Tailor Made

Chapter Six

The next day Aria and Nora returned to town to continue painting. They hadn’t had a chance to contact the club members yet about trying to involve Nora more, or the switching of the models, so the two of them were discussing how best to approach the ‘start over’ meeting.

“I think I should sneak into the room before the club starts on Monday while wearing a nice black cape. Then you need to make sure you get there first, and tell people when they arrive that the power is out. Once they’ve all arrived I’ll descend on them and-”

“Bite them? Are you a vampire in this scenario?”

Nora made a ‘tch!’ noise, but her shifty eyes suggested yes.

“Can’t you just walk in and tell them you want to start over?” Aria asked.

“Oh Aria, you sweet summer child.”

“Actually it’s Summerfield.”

“You may have been understanding enough to not need an explanation for everything, even though I graciously gave you one anyway, but not everyone is like you. Even if most of them see that I want to move past things and respect that, I put my money on Jarod saying ‘What’s this? You were basically a robot and now you are a fully fleshed human who I’m extremely attracted to.’ I just can’t deal with that right now.”

“You have a really weird understanding of Jarod,” Aria said. “He’s really sweet.”

“And also thick as a brick. Any subtlety will fly over his head,” Nora frowned.

“Oh, are you nervous about how people will respond?”

Nora threw her hands up, “Yes! Obviously!”

“Awww!” Aria tried to hug her, but Nora was reminiscent of a cat and smoothly dodged between her arms and away. “You are too cute.”

Nora hissed.

“You do you, cutie. Speaking of cute things, the carnival of colour is tomorrow, want to join me in claiming territory?” Aria asked.

“I thought that was a given. I was thinking maybe we could-” Nora’s eyes narrowed and she pursed her lips in thought. “Say, what was that insane climb you did yesterday?”

“That was parkour.”

“‘Scuze me?”

“The French martial art of running away. It’s all about training to be efficient in movement, and teaches how to run, jump, and climb as fast as possible,” Aria explained.

Nora sighed. “Martial art? Oh dear. Only the French.”

“Oi! Don’t diss my people!” Aria retorted.

“You’re French?”

Aria shrugged a shoulder. “I mean, a few generations back.”

“Whatever, it gives me a good idea. You know where most of the club members live, right?”

“Aside from Jarod, yes. But Mat should know where he lives.”

“Marvellous. Let’s round them up. I think we need an emergency meeting.” Nora dropped her paint roller in the bucket and stamped away.

“But we’ve only painted half the wall!” Aria called after her.

The sun was dipping below the horizon, and most students were heading to dinner, but the Couturier Club gathered around one of the back tables. Nora explained her idea, and most of them agreed excitedly. However Jarod was holding back his vote.

“You actually have a personality?” Jarod asked.

“Several, even,” Nora grinned in reply.

“I for one already like you far more. But why do something so crazy when we could just shoot people normally?” Chris wondered.

Nora shook her head. “If we don’t shoot for the stars, who will ever be impressed by our successes? Besides, haven’t you always wanted to shoot masses of paint at people while looking fabulous?”

“Fair,” Mat shrugged.

“I think it sounds great,” Elise smiled, “I like how you’ve found a way to use all our skills. A mean, it’s a bit odd considering we don’t know you, but who cares.”

“Aria won’t stop talking my ear off about you all,” Nora rolled her eyes. But she added “It’s nice to have someone who notices all the little details about us.”

“What colour will we be using?” Aria asked.

“Hold up, I have a great idea. And I know a guy we can source it from,” Jarod announced, and began typing madly at his phone.

“Remember, it needs to be acrylic so it will wash away,” Nora reminded him. “Great. Everything else is ready, so we should get to bed. We need to be up early to set things up tomorrow.”

“I might stay here for a little bit longer,” Elise said, “I have an idea to make something that could be useful.”

Jarod looked up from his phone. “Do we need to paint tonight or tomorrow?”

“Tomorrow is fine,” Nora replied.

“He’ll meet us at home base then.”

Each of them except Jarod and Elise headed home to pursue their separate preparations.

Early in the day Aria and Nora went by the volunteer tent and managed to get their hands on some goggles for the event. Typically the goggles were only handed out to those who were at the starting range at the beginning of the event, so the two had to carefully borrow a few pairs. Aria remained adamant that they were ‘borrowing’, because of course they would bring them back at the end of the event. Nora told her she had no spirit of adventure.

They returned to home base which was the building Aria and Nora had first painted together, which was in view of the starting area. Aside from Aria however, the other three needed to make use of a ladder to climb onto the roof. They had set up a comfortable base of operations thanks to Chris and Mat’s efforts in food, drink, and weapons.

Nora grinned, “If this were a zombie apocalypse, we would have this in the bag.”

“Sure, what zombie wouldn’t flee at the threat of paint,” Mat responded, but Aria knew he was pleased to get a chance to use some of his contraptions.

“We just need Jarod to get here with the paint,” Aria looked at her watch. “Time is passing, where is he?”

“And where’s Elise?” Chris asked. “Maybe I should give her a call.”

“Maybe they understand the importance of running down to the wire. That sense of urgency will give us the adrenaline-filled edge necessary to destroy our enemies today,” Nora suggested.

“I don’t think they got your memo, they just arrived,” Mat announced.

Sure enough, Elise and Jarod arrived in a car being driven a guy in his twenties. They clambered out with a few buckets of paint, and a bunch of fabric over Elise’s arm. Together they managed to pull everything up onto the building.

“What colour did you get?” Aria asked eagerly.

“Royal purple,” Jarod grinned, “Because today we will be kings and queens of the battlefield.”

“Perfect,” Nora said.

“Actually, there is one more thing,” Elise said as she pulled the fabric apart. There were six separate pieces, and she handed one to each of them. “It was a really quick job, but I made something for each of us to wear. So everyone knows we’re on the same team.”

Each of them were now holding a cape of royal purple, and Aria was stunned by the skill, even in such a simple garment.

“Should the one with the most purple left in their cape by the end of the day win?” Chris suggested.

“Easy to say when you’re going to be up on the building,” Aria replied.

Mat grinned, “Well I guess you won’t be winning then.”

Teasing and joking broke out between the team, but Aria pulled Nora aside. “I cannot work you out,” Aria said with a small smile.

“How so?”

“Two days ago you were panicking to me that people take up too much of your time. And yet here you are, taking up everyone else’s time.”

“Yeah, with something awesome,” Nora replied, but she sobered. “I just think you were right. About other people. And you’ve seen my work, I’ve done the worst work in my life since coming to this school. I need a break and to get this slump out of my system. Besides, I’d rather a day with you guys being amazing than being on my own trying to force my brain to make something amazing.”

Aria grinned.

Around noon the whole town came pouring into the starting area, all laughing and joking with their friends while wearing goggles, white clothes to best capture the wild array of colours, and carrying a squirt gun filled with paint.

They centred around a small stage where a cheerful-looking older man stood exchanging pleasantries with a few people. After a few glances at his watch he brought a microphone to his mouth and his words roared to life.

“Welcome, welcome! I am Martin Songer, this year’s coordinator, and I am proud to welcome you to another year of the Carnival of Colour! I hope you’re all ready to turn Kingsbury into the most colourful town in the world!”

Screams of excitement followed his words, and he waited until they simmered down before he spoke again.

“A few housekeeping rules before we start; no one is to shoot beyond the corded off areas. That starts going towards people’s homes, and we don’t want a repeat of three years ago!”

There was a small murmuring across the crowd. Half were in agreement, and half were of confusion and curiosity.

“Ahem. And secondly-”

The lights suddenly died as if someone cut the power, but a strange evil laugh was beginning to bubble up over the speakers. The attendees, Martin included, looked around in confusion. Off to the right of the stage, a previously innocent-looking block now held a cackling masked girl. Her laughter boomed through the speakers around everyone. She was dressed in black from head to toe except for a purple cape flowing from her shoulders. She held a microphone to her face so to capture her magnificent laugh, and the mask she bore upon her face only covered the top half of her face, leaving her mouth exposed. Atop her soft black hair sat a magnificent golden crown.

“Foolish mortals!” she boomed. “Your colours are nothing against my terrible power! I am your new queen, the Queen of Colour! Purple will control this town, and there’s nothing any of you can do about it! Not while I maintain my crown!”

She snapped her fingers, and in huge puff of smoke, she vanished. Several people gasped. The crowd looked around in confusion, trying to spot where she had gone. Through the murmuring someone screamed out “There!!” pointing towards the queen’s sprinting form. She was dashing at incredible speed away from the crowd, leaping over rails and park benches.

Martin wasted no time. “Get her!” he cried, shooting the starting pistol into the air.

The crowd surged forwards, and while a few small fights broke out, the main group dashed after their queen.

The queen reached the building the club had dubbed Fort Kickass, and scaled the wall in a matter of seconds. She rolled over the low wall of the roof, and ducked out of sight. The first of the bullets of colour splattered against the wall, and with a shout from within, large tarp shields sprang up from above.

Aria pulled off the mask, crown, and black wig. “Now just wait for the colour to rain down on us.”

“Not when we get them first,” Mat replied. The main crowd was within about twenty metres of Fort Kickass and the screams of war rang through the air. Aria cried “Fire the catapult!”

“It’s actually a trebuchet! It’s the superior siege engine!” Mat shouted, but he took aim nonetheless. He had loaded several water balloons filled with purple paint into the trebuchet’s bucket and took fire.

“Grapeshot!” someone shouted in the crowd, and many people screamed as they were splattered. The raining terror just lit the fire in their bellies and they advanced. The crowd circled the building and discovered the ladder which had been carelessly tossed behind some bushes. It was quite impressive the unspoken truce they maintained as they worked together to take down the couturier club as they dragged the ladder to the walls.

“They’ve found the wall!” Chris cried. “Jarod, release the ‘boiling oil’!”

Jarod reached up tugged on a rope which released a bucket full of paint down the wall and over the ladder, rendering it slick. The paint was mixed with suds so it looked like it was bubbling.

However, in the breath moment Jarod reached up, someone had taken the sniper shot of the century and potted him right on the solar plexus. “Argh!” he cried, falling to the floor.

“Nooo!” yelled Chris, grabbing Jarod’s limp but quietly sniggering body. “He was so young and full of life! Why would you take him from us, why!?”

Aria ducked down in laughter. “For your bravery I’m awarding you the purple heart,” she said, also shooting Jarod in the chest.

“Friendly fire!” Jarod cried.

In the confusion Elise pulled a water cooler with straps onto her back and shouted “Cover me!” She planted one foot on the short wall, and raised her weapon. In the space of twelve hours Mat had managed to smash together a water cooler, an air compressor, and a short hose. At its inception, Mat said “The Chroma Cannon” in a hollow voice, as if awed completely by his masterpiece. Now Elise held the hose at hip height, and flipped the switch.

It roared to life and Elise screamed a war cry as purple paint shot from the hose, spraying everyone in a short range. Only those outside of the range were able to fire back because the pressure of the paint was so strong it nearly pushed them off their feet.

“Why did we ever think we should only sew clothing as a group!” Elise cried over the noise.

But even with Chris and Aria shooting anyone who aimed at Elise, and Mat still flinging water balloons on the further enemies, there were simply too many. Elise was gunned down by a vast array of colours, and could only duck down as Jarod did.

Their enemies were climbing the ladder, and the club was out of tricks. Aria, Chris, and Mat hunkered down behind the low wall and the now brightly coloured canvas shields.

“Well, it’s been an honour serving with you all,” Chris said grimly.

But there was someone screaming like a banshee in the background, and startled cries as some unsuspecting people were shot. “Aria!” the voice screamed out.

Aria jumped to her feet. “Nora?” she cried, and was promptly shot in the face.

“Ha, made you look!” Nora shouted as she too was shot all over. She laughed, and shot them back, soon tearing after the mob.

Aria laughed ruefully. “I think it’s over guys. Just let them take Fort Kickass.”

“We can rebuild,” Mat said seriously as a few competitors forced their way on top of the building and all snatched at the discarded crown.

Laughing, the club managed to force their way through the crowd and back onto flat ground. Some were still fighting over the crown, but most of the mob had dispersed to finally paint the town. The six of them fell on the ground.

“That went well,” Elise said simply, pushing the painted hair from her eyes.

“And that magic trick, Nora. That was incredible,” Chris said.

“That was actually all Jarod’s idea,” Nora explained, “Seems he knows a thing or two about illusion.”

“It’s all about misdirection. People think I’m a bit of an i***t, but that’s just a magician’s act,” Jarod said. He flipped his gun around and accidentally shot himself in the stomach.

“What about the catapult and the Chroma Cannon?” Aria added, “That was some awesome work.”

“Thanks but, again, it was a trebuchet. First time I got to use it on people though, so I’ll be riding that wave for the next week,” Mat said.

Martin, the event coordinator approached the group. “That was in-credible guys. Amazing work. I think you really sparked up the completion. Maybe we can see about bringing back the crown next year.”

They all said “Thanks Martin,” and he gleefully shot them all before heading off after the horde.

The group looked around at each other.

“Back to murderin’ with colour?” Nora suggested.

“Still have to make things purple,” Aria grinned. “But first…” She stood and went back to the thoroughly painted building, no longer the strong purple it was before. It was dotted in every available colour. Aria took the Chroma Cannon and drew a large circle with a line tracing from in the centre and going diagonally out the top right edge.

“What’s that meant to be, an upside down ‘Q’?” Nora asked.

Aria hesitated, “If we’re going to be tagging the town, don’t we need a symbol?”

“Sure thing, sweetie,” Elise said, putting an arm around her, “But this one is kind of lame.”

“It’s a needle piercing some fabric!”

“Of course it is.”

With renewed vigour, they followed the horde, now taking the time to paint silly things on walls. Jarod re-joined the battle with enthusiasm, and jumped right into the thick of it while the others stayed at a distance. When someone took a shot at him, Jarod whipped his cape around to shield his face. The paint splashed harmlessly against the fabric instead. “Ha hah!” he cried in triumph when he uncovered his face again. He was promptly shot between the eyes.

As the day wore on the fit club members became more apparent. Aria, Jarod, and Nora continued to deliver annihilation wherever they could, while Chris, Elise, and Mat flagged. The tired three put down their weapons one last time and prepared to drag their wounded bodies home. But as they passed through the main centre of the town, Nora ducked off to the stage where she made her wild entrance. The block she initially stood upon was hollow, as per the trick, and she reached inside and brought out-

“The crown!” Aria exclaimed.

“That’s right, the original. The horde ran off with the fake, but I stashed the real one here,” Nora said in a self-satisfied way. “Anyway, I want you to have it,” and she handed it to Aria.

“Are you sure? All our ridiculous ideas were yours.”

Nora frowned. “You know, you’re right. I should keep it as the true master.” But she grinned, and shoved it into Aria’s hands.

By the end of the day the town looked like someone had taken a giant shaker of rainbow sprinkles to it. Nodding in contentment, the last three called it quits.

There was too long a line for the shower back on campus, so Aria and Nora flopped on the floor of their room while they waited.

“If you don’t get inspiration to make an intense rainbow outfit from today, then it was all for nothing,” Aria said.

Nora reached out to her desk from her lying down position. “Ngh, can’t reach pencil… ah well. Maybe next year.”

Aria grinned at her.

Nora looked confused and just a little suspicious. “What’re you looking at?”

“Oh nothing, just you. Two days ago you were the She-Beast from Hell, and now look at you! Adorable.”

“No! I am the night! Hiss!” Nora replied scathingly. It didn’t stop Aria smiling happily though. Eventually Nora squirmed. “I can’t look into your eyes, how are you so soulful? I swear; your eyes are so big that they take up half your face. How are you always so nice and positive?”

Aria rolled onto her back and shrugged slightly. “I don’t know. I guess it’s because there was a time in my life when being positive wasn’t so easy. So it’s extra important to me now.”

After Nora finally muscled some other girls out of the way, they were able to get showered and took their tired selves to Chris and Mat’s room for gaming. Aria hadn’t asked if it was ok to bring Nora, but she was sure the open invitation could expand to her. Besides, after talking to Mat before, Aria was worried she would focus too much on Chris again. Nora was under strict orders to punch her if she became too focused on him.

Mat opened the door to them. “Aria! And… Nora? Twice in one day? Careful, you might smother us.”

Nora stepped confidently into their room. “You’re just sad because you wanted Aria all to yourself. Selves,” she amended when she saw Chris. “I couldn’t let an unmarried girl enter the room of two boys alone. She might do something exciting.”

Chris sniggered from the couch. “If you’re doing a vote, I like this version of you better.”

“Careful, my other selves may get jealous,” Nora smirked.

“How about we just get started,” Aria suggested, ushering them to the couch.

They played the same game as last time because it conveniently supported four players, but only if they versed each other. They chose teams of two, and Aria ended up on Chris’s team while Nora worked with Mat. Somehow the combination of videogames and sitting down had a rejuvenating quality, and they worked back up to full banter between the teams as they played.

After two consecutive wins, Chris high fived Aria, “Yes! We make a great team!”

Aria just laughed, staring a little too long at his beautiful face. Nora took the opportunity to punch Aria.

“Ow!”

Chris and Mat looked startled.

“Uh, it’s a game,” Aria said quickly. “Called…”

“Yellow Car,” Nora announced. “Whenever you see a yellow car, you get to punch someone.”

“Yellow? That car looked more orange,” Mat commented.

“Are you trying to give me less reasons to punch my roommate?”

Chris laughed. “So, this punch. Is it supposed to be directed at Aria, or just anyone?”

Nora smiled broadly. “Dealer’s choice.”

Aria hoped Chris at least wouldn’t hit hard.

The girls excused themselves early for bed, and wandered back to their room. Once flopped in bed and the lights were off, Aria couldn’t help but start talking.

“So, first time you’ve got to properly interact with my crush while not laying siege to people. What do you think, mum?” Aria asked, trying to play it cool despite the blush rising to her cheeks.

“He’s nice. Confident enough, I always like that in a person.” Nora said. “I think he’s a terrible choice for you.”

“What? Because he’s nice and confident?”

“No, in spite of the fact that he’s nice and confident. Let’s be honest, you have far more meaningful conversations with me. I hate to tell you Aria, but you’re not thinking with your heart with him. You’re thinking with your cooch.”

“Excuse me?!”

“You heard me.”

“No, I… don’t understand what that word means?”

“Look it up on the internet. I’m sure it’ll be enlightening.”

The rest of the weekend they stayed locked up in their room. Aria was determined that she would be able to help Nora, despite what Nora kept saying. Nora brought out a huge stash of fabric swatches and held them against Aria’s skin saying things like “Blue? No. Red? No. What colours do you look good with? Maybe something lighter.” “Black could work, but I’m sick of black. I want a little pizazz.” “I’m thinking something that brings out your warm colouring. Yellow? Amber? Orange? Nope, too loud. I bet you’d look ok in plum red.”

“You seem hard to please,” Aria teased.

“Of course. The colour is an essential step, because it guides the natural feel of the outfit,” Nora replied. “You’re cute like honey, no, a golden retriever. Cute, but how can we reach beautiful? This is going to take some work. Is there any way we can detract from your cuteness to make you appear more mature?”

Aria wasn’t sure whether she should feel pleased or wounded. “Moving on… Which category are you entering in? I vaguely recall there being four.”

“Seriously? We got the pamphlet a week ago. And you seem the type to read them thoroughly.”

“I was preoccupied.”

“Right. Well. The categories are pretty broad,” Nora said, “Causal wear: normal clothing, sportswear, beach wear, that sort of thing. Formal wear: things that would be worn to balls and gala events. Wearable art: so the bullshit you see in high end fashion shows. And finally Society and Environment: in which we can depict a civilisation or a racial background.”

“I’m guessing ‘wearable art’ is off your list,” Aria grinned.

“I like to look fabulous, but not if I can’t actually move in it. The judging criteria for ‘Wearable Art’ cares nothing for how comfortable the person is. I care about looking exciting, but I also care about the welfare of the wearer,” Nora explained.

“Let’s see, Mat is making formalwear, and so are Elise and Chris. Guess those three are competing with each other. What do you want?”

“Casual,” Nora replied immediately.

“Ok-”

“Wait, Formal. I’m so flamboyant in my designs.”

“Um-”

“But what about Society? I could do something with my ethnicity… but no, that would look ridiculous with you as my model. Never mind, definitely not that one,” Nora conceded.

“Should I let you mull it over and come back or…?” Aria asked.

“No, I should decide now and just stick to it. We’ve only got eight and a half weeks. That’s not enough time to flip flop back and forth like a dying fish,” Nora said.

“Alright…?”

“Casual! I choose Casual!” Nora cried.

“Are you sure? Not going to change your mind in ten seconds?” Aria asked wryly.

“Definitely. I want something you can continue to wear after the show,” Nora said.

“Awww…” Aria melted.

“Quiet you. So the judging criteria is about half technical prowess in sewing, and half based on design. This means suitability for the category we enter it in, how to garment fits and moves on the person, what fabric is chosen, even the accessories that accompany it. These people are not kidding around,” Nora explained, reading through her brochure again.

“It’s fine,” Aria said. Then she imitated Nora’s confident tone, “Just follow me around for a while and work out what you want to see me wear.” She tried to wink, but being unpractised in the ways of flirty gestures, her other eye closed half way as well, giving her the appearance of someone certainly not sober.

“Oh no,” Nora said, “Is this one of those makeover stories where I have to teach you how to walk and act as well? Aria, I am simply too swamped to sort out this out. Besides, no matter what you do, you won’t be able to rid yourself of that innocent vibe. Use that to your advantage.”

They threw around ideas for a long time, but eventually they needed to stop due to the rude interruption of Monday. Their discussions would have to wait until club time. Until then, it was back to classes.

Despite Aria’s initial worries, she hadn’t been falling behind without Alton’s tutoring. Most of the teachers had an excellent sense on how to keep their students engaged and moving forward. Aria loved her English classes, and was half hoping it would be like the movies where the book they were studying would relate to her life at the moment, but no. They were studying Macbeth. She really hoped that didn’t relate to her current life. Murders in a high school? Hmm, that could make for a good TV show. But wait, that school would be closed in an instant. There needs to be at least some semblance of logic.

She was doodling random dress designs as she listened, and her thoughts shifted towards the competition. Maybe they needed to do what Aria had suggested all along and make use of the club. They needed to bounce ideas of some others. Chris was out, his style was too flamboyant for the Casual entry Nora was aiming for. Mat only worked on male clothing, and Jarod… well Jarod was very nice, but not quite who they needed. Elise however. Her feminine sense coupled with an eye for simple but elegant designs? They needed her advice.

Aria grabbed Nora at the end of class and they headed to the studio. To their good fortune, Elise was waiting out the front talking with a classmate. She was so lovely when she smiled, Aria thought. Elise looked up as they approached and farewelled her friend. Aria broached the topic of their plans, but explained they were finding it difficult to come up with a design.

“I’ve seen your work, Nora. You must have come up with hundreds of designs before,” Elise said.

Nora sighed. “Yeah, but none of them feel right for Aria. I always made clothing with my shape and colouring in mind, I have no idea what to do with light skin and blonde hair.”

“This is perfect then!”

They looked at Elise in confusion.

“You want to become a fashion designer or something, right? That’s all about making stuff for other people. You’ve only made stuff for yourself, so you haven’t had practice in analysing what would look good on other people,” Elise explained. “This is the perfect opportunity to learn! Don’t just think about what you like, look at your model and work out colours and styles that would suit them.”

Elise opened the door and took a single step in before “Aw jeez, Chris? We work there, show a little respect.”

Curious, Aria poked her head into the room and immediately froze.

Chris and a strange girl were quickly getting off one of the back desks and by the way they were rearranging clothing quickly, things had been getting heated. There wasn’t even a hint of red on his cheeks, he wasn’t the slightest bit embarrassed, Aria thought in dismay. She suddenly felt as if the world was rushing on without her while her brain chugged to keep up.

“This is not a brothel,” Elise said with all the authority of a cross mother.

But Chris just grinned. “Good thing she wouldn’t accept the money I offered her then. Sorry, I didn’t want you to meet this way, but this is my girlfriend Ruby.”

Aria could only stare in horror, but out of the corner of her eye, Nora high-fived herself.