Impossible

Tuesday, September 10

A soreness rang through Tanner’s hand. For the entire hour, he wrote lines of notes as Mrs. Powell gave a lecture about the laundry list of poems they analyzed over the week. An activity that was not the most exciting to him, but it was enough to keep him awake through the period.

Ever since classes for the day began, an overwhelming exhaustion overtook him. The night before, with how busy work became, he stayed well past his clock-out time to clean up what he could; carts returned to their stations, aisles mopped until the floors shined, and misplaced food cans and boxes sorted to their rightful shelves.

Tiresome as it was, it allowed Tanner to stay out of the house for a little longer, which he would gladly do again without hesitation. However, he missed the bus going home, and had to wait at the cafe across the street. Any later and he would have had to call a taxi, which he could not afford to do.

Upon arriving home, relieved he was the only one in the house awake during that late hour, he passed out immediately upon going to his room. Although it was a peaceful night, the exhaustion rippled to the morning after.

First period gym class made him wish he called in sick. His legs during the laps around the football field made his movements sluggish, making him fall behind the moment Mr. Flynn blew his whistle. Even with the rowdy gym teacher’s commands that sounded straight from an army’s boot camp training, it was barely enough to make Tanner catch up with the others.

Once English class started, all he could think of was how peaceful everything seemed, allowing him to remain with his thoughts. As he frantically wrote to keep the drowsiness at bay, he pondered at the idea of taking a nap at the library, if only for thirty minutes. There was always that back room with computers along the walls, and a table in the middle. He can stay in the very far corner and sleep while pretending he is hard at work. Noise would not be an issue, after all. Just the sounds of the ventilation and buzzing from the computers.

Suddenly, a light tap on his right shoulder awoke him from his trance. In a daze, he turned to where it came from. To his right sat Ellie, who had a look of urgency in her eyes. He wondered what she wanted, but all it took was a slight tilt of her head towards the front of the room to turn his attention there.

At the front was Mrs. Powell who glared at him and tapped her finger on the book in her hand. “Glad you’re still with us, Tanner. Can you read the second paragraph on page four?”

After an hour of reading pages from the textbook, and listening to more droning lectures, the bell finally rang. When Tanner picked up his books, he waved at Ellie, “Thanks for that wake-up call earlier. Last thing I needed was a scolding from Mrs. Powell.”

“Don’t worry about it. Rough night?”

“You can say that. Work’s keeping me busy, so I haven't had much sleep.” Tanner left the classroom with Ellie following behind.

“Bummer. Think you’ll be okay?”

“As long as I’m being paid for it, I’m more than okay.”

“Speaking of ‘being paid’, wanna see what I’ve been working on?” Ellie pulled a sheet from her binder and gave it to him.

Tanner read the paper and squinted his eyes at the erratic design. Stock images of graphs and dollar signs were scattered all over the page, and the fonts were too multicolored for his liking. But despite its chaotic appearance, it described the club clearly.

Covering half the page in big, bold letters was the title “BUSINESS CLUB.” Below it was the heading, “Make money here!”

He looked behind and up at the ceiling, fearing there’s a camera or someone filming them. “Sounds like I’m being scammed.”

“The poster’s a work in progress, but the club’s real. If it wasn’t, I wouldn’t be asking you in the first place.”

“And you asked me specifically why?”

“I know a good candidate when I see one.” Ellie took a step back, “I gotta go, but I can tell you more about it over Discord.”

“You added me on Discord?”

“For the project we had last year, remember? Anyways, I’ll keep you in the loop.” She waved and left for her locker.

Tanner looked at the poster one more time before he folded and stuffed it in his pocket. The idea of using a club to make money seemed too unreal for him. And if it somehow managed to do it, he could not imagine the profits being high enough to make it worthwhile.

Despite the doubt he had, a slight curiosity in him made him want to entertain the idea. A curiosity that asked, “what if it can be done?” However, he shook his head at the thought and whispered, “impossible.”

On the way to his locker, he gasped in surprise at an arm that wrapped around his shoulder, followed by the scent of lavender. He looked to who it belonged to, and a shock ran through him when he found Tina’s face up close. He ducked and stepped away from her.

Tina laughed, “Love it when he does that. So cute.” Walking up beside her was Blake, who’s eyes were glued to the game on his phone.

“Couldn’t wait to say ‘hi’ at the foodcourt?” said Tanner.

“I really wanted to ask you something. Are you doing anything for Club’s Day?”

“I’m a volunteer. Why?”

“The Art Club has a huge booth for it this year, and we need a model.” Tina handed him a poster. It had a much cleaner design compared to the one from Ellie, which was natural given what it was for. The poster advertised the activities the Art Club will hold, like live sketches and drawing lessons.

Tanner pointed a thumb at Blake, “You got a perfectly usable one right here.”

“And I refused,” retorted Blake.

“Which is why you’re my second choice.” Tina clasped her hands together, “So, will you please be our model? I promise it won’t be long. Just pose, and we’ll draw you.Doesn’t have to be anything fancy. Your regular slouch is fine as is.”

Tanner sighed at thinking of the potential embarrassment that will come. But he nodded, “Whatever. I guess I could drop by.”

“Sounds like a yes. Who knows? Maybe this’ll convince you to join the Art Club.”

“I think I’ll pass, thanks.”

“You wouldn’t wanna see him draw,” said Blake.

Tanner elbowed Blake, “Don’t give her ideas. See you guys later.”

At his locker, Tanner stuffed his binder and the posters he was given. Before he closed it, he unfolded the one from Ellie and mulled over it again. He rolled his eyes at how unattractive it looked. There was no way this could convince anyone to join it. Yet somehow, the idea intrigued him the more he stared at it.

Thursday, September 12

Not long after classes ended for the day, Ellie reached the gym where the Club’s Day volunteers met for orientation. Two of them sat at the bottom row of the bleachers; Tanner and a younger girl who she did not recognise. Probably an eighth grader, she guessed. Before them was Nora who paced left and right while looking down at a clipboard.

Nora looked up from the board when she noticed Ellie taking a seat by the others. “It’s only you three, huh? Whatever, we can make it work.”

“Weren’t there supposed to be more of us?” said Ellie.

“People don’t show up sometimes. That’s just life.” Nora removed some papers from the clipboard and handed each one to them. It was a map of the event where the first page depicted the gym. Along the center were numbered squares that represented various clubs with their own booths. Beside them at two corners of the gym were pink squares that depicted clubs that used larger areas.

The next page was a map of the entire school with highlighted spaces for clubs that used either a classroom, the auditorium, or a sports field. These places were mainly for the school’s music and theater clubs or sports teams. Ellie made a mental note to find time in the day to watch Kate play at the Tennis Courts.

Nora cleared her throat. “Tomorrow, your jobs will be straightforward. In the morning, you and whoever bothers to show up will be setting up tables and booths. During the event, one of you will be at the door handing out a map to everyone who enters, and the rest will stay in the gym to answer questions or provide help where needed.”

“What kind of questions?” asked Tanner.

Nora counted on her fingers, “Giving directions, how to start a club, et cetera. We’ll keep in contact with walkie-talkies in case you need help.”

There was a short period of silence between the four until the short girl by Tanner spoke, “How busy will it get?” Her voice was small, but was able to carry over to Nora.

“How busy? This school’s pretty big, so expect a chunk of the student body.”

Ellie raised her hand, “Since there’s only four of us, will we be in the gym all day? What about outside?”

“I was gonna get to that. Ellie, you’ll be with me in the morning setting up the classrooms being used. Mainly rolling in A/V equipment and moving desks. After that, I’ll be with the student council through most of the event, so we’ll need your help handing out flyers.” Nora then pointed at the girl. “What’s your name?”

“Karen?” she answered.

“Got it. You and Tanner will cover the gym.”

Tanner pointed at two corners of the gym as indicated in the map, “We should be able to cover enough ground, but I think we’re spreading ourselves thin.”

Ellie noticed Karen’s hands clenched, then she added, “Maybe when I’m finished, I can drop by if you two get overwhelmed. Besides, how often would you get bombarded with work anyway? It can’t be that much, can it?”

“You clearly haven’t volunteered at last year’s club day,” said Nora. “Anyways, if you don’t have any further questions, follow me.”

The four began a quick tour around the school where they visited a few classrooms and the auditorium where large clubs will be. As they walked, Ellie kept an eye out for places she could put up her poster. There was a bulletin board by the administration office at the front entrance, which was the obvious choice. Although with the amount of posters that people leave, she feared hers would get buried.

She looked up at the TVs that displayed announcements and upcoming events, which served a possibility of having her club’s name in there. At the very least, it would make people aware of it if anyone ever bothered to look up at the screens.

When the four returned to the gym upon finishing the tour, Nora turned to everyone. “And that concludes orientation. Unless anyone has a question, you’re free to go.”

After a moment of silence and awkward staring, Ellie raised her hand, “So, how early should we be here?”

“Eight o’clock sharp. Assuming it’ll just be you three, the earlier the better.” Without anything else to say, Nora turned and headed for the exit.

Ellie faced the others and noticed Karen leave in the opposite direction

“And then there were two,” said Tanner.

“Can’t say the excitement’s there. But I guess it’s what happens when there’s only the four of us managing an event like Club’s Day.”

“In other words, another day on the job. See you tomorrow.” Tanner was about to leave for the exit, but before he did, a sudden thought came to him. “By the way, about what you sent me last night.”

Ellie smiled at the reminder, “About the club, right? What about it?”

Tanner took a deep breath. “I don’t think it'll be easy to make any profits from it. Heck, I’m willing to bet we won’t make anything.”

Her frown slowly faded, and she sighed, “I don’t think so, either. But I think there’s potential. That’s why I’m gonna make it work. I don't know how, but I will.”

“I think so too. That’s why I want in.”