Chapter 61 – The Day of the Fall Festival – Holly Hayfield

The day of the Fall Festival had arrived, perhaps too soon. From Monday onwards I was forced to juggle my student council duties and studying for the fall exam. The cram for the exam wasn’t too hard on me and Lilith, at least not as much as it was on the rest of the student council. Therefore, as the academic overachievers in our group, it was up to the two of us to lead the charge on the preparations for the Fall Festival. After a single afternoon of preparations Lilith resigned that position and left me to take control of the planning alone.

If this had happened a few weeks earlier I might’ve been at the end of my rope. I had come far since then. Now I had all the contacts I made after becoming vice president of the student council. I started making calls, sending emails, and printing pamphlets about volunteering for the event committee. It wasn’t long before I had a full group of 25 girls willing to commit to my cause! That wasn’t even counting Naomi’s group who had agreed to help out the student council behind-the-scenes.

It was a rough start at this new school, but now I actually commanded a decent amount of respect. I could admit that I was feeling a little self-important. It was hard not to after the trials and tribulations that sent me down this path. It felt relieving to have some righteous comeuppance after all that pain. It was because of that feeling that I didn’t feel any burden at being in charge of this event committee. Conversely, I welcomed it. I was actually looking forward to the chance to forge a stronger bond with the girls that were supporting me so loyally.

The event committee met every day after school during the week of the Fall Festival. Given the typical drab nature of obligatory school committees I thought that I might dread these meetings. Instead, I had a blast. I got to really know some of the people that talked to me after my election speech. For the first couple of days we didn’t even get anything done related to the event. We were too busy having fun.

The greatest take away, however, was the friendship that stuck with me. My newest friend was named Charlotte. On the first day of the meetings she sat closest to me. It was the seat that would’ve gone to Lilith had she attended. We started on the topic of acclimating to this new school. However our conversation massively expanded beyond that to our hobbies.

Charlotte was a freshman student. She was shorter than me, but slightly taller than Lilith. She had a very light bleached hair color that was hard to describe. It was something between white and yellow. When I asked her about it she said that she was originally aiming for light blonde but failed horribly. Her dyed hair gave me the false impression that she was a part of some group culture, like Naomi’s girlfriends. This was proof that I couldn’t judge everyone just by looking at them. Charlotte wasn’t a groupie of any sort.

She started out a lot like me, being bullied at the start. She said she joined a clique somewhat informally to try to avoid being alone, but hated the experience. She had to wear a false persona and had to toe their ideological line. She was beginning to hate this school and herself. When she heard my speech she felt like there could be a way out. My speech gave her hope. That hope led her to join my volunteer committee and help me any way she could.

Not only that, but she lived close by in a separate trailer park down the street from the mine. After school all that week we spent time jogging around the neighborhood together. Charlotte wasn’t much of an athlete but she wanted to get into better shape. Joining in on my after school running sessions gave her an excuse to hang out with me. The day of the Fall Festival she became my first friend aside from Lilith to step foot inside my bedroom.

“It’s a nice place you’ve got here.” Charlotte said as she walked inside my room.

I let out a short laugh.

“Oh please, I know our new home isn’t much.”

“I’m serious!” She said, “Your room is a hell of a lot nicer than mine. Mine is usually so dirty that I can’t find a single thing without searching for half an hour.”

“Haha, that’s sounds like a pain.” I said.

“It is… So do you think we made enough masks today?” She asked.

Once the fall exams were finished the students were released from their normal class schedule. Everyone was supposed to spend this time making a mask for the Fall Festival. While some students did, others spent their time hanging out with their friends or going home early. In the event committee we assumed this might be the case. As a precautionary measure we took it upon ourselves to make a collection of extra masks to give out at the festival.

“Hmm… Between the masks the committee made, and the masks the other student council members made, we should be fine. Besides, I made a few on my own last night. I’ve got them in that bag over there against the wall. We’ll take it with us when we go. First I need to change out of my school uniform.”

“Should I step out?” She asked.

“You can if you want. My underwear is nothing special so there won’t be much of a show either way.”

She laughed.

“I’ll check out your book collection while I’m here.” She said.

“Help yourself.” I said.

Charlotte was planning on wearing her school uniform during the event, so we didn’t need to stop at her house. Angel kindly dropped us off here so that I could get changed. Meanwhile, Angel went to go pick up some items she said she’d need for tonight. She was going to be on security duty along with two other officers. She said she’d come pick us up in about an hour.

After taking off my school uniform I folded it on my bed in front of me. Before I could put on my casual clothes, Charlotte surprised me with a hug from behind. She wrapped her arms tightly around me and pressed her hands against my sides. I turned around enough to see her smiling slyly. Was this what she was planning all along? If so then she must’ve been disappointed by my boring underwear.

“Don’t tell me you were taken in by my charming good looks?” I asked.

“Haha, maybe I was a few days ago. I just wanted a hug.”

“You could’ve hugged me two minutes ago before I was half-naked!” I said.

She just continued to smile slyly. I smiled too and gave her a short hug back before turning away.

“Back up so I can get dressed, pervert.”

Charlotte was cute, but not in the same way I felt Lilith as attractively cute. Charlotte was more like sibling cute. She was like the type of person you wanted to protect from danger. My smile went away when I remembered her telling me about everything she had gone through. I finished getting dressed in silence without looking back at her. I didn’t want her to see my troubled expression when I thought about the difficulties we shared changing schools.

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When Angel came to pick us up I had a lot to think about. Angel engaged in casual conversation with Charlotte who was sitting in the back seat. I was only able to make minor contributions to the conversation while lost in my thoughts. It was Charlotte, and girls like Charlotte, that gave fulfilling purpose to my role as student council vice president. What type of vice president could I be that would make things easier for them at this school? Not just for this school year, but for the years to come?

It was Val’s determination that was boiling inside me now. She had an undeniable sense of purpose, and although I didn’t always agree with her methods, there was meaning in her madness. Her madness had spread throughout the student council and was beginning to spread throughout the school. Could this be the school year that things truly changed for this school for troubled girls? I had the feeling in my heart that if it didn’t change now, then it might never change at all. The student council certainly had the will to change it.

The past two weeks I had asked myself the same question again and again. What was my role in all this? After that speech I gave was it enough for me to stand on the sidelines and let Val do all the heavy work? I still didn’t even know the further details of Val’s plans. One thing I did know for certain was that I wanted to perform as an upperclassman that Charlotte could look up to. I wasn’t physically strong like Val or Sam. I wasn’t as strong willed as Lilith. However, I did have a few strengths of my own. I was intelligent for someone my age and I’d need to leverage that if I was going to make change.

We were almost back at school when Charlotte began pulling her costume from her bag. She had a beautiful dark robe that went on over her clothes. The event committee made several of these robes to give out to people that didn’t have their own costumes. They weren’t hard for us to make since the robes were so simple. Val let us dip into the student council funds to help pay for the fabric. We may have made well over a hundred before we ran out of fabric.

I pulled my robe out of my bag and put it on also. Once I had it on I pulled out a bunny mask and showed it to Angel. Angel glanced over while she was driving.

“Is that your mask?” Angel asked.

“No, this one’s yours.” I said. “You should have a mask since you’re going too.”

Angel smiled a little.

“You made one for me? That’s sweet of you. I don’t think I can wear it since I’ll be on security duty.”

“Just keep it. I made plenty of extras to give out to people.” I said.

“Okay, thank you.” She said and put the mask beside her.

Charlotte leaned forward between the driver and passenger seats.

“Hey Holly, do you have a cat mask I can wear? I’ve just got the panda mask I made.”

“Sure, I’ve got a white cat, a black cat, an orange cat, a rainbow cat...”

“Do you have red?”

“I think so, let me see…”

I looked through the bag until I found the red cat mask. I handed it to Charlotte and she put it on before leaning back in her seat.

“Thanks! I’ll give it back to you later.” She said.

“You can keep it. I’ve got no use for it after the festival is over.”

“Good point,” She said, “Which one are you going to wear?”

“Hmm… I think I’ll go with this white cat. My ChatCat nickname is Shironeko7 so I think it’ll be a good match. I made a black one for Lilith since her username is BlackCat13.”

Angel raised an eyebrow and glanced at the cat mask I was holding.

“Speaking of Black Cats…” Angel said, “Have you two heard any weird rumors about The Killing Cat lately?”

“There are a lot of rumors about it.” Charlotte said. “I’ve been hearing horror stories about The Killing Cat since I first started coming to school here.”

“I mean something recent.” Angel said. “Have you heard anything out of the ordinary about it?”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Jackie… err… Your vice principal tells me that some occultist fanatics might be spreading dangerous rumors. Do either of you know anything about that.”

“I heard something about that,” Charlotte said, “My friend Emily is huge into occultist and paranormal mysteries. She says The Killing Cat has been making people disappear.”

“See, that’s exactly what I’m talking about.” Angel said. “Charlotte, would you be willing to come and talk to the vice principal with me when we get there? We need to know who is spreading these rumors.”

“Well… I don’t want to get my friend in trouble…”

“No one’s in trouble,” Angel said, “We just want to ask them to rein in these fantasies. That’s all. Nothing serious.”

“I guess I could come with you… but I’ve got to help Holly hand out the extra masks.”

“It’ll only take two minutes of your time, I promise.” Angel said. “Ms. Sampson will be happy to hear from you.”

“Okay.” Charlotte said.

That was troubling to hear. Ms. Sampson was ramping up her aggressive behavior after learning about the newest rumors. To the student council’s surprise, the rumors about the Killing Cat were spreading faster than anticipated. This wasn’t because of anything we did recently. It was Megan. She was so salty about being suspended that she got to talking to everyone about how wronged she was the moment she got back. If there was only one thing that girl was good at, it was spreading drivel.

Angel parked in the staff section of the school parking lot. Since she was working as official security there was probably no problem with that. Angel wasn’t joking about taking Charlotte to see Ms. Sampson. They split up from me the moment we got out of the car. The festival was being held in the school gym. On the walk across the campus I could see other girls in their costumes headed the same direction.

We arrived early, as planned. Members of the event committee and Naomi’s girls were still setting up the decorations. The event committee was busy setting up banners and balloons in preplanned areas around the gymnasium. Naomi’s girls, however… Their graffiti ‘art’ was more of an acquired taste. They had developed somewhat crude banners of their own that contrasted with the official decorations. Despite the street-style nature of their designs I was actually happy to see them get involved with the school affair.

“Holly!” Naomi said as she walked by me with another banner. “You’re here! Do you like our designs?!”

I put on a polite smile.

“They’ve certainly got character…”

“Haha! This is the one time we get to show off our stuff to everyone without being hounded by the teachers! Thanks for getting us the clearance!”

“Thanks for helping us. All these extra banners help the gym feel more alive. I’m hoping a big crowd turns up tonight.”

“Oh, Silver and the others made some new masks just for the occasion!” Naomi said. “Do you want one?”

“I’m fine. I’ve made more than my fair share and I have a hefty amount in this bag here.” I said, tapping the bag I was carrying at my side.

“Ah, okay. I’m going to go help Perri and Casper finish setting up that banner over there, and then we’ll put up this one.”

“Wait, before you go… Have you seen Val or any of the other members of the student council? They’re all supposed to be here early too.”

Naomi gestured her head in the direction of the furthest door.

“I don’t think Lilith ever went home. Val got back a few minutes ago. She said she’d be in the student council room if I needed her.”

The rest of the school building was supposed to be off-limits during the Fall Festival. Everyone was told to use the gymnasium’s side entrance when they arrived.

“There…? No one’s supposed to be in there.”

“Yeah, you tell her that. Whatever it was, it seemed serious. She didn’t stop for chatter. We could use a few more people setting up, but it should be fine. Sam said there was something she had to do but she’d be here soon.”

“Alright, well thanks for telling me. I’m going to go see what Val is up to.”

“No problem, good luck.”

Part of me expected Lilith would need to be herded to the gymnasium. I didn’t expect Val to be in that position also. What were they doing in the student council room that couldn’t wait? We only had an hour before the festival officially started and setup still wasn’t finished. Of all the times that the student council president was needed, this was one of them. It’d look bad for the student council if I maintained sole control over the event as vice president.

As I was marching over to the student council room to talk sense into Val, I ran into someone unexpected. It was hard to recognize her at first in the dark hallways. The lighting in the main building was on only intermittently since the hallways were supposed to be off-limits during the festival. The only lights that were on were purely for guidance purposes. As Ms. Logan walked into one of the lights I saw her carrying, no, dragging a box of items behind her. She was crying, makeup coming down her face, and her hair an unbrushed mess.

“Holly…?” She asked as she came upon me, “Holly, is that you…?”

“It’s me. Ms. Logan, what’s wrong?” I asked.

She cried harder after I answered her question. She didn’t answer mine. She dropped her box and started running towards me. I held my arms out towards her as I realized where this was going. She practically threw herself into my arms, crying uncontrollably like a newborn baby. I tried to comfort her with my hug, but it was meaningless. She was inconsolable.

“You have to at least tell me.” I said. “Talk to me, help me understand. What’s wrong?”

“I… I…” She sobbed as she spoke, she could hardly get the words out. “I got fired!”