Chapter Two—Preparations

"Kel, remember 7:00 tonight! Work on the float in the Quads! Bring your roommates!" shouted Gilbert to his cousin, who was on the opposite side just outside of the Dugout climbing the stairs.

"Alright!" she shouted back, "I'll be there with them!" as she headed to her last class of the day, chatting with her roommate, Stella Maynard.

It had been about three weeks since Kelly and Gilbert started their research and saw Roy in the computer lab. It was the middle of October and homecoming week. The campus had been alive throughout the week with different activities taking place daily. Everyone was excited about Saturday and Saturday night—homecoming parade and dance. Practically everyone was attending. The court had been voted on and announced. Voting for king and queen were ending at lunch, and Stella and Kelly had voted for pal and roomie Philippa Gordon for queen. They continued talking about homecoming and class until class started out on the front lawn.

Modern America history class started and class was held outside since it was a beautiful autumnal day and days like these would be few and far between in two months time. As the weather began to grow cooler and the nights longer, gold, crimson, fiery orange, and deep brown colored leaves descended to their resting spot on the speckled front lawn. Kelly couldn't help but notice this as her class was conducted there. To her, it seemed to represent or reflect the mood and events of things that had come to pass between her two dearest friends—Gilbert and Anne. It all seemed so bittersweet—not quite summer or winter, more like an acquaintance of both, just like Gilbert and Anne—not quite friends more like acquaintances meeting on the street. She sighed. Why did things have to be so complicated between them? And why was she in the middle? Oh, she knew the other girls—Phil, Priscilla, Stella, and even Diana—were caught in the middle of it too, but it seemed more personal. She gave a small sigh again as she continued to write down her notes from class. As class wrapped up, she finished her notes and started gathering her things while Stella waited for her. They were going to walk back to Patty's Place together.

Patty's Place was the oldest house on Spofford Avenue, dating back about 125 years ago. It was named after its owner and the avenue bore the old family name. In Kingsport, Spofford Avenue was known as an historical and affluent neighborhood. The girls lucked out renting it when its inhabitants decided to take a two year trip around the world. The girls took very good care of Patty's Place, much to the surprise of their neighbors, who enjoyed having the vivid, young girls live there.

Now the avenue was a picturesque vista—something out of a Thomas Kincaid painting—with the deciduous trees lining the street and the rusty colored leaves covering the sidewalks and street. Kelly and Stella chatted lightly on their walk home from campus.

"Well, are you ready for the weekend?" asked Stella as they walked along the sidewalk, the leaves crunching under their feet.

"I think so," responded Kelly, "but, oy is tomorrow going to be jammed back!"

"I know! Everyone's in the parade doing different things. Then it's the Lambs tailgate party, the football game, and after that the dance, which we have to get ready for."

"Don't remind me, Stella. Anyway, we have to help with the Sigma/Lamb float tonight. Tomorrow we're all in different places for the parade."

"That's right. Pris and I will be on the float while Phil's with the homecoming court and Anne's with the English society."

"And I'm with the historical society, which means I have to dress up in historical attire to represent one of Redmond's past leaders."

"Oh how fun! We'll have to get pictures before the parade starts."

"Oh, we will. I want pictures of the float and Phil in her car, so we'll make our rounds tomorrow."

"Let's try not to forget the cameras then. Otherwise we're without a paddle."

The girls continued to talk about homecoming until they reached Patty's Place. Then, they either took a nap or worked on some things before they ate supper like a family and headed back to campus to work on the float in the Quads. As they approached the Quads, many other organizations were out and decorating their floats for the parade as well. Different radios were blaring different music and songs. Soon, the girls spotted their float and headed towards it. About ten guys and three girls were working on it.

"Need any help?" asked Philippa as she reached the float and Gilbert, who was in charge.

Gilbert turned around to face the five girls. He gave a broad smile upon seeing more workers. "All the help we can get," he replied. "We could use some help stuffing tissue paper in the chicken wire."

"Okay, we'll help the girls out. They look like they could use it," offered Phil noting that the three girls could use their help as the ten guys were busy building or stapling things to the float.

"Yeah," chuckled Gil, "they could. Their help deserted them for a paper run. Christine and two others left about half an hour ago; they should be back before long."

"Alright, we'll get to it then. Come along girls, we've got stuffing to do!" cried Phil as she ushered her roommates to follow her lead.

About a half hour later, and a little over a third of the way done, Christine Stuart and two other Sigma pledges returned with more tissue paper. Kelly inwardly groaned and rolled her eyes as Christine passed by her, dropping off 5 huge packs of colored tissue paper while making her way towards Gilbert. She was showing him what they found.

Kelly watched as Christine flirted openly with her cousin, nudging and pawing on him while her fake smile was plastered across her face. Gilbert joked back, but he never flirted back. Gilbert saw Christine as a chum and nothing more; Redmond gossip had the two tied together as a bonafide couple. Kelly disliked it and sighed before whispering to Priscilla, who was stuffing next to her, "There's just something I don't like about her. Call it a sixth sense or family over-protectiveness, but I swear she's up to no good."

"Well, I agree with you, but I think the reason why we don't like her especially is because it's her and not ahem," Pris whispered back as she nodded her head in Anne's direction when she cleared her throat.

"Good point," returned Kelly still in a whisper, "but I still don't like it."

"Neither do I," Pris said quietly as she continued to stuff the tissue paper in the chicken wire, "neither do I."

Everyone continued working on the float until about 11:30 that night. They shared laughs and jobs while working on the float. Yet, Kelly and Priscilla's eyes weren't the only ones that kept vigil on Christine and Gilbert. A pair of grey-green eyes made their own observations, not especially liking what they saw either. Unfortunately, the owner of those eyes, Anne, couldn't comment on it. After all, she was dating Roy Gardner, a dashing young man in his own right, and Gilbert was her friend, sort of. So, why was this bothering her? There she goes again, Anne thought to herself. She could feel her insides churn and her cheeks flush. This wasn't the first time Christine's acts toward Gilbert made Anne feel this way. Ever since Christine had started classes and pledging Sigma Theta Lambda and began to hang around Gilbert at Redmond this fall, Anne had always had that feeling. Anne was soon snapped out of her disturbing reverie when Stella asked her a question she didn't hear.

"Sorry. What?" asked an embarrassed Anne as she slightly shook her head and quickly blinked her eyes before turning to look at Stella.

"I asked you if you were taking those papers home or if you were going to turn them in to the supply box," replied Stella as she looked at Anne quizzically.

"Oh," Anne exclaimed softly as she looked down at her hands while her cheeks pinked. "I. . .I was. . .I was just. . .I was just giving the float one last look before putting these away."

"Well, you better catch Gil before he leaves with the supplies," said Stella as she noted Anne's blush and stuttering. "We'll meet you by the fountain. I'll grab the others and let them know to wait for you."

"Okay," called Anne after Stella's back. Then she looked over at Gilbert, who was packing away the float supplies in a big brown box. Noting Christine had managed to leave Gilbert alone for a moment as she talked to her fellow pledges, Anne gathered her courage and walked over to Gilbert, handing him the stack of papers she had.

"Thanks," he said taking the papers from the offering hand, not bothering to see who was handing him the stack as he continued to put a few more supplies in the box.

"You're welcome," replied Anne airily.

Gilbert quickly looked up and then looked back down, continuing his work. "So, are you riding on the float tomorrow?" he asked as his throat started to feel hoarse and his cheeks started to pale.

"Actually, I was going to go with the English society," Anne answered slowly.

"Well, if you change your mind, you could always ride with us," replied Gil as he stood up with the box in his arms. "You know, the more the merrier."

"Thanks," returned Anne with a small smile, "I'll keep my options open."

"No problem. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to get rid of this. I'll see you tomorrow, Anne. Night."

"You too, Gilbert," replied Anne softly as he started to walk towards William Hall, where his dorm room was, "Good night." Then she slowly ambled towards her friends, who were waiting by the fountain for her, so they could walk back to Patty's Place and rest. Tomorrow was going to be a hectic day.