Collaboration?
“Here,” Principal Heimerdinger said. He handed Caitlyn a folder. Vi stood on her right, peeking over her shoulder.
“What’s this?” Caitlyn asked, flicking through its pages.
“I want you two to plan the school camp.” Heimerdinger turned his calendar toward them. It had been a week since the library conversation, and needless to say, Caitlyn had been going out of her way to avoid Vi. As table partners in almost every class there was only so much she could do to discreetly get out of her way, but she knew Vi had noticed.
Caitlyn just knew she didn’t want to face Vi now. And yet, here was Heimerdinger, thrusting her with the task of collaborating with the one person she did not want to see. She felt Vi’s presence by her side like an itch she couldn’t scratch.
“What?” Caitlyn asked, trying to keep her emotions in check. “Why us?”
“You two have become good friends, yes? Both your strengths will be needed to make this a success. Help us out, can you?”
“Um…” Caitlyn hesitated. “Just us two?”
The principal chuckled. “Of course not. This camp is a collaboration between us and three other schools. You will be coordinating with them to arrange inter-school activities. However, your priority will be to arrange the Academy’s activities, meant for our students only. I have arranged for Jinx and Ekko, our school’s best engineering students and innovators, to help you with the technical execution of those games.”
Vi scowled. “Great.”
“You know one of them?” Caitlyn muttered under her breath, not looking Vi in the eye.
“Jinx,” Vi answered. “She’s my…roommate.”
Caitlyn sensed another layer to her hesitation, like their relationship was much deeper than she let on. For a brief second, she felt a pang of jealousy, then quickly felt annoyed at herself for feeling that way, writing off her emotions and shoving them deep down as always.
“You two are to present your ideas to the teachers in two weeks,” Heimerdinger said. “I’d suggest you start work immediately.”
~~~
The four of them gathered in Vi and Jinx’s dorm room each afternoon. While Caitlyn and Vi took charge of the schedules and planning of events, Ekko and Jinx worked together and put their engineering skills and creative minds to use.
“The inter-school activities are only for the last two days,” Caitlyn said. “The first three days will be all ours.”
“What kind of camp is this anyway?” Vi muttered.
Ekko shrugged as he toyed with a Hextech Gemstone. “Just your regular woods-tent-campfire type I suppose.”
Vi scowled. “This like a regular thing or something?”
“Yearly,” Caitlyn answered, her gaze fixated on the whiteboard so as to avoid Vi’s. “But we’ve never had to plan it. I assume it’s a senior’s thing or something.”
Vi exhaled. “We’re moving surprisingly fast. We have one more week to refine the schedule and equipment since we’re already done with the basic outline of the camp. Jinx, how’s the finishing fireworks coming along?”
“Fine,” she answered. “Hey, if the weather’s really bad —”
“No, you can’t test it in the room.”
“Aww.” Jinx pouted and turned back to the fireworks.
Caitlyn couldn’t help admiring Vi’s work ethic. Sure, Vi wasn’t much of a scholar, but she had a drive and sort of strength to keep going and give her all in everything she did that she cared about. It was infuriatingly admirable — one of the qualities of Vi’s that Caitlyn liked the most, as though passion alone could move mountains. Caitlyn couldn’t help smiling at the thought of Vi’s leadership skills, too. Vi was a natural leader, exhibiting the sort of aura that commanded the attention of even Jinx, the most rebellious and out-of-control kid Caitlyn had ever met.
“What’s that?” Ekko’s voice pulled her out of her thoughts.
“What?” Caitlyn looked up. Ekko grinned playfully.
“Why’re you smiling to yourself? Got a crush or something?”
Caitlyn froze, a momentary panic rushing through her blood. She hadn’t even realised she’d been staring dreamily at Vi and grinning to herself. She tried to appear horrified, to play it off, but her heart betrayed her, hammering in her chest so heavily she thought it might burst through her ribcage. Vi’s presence at the other end of the table was distracting, too. It almost seemed to demand her attention, tugging at her focus, no matter how hard Caitlyn tried to stay present with Ekko.
Jinx laughed. “Hey Ekko, I’m willing to bet ten bucks she’s crushing hard on someone in this room right now.”
All eyes turned to Ekko, being the only guy in the room, and he recoiled dramatically. “Uh, no thanks. I’m flattered, but I’ll pass.”
Vi grinned, too — that smile of hers. That annoyingly attractive, playful, mischievous grin that flashed in Caitlyn’s mind day and night, driving her nearly insane. “I don’t see any downsides to dating her,” Vi said casually, tilting her chair back. “Why do you look so offended, Ekko?”
Caitlyn averted her gaze, feeling the heat rising to her cheeks. What’s that supposed to mean?
But years of etiquette training finally paid off as she pulled the reins on her emotions and regained her composure. “Enough,” she snapped, her voice sharper than she’d intended. “Can we please finish up the basic schedule so I can consult Principal Heimerdinger on it by Monday?”
~~~
Vi sighed as she flicked through the new budget allocated to the camp. It had been sliced nearly in half, which stifled the group’s plans.
“Damn it,” she murmured to herself.
Jinx smirked at Vi’s expression. “I guess your happiness leaves with her.”
The two of them were alone in their room now. It was a Sunday, so Caitlyn wasn’t on campus to read the new budget, but there was no doubt she had already received news of it. They were planning to present their ideas to the school faculty on Monday, but clearly that plan now had to be scrapped.
Vi scowled. “What are you talking about?”
Jinx shrugged. “Caitlyn. You don’t even realise it, do you? You smile so much more when she’s around. As soon as she leaves, your face turns the same colour as a storm cloud. If I didn’t know better I might think you’re more than friends.”
“Shut up,” Vi commanded. She showed Jinx the new budget. “They cut it by so much. Look. It’ll be impossible to host the camp now.”
Jinx lifted her welding goggles from her eyes to read the documents. Then she turned her attention to the whiteboard on their wall, where they had written the schedule and the costs needed for the respective activities. The total cost for the entire camp was just under the original budget, but with the new cut, it was definitely too much.
“It’s not that hard,” she said. “Just replace the most expensive events with cheaper ones.”
Vi scanned the whiteboard. Several of the most expensive activities were the treasure hunts and obstacle courses, not only needing attractive prizes but also resources and materials for the equipment.
“We could use the reserve activities — you know, those we planned once but were scrapped. They are cheaper anyway. And maybe cut back on the prizes. Bragging rights should be enough to give them motivation.”
~~~
“No.”
“Cait, we don’t have a choice.”
Once again, the four of them were gathered in Vi and Jinx’s dorm room. Vi had pitched her idea of cutting out some activities and using the reserve event, but Caitlyn adamantly refused. Jinx and Ekko sat quietly in the corner, watching the chaos unfold.
“Do you see these activities?” Caitlyn asked Vi. “Why is it only those that I pitched that are being cut?”
“I’m not targeting yours on purpose, Cait. It's…those are the most expensive ones.”
Caitlyn narrowed her eyes and folded her arms defensively. “You don’t trust my planning expertise, isn’t it? You don’t think my events will succeed so you cut them out!”
Vi bit her lip, frustrated. “You don’t get it. Do you know how many Hextech Gemstones are needed for the finish line of this obstacle course alone? It’s a complicated and expensive event, and our budget isn’t as loose as it was before!”
“Why can’t we cut yours, then?” Caitlyn retaliated, her voice as sharp as a knife.
“I…” Vi faltered, unable to support her point.
“That’s what I thought.” Caitlyn put down her pen and glared at Vi, her stare as hard as obsidian. “Do you realise how this is going to reflect on me? The professors and faculty have the original plan. It’s going to make me look incapable of planning school-wide events if you cut only my activities!”
Vi slammed the table. “This isn’t about you, Cait! What the hell’s wrong with you? You’re so caught up in looking good on paper that you’re forgetting what really matters — making this camp enjoyable for everyone!”
“Shut up!” Caitlyn swept her hand across the table, sending several documents flying. “Not all of us can wing it and have it magically work out, Vi! Some of us actually have standards to live up to!”
With that, Caitlyn stormed off, leaving behind a very confused and hurt Vi.