Chương 215: LOVE AND BEAUTY REARRANGED

It's Thursday morning, and love was in the air. Not with me and Mate, though. I haven't seen him since the betrothal ceremony, but based on the new link, he was feeling happy, a little annoyed, although every now and then enraged. Overall, I've concluded that he had a pretty rocky kind of relationship with his family. In school, though, there were posters everywhere advertising the coming Vday event. The dedication booth was closed, and all available song dedication slots were fully booked.

Some of the students had taken to selling Vday handmade gifts too. Anything (except flowers, which the Student Council held a sole monopoly on) was permitted. Someone in the next class was selling friendship pens, with personalized names woven over each pen with embroidery thread. She had so many orders, she was holding lessons and recruiting assistants to help her weave them all. I almost considered ordering one of these pens, just because of the nostalgia. Madison used to make pens like these.

She had made me one a long time ago. She asked me to give her one of my pens. When she returned it to me the next morning, it was wrapped with yellow embroidery thread, with my name woven into it in pink. It was really special. I was happy and used it until the threads came off. Madison was pretty miffed by that. In hindsight, I should have kept the gift somewhere safe instead of using it until it wore out. And then I remembered that Madison broke up with me, and I decided not to order a pen after all.

It would've been extra trouble anyway. There were also quite a few different friendship band sellers. They all had different styles and materials. One of them was made of glass beads, but it cost $10 a band. Another was made of colorful little rubber bands. The school announced its official decision to allow these sales as long as they were handicraft items, to encourage creativity and entrepreneurship.

I had forgotten to be worried about Tuesday's concert and my relationship with the band members casting me in any unnecessary spotlight, but it was just as well, since it turned out to be completely unwarranted. It was as if Tuesday's special assembly never happened. Talk about 20 minutes of fame or being the man of the hour. In today's news, everyone was too busy either fretting about what to give to their friends and/or crushes for Vday or profiteering off those who were fretting.

There was another senior class that had the same rule about giving everyone in the class a Vday gift too. (But they didn't have Henry to buy bouquets for everyone.) And more than one class was having a secret angel game, where the kids drew lots and had to buy a Vday gift for whichever name they got. Of course, there was one class that had been transformed into a friendship band-making factory too. All proceeds go into their class fund. I heard there was a special sale for a basic friendship band made with thread.

Buy five, get one free.

"I know how to make those. It's really easy," Zara boasted.

"I'll make one for all the cool girls for Vday." Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

"Even me?" asked Jasmine.

"Yeah, of course, Jazz," Zara promised.

"It has to be in the same colors," Krystal decided.

"Then everyone will know we are tight like that." Zara nodded.

"Okay, but what colors should I make them?" This took a while, but in the end, they took my suggestion to let each of us choose one of the colors, so the bands were going to be purple, pink, blue, red, and black. Needless to say, I was the one who chose the blue. (I can't remember who chose the other colors.) And then there was "a very reliable rumor" that someone from our class had ordered a half-dozen rose bouquets in every color for every girl in the class.

It was widely speculated that the total bill must have amounted to hundreds of dollars. Needless to say, the guy who footed the bill was our own Alpha Henry Moneybags. I've heard girls along the hallway whispering about the extravagant gift in envy.

"The girls in the class are so lucky!" I thought of my own plans for homemade no-bake chocolate fudge squares, balloons, and handwritten notes, and felt pretty excited. It's hard not to let it get to me. I couldn't wait to see all my friends' smiling faces on Vday. After lunch, I overheard Pearl saying to some of the girls, "Maybe we'll be making something we could do for Vday later at Home Ec?" Jasmine shook her head.

"I heard we will be making mac and cheese today." Abigail huffed prettily.

"I'm just going to buy everyone chocolates. Nice ones, of course, and all my besties will get them in pink heart-shaped boxes." One of the girls squealed in excitement.

"You're so lucky you can afford to splurge on Vday," Pearl said. This pleased Abigail so much she laughed into the back of her hand.

"Oh, please! It's just money!"

"But sometimes giving something handmade is more sincere," Jasmine said. The other girls laughed.

"It's cheaper for sure!" Jasmine looked down but said nothing.

"It's yummier too," I commented to no one in particular.

"I want to eat homemade chocolate things." The girls looked at me.

"What are you planning to do for Vday, Sam?" Abigail asked. Ah, I just got myself into an unnecessary conversation.

"I bought something for the girls, and I'm making something chocolate for the guys," I answered. The girls got excited.

"Really, what are you getting us?" Balloons. And based on the photo Killion sent me, pink heart-shaped balloons on holographic white balloon ribbons. I gave them a wide smile.

"It's a surprise. Look forward to it." I was rewarded with a few "Ooohs" and "ohs." Yeah, I can't wait for Vday.

"Just don't poison us guys with your 'cooking,'" Henry said from his seat. He and the guys were just sitting casually around, but now it was obvious they were listening in.

"Don't worry, it'll be fine," I promised. For one thing, my recipe was no-bake. For another, it was supposed to be idiot-proof. On top of this, I had Savy and Lizzy on hand. It'll be fine.

"My mum says beautiful women can't cook," Marcus informed Henry. The both of them looked at me and laughed. Were they thinking I was ugly or that I was going to blotch the chocolates? Stoopid guys. I had a good mind to blotch their chocolates on purpose. Or give them the ugliest ones. Hahahaha. That was exactly what I would do. Muahahaha! Some of the other girls felt they should assure Henry, Marcus, and, of course, Liam, who was sitting silently with them, that they couldn't cook if their lives depended on it.

"That's the real reason why I just buy the chocolates," Abigail admitted.

"I'm just hopeless."

"Me too," one of the random girls said.

"Oh, but Janice, you can cook!" Abigail insisted.

"The cupcakes you baked at Home Ec were to die for!"

"They weren't that good," Janice said humbly.

"And that was baking, not cooking." Oh yeah, I missed the cupcake baking last week.

"Today, we're really cooking," another one of the girls said. Yeah, the first lesson was just rules and stuff. The second, we made sandwiches. I missed the cupcakes in the third lesson. Today... Jasmine said it was mac and cheese. This would be the first time I cooked, but Mum always said mac and cheese was easy, so it should be fine.

"Let's show these guys our food after school," Abigail suggested.

"And we'll see who the worst cook is." The girls all agreed to that, and then the other guys got excited and joined in. In the end, even Henry couldn't quite get out of it. Our class would meet at the student foyer after school for an impromptu mac-and-cheese tasting to see who the worst cook in the class was. Wait, shouldn't it be the best cook? Was it because Marcus' mum said that beautiful women couldn't cook? But wasn't beauty observable just by looking, right? Why did you need a cooking test to judge it?

How did it get this way?