The school was abuzz with excitement on Friday and everyone in my class seemed to have trouble focusing on our classwork, despite our teacher’s insistence that we buckle down and concentrate. I had packed up a bag of clothes to change into, planning on traveling to Zola and Sunita’s dorm room to change before returning to school for the open house. I figured it was faster than traveling all the way back home and then driving with Grandpa. I was terrified of being late since I was in the showcase for the art club and I had to be there to meet and greet any parents coming to look at our work. Also, it was a chance to hang out with my friends so that was always good.
Our last class of the day was wrapping up and everyone was itching to go, stuffing their books and other supplies into their bags early, which was annoying our teacher, Mr. Burke, immensely.
He looked up from his desk, glaring at each row of students as he spoke. “If I hear one more zipper before that bell rings then I am making you all stay ten minutes after class.”
The classroom got deathly silent as now everyone was afraid to even turn a page in their books too loudly thanks to Mr. Burke’s threat. The bell rang and the frantic packing began, everyone was excited to go goof off before having to return. Not every student had to attend the open house but most liked to mingle on the school grounds out of uniform and check out all of the other clubs.
“Mr. Reynolds, please come here,” Mr. Burke called out. I stopped in my packing, glancing over at the young man sitting next to me. Casimir nodded and stood up, walking to the front of the classroom. The teacher spoke in hushed tones, pointing at Casimir a few times, his brow furrowed. Zola and Sunita glanced at me, wondering, I’m sure if I wanted to wait for him before heading downstairs. I couldn’t see Casimir’s expression or feel his emotions so I had to wait for him to walk back to us before figuring out what was going on. Zola managed to wait until we stepped foot out of the classroom before asking.
“What did Mr. Burke want?” she pressed.
Casimir hesitated, looking somewhat embarrassed as he spoke. “I got in trouble for my hair again. He said if I didn’t have any parents going to the open house then I shouldn’t bother coming, especially if I didn’t change my hair.”
“What?!” Zola cried out, glancing at the top of Casimir’s head. Our school had no rules on the length of hair but they were strict about dyed hair. You couldn’t have any ‘unnatural’ colors, killing my secret dream of having purple or blue hair. Casimir’s color was a natural reddish-brown, but I was guessing it was the bleach blond part in his bangs that the administration had a problem with. Casimir ran his fingers through the front of his hair with a sigh.
“No one believes that this is natural, the sun just does this to my hair,” he insisted. I raised an eyebrow at him and he nodded his head at me. “No, it really does. I used to have baby pictures to prove it.”
“Aw, I wanna see,” I admitted. I was curious as to what his parents looked like.
Casimir chuckled at my comment. “My dad has them all now, sorry.”
Our conversation took us through the halls of the school and we continued to chat happily as we made our way outside. Soon we were heading down the walkway to the front gate and on towards the train station. We were waiting at a crosswalk when the normally shy and quiet Sunita spoke up.
“So will you be coming to the open house?” she asked with a hint of concern. She had been growing used to having Casimir in our group but still rarely spoke directly to the boy. I hated to admit I was excited to see her engaging with him
“I don’t know,” Casimir admitted with a long sigh. “I was just driving in with Uncle George.”
“There ya go, just stand around Mr. Hartmann all night. He is totally intimidating, no one will ask you to leave when they see him,” Zola said, excited by her idea.
“He’s not that intimidating!” I protested.
“Diana, please, the man is a giant.”
“That might work,” Casimir muttered.
I let out a loud tsking noise, shaking my head in response. They weren’t entirely wrong, but I had spent so much time with the man I just saw him as a giant teddy bear. I honestly had only seen him genuinely mad a few times in his life; once was when I had wandered into the woods by myself and got lost as a kid. The other time was when he caught some local kids trying to tag the side of our barn.
We parted ways at the train platform, Casimir heading back to the farm and us girls traveling south to the dorms. The school dormitories were located one train stop down from the school, in a large apartment complex, built especially for the students. They shared the lower levels with some small businesses, a coffee shop, convenience store, dry cleaners, and a few chain restaurants. All of which did amazing business thanks to the students. The only entrance to the dorms required a key card and there was always a security guard on duty on the ground floor.
We traveled inside with the small flow of students heading back to their rooms, some chatting excitedly about what they were going to do tonight. We rode the elevator to the eleventh floor, running into Zola and Sunita’s third roommate on her way out. Jennifer, or Jen as she liked to be called, was a drama geek who was always out at workshops or local plays trying to hone her craft. She was one of those girls who seemed unassuming and plain but could transform into anyone with the right makeup and clothes.
“Hey, you coming to my show at the open house?” Jen asked after greeting us in the hall.
“Of course!” Zola said, giving her a thumbs up. “Where are you heading?”
“Just meeting some people for lunch then we’re heading back to the school to prep!”
“Break a leg or something,” Zola snickered.
Sunita unlocked the door and we settled into the apartment to eat a bite of lunch ourselves. The layout of their dorm room was simple, with an open area drawing room, living room, and kitchen, with a bathroom just off to the side for everyone’s use. There were three rooms in the suite, two with private bathrooms and each room had its own balcony.
We quickly settled down to eat on the couch in the living room, large plates of food in hand. I was crying happily over the delicious flavors of Sunita’s home cooking when the landline rang. Since only one person ever called that number, it was Sunita who answered the phone. I politely tried not to listen as I ate my lunch of spiced vegetables, rice and naan, but I could feel my friend’s anxiety from across the room and it was starting to affect my appetite. Zola glanced over at me as she pretended not to listen as well. There was a rush of relief as the call ended, and I felt like I could finally breathe. Sunita returned to the living room to eat, her face now smiling.
“Good news?” I asked, tilting my head towards her.
“Well, no, I guess, maybe it was, depending on who you are,” Sunita babbled, looking embarrassed.
“Girl, spit it out,” Zola grumbled.
“Father got called away on a business trip so he can’t make it to the open house,” she explained.
“So ‘yay’ because no judgmental father is coming to make you nervous, but also ‘boo’ because your mom is not going to come either,” I reasoned.
Sunita nodded, her smile faltering a little. “You are correct.”
We ate the rest of our food, cleaning up before settling in to watch television as we chatted. Once it got closer to the evening we began getting dressed. Zola had chosen to wear a navy blue halter top dress, which showed off her beautiful shoulders, even with her matching cardigan. Sunita had on a long black skirt, woven with gold threads, and a black sweater. I had splurged and bought a new dress in a deep maroon with a fitted waist and super flared skirt that was fun to twirl. I was worried about being cold so I paired my dress with a small black sweater bolero, hoping to keep at least my arms warm.
I texted my grandpa to make sure he was still going to the show and received a thumbs-up emoji in response. Sunita’s phone call from her father had gotten me worried, but I grinned as I thought about showing my Grandpa off to all my teachers. We had never really gone to an open house or parent’s night before.
I bought a coffee down at the shop beneath the dorms before we headed out to the train, ready to enjoy the night. The school was a frenzy of activity when we arrived, the teachers and administration staff all herding kids to appropriate locations after inspecting their clothes for approval. I was glad we had all chosen to cover up as I watched Mrs. Tanner lecture a girl for wearing a strapless dress, forcing her to return to the dorms to change. I smiled warily as I was checked out, waving goodbye to my friends before escaping to the art club room.
I was greeted by Mrs. Gomez, who was all decked out in a long shift dress, printed in wild greens and golds and topped with layers of chunky jewelry. She had her hair loose and I was admiring it as she made a beeline straight for me.
“Ms. Massey, come look at your painting, I think you will be pretty happy,” she beamed, gesturing to the display featured in the center of the room. I walked over eagerly and was surprised to see my painting of the oak tree no longer frameless and crumpled but hanging on the wall.
“It looks great,” I told her, smiling widely. “I can’t believe you fixed it, thank you.”
“I did have to touch up a few spots of paint but I just followed your original lines over here.”
I looked at the corner where she pointed and saw she had indeed patched it, then covered it up with the green from the grass.
“You can go over it later, but I don’t think anyone else will notice,” she mused, taking a step back from the painting and squinting at it for a moment.
“I’m sorry, I should have asked if you needed any help,” I replied, a little upset that she had to go to all that trouble. Mrs. Gomez waved away my comment, choosing to tell me where she wanted me to stand, and how the viewing party was going to go. More of the club members began showing up, all checking in on their art and helping Mrs. Gomez to set up a few refreshments for the parents. Elizabeth arrived just before the open house was set to begin, looking fantastic in her pale pink chiffon and sequin dress. I wondered how she got past Mrs. Tanner with her bare shoulders and shorter hemline. I was betting she changed in the classroom before sneaking over to the art club. Elizabeth caught me looking at her and she returned my gaze, a small smirk on her face.
The open house was soon underway and parents began filing into our club room, which had opened all of the sliding glass doors and lit lanterns out in the garden, beckoning visitors with their soft colors. I knew the parents were given a map at the front gate and were allowed to wander through the grounds at their leisure until the main showcase began in the auditorium, aka the cafeteria. I wandered around looking at all of the paintings and sculptures before returning to my wall to answer a few questions about my art pieces to a curious future student. I had just finished talking to a sweet family of three when I heard a student nearby murmur in a concerned tone.
“Woah, that dude is huge.”
I turned my head to see my grandfather in the garden admiring our setup with a smile. He had changed into his one suit, which was a beautiful deep forest green, paired with a light blue shirt and solid green tie. He had taken great care to slick back his silver hair and trim his beard which I thought made him look very handsome. I had to stop myself from running over to him, trying to act like a respectful and calm student of Royal Queen Academy.
“Grandpa, you made it!” I called out, waving at him. He turned to face me, walking towards the sliding glass doors. I met him at the edge and the height of the building had me at eye level with him, so I raised my arms for a hug and he grabbed me, swinging me into the grass below. I giggled but quickly calmed myself, trying to keep my composure.
“Congratulations, the show looks great,” he said, the pride evident in his voice.
“You haven’t even seen my paintings yet,” I chided, placing my hands on my hips. “Well, at least the new one.”
“It still seems like a nice show to me,” he insisted as he followed me up the stairs and into the club room. As we walked to my little showcase area I noticed Elizabeth, Annie, and Sara all huddled to the side. They stared openly as we passed, eyeing my grandfather with curiosity.
We stopped before my painting and I glanced over at my grandfather to catch his reaction. His face softened as he took them all in, the only new one being that of the silver woman, floating against the moonlit starry sky, an endless ocean below her. I had added silver touches of metallic paint throughout her hair and I really loved the effect. I modeled her after the first woman in my dreams, with ample curves, pale skin, and endless silver hair. Although I could never seem to capture the true glow of the woman I saw in my dreams every night, I was satisfied with the results for now. Grandpa seemed sad as he stared at my painting his eyes pausing over certain details for longer than most art patrons.
“Grandpa, you okay?”
My voice seemed to snap him out of his thoughts and he smiled down at me. “Of course dear, it’s lovely. You really captured something special with this painting. I hope we get to hang it at home when this is all over.”
“Well, it has to stay at the school for most of the year, it’s going in one of the cases in the front hall,” I clarified with a sigh. “But we can have it after they are done.”
“That’s a shame,” he lamented, still staring at the painting. I could feel a hint of sadness as he admired my work and I was too afraid to ask him why.
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