The Club

XXIV: The Anti-Fraud Club

Deulgi, from the floor, put down his iPad and stared attentively at Skip as he started reading the email. He was asking the university's student welfare department if they knew of any cafes on campus that would be willing to sponsor their event and provide the coupons as an incentive for people to choose their favorite color to wear on the day of the event.

"Should we come up with a catchy title to make it more convincing?" asked Daisy thoughtfully. "'Color Expression Day' sounds a bit flat."

"Sure, does anyone have any ideas?" asked Skip, looking around. "I couldn't really think of anything."

"Color Festa?" asked Won Do. "People will get excited if it has the word Festa in it."

"Color for Coffee?" suggested Jjim. "Won't they get a coffee coupon if they do it?"

Skip nodded slowly. "That's the idea but this is the email to see if a cafe can even provide coupons for this, it would be weird to assume that they would do it by using that name."

"That's true," said Jjim, dusting off his hands in an apparent bid to think more clearly.

"Also, we don't want to highlight people's dependence on caffeine," said Sunny firmly. "It's bad enough as it is—"

Won Do snorted. "What grade did you even get on that paper?"

"Which paper?" Sunny asked, surprised.

"The one from the beginning of the semester, the one we had in that class, about bad habits," said Won Do. "Remember?"

"Oh, that," said Sunny delicately. "I talked about added sugars—"

Won Do snorted with laughter. "Did you change your mind about caffeine?"

Sunny looked at him with the warmth of a winter wind. "No."

Won Do thought this was even funnier and collapsed into laughter.

"What about 'The Super Renaissance of Color Fete?'" asked Deulgi, from the floor.

"The what—" started Daisy.

"Like Socrates?" asked Jjim, apparently interested. "What's a 'fete', though?"

"Like a gala or jubilee," said Skip, "That's.. an interesting suggestion, but I don't think people would think it's very accessible from the title."

"I thought 'fete' was a type of Greek cheese," whispered Won Do to Daisy, who immediately cracked up.

"That's feta," said Sunny disapprovingly upon overhearing, as if everyone should be clear on their Greek cheeses. "Math majors—"

"I can't remember that kind of stuff," Won Do said, complaining. "You're a type of Greek cheese," he added crossly.

Sunny looked disgusted and refused to answer to such a low-handed blow.

"Color Festa sounds good," came Skip's voice from where he was staring again at his email. "We should probably go for something simple because not everyone thinks as creatively as Deulgi."

Deulgi looked pleased. "Color Festa is a good idea," he agreed.

"Okay, I'll send this," said Skip happily. "Thanks, guys."

"I'm leaving now," announced Won Do suddenly.

"Already?" asked Daisy with surprise. "You just got here—"

"I have to teach calculus today, remember?" he said, slinging his bag over his shoulder. "I just wanted to say hi."

"Hi," said Jjim. "Bye."