The Best Kind of Betrayal

Chapter 28

"You know," Carlos says and looks up from his phone, "I think we should add a personal touch to the prom."

Duncan snorts from behind his laptop. "We're already organizing the prom, how much more personal can it get? And don't tell me you want to change the name, because I already asked that."

"Yeah, and it was bs", Johnny says.

Agatha is teaching Kaia and me napkin folding techniques. We're in the midst of transforming pastel blue napkins into graceful swans. Agatha's look pretty amazing, Kaia's look cute and mines look like frogs. I furrow my brows and turn the napkin in my hands. Why does this not work? I'm pretty sure I followed Agatha's instructions accurately.

"I don't want to change the name," Carlos says and crosses his arms in front of his chest, "Just – you know, there will be those huge banners with the prom's name and everything. The design is awesome," he gives a quick thumbs-up in Matthew's direction, "but this is just like all the other years the student council organized it."

"What do you suggest then?" Johnny asks.

"I could perform tricks," Logan says while greasing his skateboard, "You know, with my board. We could install a half pipe or something, so people can watch. They would be all like Wow, this event club has such talented members, I should totally join."

Johnny looks like he's actually contemplating it. He's a sucker for people complimenting the club.

"No, the banner guys," Carlos starts again, "What do you think – wouldn't it look cool if we put our picture on it? A group picture, one that looks totally badass and classy and stuff."

Liling looks up from her math homework and there's clear panic on her face.

"We're going to take pictures? Now?"

"No we're not, Jesus, let me finish," Carlos say, "So there's my cousin – Sam – and he's doing photography as a hobby. He could take our picture. I may have already asked."

"How much would this cost?" Vivian asks, "Because you know, we had to pay a ton for the flyers, since you guys had to order high gloss paper."

"This was not on me," Carlos raises his arms in defense, "Arts team, they did it. And don't worry about the costs, Sam will do it for free. He needs pictures for his portfolio anyway. We just need a location and it's on."

"The green & gold room!" Kaia says and places another cute swan on her finished ones, "It's like our signature room and the colors are so cute!"

"I'm calling dibs on the black couch," Duncan says, "No one's going to pose on that couch but me."

"Dibs on a solo shoot in front of the window," Liling says.

"Dibs on a couple shoot of you two," Carlos mutters.

Agatha grins and places a finger on her lips. I start to get my hopes up again, if only a little

"It's not a bad idea actually," Johnny says slowly and tilts his head, "A group shoot would make us look professional. We could put it on all the banners and announcement posters. And I can use it on my résumé."

"Why would you use a picture of the club on your résumé?" Logan says.

"Probably to prove he really was the president of something," Duncan says.

Johnny scrolls through his phone. "When is this cousin of yours free, Carlos?"

"Whenever I ask," Carlos shrugs, "I mean, we can do it this weekend – the sooner the better, right?"

I'm not that thrilled of getting my pictures professionally taken, so I hope I'll be able to hide behind the rest of the members. I should ask Matthew to stand right in front of me, and wear flat shoes.

"I'll put it in our schedule. I'm marking it as a meeting, attendance required" Johnny declares and locks his phone with a smile, "Should be fun."

There's a silence, and Carlos whispers loudly "We have a schedule?".

Agatha places another perfectly folded swan on our stack and takes my misshaped one.

"Not bad," she says, "Just, be a little more careful folding it, you know?"

I have no idea how I could possibly put anymore care into it, but – my napkin really looks ugly.

"We should match our outfits," Vivian says, "To look unison. Maybe, button-down and slacks for the guys and blouses and skirts for the girls?"

Carlos makes a face. "Do you want us to look like a bunch of waiters?"

"You know what, since those pictures are for the Christmas prom we should wear –" Logan starts.

"I hope for your life this sentence doesn't end with Santa Claus costumes," Vivian says.

Logan pouts and focuses back on his skateboard.

"No costume pictures," Johnny declares, "Otherwise, we can't use them for anything else. Just, wear something nice. No baggy jeans or sweatpants. And no high-top sneakers."

Duncan raises his foot and Johnny shakes his head.

"Definitely not."

Liling twirls around on her chair and places her hands on our desk.

"We should totally do our make-up for the shoot together. I always wanted to go crazy on Agatha's face!"

Agatha looks like she would prefer literally everything else. Kaia looks like all of her wishes are coming true.

"Absolutely! This could be like a prom pre-run."

Liling nods vigorously.

"Also, we can help each other if things go wrong. Imagine – our faces all over some banners and I look like a hobo!"

"You look nothing like a hobo," I say.

Vivian's looking at us with this judging side eye, but then she gets up and sits down on the edge of our desk.

"Could be great to ensure we all match actually."

"Yes! Just what I'm saying" Liling's staring at us with bright eyes, and even Vivian is smiling back, "This will be so much fun, we could meet up earlier, just us girls, and get ready."

I pause and Kaia looks at me, one eyebrow raised because she knows what I'm thinking. I'm not exactly keen on hanging out with Vivian, but on the other hand ..

"Why not," I say.

A smile forms on Kaia's face and she beams at me. Agatha smiles and even Vivian nods, comfortably leaning back and letting her legs tangle over the edge of our desk.

"Let's do it."