Chapter Twelve: Calipso's Sketch (Marion, Kayla, Yusrah, Miss N)

It was Thursday afternoon, a busy day for all the girls and just two days away from the Valentine’s Ball. Chelsea had ballet, Jade was horse riding, Roxanne was at a hockey meeting and Charlotte and Annie were at an extra Chemistry lesson with Miss Jiggleweed. Calipso wasn’t much of a sportswoman like Roxanne and she wasn’t too keen on ballet either. She had more of a creative streak and had joined the Art Club with Mr Montgomery. Mr Montgomery could immediately see that she was a very talented artist so he was very happy to have her in the class.
Ever since the long weekend, Calipso had been very subdued. Her friends had questioned her about her absence from class on Monday and asked if she had been alright. She had been very vague and told the girls that Mrs Sheraton had wanted to ask her a few questions about her friendship with Suzy. She needed some time to think and for that reason she was looking forward to Art Club. In fact, Calipso always looked forward to Art Club on a Thursday. It was a chance for her to relax and forget about the pressures of schoolwork and the loneliness that she sometimes felt when she thought of her family far away in Peru. It was a quiet place where she could think about other things and lately she’d been thinking a lot about the strange dreams that she’d started to have since arriving at Fernwood. Her new friends had told her all the rumours and stories about their dormitory, that there was some sort of mystery around it, but Calipso couldn’t believe how everything that she dreamt about actually happened. But that was the strange part. Until now, everything that they had dreamt about had happened unless they had done something to stop it and had literally changed the future. So why would she have dreamt about Suzy in a red dress, arriving at the Ball with Stuart, if Suzy had been suspended from school? Suzy would be nowhere near the Ball on Valentine’s Day. Calipso was convinced that everyone had made a terrible mistake and that Suzy had not stolen anything. She had decided to go to Mrs Sheraton first thing on Monday morning and tell her exactly that. That’s why she hadn’t been in class. The principal had also expressed her surprise about Suzy’s behaviour and it seemed that she was just as determined to get to the bottom of the story and uncover the truth.

***

In the week leading up to the Valentine's Ball, the girls talked about it non-stop. The event would allow the boys and girls a rare opportunity to dress up, socialise and even dance with each other. What was even more exciting was the fact that Chelsea was not the only one from the dorm who was going to be attending the Ball. By Wednesday evening, all the girls in the dorm had received an invitation. Charlotte and Roxanne had been invited by two matric boys who they both knew from Sailing Club. But rather than delivering the invitations themselves, the matric boys had sent two small Grade Eight boys to do it for them. It was like having their own personal messenger service and it was a privilege that the matrics loved to take advantage of. Annie, Jade, and even Calipso, had been visited by three Grade Ten boys. The fact that they were in Grade Ten meant that they had to personally invite the girls to the dance. It might have been daunting for the boys but the girls found it far more romantic. Calipso was going with Adam. Adam still seemed very concerned about her after the drowning incident and, in a way, felt some responsibility for what had happened. Annie had been invited by Ben Simpson. He was known by most as “Benny the Brain” but Annie didn’t have the heart to turn him down. She also didn’t want to be the only one out of their whole group who wasn’t going to the dance, so she had said yes. This seemed to make Ben very happy. His green eyes sparkled through his thick glasses when she agreed to go with him and he had an obvious bounce in his step as he made his way back down the path back to Braxton House.

***

Friday arrived at last and there was a buzz of anticipation amongst the girls with the Ball only one day away. They all sat in Chelsea’s cubicle chattering about the evening ahead and Chelsea’s first official date with Kyle. The girls bombarded Chelsea with questions:
“Are you nervous?”… “What are you going to talk about?”… “Do you think he might kiss you?”
The last question made the girls erupt into fits of giggles.
“What if he asks you out, will you say yes?” asked Annie eagerly.
“Of course she’ll say yes, Annie!” Charlotte assured her. “Wait, you will say yes, won’t you?”
Chelsea giggled. “Of course I’ll say yes! You all know how much I like him, I’ll be the happiest girl in the world!”
Jade grinned and then suddenly became more serious. “Moving on to more important matters, what are we all going to wear? At least you have the perfect outfit Chelsea, Kyle is going to be blown away when he sees you in that stunning pink dress!”
Chelsea sighed, “Oh Jade, always so dramatic.”
“That’s not really the most important thing though,” said Roxanne, “It’s how she acts on the night. You just have to be yourself and he’ll fall totally in love with you. And Jade, what are you really worrying about? You have enough dresses in your closet for the whole school to wear to the Ball. It’s like we have our very own ‘Dress Parade’ right here in our dorm.”
Jade shrugged, well aware of the fact that she had a very well-stocked wardrobe of very fashionable clothes, but she couldn’t resist an opportunity to shop.
“Hey, where’s Calipso?” asked Charlotte.
“She was downstairs in the common room a moment ago, I think she is booking the couch for us for the Friday night movie,” said Roxanne.
“I’m going to go and find her,” said Annie decisively.
“We’ll come with you,” said the others and all of them, except Chelsea, followed Annie down the stairs.
Apart from Calipso sitting on the couch, the common room was empty. Calipso had blankets and pillows spread out next to her and she looked so peaceful as she sat sketching in her Art pad.
“Hi Calipso, thanks for saving us a seat for the movie. What are you drawing? Can I see?” asked Annie.
“Well, it’s not that good, but you can look if you want to,” she replied.
Annie gasped when she saw the drawing. “This is like one of those déjà vu moments!” she cried. The picture in front of her was so vivid.
“Why did you draw this particular picture?” she asked Calipso.
“I had a dream about it,” she replied.
“I saw this in my dream too. It’s the hall where the Valentine’s Ball is going to be held,” Annie explained.
“I also dreamt about the Ball. I dreamt that Chelsea was dancing with some guy but I didn’t think I needed to say anything because we all know that Kyle and Chelsea will dance at some stage during the evening,” added Charlotte, smiling at the thought.
“I dreamt about Kyle holding a glass and looking astonished,” Roxanne chipped in.
“Why do you seem so nervous, Annie?” asked Calipso.
“Well, the thing is, I didn’t only dream about the ballroom,” she replied. “I dreamt about Chelsea running out of the ballroom, and she was crying.”