Et Itur Ad Astra

Side A: Golden Hour, Track 1

Summer 1999, 7 June, Junior Year

Mitsuki tucked a lock of midnight-coloured hair behind her ear, adjusting her sunshine-yellow baker boy cap. She was glad she'd worn her contacts today, because otherwise from her seat at the back of the classroom she wouldn't have been able to read the instructions scrawled in chalk on the blackboard. The schedule on the board read:

HALLWAY: Clarice, Sage, Rusty

FANS: Kit, Misty, Chandler

SWEEPING FLOOR: Eugene

MOPPING FLOOR: Magnolia

TABLES AND CHAIRS: Lily, Cassandra

NOTICEBOARD: Phoebe

She clacked the heels of her brown leather loafers together as she twiddled her thumbs, trying to repress the small smile growing on her lips.

The summer festival was coming up, and preparations were nigh. A night where the normally-quiet town went all out in its celebrations, the summer festival was complete with fireworks and a carnival which most of the town participated in.

Here in the town of Dulcet Creek, everyone had a part to play and everyone chipped in. Work was suspended for two days before the festival, for the working adults who were in the planning committee to begin preparations. High schoolers and their parents manned the booths, and the elderly were in charge of the food preparations. In the town of Dulcet Creek, there was exactly one of everything. One middle school, one high school, one factory, one marketplace, you name it. It was vital that people played their part. Everyone around town knew each other in some way or another.

Yet in the small town of Dulcet Creek, no one was irreplaceable. The organised town moved with the efficiency and polished productivity of a well-oiled machine, like bees in a hive. Young or old, everyone had a job to do. And on the day before the summer festival, the students of Dulcet Creek High School were no exception.

Dulcet Creek High School was a small school with only forty-two classes of about ten students each. Most of them were from Dulcet Creek Middle School, and before that were from Dulcet Creek Elementary School, and before that were from Dulcet Creek Preschool. In early June during the last week of school, Class Ten of Dulcet Creek High School's eleventh grade was doing spring – well, summer cleaning. Though the class was small, everyone was close, having been in the same class for three years now.

Mitsuki read it again. FANS: Kit, Misty, Chandler. Being a small, tight-knit class, the class committee generously grouped them according to their respective friend groups. Though Chandler was part of Phoebe, Maggie and Cassie's group, he was the tallest in the class at six foot two. The next tallest were Mitsuki and Tsukito at five foot seven and six feet respectively. Due to this situation, they were assigned to clean the ceiling fans which wasn't unexpected.

"Chop, chop class!" Ms Scarlet Finch clapped her hands briskly, long skirt swishing. She donned bright colours, with a pale turquoise knit shrug over a white top and an ankle-length skirt the same shade as her name.

As the students shuffled around to their designated stations, Chandler, Mitsuki and Tsukito assembled at the back of class. Mitsuki looked up at the three-by-three rows of ceiling fans, arms akimbo.

"So. What are we supposed to do about this?" Chandler asked. Mitsuki and Tsukito exchanged a knowing glance, then, as if he had read her mind, Tsukito offered the exact same solution she had thought of.

"We ask the table gang to hold off a bit, then stand on the tables." Mitsuki nodded in agreement. But unfortunately, the table gang did not agree, reasoning that standing on the tables would impede the other groups' progress, namely the sweeping and mopping group. Chandler pursed his lips and rubbed his buzzed head in frustration.