Chapter 96 – A Lull in the Celebration – Holly Hayfield

A part of me always realized that some of my ambitions for the school would have to be reined in. Given the fact that it was an alternative school, given the fact that people were ambivalent towards the school at best, it felt like the concept of a spirit week would be met with limited enthusiasm. My hope was essentially to just initiate whoever we could into taking a more positive outlook on the school as a whole. This would be a chance to try doing away with some of the more unsavory attitudes towards the school and the teachers. The question I kept asking myself during my event committee sessions often sent me into absent-minded daydreaming. How much support could be expected from the student body?

The answer turned out to be the majority of students. The vast majority of students were putting aside their misgivings with the school to enjoy the start of the spirit week event. The first day of the spirit week event was a 'casual' day. Of course, it wasn't unexpected that everyone would be excited to wear their casual clothing to school for the first time. The unexpected thing was just how much of a positive outcome that this little expression of fashion was having on people. People actually seemed excited to come into school just for the sake of showing off their regular clothing. It created a new experience at the school that found them interacting with others differently.

There was more to this casual day event than just casual dressing. The main event this day had to offer was a special lunch arranged by the PTA. The PTA helped the event committee to organize a sort of potluck in which people would be allowed to make their own dishes at home and bring it to school to be shared. Obviously there were normally regulations around this type of thing. If one particular dish was contaminated and several students got sick from it then the school would be blamed. This was why the PTA's assistance was crucial. They'd be 'vouching' for the people that participated in this event by testing food before lunch. Sometimes this meant tasting a small sample, but for most of the food it was just about inspecting what was brought in.

The morning classes were almost over and I didn't attend a single one. My responsibilities to the event committee were too demanding to allow me to go to class. This held true for the other core members of the event committee as well. On top of that, many of the parent volunteers were with us and we still felt like we were lacking people. I was even given permission to excuse Naomi and a few of her girlfriends from class to help. Now that they were cooperating with the event committee more heavily they were given some of the same burdens.

“You call this a burden?” Naomi said after I explained the situation to her, “This feels more like a benefit! I’d rather be here in the cafeteria doing food testing than sitting through another boring lecture.”

Naomi was primarily sticking towards the dessert section of the food that was brought in. It was a little difficult to keep Naomi and her group focused on the task at hand but their additional manpower made a difference.

“Your help is greatly appreciated,” I said, pulling her away from a cake that was already tested, “I’ve been here since school started and it seems like parents are still coming by to drop off something they made at home.”

“I’ve never seen so many student parents here in all the years I’ve attended this school.” Naomi noted. “You and your group really know how to get things done.”

“True,” I said a little proudly, “I just wish the rest of the group was here with me. The only other one here with us right now is Sam. Lilith ran off somewhere when her aunt showed up.”

“Her aunt…?” Naomi asked.

I pointed out Margaret who was standing a few feet away from us, talking to a few of the teachers and showing them something on her phone. Knowing Margaret, she was probably showing them pictures of Lilith at an earlier point in life. Margaret saw me pointing her out and took that as an invitation to come over. Naomi gave me a curious look like she wasn’t sure how to respond to this situation. I simply gave her a smile and shrugged. I had a feeling that the two of them would get along well.

“Mrs. Wilson, this is Naomi Su. Naomi, this is Margaret Wilson, Lilith’s aunt.” I said.

Margaret didn’t even bother with a proper opening statement. She just put one hand into Naomi’s decorated hair like this was a perfectly normal way of meeting someone.

“You have such beautiful highlights! Who does your hair?” Margaret asked.

“I did it myself!” Naomi said gleefully.

Naomi puffed her chest out proudly. I rolled my eyes.

“These clothes…!” Margaret said giving Naomi’s outfit a full look-over, “You have quite the electrifying sense of fashion! Did you pick out your wardrobe yourself?”

“All me,” Naomi confirmed proudly.

“My little Lilith could learn a thing or two from you.” Margaret said with a sigh of resignation, “If I don’t pick out her outfits personally she tends to dress like a teenage boy. She is naturally gifted in looks but doesn’t care about it one bit. Can you believe that she wanted to come to this ‘casual day’ event dressed in her normal school uniform? I was glad that Holly warned me that this might happen.”

Naomi’s eyes lit up.

“I know exactly what you mean!” Naomi said, “I’ve tried to talk to her about fashion and she pushed me away.”

Margaret put her hands on Naomi’s shoulders.

“I think I’ve found a kindred spirit!” Margaret said and then turned to me, “Say, has our friend Naomi here seen what Lilith is wearing already? Where did Lily go?”

“I’m pretty sure she went to the library. That’s where she usually runs off to.” I said.

I looked over to see Val was coming into the cafeteria along with Jay and several members of the SCA. I took a brief look at my phone to see what time it was. It was getting ever closer to lunch and there were still things for me to do before I could relax.

“You two go ahead and get to know each other.” I said. “It’ll motivate Lilith to rush over here the moment I tell her what’s going on. I need to go talk to Valentina about a few things concerning the event.”

“Take your time!” Naomi said cheerily.

“Thanks, Holly!” Margaret said and then turned to Naomi. “Want to see some cute pictures I took of Lilith in some new clothes I bought her?”

“Of course I do!” Naomi immediately responded.

Lilith was going to have a headache the moment she learned what her aunt was up to. It’d teach her a lesson about sneaking off and leaving the situation unattended. I was lax with her about other aspects of her role in the event committee but today we actually needed her. It would’ve been nice to have her in the room when I went to talk to Val as well. It was difficult for me to approach Val recently because of the SCA.

The ranking members of the SCA were in the habit of orbiting around her. It made it impossible to talk to Val in a private manner. To get her alone I’d need to pull her to the side, which was something I didn’t want to do. Pulling her away from the others like that felt ominous, like we were having a strenuous conversation. I didn’t want people to perceive our current predicament like that, and yet that rumored perception continued in the background.

Fortunately I didn’t need to go that far. Val noticed me watching her from the distance and dismissed everyone around her except Jay. The members of the SCA went to take positions around various parts of the cafeteria. I wasn’t sure what they were doing at first when they walked off in seemingly random directions, but it looked like they were creating some sort of security web. I wondered if Ms. Sampson put them up to this. This level of security monitoring was probably overkill for a student event, but with members of the PTA in action I could see why Ms. Sampson would do this. She couldn’t risk anything going wrong in front of the parents, of all people.

I walked up to Val and Jay as the SCA members went their separate ways. Val had a neutral expression on her face but Jay glared at me upon my arrival. She probably thought that this was her chance to have Val to herself. She did join the student council only because Val was there, after all. It wouldn’t be out of character for her to try to wedge herself between me and Val as I tried to repair things between us. It upset me a little that Jay could be this childish after we were finally getting along better.

"You seem busy." I noted. "Is the SCA on the lookout for the Society of Sister members?"

"Amongst other noteworthy suspects, yes," Val said, "We won't do anything as long as they don't cause problems. We just want to stay on top of the situation with so many people in the cafeteria moving about."

"I understand." I said. "Can we have a moment?"

Jay didn't like this. She put her hands on her hips like I was asking something unreasonable.

"We're having a moment right now." Jay said. "I'm a member of the student council too. Whatever it is that you have to say, it probably concerns me also."

Val gave Jay an unamused look.

"Jay," Val said placidly.

"Ugh," Jay huffed indignantly before storming away.

Val put a hand on my shoulder and guided me away from the nearest group of people.

"What's on your mind?" She asked.

"I think you know whats on my mind." I said.

She winced at this but nodded in agreement.

"The recess in student council meetings..." Val said, "I know... I know. We should still be having them despite the spirit week necessities. It's not like we've been neglecting things for no reason. The SCA and the event committee were both necessary for bringing this together."

Val gestured to all the people moving around the cafeteria to illustrate her point. Some students were already coming in early for lunch.

"You've got a point," I said, "I just can't help but feel there’s a sore feeling between us. You've been avoiding me, I know it."

"I..." Val began.

"Don't deny it," I said.

"I'm not going to deny anything." Val said with a soft sigh. "I just want you to understand that I felt like you needed space. I'll be honest and say that I'm not used to all this still."

"The student council...?" I asked.

"The student council, you and me, all the others," Val said, "I've never had a tight-knit group that I've been this close with, not even back in my home country. I'm not scared of a lot of things, but the idea of ruining what we've made here scares me to death. I didn't want to risk making you angrier and just decided to steer clear."

Hearing this explanation from her took a load off my shoulders. I thought that she was avoiding me because she was upset, not because she was considering how I might feel. This was an important development from the type of impulsive and inconsiderate person she used to be. She was growing. I took both her hands into my own.

"I was never mad at you." I said. "I was just upset at the way that things turned out. I blamed myself for not being able to change things enough to keep the worst from happening. You did what you felt was right. Even if I don't agree with it, I understand why you felt you needed to take action. You wanted to prevent this event we created from being sabotaged. I understand."

"Then why have you put off talking to me about it for this long?" Val asked.

I was staring down at our hands, but I looked into her eyes as she asked this. It was clear that she was sad about this, and maybe wracked with guilt herself.

"It was my stupid pride getting in the way." I admitted. "It felt like I failed the situation with Sofi. Coming to talk to you about why your way was probably necessary was like admitting defeat. The longer we were apart made me realize that I didn't care. I just want our student council back together."

Val finally showed a small smile. She let go of my hands so that she could wrap me into a hug. I returned it gladly.

"Here I was, worried over nothing." Val said.

"We both were." I said. "The right thing was just to talk this out."

"You're right." Val said as she pulled away. "That's why I want to organize a student council meeting for after school today. I'm going to personally let the others know. Where are they?"

"Sam is in the back helping in the cafeteria kitchen." I said. "Lilith... Well, she left the room a while ago. I'll go fetch her."

Val nodded and started to walk away.

"Let's have lunch together when you get back." She said.

"I'll look forward to it." I said.

It was nice to have all that cleared up. I was being an idiot for putting that conversation off for so long. Really, I thought I was better than this. If this were someone else’s situation then I would’ve advised talking things out much earlier. It was easy to let myself get emotionally tied up in these things without considering it from a broader perspective. Maybe this was a clear sign that I had more growing to do also.

On my way over to the library I came across an unusual scene. There was a girl hiding behind a corner, watching someone in the connected hallway. It took me a moment to realize that this was Erica in her casual clothing. Her hair was tied up with a ribbon and she was wearing particularly bright and bubbly clothing. I wouldn't have noticed it was her, but she looked my direction when she noticed I was watching her.

"Holly!" She said in surprise.

"Erica...?" I asked, "What the hell are you doing sneaking around like that. I thought you were a totally different person."

"I... You don't understand!" She said defensively, "I'm not the one sneaking around! I'm just following that girl in a hoodie that's sneaking around."

"What girl in a hoodie?" I asked.

"She’s right over..." Erica said as she turned to point someone out, "She's gone!"

Erica ran down the hallway that she was watching. I followed close behind her, curious to see what this was about. Eventually Erica came to a stop beside another corner and peered from beside it. She pointed out a girl in a black hoodie and black shorts. This girl was obviously going through lengths to avoid crowds of people, but still drawing some negative attention to herself. She chose the wrong time to do this. The lunch bell rang and people were flooding out of classrooms.

"Do you know who that is?" I asked. "Why are you watching her?"

"I don't know who she is. She had her hood hiding her face the entire time. She was carrying something weird in that bag she has strapped on. I didn't get a good look but it was clinking pretty heavily when she noticed me and ran off."

"Is that really a good reason to be stalking her? Do you think she's dangerous or something?"

"Maybe," Erica said, "I think the Society of Sisters is up to something again. This girl could be involved."

"Oh great..." I said in annoyance. "This will push Val over the edge if this girl does something."

"If you can help me corner her we can take off her hood and see who she is." Erica said.

"Fine," I said, "But let's keep our distance and see where shes sneaking off to before we do anything."

"Good idea," Erica said.

We followed the black clad girl from a safe distance to watch what she was doing. The first unique thing I noticed about this girl was just how fidgety and jumpy she was. We had to take special precaution not to be seen. She looked behind and around herself frequently. It was impossible to see who she was with her hood pulled down so low, but her body language felt familiar. Maybe Erica was right to follow this suspicious person.

This girl's target was becoming more apparent as we moved closer towards the front office. Was a member of the Society of Sisters really stupid enough to try hijacking the intercom system after being busted by Ms. Sampson? This was reckless beyond reckless. Even if there was no one in the front office right now Ms. Sampson would know exactly who to blame if someone took over the intercom. Why continue to beat a dead horse? That plan was going nowhere.

I decided that I was done playing cat and mouse. Before this hooded girl could sneak into the front office I ran over and grabbed her by the arm. She jumped the moment that I touched her arm and flinched back when she saw my face. She didn’t fight or try to flee. She just froze solid. That reaction was interesting to me and I realized that this had to be someone that I knew. I took off the girl’s hood.

“Alyssa…? You decided to come back to school?” I asked.

“Holly…” She said. “How did you know that I…”

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” I asked.

“I… I…” She fumbled for a response.

I reached for the large bag that she was carrying with her. She fought to pull my arms away, but it was too late. I got the zipper open just enough to get a good look inside. It was unmistakably full of cans of lighter fluid and shredded paper. The moment I saw it my eyes widened in disbelief. I looked up at Alyssa and she was staring back at me with the same expression. She was legitimately planning to burn down Ms. Sampson’s office in revenge for Sofi.

“You don’t understand,” Alyssa started to say. “This is…”

Without warning, I slapped Alyssa straight across the face in a quick and fluid motion. She stumbled back and fell to the ground, looking more stunned by the assault than hurt by it. Erica ran up beside me when she saw me slap her. Alyssa held her hand against her cheek and choked back tears. I reached a hand out to Alyssa to pull her back up. She gave me a dubious look, but accepted my hand and got back up.

“Erica, can you go to the teachers’ lounge and get a bag of ice for Alyssa?” I asked. “I’m going to take her to the library for a very serious conversation.”