13.
chapter thirteen:
crafting moments rather
than paper borders!

"What are you guys doing?" Tierno asked as he, Trevor, and Calem joined us.

"We haven't the faintest clue!" Serena blurted out, and I gave her a sympathetic smile.

"Well," Calem spoke up. "I'm going to put up drabbles and some of my poetry, and Trevor's got his photos from his photography club." The orange-haired boy nodded. "The Alolan gang have some artistic talents, and most of them are showcasing their portfolios or putting together a playlist."

"I'm joining them for the playlist part, too," Tierno piped in. "Being a dancer, I know some catchy tunes to sway to."

"That's cool," Lisia agreed. "Hey, maybe I could craft some origami for you guys." She motioned to Calem and Trevor. "They could border your work."

Calem smiled appreciatively. "We would love that."

"How about we join in as well?" Serena asked, looking to Shauna and me. I gave her a curt nod, and Shauna squealed in agreement. I might not be the greatest at crafts, but I could give it a try for Professor Sycamore's sake.

"That's brilliant, guys. Thank you!" Calem said sincerely, and for once, I didn't find him irritating for being close to Serena. He seemed to genuinely care about making Professor Sycamore happy. "I guess your group's still figuring out what to do," he added, looking at me.

My eyes sought my friends. The three of them were hunched over Misty's phone. Thankfully, May caught us looking and they approached. "What are y'all doing?" Gary asked, leaning against Shauna's side of the desk.

"The four of us—" I motioned to the girls and myself. "—are making origami borders to showcase Calem and Trevor's portfolios. Tierno is putting together a playlist."

"We were thinking of the playlist too," May piped in. "Misty just doesn't have the patience for crafting, and none of us are in any creative clubs." The other girl nodded with a huff and crossed her arms around herself. "Hey, Tierno, wanna join us?"

"Yeah!" Tierno agreed. Calem asked us to wait, then left to talk to the Alolan group. After a while, he was back. "Lillie and Lana are also collaborating on the playlist. The five of you can join them." That said, the curators left. Sophocles and Kiawe, the only guys from the Alolan gang, approached us with Mallow, another girl. "We're part of the creative clubs, so we'll work on our portfolios. Come on, Trevor."

With that, they left the classroom. Lisia took charge. "Alright, group! Let's make pretty teardrops and hangings to pin on the board!"

"Roger that!" we exclaimed, shooting to our feet.

"Let's split up. Serena, can you fetch the required guidebooks from the library?" Lisia asked. The girl in question nodded. "Ash could go with you. They might be heavier to carry than paper and glue!" I agreed, and we set off to the library while Lisia and Shauna handled the stationery.

The entire college was abuzz with festive excitement. Students were running around, some carrying stacks of papers and books, while others were rushing to the club rooms.

Groups of them were assembled in corners, working on playlists. As I walked with Serena, I noticed several classrooms either empty or with a few people working. Some were practicing dance, with weird taps on each other's shoulders or the ground. When I questioned Serena about it, the girl explained.

"Those are dance signals. For instance, if I tap my foot twice, it means you have to twirl me around the same number of times. If I tap your shoulder twice, you have to stand up. If I show you a peace sign, you must dance around me, and so on."

"That sounds pretty tough, but cool at the same time!" I marveled. She nodded with a smile, and we continued observing the environment.

Teachers were scurrying around as well, shouting orders or supervising the students. We greeted Professor Olympe, our French teacher, on our way. She even wished us good luck after asking what we were going to put up.

"Guess this is a festival, huh?" I asked as we entered the library. We nodded our greeting to the librarian and went to the creative section.

"Seems so," Serena whispered.

I scanned the racks, looking for what might potentially attract people. I found two: one for borders and another for simple origami. I showed them to Serena, who made a happy noise and insisted I wait as she searched.

The entire time I wasn't scanning the racks, I was watching Serena get excited over books. She seemed to be experiencing euphoria at the sight of so many origami books. I couldn't help but smile at her antics. They were infectious.

In a few minutes, we were checking out with five books, all guiding us to make excellent crafts. I carried three of them after much protest from the girl.

We made our way back to the class to find Lisia and Shauna shuffling through several colored sheets. A huge glue bottle stood on the side of their desk, and they sat backward, throwing their legs over the seat, to face us as we took our seats.

"Two of us work on the border," Lisia directed, placing a couple of sheets in front of me. "You guys work on swans and stuff!" Serena and Shauna agreed, and set to work while I helped cut out teardrops for the border.

Lisia drew a handsome cloud and passed it to me. Cutting things was a fairly simple task for me, and I did it with ease.

Occasionally, Shauna offered to take up cutting while I worked on gluing flowers to stems. We often switched tasks. Serena and I worked for a while, and I felt electricity bolt up my veins to my neck each time our hands made contact.

The flowers and stars were among the first pieces to be done. The stars were set to be part of the border, while the flowers would decorate the portfolio works.

The good thing was, while we worked, we had Serena play her Spotify playlist. Her good taste in music had us pumped up. From The Chainsmokers' This Feeling to Taylor Swift's Out of the Woods, we were working according to the pace of the songs.

I couldn't help laughing when Shauna pointed out that Serena was involuntarily dancing to Come and Get It by Selena Gomez.

"Huh, no!" Serena had admitted, trying—and failing miserably—to cover up her embarrassment. I had felt her brush against me several times and had kept quiet, but when her friend accused her, I couldn't stop the laughter.

She punched me in the gut, and I sobered up. Ever since, I couldn't stop smiling, and I could tell by her body language that she was pissed at me for not taking her side.

As we worked together for the second time on cutting out pretty sequin stars, I felt her inching closer with every outline she handed me. I felt it would be wrong not to reciprocate the gesture, especially when she was boldly moving closer.

With a dozen outlines cut out, I practically felt her golden hair brush mine each time she turned to hand them over.

"A few more, and we'll be done!" Lisia announced, rising from her seat and stretching. I took a quick glance at the clock. It was nearly lunch. "I'm gonna get more sheets. We're running out of them."

"Want me to accompany you? I could use a break," Shauna piped up. Her friend agreed, and they left us alone. I felt my heart throw itself across my chest when the realization hit me.

The entire class was to us.