The dean waved his hands at the class, trying to garner attention before speaking. He was one of the successors of the academy since his uncle was one of the three that started and funded the academy. Alice was actually on good terms with the dean since he was the one who invited her and walked along the process of getting her into the prestigious school.
"Good afternoon, students. I hope that you are doing well this fine day."
Someone sniffed loudly, and the homeroom teacher leveled a glare at the class subtly. Alice fiddled with the side of her phone beneath her thigh idly. The dean was awkward but overall kind. Charming if you will give him the credit that he was trying to interact with students. The dean was more present that the current principal of the academy which brought him somewhat respect from the students.
"I am bringing this idea with care, and I hope that you all bring enthusiasm to the table. This year for recruitment purposes, the school board has thought of a fair to be held in half a year. Your homeroom classes will be tasked with creating some sort of entertainment such as a game, a play, an activity, etcetera. There does not need to be a theme relating to school, so please feel free to be creative. There will be a prize for the most popular one," the dean said with an easy smile.
He then left after his quick message to the next classroom with the students chattering about what the ideas could be. Alice sighed, already ready to go home and retire for the night. The homeroom teacher resumed the normal routine of calling attendance.
"Alice Marozi?"
Alice lifted her hand, and the teacher nodded. She slipped her phone out and scrolled through her social media now that her role for the class was over. The comments on the selfie she posted earlier were sweet, and she replied to some of them. She was startled when the girl beside her tapped on her shoulder.
"Sorry, Alice. We are going to start brainstorming for the game now."
"Sure," she replied to the class president, Madeline.
She turned her legs to face the other side of the classroom, not trying to expect too much. The carnival sounded interesting, but it'll either be overly tiring or overly boring.
Madeline stood up from her seat and grabbed a large pen pad from the teacher's desk. Her dark hair was in a bob, and it swayed with her large movements to gather the other classmates' attention. She was wearing a large beige sweater with a v-neck over top of her uniform with her tie peeking out.
At the beginning of the semester, no one volunteered to become the homeroom teacher's pet, but everyone swung her eyes to Madeline, who was known to be an upright and studious girl. She went up to the front of the room and leaned back on the teacher's desk. The teacher had already diverted his attention away to more thrilling matters on his laptop screen.
Madeline smiled at the class. "Alright, everyone. Now, I believe that I have gathered everyone's attention, I hope that this project will go smoothly, and everyone will participate. Does anyone have any ideas?"
"We should do a fortune-telling booth!" a girl in the back offered.
"Or put a basketball hoop up!"
"How about a snack bar!"
"Nice, I like the ideas," Madeline encouraged.
"Musical performance..."
"Relay race?"
"Photography portfolio?"
Madeline eased her hand down from the paper after the frantic scribbling. "Okay, those are great... but I was thinking of something more different."
There were some murmurs and then a voice piped in from the back.
"A couple game!"
Madeline snapped her fingers. "Yes! We are on the same wavelength, Claudia."
Alice leaned back in her seat to ease a glance at Claudia. She didn't see her friend earlier when she came to class. Claudia must have come in late. Alice shook her head lightly at her, but Claudia only laughed softly in return.
Her dear friend was completely psychotic. A couple game? That was completely out of the blue, and with everyone's emotions high, it was clearly going to get out of hand.
"Okay, a couple game. That sounds fun! What do you guys think?" Madeline asked.
The majority of the class agreed while some groaned.
"Isn't that too cringe?" Jordan sighed.
Madeline waved him off. "It's fine. I'm sure a lot of people will participate, and that's the point."
"I don't hate it. I just don't want to babysit couples," Sophie laughed.
Madeline grinned. "Let's make it no couples allowed then. We are the matchmakers."
The class laughed and agreed. Alice made a motion with her hand for Claudia to come to sit next to her in the empty desk, and Claudia nodded before moving over. Her best friend was the complete opposite of her in most ways which made them similar at the same time.
"What were you thinking?" Alice asked. "A couple game is completely out of the box."
"I just think it would be interesting," Claudia said with a hand up to cover her smile.
The class continued to discuss for a couple minutes, and a lot of suggestions got shut down. It was an overall good theme, but Alice didn't have much of a preference either way. It was just that Claudia's smirk was annoying her.
Alice fluttered her lashes while Claudia rolled her eyes. Alice wasn't one to be humble about her beauty since she found it even more pressing to keep denying people when they kept on reminding her.