Winners with PRIDE
“Congratulations, you two!” Zol exclaimed, admiring the pins on Del’s and Zen’s lapels. “These pins are so nice!”
“And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why Khun Zol is upset she didn’t win: she didn’t get the fancy pins” Pao joked, high-fiving Zen.
“I like our pins, though” Zol said, making a face at Pao.
“They’re not as fancy” Win pointed out, putting his arm around Tops. He was wearing his glasses for their last day, saying that they “made him look more mature”
“They’ll still bring back memories when we see them” Zol shot back.
“True, true” Tops said, nudging Win with his hip to shut him up.
“You’ll always remember coming out when you see it” Pun said, looking at his own pin, which he hadn’t put on his jacket yet.
“Coming out! Wait guys, I made something for all of you!” Zol gasped. She raced down to the break room, where all their luggage was, and after frantically searching for her backpack, found it and grabbed a Ziploc bag out of it.
“I got it guys” she said after she came back, panting slightly.
“What do you have?” Manaow asked curiously, holding on to Del’s hand and acting super proud of her girlfriend.
“I have a pin maker at home, so I asked P’Zon to make me these for you. I had to pay him and agree to do the chores for two weeks, but it was worth it. So everyone, close your eyes and hold out your hands” Zol ordered.
Looking amused, the now former interns did as she asked. She deposited a pin in everyone’s hands, and when she was done, she fastened the two made for her on her lapel.
“You can open your eyes now” Zol said.
The others did as she asked, smiling when they saw what was in their hands.
“This is so nice, Zol!” Del said, fastening her lesbian flag pin to her lapel, above the gold pin she had received for winning the job.
“Yeah, these are great” Win said seriously, helping Tops put his rainbow one on before letting Tops pin his own bi flag on.
“We need to take a picture” Pao said, bringing out his phone.
“The last picture of our internship” Manaow gasped, looking upset.
“Hey, we all have each other’s Lines now, don’t forget” Pharm said, hugging Manaow to comfort her.
“And ten billion group chats” Win said, looking slightly annoyed.
“And ten billion group chats” Pharm agreed, giggling slightly.
“We can always hang out at school breaks” Zen pointed out.
“Or when our schools compete against each other” Zol said, eyebrows raised in challenge to Del, Manaow, and Pharm.
Manaow stuck her tongue out. “Our school will win” she said confidently.
“I don’t know, ours is pretty good” Tutor said, putting his arm around Zen despite Zen being quite a bit taller.
“We don’t have school, so we’re down to meet whenever” Pun said, pointing at Pao and himself.
“Same with us” Win said.
“Win wants to hang out with us??” Zol teased.
Win stuck out his tongue. “Pao, you taking that picture or not? Tops and I have to catch a bus soon”
“Oh, we do too” Pao said, unlocking his phone. “Gather round, guys! Last pic! Make sure your pin is visible!”
The ten former interns gathered around, crouching and standing on tiptoe to be seen in the camera.
“Say pride!” Pao ordered.
“PRIDE!”
*Click* went the camera, capturing the ten’s smiles and peace signs, all the pride flags and hotel pins clearly visible.