0 : P R O L O G U E
I wished I could say it was a quiet Monday morning. I wished I hadn't woken up feeling so tired, despite the fact that I went to sleep earlier last night. My school bag felt heavy on my shoulders as I made my way up the stairs of the school. The students' chatter bounced off the walls loudly and echoed through the school. I found myself frowning without realizing it. The loud chatter irritated me. I blamed it on the way my morning had started off.
I dropped my school bag on the floor once I reached my locker. The bag fell with a single thud. It was barely audible against the loud, talking voices of the students. I opened my locker and hung up my jacket before grabbing the stuff I needed for my first period class. Right as I closed my locker, the first bell rang. There was an expected swarm of students that filled up the hall.
I heavily sighed as I gripped the textbook in my arms and began testing the waters, trying to find a way into the waves of students. Somehow, I managed to get through. I got stuck behind a slow moving line of students going the same direction I wanted to go. On my way there, I was bumped into and pushed by students moving in the opposite direction. My irritabilness seemed to increase, unsurprisingly.
After what seemed like a long time of shuffling my feet along to the snail-like pace the line was moving at, I finally reached my classroom door. I quickly paced towards it the second I saw no students in my way.
As the door closed behind me, I made my way to my seat. I sat down, taking my school bag off my shoulders and letting another school day begin.
****
The next day during the end of the day, the final announcements were being made as I transferred things between my locker and school bag. I felt tired and completely drained out of energy. I hadn't done well on my math test, scoring only a 59 on it.
It was hopeless if I tried anyway. I could never get anything above a 70. When I was younger, I used to get angry at myself all the time because of the low scores I would get on my tests.
I don't do it as often now. The flaming anger for myself seemed to have diminished, leaving a soft candle light that only sometimes sparks out.
As I closed my locker and pulled my school bag off the floor, I heard voices that came my way. I turned around and spotted a group of students carrying various boxes and materials while following a teacher.
"Oh, hey Audre!" The arts teacher, or otherwise known as Ms. Adams, said when she looked over at my direction.
"Hi Ms. Adams," I replied while looking over at the train of students behind her. Among them I recognized Olivia Rose. She was in the same grade as me with a difference between us being that she was actually smart. I've envied her before. It was always because she never seemed to have trouble acing a test or getting excellent grades.
It just didn't seem fair to me how everything was so easy for her. My grades would be shameful if they were ever compared to hers. Luckily for me, there isn't a slight chance that could ever happen.
"You're heading home I presume?" Ms. Adams asked me.
I nodded. "Yeah."
"You guys can go ahead and go to the art room. I'll be there in a few," Ms. Adam said towards her really small group of students. When they began to walk away, she turned back to me, "Is there a chance that you'd like to join the homecoming committee? We're all heading to the art room to work on decorations. Of course you don't have to."
"Um," I hesitated for a moment. I didn't really have anything urgent to do after school, but homecoming committee wasn't really something I can see myself in. Besides, I would probably make the worst decorations out of everybody.
"Sure," is what I ended up saying anyway. Before I could take anything back, Ms. Adams broke out into a smile that stopped me.
"Great! I really need all the help I can get. Everybody is so excited to go to homecoming but it seems no one wants to help make it happen."
"Unfortunately," I said as I reluctantly followed her to the art room. When we got there, Ms. Adams told me to take a seat anywhere as she walked away to her desk. I awkwardly stood in the entrance of the room for a few moments as I quickly scanned the room for a safe place to sit down at.
I didn't want to sit by myself at an alone table but I also didn't want to intrude on anybody else's table.
"Uh, hey Audre, want to come sit over here?" Olivia spoke up. I looked up at her and nodded without hesitance. I quickly walked over to her table and took a seat next to her. My seat was across from a strange girl I've never seen before.
The strange girl had a really petite body frame. Her oversized sweatshirt engulfed her, making it almost seem like she was wrapped in a black blanket. Her long hair and side bangs framed her heart-shaped face.
I looked away fast when she began looking over to me. I pretended to have been staring at Ms. Adams—who was making her way up to the front of the classroom.
"Thank you all so much for helping with the homecoming committee. Now, first things first, we have a month to prepare this thing so we'll meet every Wednesday and Friday. First, we'll start off with making decorations," Ms. Adams explained. "I will give you all stencils you can use to make the decorations. Make them any colors you want and add any other customizations like glitter or simply details, you know the drill."
After Ms. Adams finished explaining the rest, she told us to get to work. Olivia practically jumped out of her chair as she went over towards the long desk at the end of the classroom, collecting the best materials before anybody else had a chance to take them and placed them at our table.
"Here's the stencils," Olivia said as she placed a small pile of stencils in the middle. I decided to grab some construction paper first before choosing my stencils. The girl in front of me went ahead and chose the stencils she wanted to work with.
It was quiet for a while until a sudden boy came barging into the art room.
"Hey Ms. A!" He said loudly the moment he stepped into the class. Everyone glanced at him for a second before they went back to work.
"Hey Blake, I thought you had practice today?" Ms. Adams responded from her desk. Blake made his way towards her, taking a few peeks at the tables he passed by. When he got to our table, Olivia and I both looked up at him. All three of us made eye contact for a moment, Blake's eyes flickering between us before continuing his quick stroll.
"Uh, no. I didn't," He said with a small chuckle. "So what's happening here?"
"Homecoming committee."
"Oh, that sounds cool," Blake said.
"Would you like to join? We are just making decorations using stencils," Ms Adams explained. She smiled gently at him, which probably meant they knew each other very well. Blake returned the smile.
"Sure, why not," Blake responded.
I went back to working on my decorations. I took a look at Olivia's progress and was surprised to see she already had a growing pile of decorations at her side.
Of course she does.
I looked over to the girl in front of me and noticed she also had started a pile but it was still relatively small. She seemed to be deeply concentrated on making sure every decoration was cut to perfection.
Going back to my work, I started tracing and cutting a few decorations out. I set them aside to later put more details on them. I was in the middle of tracing another decoration when, from the corner of my eye, I saw a new presence arrive at our relatively quiet table.
"Mind if I sit here with you ladies?" The Blake guy from earlier asked.
"Sure, go ahead," Olivia responded with ease. She didn't take much of a look at Blake, glancing at him for a second before averting her eyes. Blake took a seat next to the girl in front of me.
The girl stood up from her chair and moved more towards the edge to make room for Blake, but to also create a distance between them.
"Thanks," Blake said, looking over at the girl. The girl nodded her head and quietly sat back down, going back to focus on tracing. The rest of the students in the room, despite being a small number, chattered in the background. Laughs were heard from time to time. They seemed to be enjoying this time they got to have.
Looking down at the construction paper in front of me, I remembered how excited I used to get whenever I got to do arts and craft. I loved having the opportunity to be creative and be able to express myself in fun colors and paper.
Sadly, now those feelings were stale. If those feelings could become something, they would have become a rainbow that has been drained of its color.
"Are you all usually this quiet?" Blake suddenly questioned. Olivia and I looked at him as he spoke. The girl whose name I was starting to want to know kept her gaze on her work.
"Well...we don't really know each other, so," I shrugged.
"Right. Well, I'm Blake. And you are?" He gestured over to Olivia who seemed to be caught off guard for a moment. He gave her a reassuring smile. One thing that impressed me was Blake's self-confidence. I know I definitely wouldn't have the guts to randomly introduce myself.
"Um...Olivia," She replied. Her eyebrows furrowed as her eyes squinted at him like if she was studying Blake. Blake, not noticing Olivia's suddenly stare, turned to me. He awaited my introduction.
"I'm Audre," I simply said.
"Olivia, Audre, nice to meet you," Blake paused. He looked over towards the girl sitting next to him. I couldn't help but let my gaze be drawn to her. From the corner of my eye, I could see Olivia doing the same thing.
I thought that maybe Olivia had known this girl prior to inviting me to her table but I guess not. She was probably just as clueless as I was.
"What about you, oh shy one?"
She pushed her side bangs away from her face and looked up at all of us with an alert expression. "My name is Violet."
Her voice was soft and gentle, really quiet too. Her name did suit her, I thought. I unconsciously looked back at Olivia who seemed to be nodding to herself. I wondered if she was thinking that same thing I was.
"Nice to meet you, Violet," Blake said, using a much quieter voice than he did with Olivia and I. Violet nodded and went back to quietly working. Knowing he wouldn't be able to get anything else from Violet, Blake looked back at us.
"So, why are you guys here? For the homecoming committee. Is it because you wanted to or?"
"I came here for the credit. And also so I could use it for a reference similar to club activities," Olivia stated. I wasn't surprised. Blake, on the other hand, had his eyebrows raised.
"That sounds cool. What about you, Audre?"
I wished I could say something similar to Olivia but Olivia had me in some of her classes and we worked together on projects sometimes. She most likely already had this image about me and it would just be obvious I was lying.
Instead, I shrugged. "Ms. Adams asked me to come. I wanted to say no but ended up saying yes. So now I'm here."
Blake laughed.
"Are you planning to come on Friday?" Olivia looked at me as she asked. I thought about it for a moment. Was it really worth it to sacrifice my Fridays for Homecoming Committee?
"I don't know..." I trailed off. "Probably not."
"Are you sure? It could be fun. I'll keep coming since I usually have nothing to do. And I guess it could help me on college applications or something, like you said," Blake stated.
"Violet? Are you planning to come?" Olivia asked.
"Sure," Violet replied. I got the impression that maybe Violet wasn't necessarily shy, probably just not talkative.
"Well that's 3 out of 4. We should bring snacks too. I'm really hungry." Blake suddenly got up and walked away from our table. It was a really random action but I brushed it away. The table seemed to become quiet again. Or so I thought.
"Can you pass that piece of paper, Audre?" Violet said, pointing to a piece of paper next to my elbow. I grabbed it and handed it over to her. "Thank you."
"No problem."
"Hey, do you guys think these stars are sloppily cut?" Olivia held up a couple of cut-out stars to us.
"I think they look fine," I responded. They were neatly cut although some lines in the outline did come out a bit sloppier than others. But nobody would likely notice. They would probably throw away the decorations after the homecoming dance anyway.
"Yeah," Violet had added after me.
"Hm," Olivia placed her stars on the table as she assessed them. "If you guys say so. I'll make better ones just in case."
Blake came back shortly with mini packets of fruit snacks. "Ms. A gave me these."
He tossed one to Olivia and another to me before sitting down and sliding one towards Violet. I noticed how Violet stared at the package before taking it and putting it away in her school bag.
"You aren't going to eat it?" Blake asked her, his cheeks puffed out because of the amount of fruit snacks he put in his mouth in one handful.
"Maybe later," Violet answered, smiling uneasily.
Blake shrugged and chewed on his fruit snacks. Olivia opened her package carefully and ate one at a time.
Once I opened mine, I grabbed a couple at a time until I finished them.
When it was time to clean up, the 4 of us assigned each other roles. As I walked back to the table, everyone seemed to have finished cleaning up.
"This is where I must part ways, ladies. I'll see you guys Friday. Probably not Audre, though," Blake teased.
"Eh," I mumbled just before he left.
Olivia, Violet, and I walked out the door. We didn't really say much as we made our way downstairs. When we approached the doors, Olivia walked ahead of us before stopping and giving us one last look.
"See you guys," Olivia said in a rush before breezing out the doors. She seemed tense.
"Bye," Violet quietly said to me as she put on her hoodie, pulled down on her sleeves to cover her hands and walked out the door after Olivia.
Shaking off the awkward goodbyes, I zipped up my sweater and left as well. On my way home, I realized that I didn't seem to have a big interest in homecoming committee but weirdly enough, I found myself considering going back.