Clara Kent Superwoman

Chapter 38: Winter Formal

Clara entered the gym to see the Events committee had worked their crepe paper and balloon magic. Due to the season, the space was decorated with white and baby blue streamers and paper snowflakes dangled from the ceiling. She thought they'd done a fantastic job with their budget (which has been mostly taken up by the DJ and food). The doors were open and students had already begun to trickle in, although it was early yet. Clara looked over to the stage to see Chloe was helping with the music system; she always had a knack for electronics. Clara noticed Chloe was also looking very nice in an emerald green dress with a flared skirt and matching cardigan. Clara looked down at her own ensemble, a powder blue dress from her junior prom, and felt like she was camouflaging with the decor. But she wasn't here to be looked at, she was the observer.

Clara clicked off the lens-cover of her camera and began adjusted her settings for the lighting. She took a few candid shots of the students entering the "ballroom" and wandered around trying to decide what the best angles for pictures were. Finally, the DJ began to play, thanks to Chloe's technical help, and students began to mill between the refreshment table and the dance floor. Clara said hello to Principal Kwan as she passed the teacher's table and several of the other teachers who were chaperoning, including Jason, who was looking very chic in a suit and tie. It was odd to see him out of his usual sports attire. It was like he was glued into his football jersey. Clara did a quick scan of the room and saw Lucas had stayed true to his word, he wasn't here. It was probably for the best, it wouldn't have been nice for Jason to see his boyfriend being pawed over.

After an hour or so of candid shots, Clara wandered over to where the couple's photo shoot was taking place. While she was taking candid photographs for the Torch and the year book, the committee had hired a professional photographer for the photo shoots. The photographer was old Mr Grayson from the Smallville Gazette, and he had a very strict view on digital cameras, that they didn't exist. Clara was pretty convinced that Mr Grayson's camera was older than she was, but the pictures always came out nice every year, so if it worked, more power to him.

"Will you be able to touch me up after this?" asked Britney Lawson, to hear the completely clueless reply:

"Miss Lawson! That is an outrageous question! Just wait until I see your grandmother at bridge club!"

Apparently photo alteration software also didn't exist.

Clara gave a sympathetic smile to Craig, Britney's long suffering date, and made her way to the refreshment table. There was a nice spread, Clara recognised the apple pies as her own creation, but there was also finger food such as triangle sandwiches, chips and dip, an array of juice and pop and the traditional bowl of punch. This year it was an uncharacteristic red, but Clara found she quite liked the colour, maybe it was Strawberry? Susan Green, a short blond girl with a smattering of freckles on her nose, stood behind the stand in a bright pink dress, pouring the punch with a ladle into plastic cups. Students mulled around sipping and chatting amiably before heading to dance. Clara suddenly felt very thirsty.

"Hey Susan, may I have one of those please? What flavour is it?"

"Hey Clara! Well it was meant to be blackberry, but I guess Mrs Jonas got our order wrong. Everyone's saying it tastes more like a mix between Raspberry and Cool-aid. But she is getting a little old."

Clara took the offered plastic cup and found the surface strangely warm. The punch had probably been out of the fridge for too long. She made to take a sip but was interrupted by Chloe.