chapter 10
Marlene wasn’t planning to go to the school college fair because she went last year. However, here she is.
Mary and Lily said they were going and Marlene still didn’t want to go. But when Remus brought up the point that Dorcas might be there… It doesn’t matter. In the end Marlene decided to go. And it had nothing to do with the fact that Dorcas might be there.
Marlene creeps up behind Lily at a table and starts to listen to the representative from… Wait. I don’t even know what school this is. Marlene looks at the table and picks up an information book. Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts. Where’s Liverpool?
The representative’s voice comes back to Marlene’s attention. “We are actually a 3 year school and tuition is really cheap.”
“What is it,” Lily’s mom asks.
“I was also an international student (I’m from New York) so it’s about 19,000 USD per year.”
“Oh my gosh,” Marlene gasps. “That is cheap.”
“Thank you,” Lily says before leaving the table. “Hello, Marlene.”
“Hi!”
“You are so loud.”
“What?! That is cheap! Dorcas and Barty want to go to NYU and that’s like 90,000!”
“Yes, I know.”
“Ugh, you’re boring,” Marlene whines. “I’m gonna go see who else is here.”
Marlene wanders away and starts floating through the different tables. She pulls out a list of all the schools and starts highlighting schools she’s interested in. “Marlene!” She snaps her head up to see who called her.
“Hi, Peter! How are you,” Marlene hasn’t seen Peter in a minute. Ever since he started dating Sybill, he’s just been missing.
“I’m good! How are you?”
“I’m doing great! I feel like I haven’t seen you in forever!” As if on cue, Sybill pops up out of nowhere.
“Peter! I found you! Come on! I wanna go talk to the Juilliard guy.” She grabs him by the arm and drags him toward the Juilliard table. “Bye, Marlene,” she sing-songs.
“Oop,” Peter gasps, “Uhh, bye, Marls.”
Marlene giggles and shakes her head as she walks toward the ballroom where there’s more tables set up. She bumps into someone. “Sorry,” they both mutter. Marlene looks up and is met by big beautiful black eyes.
“Oh! Hi, Marlene.” Dorcas’s eyes light up.
“Hey!”
“What are you doing here,” Dorcas asks, eyes still bright.
“Uhhhh, looking at colleges?”
“Oh, right, duh.” Dorcas giggles.
The two girls dive into a detailed conversation about the future. College; what they want to study, where they want to go. Mary walks up behind Dorcas so that Marlene can see her over Dorcas’s shoulder. She turns around and does a little jig while her hands are wrapped around herself, miming a couple making out. Marlene ignores her.
“Do you know what time this thing ends?” Marlene leans against the door frame and looks up at Dorcas, admiring her. Her hair is in long braids and they’re tied back in a ponytail. Her dark skin is clear and shiny but in a natural glow kind of way, not a sweaty way. Marlene is so fucked.
“Yeah it’s over at 3:30 but I'm staying after to help clean up. I need the community service hours.”
“Oh, I need some, too, actually. Can I stay?” Marlene really does need the hours. Is hanging out with Dorcas an added bonus? Yes.
“Just go talk to Poppy. She’s got a list. You can just sign up. ‘All hands on deck!’ You know how she is.”
“Well great! Let me go find her now!”
“Last time I saw her, she was sitting at the front table in the lobby.” Dorcas starts walking to the end of the hallway and Marlene follows. “There she is.” Marlene rounds the corner and sees Poppy, the nurse and college advisor. “Go ahead,” Dorcas encourages. “I’m gonna go talk to some more college people.”
Marlene walks up to Poppy. She’s never spoken to her before but she always gets emails from her and sees her around school, usually in the music office with Dr. Mcgonagall. “Hi. I heard you need more help with clean up later?”
“Of course! The more the merrier! Here’s the list,” She slides a piece of paper across the table. “Just sign your name and I’ll make sure you get the hours on your report card.”
“Thank you.” Marlene pulls the paper toward herself and picks up the pen. Before she signs she looks over the list of volunteers. Second to last, is Dorcas Meadowes. After that is another name. Barty Crouch Jr.
Fuck. She should have known.
“Thank you for your help.” Poppy takes the paper back and looks at her name. “Marlene McKinnon. Your grandfather was just in here. He’s very funny.”
“Oh, Tito. Of course he was in here.”
Poppy laughs and says, “When I need you, I’ll come find you!”
“Thanks!” Marlene walks back around the corner towards the ballroom again. She finds Lily and Remus and walks around with them, looking into more colleges and universities. When 3:30 rolls around and the school is mostly empty, Dorcas, Barty, and Marlene find Poppy.
“Alright, guys. All we have to do is fold up the tables, stack them, and put them back in the prop room.”
“The downstairs one,” Barty asks.
“No, the one right here.” Poppy gestures to the giant, floor-to-ceiling doors next to the stage.
“Oh,” Barty exclaims, “The scene shop.”
“Sure,” Poppy agrees. “Whatever you wanna call it.”
Soon enough, with all the helpers, all the tables are in the scene shop. “There’s some food in the courtyard if you guys want.”
“Oh, we want,” Dorcas mumbles. Marlene and Barty both chuckle before glaring at each other from either side of Dorcas. “Will you two stop?” She walks away and Barty and Marlene continue glaring at each other before following Dorcas towards the courtyard. They grab sodas and cookies before making their way back towards the ballroom.
“When are you guys leaving?” Marlene looks back and forth between them. “I thought this was gonna take a lot longer so I told Tito 5:00.”
“My dad is here already, actually.” Dorcas looks up from her phone.
Barty checks his before piping up, “It’s only 3:45. My mom will be here at 4:30.”
“Well, I’ve got to go,” Dorcas points out. “Maybe you two can go to R.B.’s and rekindle your relationship?”
What the fuck?
Barty and Marlene stare at each other awkwardly. Marlene shakes her head ‘no’ at the same time that Barty says, “Maybe later.”
Ouch.
Marlene hasn’t talked to Barty since last December (and it’s currently October) but that hurt. Marlene could never admit this out loud, but sometimes she misses Barty.
She walks away without a word to get her bag and leaves the school. She walks the couple of blocks to R.B.’s just to find it closed. Just her luck.