Emily The Dunking Booth Mermaid
A “How I Spent My Summer Vacation: I became a Girl!” Gaiden
by
Rebecca Anna Coleman
Book One of Emily's Prom Story Arc
-1-
Prom Committee
I took a deep breath as I leered at the faces that surrounded me. I was starting to regret volunteering to sit on the prom committee. I had volunteered to help staff it on a whim. I mean the only reason I'd volunteered was because all committee members would be “Paid” by being given two free tickets. Which meant I could score a free ticket for me and my boyfriend. It also meant I was saving forty dollars, which meant I could put that forty dollars to buying a fancy prom dress.
Also for some reason my name had been written on the ballet. I was now in the running to be crowned 'Prom Princess' since I was well a Sophomore. You see, St. Claries, the private Roman Catholic Academy I’m enrolled in, has a tradition that anybody who can afford the price of a ticket can attend prom. I know in most American High Schools only the Seniors and Juniors can attend. Freshman and Sophomores can attend only if they're invited by an upperclassman.
At St. Claire's things were different, I guess because the whole Senior Class could be squeezed into one classroom. Anyway, like I said, anybody who was a student at St. Claries, who could afford the price of a ticket and were either a Freshman, Sophomore, Junior, or Senior could attend. Though the privilege of being elected either 'Prom King' or 'Prom Queen' was saved for Seniors. While Juniors and Sophomores could be elected to 'Prom Prince' or 'Prom Princess'. There were no elected offices open to Freshman.
Anyway for some reason I'd gained enough popularity points with my peers to put on the ballad box for 'Prom Princess' which kind of forced me to volunteer to help staff the committee. My boyfriend as a kind of joke had also been put on the ballad box to be elected 'Prom Prince'.
“So.” A girl with straight blonde hair and an oval shape called out. Her voice seemed to echo in the chamber. “We agreed that the theme for our prom will be 'Under the Sea' and that all decorations will reflect that theme. And the colors of our prom will be aquamarine and coral pink. Now the question we need to address is how are we going to pay for all of it?”
“According to my research.” Another girl with curly black hair said. “The total cost of all the decorations will run around twelve hundred dollars. That does not include the cost of renting out the country club for the night.” The girl paused and took a deep breath. “Or the cost of the catering service.” She then reached down. A moment later she was shuffling some papers together.
“The catering service will run us around four hundred dollars for food. And the cost of renting out the country club for one night will be another four hundred dollars. So add eight hundred dollars to twelve hundred dollars and we're looking at around two thousand dollars.”
“And how much have we raised?” The blonde haired girl with straight hair said. I guess she was addressing the room.
“Donations from private businesses in town will cover around six hundred or so dollars. Sales of tickets will cover four hundred dollars. The school has agreed to chip in three hundred dollars. Donations from the student body will cover another two hundred dollars.” A boy with short, jet back hair that had been mowed into a crewcut said.
“Fund raising by the various school clubs will cover about a hundred dollars. And St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church has agreed to donate around a hundred dollars.” Another boy chipped in.
“So that leaves us with a short fall of around four hundred dollars.” The straight blonde haired girl said as she started to sink into our seats.
“How about a fund-raiser?” Another girl chimed in, she spoke with a thick Irish accent. Which I think was fake because well, let's be real the school was a mixing pot. “We our folks to pitch in. We can sell chips, hotdogs, soda, sausage dogs.”
“And we can have a dunking booth!” Another girl chimed in. “Get the teachers to volunteer to sit in it, make sure the water is really cold too! Charge them five dollars for three balls. We'll have a line from here to the bloody bridge over the Manchester River!” Cried out the girl in the fake Irish accent.
“No.” The girl with straight blonde hair said. “None of the teachers will dare volunteer. But one of us might.. but who..” The girl with straight blonde hair said as she started to stroke her chin, in a manner that reminded very much of a villain in an anime featured film.
“Oh! You know the drama club has a mermaid costume! Perfect for this type of stunt! It's cute too! Since we're going for an underwater theme, it suits. Plus the added bonus of eye-candy will have the boys lined up for miles.” Chimed in the girl with a fake Irish accent.
“Oh goodness yes! We can do it next Saturday! It will give us a week to print out posters and stuff! But who will our mermaid be.” A girl with black, curly hair said.
“Oh that simple.”The girl with straight blonde hair said squited her eyes and zoomed in on me. “I know the perfect person.”
It was then I noticed that all attention had shifted toward me.
“What?” I said looking around the chamber.
“Ms. Emily Hannah Anderson.” The blonde haired girl said.
“What about me?” I said starting to wiggle around in my seat.
“Aye she'll be perfect.” The girl with the fake Irish accent said. “After all, she volunteered to play 'Dotty' last year and staffed the dunking booth at the summer carnival. She'll be perfect. Plus, everybody in town knows her. Also she is in the running to crown 'Prom Princess' so it makes perfect sense that she volunteers.”
At this the blonde haired girl snapped her fingers and smiled.
“Oh we could get the 'Photography Club' to do a photo shoot with her dressed in the mermaid costume! And then we can get the 'Newspaper Club' to front line edition with her dressed in the mermaid costume! Heck might even get them to do a little interview with her, so people can get to know the person behind the costume. That idea is pure gold!”
I blinked and looked around the room.
“Don't I get a say in this?!” I said blushing.
“Of course you do.” Another girl said as she chimed into the conversation. “I mean if you don't want to do it, then I'm sure we could find somebody else who would love to volunteer. It's just that if you did volunteer, and you did agree to the interview, and the photo shoot. You'll gain a ton of kudos in school.”
“Aye!” Said the girl with the fake irish accent. “Plus that club you belong to 'Anime and Manga' club will get a good bit of spotlight. Might even gain a few new members. And plus with your name on the ballet for 'Prom Princess' each ball thrown your way would count as a vote on your behalf. Beside.” The girl leaned in and whispered to me.
“Between you and me, that club you belong to has something of a bad name around school. Two years before you came here, when I was a dumb Freshman. Some fellows from that club got in trouble with the headmaster and almost got it shut down. See them, fellows were using the school computers to download Hentia.” The girl with the fake Irish accent whispered darkly.
“Oh I remember that!” Another girl chimed in, “They were printing off like these weird Japanese porn cartoon pictures and downloading weird Japanese porn using the school computer. They were selling it too! I know a bunch of guys got busted!”
I blinked that all this was new to me.
“Oh! Emily, you missed it girl! It was big news, the priest, people were up in arms. Like the main three guys who were the brains behind the whole operation got expelled from school, and all those who brought this stuff were either canned, or paddled, or both!” Another girl chimed in.
“The 'Anime and Manga' club almost got shut down too. But it lost a lot of members, and students were banned from using the school's internet for the rest of the year.” Another girl added.
“So let me get this straight.” I said, taking a deep breath. “By agreeing to cosplay as a mermaid, staff the dunking booth, getting dunked over and over again in freezing cold water, I'll somehow raise enough money to cover our prom.. Remove the tarish from the 'Anime and Manga' club and somehow get enough votes to elect 'Prom Princess'.”
“Not really, we can't guarantee that doing all that would do all that. But it would win you some major kudo points with the staff and the students, and could, maybe tip the scale in your favor. But what we can guarantee is..” Another gir added before she paused in mid sentence.
“But what we can guarantee is two extra photos of you in the year book. And a better shot at being crowned 'Prom Princess' which would make it three extra photos of you in the year book.” The girl added once she had collected her wits about her.
“Yep!Your already going to get an extra photo for volunteering to help us. And if you volunteer, you'll get another extra photo of you posing in the costume. Plus another extra photo of you sitting in the dunking booth. Plus considering we'll be hanging posters of you posing in the costume around school, that kind of gives you a razor thin edge for when it comes time to count the votes. Which means you also get a crown, a title and another photo out of it.”
“...” I took a deep breath and looked toward the sky. Somehow at that moment I felt my mom looking down on me, smiling in amusement as I weighed the pro's and con's. I missed her, but times like this, I missed her even more.
“I'll do it!” I said, taking a deep breath. “I'll volunteer!”
To Be Continued
Emily The Ducking Booth Mermaid
A “How I Spent My Summer Vacation: I Became a Girl!” Gaiden
By
Rebecca Anna Coleman
Book One of Emily's Prom Story Arc
-2-
Does a Demon really haunt the Dram Club Classroom?
I took a deep breath as I climbed the concrete steps. My footfalls seemed to echo off the wooden walls, faint rays of sunshine seemed to break through the window. It was late in the afternoon, and the school was almost empty, I say almost empty because only those who had after school detention or were attending club activities remain. As well as a few nuns who were walking the hallways, their long,glass rosaries swinging as they chanted prayers under their breath. Maybe they were trying to cleanse the school of unwanted sprites? . The faint sound of the gray haired janitor whistling a little tune under his breath also echoed off the old wooden walls.
My mission this afternoon was simple: report to the drama club's room on the third floor. Meet the girl with an oval face and blonde hair and try on the costume. Now, I've done cosplay before. I even cosplayed at a local anime convention. Well I've cosplayed twice before, the first time was at a local anime convention like I said before. The second time was at a local renaissance fair. Well that only if you count dressing up as a country maiden as cosplaying. Scholars on the subject will debate that.
As I reached the third floor. I felt a chill come over me. Small dust bunnies seemed to swirl in the air around me. The air up here was stale and smelled like crayons. It seemed the third and fourth floor of the school was not shown the same love and care as the first and second floor. Which makes sense because most classes were held on those two floors. And the chapel, gym and such were located in separate buildings that were connected to the school via a paved walkway.
Now, I'm not going to say the school is haunted. Because I don't believe school's can be haunted, though that is not often the case in Japan. Because according to the anime every school in Japan is haunted by at least thirteen ghosts. But this being a Roman Catholic school, I doubt it could be haunted. I mean if I was a ghost, the last place I would want to hang around is a school. And let’s be real here, if either you or I were a former student who had passed away on school grounds the last place on earth we'd like to spend our after life roaming around would be our school.
Finally I reached the drama club's room, it was located in the middle of the hallway. Taking a deep breath I reached down and wrapped my nimble fingers around the brass door-nob. Once my fingers were wrapped safely around the door-nob I gave it a shove and the old wooden door creaked open. And soon I was standing in the middle of the room.
The room smelled of paint, it was crowded with props, bolts of cloth, old sewing machines. In a corner there was an old bookshelf that was filled with dozens of paperback plays. And in the middle of all this mess stood the oval face girl. She stood standing ram-rod straight with her arms folded across her chest and her foot was tapping upon the wooden floorboard and with a cock of the head she fixed her gaze on the old clock that was hanging on the wall.
“You're five minutes late.” She said in an annoyed tone of voice.
“Sorry.” I said, taking a deep breath.
“Any reason that you're five minutes late?” She said, arching an eyebrow.
“I had to stop using the bathroom?” I said blushing a little.
“And it takes you five minutes to use the bathroom?” She asked.
“I had to take a shit.” I said simply. “Today's 'Irish Stew' gave me the shits. Everything I eat at this school gives me the shits. That's why I always carry lunch from home with me.”
“Did you wash your hands?” She said, taking a deep breath as she unfolded her arms.
“Yes,” I said, leering at the girl.
“Anyway, Miss. Emily Hannah Anderson.” The oval girl said, taking a deep breath as she started to pace around me. “I have some good news, the local hospital has decided to make a sizable donation to fund our prom. Since it seems you and your boyfriend both volunteered to staff their dunking booth. Sunflower Food Store also decided to donate several cases of frozen hamburger patties and a pallet of charcoal. Colonial Bread has decided to donate a lot of unsold hamburger buns. So it seems the fund-raiser is going to be a smashing success.”
“Cool.” I said smiling. “So we're not going to do the dunking booth?”
“Hold on.” The woman paused. “ Manchester Fun Time has agreed to give us free usage of their dunking booth. With the local fire department agreeing to fill it for free. So yes, we're still going to do the dunking booth.
“Fine.” I said, taking a deep breath. “Let me go ahead and try on the costume. I'm ready to get out of this room, it feels haunted.”
“That's because it is.” The girl said, guiding me over to a old closet.
“Come again?” I said, leering into the back of the girls head.
“Back in the nineties. There was a club that was called 'The Paranormal Research Club' and this room was their club room.” The girl said as she reached up and pulled upon a braided piece of rope and a few seconds later the old, naked light bulb flickered on.
“Right, like a Roman Catholic School will allow a club that is devoted to paranormal research. That shit would get shut down quicker than Nickelodeon shut down reruns of 'Cry Baby Lane'.” I said taking a deep breath though the air inside the room did seem to grow colder.
“It was a secret club.” The girl said, smiling sweetly. “According to the story, one of the members decided to make a spirit-board one day in shop class. You know, they used the basement as kind of a shop area back in the day? Like back in the nineties they used to have wood-working and metal-working. Anyway this guy was also a boy scout that attended school here. Even though he and his family went to the Episcopal Church.”
“I never understood why our biggest rival is St. Andrew's Academy.” I wondered where in the world the girl was going with the story. And considering how far she was in the closet, I was starting to wonder if she was going to somehow stumble in Narnia.
“Because. We're Roman Catholic and we say Mass the correct way and St. Andrew's is Episcopal and their nothing more than poor copycats.” She said muttering under under her breath. “Anway where was I? Oh this boy made this spirit-board right and late one night he and some other members of this 'paranormal research' club broke into school and used this spirit-board to contact a demon that called itself 'Moloch' which is like really bad news.”
I was getting a little creeped out by all this.
“Anyway several sessions in and this demon called 'Moloch' wanted them to perform a Black Mass here. In this room. He also wanted them to make an offering, some stories said the demon wanted them to offer a baby, a human baby, some say it required something like a kitten or a puppy.”
“Girl.. did you invite me here just to tell a creepy ass story or did you want to try on the costume?” I said I was losing my temper a little. I felt bad about snapping on her, but things were getting a little creepy.
“Hold on.” The girl said, taking a deep breath. “The story is just getting good, and the costume it seems is hidden in the very back of the closet.”
“Okay.” I said, crossing my arms.
“So, like I said, this demon who named itself 'Moloch' wanted something as an offering. So they took a kitten, a very young kitten. Like one that was still nursing from its mother and at the height of this Black Mass they opened the thing's throat and spilled it hot, warm blood on the floor.” The girl said.
“That is some dark magic.” I muttered. Now for those of you who don't know, I'm not really a Christian. I'm more of a pagan. I also believe that at its heart Christianity maintains a lot of pagan beliefs. I'm not going to deep dive into what I believe, but my final thoughts on Christianity as a whole is that it could be a force for good but so often has been used as justification to enslave man's fellow man.
“What?” The girl finally seemed to have found the mermaid costume as she was holding something up to the light.
“I said that was some really dark magic?! Doing shit like that gets you hexed. Gets you haunted?!” I said with a little too much pepper.
“Emily?” The girl said as she popped head out of the closet.
“Did you notice the room just get a little chilly now?”
“Girl,” I said, folding my arms across my chest. “It spring in the fucking south. It's going to be bloody chilly, and now that you told me we were standing in a room were some novice wizard performed a blood offering to a demon.. Well.. I just want to try the costume on and get out of here.”
At that moment the old wooden door swung open. The girl and I just looked at ach other, both of us a little confused. Then it happen the door slammed shut. The windows rattled in their frames and the force of the slam echoed down the long empty hallway.
Well.. I bolted. The girl bolted too.
“What was that?!” The girl screamed as we rushed toward the stairs.
“YOUR FRIEND!” I shouted. Now, I'm the girls track team, so I can sprint if I wanted too, problem was, I was wearing a skirt and its hard to really gain traction in a skirt, plus my shoes had a slight heel to them, again hard to gain traction when your wearing a skirt and low heel shoes.
“MY FRIEND!?” The girl shouted as she pushed herself to keep up with me.
“YOU NEVER NAME A DEMON YOU DUMB BIMBO!” I shouted. As I bounded down the first few concrete steps.
“How do you know all this?” The girl seemed to follow me lead and like me was taking the stairs two at a time.
“I'm a witch.” I said bounding over the concrete steps.
“..” The girl said nothing and for several long minutes the only sound to heard was the leather sole's of our shoes grinding away at the concrete. Soon however we reached the first floor and then it was a full on sprint to reach the wooden door. For two long minutes we sprinted toward the main front door, once we reached it, we pushed open the lock and stepped outside into the late afternoon sunshine.
“I'll get Sister Smith to fetch the costume for us.. you can try it on tomorrow after your interview or before the event.. it should fit you.. I'm just.. I don't want to go back up there alone.. I mean I had you, I just don't want to go back up there alone without you knowing Holy support..”
I could think of nothing to say as I placed my hands down upon my knees and watched my chest heave up and down as my frail ass body went into hyperdrive. I could feel the sweet as honey air of a southern spring afternoon being forced into my lungs that seemed to burn as if they were on fire.
To Be Continued.