A Goddess Wears Orange

Chapter 10

The school-fair week opened with a bang—literally. With a volley of firecrackers, to be precise, along with a burst of confetti and a resounding cheer from the students, almost before the principal could finish his speech. The fact that they still had classes in the morning did nothing to dampen the students’ festive mood. The fair had well and truly come to South Crescent High School. 

The senior class’ Physical Arrangements Committee elected to go classic Hollywood this year, working with the theme “An Af-FAIR to Remember.” A huge poster announcing the school-fair week, which resembled the movie poster for the old, romantic film that served as inspiration, was hung across the front gate. Inside school grounds, two long tarps hung from each side of the main building’s front entrance, with one side showing Deborah Kerr and the other Cary Grant in an iconic scene from the movie. Gold and silver streamers arched above the doors between the posters. 

Inside, gold stars were laid on the floors à la the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Posters of scenes from the movie hung on the walls, interspersed with iconic Hollywood celebrities with the faces of school officials and faculty Photoshopped over them, to the faculty’s endless amusement. Black cardboard movie clappers, film reels, director’s chairs and bullhorns adorned the doors. Gold and silver tinsel fluttered over hallways, twisted around banisters, and draped from tree branches and balconies. Gold and silver stars twinkled from every nook and cranny. At the entrance of the quadrangle where the freshmen’s and the school clubs’ booths had been set up, cardboard cutouts of a stylized, black and white Empire State Building—another icon from the film—stood like sentinels. 

“Wow,” Yumi breathed as she, Fran and Lisette walked through the glammed-up corridors. “Can you imagine all the work the seniors put into this? I don’t think I’m looking forward to when we’re seniors, and it’s our turn to try and top this.” 

Fran pushed her glasses up and nodded. “I know, right? Maybe we can choose a theme like ‘A Day in the Life of an Ordinary Student.’ That way, we won’t have to decorate anything.” 

Yumi smiled at that. She was relieved that Fran had finally stopped looking like a tragic specter drifting through the halls, although she was still pretty subdued. So far, nothing was forthcoming from Angelo, but Yumi knew better now than to doubt him. His feelings for Fran were the real deal; in fact, Yumi couldn’t wait to see the expression on her friend’s face when he finally made his move. 

But she would wait. After all, it wasn’t her place to ruin Angelo’s surprise for Fran. 

If anyone was looking like a ghost of herself, it was Lisette. Yumi had expected her to be practically crackling with excitement and determination, since both their class and the Homemakers’ Club would be selling her cupcakes. After some mean relations had suggested that Lisette didn’t have enough talent to deserve to go to cooking school this summer, she’d set out to prove them wrong by selling as many of her pastries as possible. She worked tirelessly for the past two weeks, and now that the real competition was beginning, she should have been charging through the halls, double-checking and triple-checking her products. Instead, she was plodding along beside them, alternating between glancing anxiously at the people around them and staring at her feet. She didn’t even seem to be aware of the school’s transformation. Yumi and Fran exchanged worried glances, but in the past, whenever they asked their friend what was going on, Lisette proved exceptionally reticent. 

Maybe if I tried again? “Um, Lisette,” Yumi began, “are you okay?” 

Lisette jerked her head up and gave her a brittle grin. “Yeah! Yeah, I’m okay. Why do you ask?” 

“Well, you’ve been a bit—” 

Just then, a group of junior boys passed by. “Hey, rich girl, where’s your house boy? He planning on showing his face today?” one of them yelled at Lisette, smiling in an unpleasant way.