New Boys Can't Date The Snow Queen, Part 7
Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6
Monday
“Wow, Claire,” Larisa said as I sat down. “You…you don’t look so good.”
I didn’t feel good either. My eyes ached; the words in the textbooks had almost swum before me. “I might have stayed up too late while working on my assignments.”
We were the first to arrive in the spare classroom; it seemed strangely empty without anyone else there, but soon enough, the others trickled in. Blake sat in the seat next to mine. He gave me a friendly smile; I responded with a cool one and felt a little guilty at the hurt that flickered on his face.
“So where should we start?” asked Ethan.
“Claire and Blake, you’re the ones in charge of the ball’s theme,” Flora replied, “so why don’t you go first?”
That seemed fair. I put the binder on the table and opened it so everyone could see the designs.
“Claire thought an ice palace would be a great idea,” Blake said. “There would be snowflake decorations, white and blue strobe lights, and Christmas trees with silver and blue things on them.”
“Those were his idea.” I motioned to Blake with my right hand.
Jodie held out a hand; I passed her the binder, and she turned the pages, Tellie staring intently at the pictures.
“I like the sound of that!” Flora said. “An ice palace keeps with a winter theme, and it’s got mystique.”
Ethan looked at Mark, who shrugged ambivalently. “It’s not what people would be expecting, but…it’s still wintery, like Flora said. And there are gonna be Christmas trees, so they can’t say we’re not giving them a Christmas ball, right?”
“I’m already getting some images in my head for the promos,” Tellie announced. “But where would we get the decorations from?”
“We’ve actually already thought of that.” Blake leaned his elbows on the table, grinning broadly at everyone. “The garden centre. They’ve got some great options.”
Flora’s eyes brightened. “They have! And maybe I can get them to donate some pieces of greenery as well.”
“That’s it settled?” Ethan looked at each of us in turn. “We’re going for the ice palace?”
When had he become the head of the committee?
It didn’t really matter. He wasn’t just the star football player, he was a natural leader – which was just what we needed.
Next, it was Flora and Larisa’s turn.
“We thought we’d keep it simple, like a buffet of Christmas food,” Larisa said. “There are some long tables set up, with an assortment of food and you just go up and help yourself when you’re instructed.”
“You mean, by a waiter?” asked Tellie. “Where would we get those?”
Larisa flipped her hair over her shoulder. “My parents know an agency; they can get some servers hired.”
Mark raised a hand. “Serious question - will there be a chocolate fountain?”
Flora looked at Larisa, who rolled her eyes. “Of course there will.”
By the time it was Mark and Ethan’s turn to talk about the possibilities for entertainment, my eyelids were growing so heavy that I could barely keep them open. I had to rest my elbow on the table with my hand over my mouth just so they wouldn’t see me yawn.
Miss Emmons handed out sheets detailing what our budget would be. It was quite impressive, which meant either the college had been saving up or someone’s family must have made a substantial donation towards the ball.
It was a relief when the meeting ended. I was on my way out of the room when Larisa touched my arm and said: “Seriously, Claire, you look tired. Really pale.”
“Don’t worry, Larisa. Like I said, I just stayed up too late while working on something.”
“Well, don’t work too hard. We’re supposed to be having fun preparing this, you know, and you can’t have fun if you can’t keep your eyes open.”
One of the small pockets on my bag was open, the one where I kept my comb. I reached inside to find it was empty.
“…you OK?”
“Yes, I…I must have lost my comb.”
“Was it expensive?”
I shook my head. I’d never carry an expensive comb around college.
“I’ve got a spare one in my bag; you can borrow it if you want. Oh,” she said, threading her elbow through mine, “you’ll never guess who my parents tried to set me up with last week.”
“Who?” I asked, inwardly bracing myself and not quite sure why.
“Brendan. Ethan’s brother.” Larisa laughed in disbelief. “I can’t believe they did that! They must really be getting desperate. Apparently Brendan was at a loose end on Friday, and so my dad suggested to his that we go out for coffee together.” She rolled her eyes. “He didn’t even realise what Dad was suggesting! Don’t get me wrong, Brendan wasn’t bad company, but I’d never go out with a boy younger than me.”
Friday. It had been Brendan I’d seen with Larisa, not his cousin.
“He’s only a year younger than us,” I pointed out.
“Exactly! I’m not sure I could handle a long-distance relationship. It’s fine when you’re an adult, but I’m not ready for something like that yet, even if he was the only ‘date’ I’ve had who treated me like an equal instead of…” Larisa shrugged. “Besides, he said there’s a girl in his year he likes; I wouldn’t get in the way of that.”
I was about to ask her just how her other ‘dates’ had been treating her when a voice called: “Hey, Claire! You got a minute?”
Larisa let go of my arm and stepped away as Blake came up to us.
“What is it?” I asked.
“I know we’ve got a great budget, but I really like the idea of using those decorations at the garden centre. They’re not expensive, but they don’t look like they’re cheap – know what I mean? So if we get enough for eight or ten trees, reckon that would be OK?”
“We’ll have to choose the trees as well,” I reminded him.
He grinned at me. “I know exactly where to go for that. And…you know the Christmas markets open this Friday, right?”
I hadn’t known that, but I nodded anyway.
“Well, I was wondering if you wanted to go there. With me.”
His warm eyes looked at me bashfully, with a glint of hope.
Unsure where my voice had gone, I nodded again. “I…I would love that.”
“Great! Shall we meet at the garden centre at half-five again?”
“Sounds perfect. I’ll see you then.”
As he walked away, I turned to see Larisa watching with that mischievous smile on her face again.
“What?”
“You just agreed to go on a date.”
I shook my head. “It’s not a date; he just asked me if I wanted to go to the markets with him.” In my world, a date was at a fancy restaurant or a beautiful location, not a market.”
“Yeah. That’s a date, Claire.” She laughed, weaving her elbow through mine again. “I knew he liked you!”
Just then, I saw the librarian talking to two members of staff: the janitor and a cleaning lady. He had a comb in his hands, and judging from his expression, he wasn’t very happy at all.
My stomach clenched. That was my comb; he must have found it on the ground after it fell out of my bag. Well, there was no way I was going to ask him for it back. It was his duty to put it in Lost Property; I could claim it back later. There was no rush at all.