Chapter 7: Wednesday Afternoon, 12:20PM

Alaina was a robot in her double period Chemistry class that day. She took notes as usual and raised her hand to answer questions as usual, but she wasn’t truly there.

She came back to herself at the end of the period. She needed to get away. To be somewhere else. Anywhere else, as long as Will wasn’t also there.

She walked quickly out of the room with her head down and immediately collided face first with the soft, sweater-restrained chest of Laura Jansson, who was waiting just outside the door. Her mind and body reeled.

“Sorry,” she muttered out of habit once she’d regained her balance. She hurried away without looking back or listening to the more beautiful girl’s response.

The hallways passed her by in a blur. She was already in her seat staring blankly into the distance in the History classroom when Ayanna entered, despite having to walk across the entire school to get there.

“A, you, uh ... You okay?” asked her friend as she sat down.

Alaina wasn’t okay. She wanted to cry, to scream, to shout that she knew it would turn out this way. But she did none of those things. Instead, she put on the best smile she could and said, “Yeah, sorry, was just spacing out a little there.” Crumbling inside, she continued, “Still trying to wrap my head around everything from lunch, y’know?”

Her friend gave her an understanding look. “Gotcha. Just take it slow, okay?” She looked around. “Where is he anyway? He’s usually here by now.”

“Oh, you know him,” Alaina said, her lower lip quivering despite her best efforts. “Probably off making out with the hottest girl in the school.”

Ayanna snickered. “Yeah, that does sound like him. C’mon, though, he’s probably just as nervous as you are.”

Will sauntered in seconds before the bell rang, his usual grin on his face. He gave Alaina a nod of his head as he walked to his seat, but spared her no further attention.

“He’s trying to play it cool,” Ayanna whispered in her ear.

The memory of Laura calling him boyfriend, of her moaning while Will kissed her, made Alaina’s stomach drop. She studiously avoided looking at him for the entire period, aside from the frequent glances she stole which revealed him to be staring vacantly off to the side of the blackboard.

Will was one of the first ones out of the room when the period ended. Because she was listening for it, expecting it, Alaina caught the sound of Laura’s voice saying, “Hey, you! I missed you!” just outside the door after he exited.

I guess ... I guess he’s not going to be coming to the SC office today, is he? She fidgeted with her pencil, unwilling to leave the room just yet in case Will was still around.

“Wow, A, you trying to match him? Damn, it’s like a standoff! I think you’re winning though, it looked like he was crackin’ on his way out.” Ayanna was stuffing her notebook into her backpack. “Sorry, can’t stick around, Coach got word out that last one to the gym after school runs double laps. I already did it once—never again. I’ll call you later, okay?”

“Yeah, sounds good,” Alaina responded with another fake smile, making no move to leave yet.

“Later, A,” Ayanna called as she sprinted out of the room, showing why she was potentially a national-level contender in the hundred meter dash.

Ugh, I better get to the SC office. At least things will be normal there. She stalled for a little while longer before she gathered her books and walked over to the door, carefully looking both ways before heading into the hallway.

Her cautious trip to her locker and then the student council office was quick and uneventful, and the office was empty when she arrived. She tossed her backpack next to her desk, her phone onto her desk, and then slumped into her chair. She eyed the wooden desktop warily. Did I really... She grimaced. If my fucking Quirk goes off again today I don’t even think I’ll care. She rested her elbows on the desktop and placed her fingers to her temples.

The door opened, and she sat up hopefully. Ms. Perez strode in, wearing an elegant black pencil skirt and a high-necked, loose white blouse. She nodded to her student, then carried a spiral notebook over to her desk and sat behind it, arranging some of the various papers that had accumulated.

Alaina stared at the door, still holding out some shred of hope that maybe she’d heard wrong, that she’d been hallucinating. She turned her gaze to the teacher after a few moments. Maybe ... Maybe she knows? She and Will are close, right? “Um, Ms. Perez...” she trailed off. How do I phrase this?

The young Spanish teacher looked up. “Yes, Alaina?”

“Did ... Did Will mention anything to you about coming to the meeting today?” she asked.

Ms. Perez frowned. “No, why do you ask?”

“Oh,” Alaina sighed. “I just thought ... He told me he might show up, so I wondered if he’d said anything to you.”

Ms. Perez’s frown changed to a look of confusion. “He does turn up every now and then, but I can hardly see why he’d tell me about it. He’s expected to be here for all the meetings, is he not?” The slightly staccato accenting of her vowels seemed to emphasize the teacher’s detachment.

“Um, yeah, that’s true,” Alaina said lamely. “I...” she sighed again. “Never mind.”

The Latina studied her for a moment, then returned to the documents on her desk.

Alaina pulled out the box of suggestions from the bottom drawer of her desk once more. She glanced forlornly at the “good” ideas basket at the left of her desk, which had only a handful of papers in it. Next to it was a small bucket that was nearly full. I guess I’ll go through more of these until Ron and Theresa get here. Ugh.

She pulled out a handful of the damnable papers from the box and held the first one up to read.

Seriously, I know all the ideas, just go with Vin’s. -Don.

Alaina rolled her eyes and tossed the slip into the bucket. She picked up the next sheet.

Not even kidding, they get worse. -Don.

She sighed deeply, pressing a hand to her forehead. She looked into the box, seeing that it was still about a quarter of the way full. Maybe he’s right? What if ... What if I just didn’t read all of them? She took a peek at Ms. Perez, who was focused on writing something with a pen, no doubt in her typical flowing cursive.

The Student Council President shook herself. No, that’s not me. She tossed Don’s paper and continued to the next one.

Wow, they really do get worse.

The door opened again, and Alaina’s head jerked up. But it was just Ron.

“Hey, Alaina, hey, Ms. Perez,” the third-year said, taking in the room. “Oh, where’s Theresa? I figured she’d have gotten here before me.” The Student Council Secretary carried his backpack and a small case over to the desk that he shared with the treasurer. “Um, I hate to be that guy again, but do we have a lot of business today? Mr. Lyons wants to do an early practice for jazz band and I may have told him I could be there by 2:30? But also earlier than that would be better since there’s only so much they can do without the first chair trumpet.”

“I don’t have anything special,” said Ms. Perez, not looking up. “Alaina, do you have many items?”

Alaina reached into the top drawer of her desk and pulled out a small notepad.

The door burst open again, revealing a flustered-looking Theresa. “Sorry, sorry, I got totally caught up, um, I was going to my locker and you’ll never guess what I saw!” The gossip-loving treasurer paused for half a second before blurting out, “Will and Laura are back together! They were making out like newlyweds near the cafeteria, it was so sweet! I always wondered why they broke up a few weeks back—I mean, they’re a shoe-in for Prom King and Queen!—but it looks like they worked it out! The power couple is back!” She looked around to see whether anyone else in the room shared her excitement at this news.

Alaina felt her stomach flip.

“Wow,” said Ron, his voice filled with awe. “I was really surprised to hear that they broke up. Will’s so popular and cool, and Laura’s so nice. And pretty, obviously.”

“I know,” Theresa gushed, scurrying over to sit next to her desk-mate. “I remember one time I was trying out a new eyeliner and kinda messed it up, and she totally rescued me! She even gave me a recommendation for one that fit better with my skin tone!”

“Will’s such a lucky guy getting to date a girl like her,” said Ron, staring off into the distance.

The sound of a paper crumpling loudly drew everyone’s attention. Ms. Perez tossed the wadded ball of paper into the trash next to her desk, then looked up at the pair. “Ron, Theresa, please try to keep in mind that this is student government, not student gossip. I’m not one of your peers, and I’m not particularly interested in who is dating who or who wears what eyeliner.” She looked over to the other side of the room. “Alaina, I think it’s safe to say that we’re all here. What items do we have to discuss?”

Ms. Perez, you’re the best. “I have a few things. The yearbook committee figured out the mix-up with the design, so we won’t have to allocate them any extra budget to get it redone. One of the members accidentally saved it under a different name, so they were loading the wrong file the whole time.”

Ron groaned and slapped a hand to his forehead. “Are you serious? I spent like, two hours in there trying to do a drive recovery because I thought they deleted it.”

“That’s what they told me,” said Alaina. “That aside, we still need to figure out a theme for Senior Prom, and it’s at the end of next month. We tried to solicit ideas from the students over the past few months, but we didn’t get much feedback.” She looked up from her notepad. “And there’s no chance we’re doing another suggestion box after the debacle that continues to be Senior Day planning. Anonymous suggestions are not a good idea for event planning.”

Ron and Theresa have the decency to look embarrassed about that, at least. It was their fucking idea. Argh, I can’t believe I let them talk me into that!

“What if we ask Will?” said Theresa hesitantly. “He talks to everyone, he probably would have some ideas, wouldn’t he?”

“If Will were here, perhaps he would have something to contribute,” said Ms. Perez. “But he’s not, so let’s not bother him. If nobody who is here has any ideas, I’ll pick something. Is that acceptable to everyone?”

Ms. Perez, why can’t you be this awesome all the time?

“Nope, no problems here,” Ron said quickly.

“Me neither,” Theresa added.

“Thanks Ms. Perez, I’m sure anything you come up with will be amazing,” said Alaina.

“We’ll see,” said Ms. Perez in a neutral voice. “Anything else?”

“Just one last thing,” said Alaina. “It’s customary to organize a big show of support at all the final home sporting events for the year. We’ll want to start an awareness campaign a couple weeks before each one, and we’ll need some designs. Theresa, do you think you can do some mockups for us?”

“Um, sure. Yeah, that’s probably—Can I make them unisex so I don’t have to do separate ones for the boys’ and the girls’ teams?”

“That seems reasonable,” said Ms. Perez.

“Great! Then I can totally do that, Alaina. When do you need them by?”

“Football ends the soonest, and that’s in a little over a month, so I’d appreciate it if you could have it for next week so we can look over it,” said Alaina. “I’ll get you a schedule so you can work off it, ideally getting the drafts done a month before each event so we have time for polishing and printing.”

“Okay, um, yeah, that should be fine. I’ll have some downtime this weekend at work so I’ll do some sketches then.”

“Thanks, Theresa. That’s all I had for today. If nobody else has anything to add then I think we’re adjourned?”

Ms. Perez looked around for a moment. “Good,” she said. “I just remembered I have some business to attend to, so I’ll leave you to your gossiping. Alaina, I’ll let you know once I’ve decided on an theme for Prom.”

“Alright. Thanks, Ms. Perez.”

The teacher rose from her seat and walked unhurriedly to the door. Halfway there she paused briefly, glancing at the empty space where a fourth desk had been stationed before it was removed from the room due to lack of use. She opened the door and walked out, shutting the door just a little too loudly behind her.

“Damn, she seemed really annoyed that you brought gossip into student council business, Theresa,” said Ron, staring at the door.

“Yeah, maybe I should apologize? I—”

“The best apology would be to not do it again,” said Alaina, looking over at the second-year. “Ms. Perez is a stickler for rules, and she hates it when people waste her time.” She adjusted her glasses. “As do I.” She pulled another handful of papers out of the box.

“Oh. Uh, sorry, Alaina. I won’t do it again!” The younger girl glanced nervously at her desk-mate. “Um, I’m gonna go now, but I’ll get that sketch done tonight and make a vector for tomorrow, okay?”

“Sure, Theresa, I’d appreciate that.”

“Okay. Um, I’ll see you tomorrow, then.” Theresa got up to leave.

“You can leave a grayscale printout on my desk if you don’t see me,” Alaina said, cutting off the underclassman’s obvious escape route.

“Oh. Um. Yeah, I’ll do that,” said Theresa, sounding much less enthusiastic.

“I’m late-ish for band, so I’ll get out of your hair, um, both of you,” said Ron, hustling out with his trumpet and backpack before anyone could stop him.

Theresa followed in his wake, and then Alaina was alone.

The first thing she discarded was her ever-present smile. Next, she abandoned her poise, slouching back into her chair. Lastly, she tossed the papers in her hand onto her desk.

Ugh.

Her phone chose that moment to buzz. She leaned over and spotted the new message indicator lighting up.

Mom: Going in extra early to prep patient release. Took SP, thanks! (: Home tomorrow afternoon. Bike ride?

Alaina dropped the phone back on her desk. Fuck, I can’t even bug Mom about her Class to take my mind off things. She eyed the box on her desk. I guess today’s the day we finish this, one way or another.

Finally. I can’t believe I got through all of them. What time is it, anyway? Alaina glanced up at the big analogue clock on the wall. 6:20? Ugh, you’ve gotta be fucking joking. I can’t believe Don was right. There wasn’t a single usable one in the rest of the box. I can’t believe I just wasted four fucking hours on this.

She stood up and stretched, trying futilely to touch the ceiling. I should get home, I’m pretty hungry. I wonder if it’s still raining. She turned to look out the window behind her desk. Yup.

Fuck, this day feels like it’s going impossibly slow. Alaina sat in her car at a stoplight on her way home. She drummed her fingers on the steering wheel. The light changed to green, and she accelerated aggressively.

“As long as my boyfriend is happy, nothing else matters to me.” What does that even mean? Alaina glared through her windshield. Like, she doesn’t care about anything as long as she makes Will happy? Is she an airhead or just a liar? Nobody really thinks like that, do they?

Ugh, and Theresa said she’s nice and had that story about the eyeliner. So she’s probably just an airhead, isn’t she. Ay said she bumped me intentionally yesterday, but she seemed genuinely apologetic. Nobody can act that well, can they? I don’t even think I could be that convincing. Yeah, no way.

Minutes passed.

I guess that really is Will’s type, huh. Alaina’s hands gripped the steering wheel tightly. Just some tall, big-boobed, gorgeous airhead. Yeah, there’s no way he would have been interested in someone like me. I’m not any of those things.

She frowned. I can do gorgeous some days, but... She glanced down at her definitively not big-boobed chest. And tall is a no-go, too. Why am I so short if my parents were so tall?

Minutes passed.