Uglier

Chapter 12 Picnic

Chapter 12 Picnic

Quincy spread out a blue blanket on the grass, and he sat with Zeda in the middle of the Quad with the food Chaz hadn't ruined.

Half the students could see them around dinner time, which was the point.

Students ate, studied, and sometimes fell asleep on the canopy-covered metallic benches between classes.

They also sat at yellow and black picnic tables, snacking on Crystal Alpha fruit and cheese pretzels.

"I hope the second part of our date is amazing. Monday is a holiday; we should go out again." He picked wildflowers and made her a necklace.

Zeda slipped the flowers around her neck, and she pulled Quincy close to her and whispered in his ear. "It worked, they will report our love story, but not in the way I wanted them to. The board also uses these campaigns to weed out bad actors. I'm sorry to put you through this."

Quincy nodded. "I didn't realize people pretended, but after you said that I realized my ex was more involved with our public romance story than with me. Having a childhood sweetheart is guaranteed status and no Mark."

"I understand." Zeda rested her head on his shoulder because they needed their romance to look authentic.

Quincy felt the warmth of her head, and the aroma of lemon essential oils wafted to his nose.

"What is that?" Zeda pointed at a handwritten note.

"An article I was writing, but it's too personal." He crumbled and tore a working article into pieces. The words echoed in his head.

Quincy's sister's campaign failed because Mina and Cavalier were too private, but marrying a board member is taboo for a Marked woman.

Quincy's mind went back to reality, and he handed Zeda another chicken nugget.

A tall woman who resembled a model dashed into the quad. She jumped over their picnic, and she punched another woman in the face. "I'm shoving a Mark badge into your stupid, festering, ugly face for stealing my candy corn."

"You'll pay for my plastic surgery, jerk."

"I know you go to that back-alley dumpster chick, Dr. Bloodstone." The first woman raised her fist.

Quincy turned to the women. "You'll be fired if the students see you beating each other."

The women fled.

He shrugged. "Professors are getting weirder. I blame the diet bars. They increase random acts of stupidity." Quincy placed a chicken nugget in his mouth and ate it. "Where was I? Our next date has to be public and romantic and over the top."

"The Doris Manor house is closed this Monday, but the gardens are still open. I'd enjoy going with someone other than Ella or my mother."

"We also need to go on a date tomorrow, and maybe Sunday." Quincy glanced in his notebook.

"Is that article personal?" Zeda nibbled on the artichoke.

"I'm getting a jump start on the charitable service article." Quincy popped a peppery nugget of fake meat into his mouth.

"Can I draw your picture?"

Quincy handed her a piece of paper. Zeda drew his picture, and they sat next to each other in silence for the next half hour.

She handed Quincy a drawing that resembled a photograph.

"We could give home-baked cookies away on Sunday. Our date will be private and public. We can get to know each other and talk while we bake," Quincy said.

Professor Alana-Hope walked by wearing a beige patchwork dress and stopped to chat with Quincy and Zeda. "Weren't you supposed to be at the restaurant? I had to guess where you were. Okay, Mrs. Tell informed me, but I had to lose the paparazzi, or the narrative will be about Chaz," Alana-Hope whispered.

"Chaz caused a scene," Zeda said.

"He is worse with women than the dean, though not as creepy." Alana-Hope's facial expression changed, and she became loud. "I'll write a short romance article then leave. You two are adorable."

Quincy slid his phone from his suit jacket and took a selfie of him and Zeda. "I'll email you a copy."

Professor Alana-Hope pulled out her cell phone and took a dozen photos with a built-in camera. "In case, I can't use your photo." She examined the badges on Zeda's arm and then stared at her drawing and frowned. Her voice lowered again. "Your sketching skills are fantastic. I should have realized you drew the art in your mother's home. I could help you distribute them under another name...." Alana-Hope stopped talking for a moment. "Zeda, I've always wanted to ask you something."

"What?" she asked.

"Was one of your Marks because of your stylish clothes? These ugly uniforms they force us to wear are gross. The dean says the clothes shouldn't distract others from our beauty. He makes me want to vomit."

"I dye and resew my clothes," Zeda said.

"Hold on to this woman." Professor Alana-Hope wrote a few notes and walked off.

Quincy's fingers intertwined with Zeda's. He didn't know what to say next, but he wanted to spend time with her. "We should place our junk in my car and go for a walk."

They gathered the blanket and threw away their trash.

A Unicorn woman, with a human face, approached them with a tray of cosmetics and face paint. A blood-red sign hung around her hat, Madam Erma-Hilda's Beauty serum, for seventy-five Alpha bills. Our store is five doors from the lunchroom.

"Lady, you have two Marks and need our products."

They walked away from the woman and didn't speak to her.

She stepped in front of Zeda and shook a glass bottle of glitter water in the air.

"The ingredients are water, glitter, and hot sauce." Zeda contorted her face and grimaced at the woman.

"The burning is how you tell our beauty magic is working." She dabbed the liquid near her eyes and screamed in pain.