned at her friends. “It is Charlie; he lived close to my hall. Hurry up, girls!” Allison joined the guy at the passengers’ seat. Rita, Bridgette and Warly sat at the back seat where two other gentlemen were already seated. In all the boys were three Caucasians and a black African, while the girls were also three whites and one black American. Charlie White screeched off the moving engine through the Woods and descended down the 14th Fontainebleau Avenue. He only stopped the car in front of the twenty storey Students' flats. Unknown to Rita and her friends, all the boys had rooms in the twenty storey flats and yet they all ended up at the basement of the twenty storey flats.
They woke up on Sunday afternoon, stark naked and lying on each other’s arms on six students’ type foam mattresses spread about on the floor: four boys and four girls. As to who did what to who is a mystery none of them knew the answer or was willing to discuss. One by one the boys picked up their dresses and walked out of the basement without mincing a word to each other. Likewise, the girls shamefully gathered their clothing and walked out of the twenty storey flats crestfallen. No one uttered a word to one another.