Secrets keeper

16 - Preparation week

^^Tree chandelier

Lillian's POV

I blinked my eyes as Andrew and I stared at each other awkwardly in silence. I didn't know why, but I felt some kind of tension in the air. After a few minutes, I cleared my throat and padded out of the storage room. Before walking out, I glanced back at Andrew and saw him shaking his head at something.

I blew a breath in relief when I walked outside and saw everyone wrapping up for the day. I packed my stuff and Nate thanked me for helping, at which I blushed.

"You don't have to thank me, Nate. I was going the same as others." I said, adjusting my glasses.

"Few people here are willing to volunteer so I need to." He smiled.

I nodded, and we walked out of the ballroom. We said our byes at the gate, and I strolled to my cycle. I never thought working would be fun, even though Andrew did most of my work, but still.

The next day the painters drew the art while the others worked on the chandelier. I watched as the craft team cut the plywood to give them a shape of a fake tree for the chandelier. It was the major attraction of the theme.

"Why didn't you just buy it?" I asked Nate.

"The thing is that Principal Morgan wants everything to be made by students to show the guests their talent. Since they have little performance on the academic side, they'll get into some college at least for their extracurricular activities."

"I had no idea Principal Morgan cared that much about the students."

"No, she doesn't." Nate scoffed, crossing his arms. "She just cares about the school and its reputation. Why do you think she gives scholarships to students easily? Because she knows no one from here is that talented in studies. And if she doesn't work well for the school, the board will dismiss her. She's just a wicked witch who doesn't care about anything but money." Nate grunted.

I blinked my eyes at him. I knew Ben hated his mother for leaving them, but I never assumed his friends will hate her too.

Someone from the council committee called Nate that Miss Grace was looking for him. Miss Grace was the in-charge of the student council and she was the one managing the fundraiser with Nate. Nate excused himself and walked out of the ballroom.

I sighed and looked around, not sure what to do. I didn't know how to spend time with Nate when he was busy with everything. My eyes locked with David and Andrew, who were carrying stuff with their narrowed eyes at me, making me gulp. The whole time I avoided getting any close to them and stuck with Nate, now he's gone...

My eyes darted to Louis, who was painting on the wall, and I went to him. I glanced back at the boys and saw them going into the storage room and sighed in relief.

"Hi, Louis." I greeted him after a few minutes. He was engrossed in the painting that he didn't notice me.

"Oh hey, Lilly." He smiled. "What's up?"

"Nothing..." I returned his smile. "I uh... I was wondering if you need help."

"You're on time." He beamed and extended the big paint tray. "Can you hold this while I paint? It's getting difficult to paint with this big thing."

"Sure." I took the tray and watched him paint. "What are you painting?"

"A wolf." He said and my eyes widened.

"Wow." For a few minutes, I watched him as he made the base of the wolf's face. "You're good at this." I praised.

His ears turned red and he mumbled. "Yeah... Uh, this is the one thing that I'm good at."