| Sure being part of the prom organising committee is going to get your name noticed more around school - but only if prom doesn't suck. Amelia is going to make sure it does not suck, which is why she called for a lunchtime meeting of the people who're interested in helping get things going. She's sat at a table, opened notedpad in front of her as she waits for folks to turn up. First order of business...brainstorming! Beside her is her lunch, a half eaten wrap of some kind and a bottle of water.
Wandering in a little bit after the scheduled meet time, Donovan strolls in with his lunch in hands stacked up on his sketch pad and class books. He pauses for a moment as he glances around the room, taking note of who is there... and those who isn't here. With a raised eyebrow, he glances to Amelia. "Am I in the right place?" He asks, taking one more glance around the room.
Amelia looks up and smiles, her accent obvious when she cants her head and asks, "Donovan, right? You're the artist. If you're here to help with prom this is totally the right place." There are plenty of chairs to choose from near her.
Donovan offers a smile and nods his head at the mention of his name. "Yup, that's me." He offers with a soft chuckle before he starts towards one of the empty chairs near her. "I read your flyer asking for help and thought that I'd pitch in to help." He offers, making himself comfortable and spreading out his things in front of him. "Are we waiting for some others?"
Donovan raises an eyebrow slightly at the news about the all class detention, but lets out a sigh and shakes his head. "Wow. Some people will just never learn." He says with a slight chuckle, taking a bite from his lunch before he nods his head and opens up his notepad. "I was thinking, we should try to avoid anything that's too overdone and cliche. Try to come up with something that's fresh and unique."
"All I know about proms is what I've seen in films," admits Amelia as she reaches for her lunch, pulling it closer. "They usually look pretty lame. I've made a list of the themes that look dire." She looks over at Donovan, "Have you any ideas that have been circling around in that creative brain?"
Donovan laughs and nods. "Yeah. I just know about what my mother told me about her prom and then whatever is in the movies." He says in return. "I had a couple of ideas, but a couple of ideas include casino, masquerade... though that was already done this year. I also thought of mardi gras, candyland with a bunch of candy everywhere, Through the Looking Glass or Alice in Wonderland, Egyptian or Arabian nights." He says with a slight shrug. "Just a couple of ideas."
She checks her list to see if his ideas are on the 'Bad Ideas List' but then nods. "I think games might be fun. We could use other games too, not just Candyland. Like Monopoly and Snakes and Ladders." Amelia eats a couple of bites of her wrap and chews thoughtfully. "And it would be easier I suppose to do the decorations, we could borrow ideas from the games themselves. Like having a lucky tip Community Chest."
Donovan smiles and nods. "That works too. And there's so many different board games out there, there's an endless string of inspiration that we can draw from." He says, writing a few things down. "With the school's parking lot, we already have free parking." He says, chuckling at his own joke. "All it'd take is a trip to the game aisle of the store to get new ideas. And we can have everyone dress up as various game pieces and/or characters."
She chuckles at his joke and nods, jotting down the ideas they are both coming up with. "If we open it up to video games too then people can come as their favourite characters." Of course that means gangsters and odd balls dressed up as Zelda or Commander Shephard but hey, it happens. Amelia takes another bite of her wrap. "So decoration ideas? We need some table displays, some big wall displays...maybe a space for photographs to be taken?"
Donovan considers the ideas of video game characters. "That would be a good idea. I think there's a couple of people who are into cosplay, so that would give them a time to shine. I know there's a couple of costumes that I've been toying with the idea of doing as a cosplay." The call of a backdrop for photographs causes him to think. "If we do a video screen as the backdrop, we could have them take pictures in the world their costumes are taken from." He says, writing a few things down. "We could also have a couple of stand-up arcade games if we can find a place to rent them from cheap."
Amelia twirls her pen in her hand and nods as Donovan speaks, as if she were agreeing with him. She too knows some people into cosplay. "I go to the arcade a lot, I can ask if they have any old cut-outs we could use or buy for cheap." She makes a note of it on her notepad before setting her pen down and sending a text message to someone. "We could see if we can get little stickers maybe to put on balloons for the table centre pieces. That'd be cheap and should be easy to do."
Donovan's smile grows a bit more as they come up with ideas. "Any decorations we need, I could probably make if we can't find them anywhere else. I know how to make props and stuff using molds and castings." He says, tapping the end of his pen on the pad of paper, trying to think of what other ideas. "There's this website I know, has a bunch of recipes for food from video games. We could use those for the food and drinks."
Amelia blinks, she hadn't really thought about food. You don't see food in prom movies. "Food? Gosh." She writes that down. "We'd better see if we can get some caterers. I don't think we'd be allowed to cook for everyone and - I don't know how to cook, not really."
Donovan chuckles. "Yeah. We need to look for caterers unless we just want to order a hundred pizzas and have them delivered. Though I don't think that a portion of the student body would appreciate that very much." He takes a few more bites of his lunch before he speaks again. "Yeah. I don't have any cooking skills either, so us cooking is out of the question."
"If you can text me the name of the website I can check it out and we can look at how much it would cost to get a caterer to make the foods. We need to factor in our costs into the ticket price and look for a venue unless we want to just have it here." Amelia drinks some of her water and looks to see what Don brought in his lunch, she's nosy like that.
Donovan nods as he pulls out his phone, setting down the half of the sub sandwich from his work that he's having for lunch. "Depending on how much the venue and the caterers we might have to have it be here unless we can get one of the rich kids to get their folks to donate somewhere nice." He says, leaning back in his seat slightly.
She switches on her proximity, allowing Donovan's phone to find her own so they can share contact details. "Where is the prom usually held?" Amelia chews on the end of her pen as she scrolls through google on her phone, searching for entertainment venues.
Donovan checks to make sure the contact details went through before he puts it away then puts his hands behind his head. "My mom's prom was held in their gym and I've seen movies where they're held at hotel ballrooms if they're big enough." He offers with a smirk. "Are there any hotels around here with a big ballroom?"
"Not that I know of, but I guess I could check them out. We could use the country club I suppose." Amelia doesn't sound too sure of that, their budget might not run that big. "So if you work on some designs and sourcing the materials and I work on a venue and maybe rope in some others to help organise caterers?"
Donovan frowns slightly and nods. "Yeah. That might work. I'll talk to Ellis and see if she knows anyone who might be able to get us the country club for a reasonable price. I think that would be a great venue if we could get it. Should be big enough at any rate." He says with a slight chuckle.
Ellis? And then it all clicks and Amelia remembers exactly who Donovan is. "I didn't know Ellis had ties to the country club. Does she work there?" They might have some mutual friends, but her and Amelia aren't all that well acquainted.
Donovan shakes his head. "No. She doesn't work there, but she use to go there with some old friends. Maybe she still has some pull or something. I mean, it doesn't hurt to ask or anything." He says, picking up his sub and taking another bite. "The worse she can say is that there is nothing she can do, then we're back to where we are now."
"True," says Amelia with a grin. "Well ask her and see what she says. If nothing else maybe she knows people who are important there. I mean I've been and all, but it's not the kind of place where I would hang out."
Donovan nods and smiles, writing a few things down. "Okay. I'll talk to her as soon as I see her again. I'll text you with what she says." He says as he sets his pen down and sits back again. "I think this would be a lot easier if people weren't getting detention and missing meetings." He says with a slight smile.
Amelia nods in agreement. "It would. I think this is one of those things few people want to help with but everyone wants done well and wants to go to." She sighs a little, getting the idea that this will be a rather small committee working hard to do a thankless task.
Donovan nods his head. "Yeah. I think you're right, but we do what we can to make it the best that we are able to." He says with a slight shrug of his shoulders. "Wither or not we get more hands to help, then we just do the best that we can and if they like it, then great. But if not..."
"Thanks for coming. I'm glad at least someone else in this school wants to make it a nice night." Amelia smiles at Donovan. "And I bet we can get lots of photos of it for your art school portfolio too, which will be another plus."
Donovan smiles and nods his head. "No worries. I'm glad I could help. Even if we're the only ones who appreciate it, I'm just hoping that it could be something that we can be proud of. A few pictures for the portfolio never hurts either." He says with a grin. "If you think of anything else, give me a call." He says as he finishes up the sub and starts to gather up his stuff in preparation for the bell to ring.
"I will. Same for you, yeah? Especially if you hear from Ellis." Amelia tucks her pen and notepad into her bag and finishes off the last of her wrap before getting to her feet. "And, hey, Donovan...thanks."
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