Trying not to put you in your place. on Magical Arts Room and Sports

Emilia-Louise Scott

June 08, 2016 3:27 PM

NEW Fashion Club (Room Four) by Emilia-Louise Scott

Emmy-Lou had spent a good portion of her summer holiday figuring out how she was going to run and organise Fashion Club when she got back to school and when she did finally return to Sonora the planning didn’t stop. There was so much she needed to do if she was going to host the very best club. Having gained permission to run it and arranged a weekly time that she could have the art room in MARS booked, she was ready to commence with the real fun.

Shortly after returning from the long break, Emmy had set to work getting her bright posters up around the school so that no one could possibly miss out on joining the Fashion Club. She was expectant that it would be popular and even if the turnout for the first meeting wasn’t huge, the third year was confident that she could get her fellow fashion enthusiasts to spread the word.

Emmy turned up to the art room early so that she could make sure it was all fully set up before other students began to arrive. She was glad that she’d been able to convince Louis to tag along, partially because he could give her a hand making sure she was thoroughly prepared and also because having a Valois in attendance would definitely do her Fashion Club good.

At one end of the room there was a small runway set up which she wasn’t planning to use quite yet but wanted the room set up to be the same for every club session. It had lights running along above it and a row of chairs either side, as well as a small curtained area behind it where her models would be able to change and come out from.

The rest of the room was dedicated entirely to making clothes with probably more materials than would be needed provided. There were numerous mirrors about the room and Emmy had also started making fashion collages for decoration that she hoped her club attendees would help her complete. She’d got together pictures and magazine cuttings of fashions she liked, as well as little pieces of funky materials or pretty much anything she thought was inspiring and was keen to see what her fellow fashionistas would add.

She’d temporarily moved a load of chairs so they were set in a few rows of a semi circle to face her at the opposite end of the room to the runway, nearest the door where everyone would enter. When students came in, she invited them to take a seat so they would all more or less be facing her. It wasn’t an arrangement that she planned to repeat because she would pretty much give them the freedom to get on with their own projects in Fashion Club meetings but for the start of the first session she wanted their attention on her.

“Hi everyone!” Emmy-Lou beamed at the group of students that were seated around her, commencing once she was content with numbers and not too far from the arranged time. “Welcome to Fashion Club! Thank you all for coming along - please spread the word and bring friends. The more the merrier.” She thought her flashy posters had done a pretty good job of spreading the word themselves but it would definitely be good to have some personal recommendations and reviews as well. “I’m Emmy-Lou Scott and, as you’re probably aware, I’ll be running this club.”

Emmy hoped everyone was looking forward to her club as much as she was herself. She hadn’t made many of her own clothes before but since a very young age she’d been heavily involved in what she wore and even worked with designers to come up with custom outfits that suited her unique style. The most common feature of her clothing was big puffy skirts, usually rather tutu-esque, in a vast array of colours but the most common being pink and black. Today she was wearing such a skirt in said favourite colours, accompanied by a patterned top that sported a big black bow and a coordinated black trilby hat.

“So,” Emmy clapped her hands together rather dramatically, thriving off her audience. “Fashion Club is essentially about designing and making clothing. But, it’s also about finding inspiration and looking at trends. Around the room you will see I have a lot of magazines that are available for everyone.” Emmy’s keen interest in fashion meant she already had a vast collection of fashion mags but she had also reached out to people she knew to gather even more. “I have also started working on some collages,” she gestured with a hand to the numerous boards around the room which were mostly quite bare, since she’d wanted to leave plenty of room for the club to add to them over time, “which I would love for you to add to. If you find any cool patterns and materials you like, or any styles from magazines and stuff, please stick it up on any of the boards so we can create a sort of fashion inspiration collage.”

“Also,” Emmy grinned, hoping that the rest of the club would be as excited about what she next had to say as she was. “I am planning to host some mini fashion shows, possibly every month or so, hence the runway-” she indicated to the runway set up at the other end of the room “to give you some ideas for cool styles or just show you the latest trends of the season or whatever.”

Emmy hoped that she would be able to recruit enough model interest from the student body to make it work but wasn’t too worried about the possibility of not being able to. She already had her eye out for particularly fashionable or attractive students that she wanted to dress up.

“Now,” Emmy continued to use her important public-speaking voice. “My idea for this club is that we - or I - pick a theme, style, specific fashion item or whatever for us to work on each time but I am open to ideas, or if you would rather have the liberty to do whatever you like and surprise us.”

“What I thought would be pretty cool though,” Emmy told the group, “is if we could arrange some sort of modelling show, either to the whole school or just within the club depending on what you would all prefer, to show off the things we have made. We could do this at various stages in the year or at the end so we have a really big collection of things to show.” She’d kind of taken this idea from the midsummer concert she’d been a part of a couple of years ago but wasn’t sure how confident everyone at the fashion club would be about parading in front of the entire school in their own designs and didn’t want to scare anyone away by thinking they might have to do something they didn’t want to. ““One idea I have had that I’d really like us to do, however,” the third year flicked her long blonde hair over her shoulder, standing very straight and proud as everyone paid her attention, “is to have some little competitions during the year where someone from outside of the club could judge the things we’ve made.”

“So does anyone have any questions or suggestions?” Emmy finally allowed the group to have some input. “Oh and I have a suggestion box-” she pointed to a table upon which sat some quills and parchment beside a box with a rectangular hole in it, “which you can post suggestions in during the year which I will check regularly, or you can just talk to me. But for now, please share your ideas. I’m keen to know if you want a set theme or whatever every so often or if you want to do your own thing. And, if you want a theme, does anyone already have any ideas for what the first one could be?”

Subthreads:

Finding my place. by Gia Donovan with Sammy Meeks, Emmy-Lou Scott

Hoping to make friends by Angelique Brockert with Arianna Valenti

8 Emilia-Louise Scott NEW Fashion Club (Room Four) 313 Emilia-Louise Scott 1 5

Gia Donovan

June 12, 2016 12:36 PM

Finding my place. by Gia Donovan

Gia was sort of excited for the fashion club. She thought that it would be a bit like the concert fashion show had gone where she could be tasked to sew and stitch the pieces together. After the concert, her mother told her that the Raptis family (her mother’s family) was famous in Greece and amongst designers for their stitch work and beautiful embroidery. She had told her how proud she was that she had inherited such a wonderful skill. The Raptis earned their small fortune from their connections in the industry and for their own embroidery work that was sold in stores around the world. Gia never told anyone about her mother’s family, however, mostly out of fear that they would look into the name and discover the truth about her brother.

Gia hoped that one day she would be able to go back to Greece and be a part of her family and their business since she was skilled in it and she loved to do it, but she knew that was merely wishful thinking more so than anything. Her mother still didn’t talk about why they had to leave, but Gia always had the impression that it was far more dangerous than she had ever realized as a child.

It often made her whisper quietly about their Dad and what he had been involved in. Research had brought up a lot of interesting facts about their family that he had not known about before. For instance, the Donovans made their money through Quidditch supplies and broom making. Their name was small in comparison to some of the more famous broom makers, but their Quidditch supply company was one of the largest and their dad had been the face of the business. He traveled the world creating business for the family, which was how he met their mom. Aside from that, the only other news they could find was that of their father’s death, which was labeled murder. That word frightened Gia as she had always thought the attack had been because her dad and brother were camping at the wrong place at the wrong time. But murder… that had met so much more. They also found articles of their mother and of them going into hiding for safety. It only confused and worried them even more than they ever did before. Their father was murdered? Jax was supposed to be murdered too? His escaping had been by chance. Their mother ran into hiding with them? What was going on?

Gia entered the MARS room a little hesitantly. She knew Emmy-Lou from classes, but that was about it. She was a bit surprised to find that it was her that was hosting the club considering her rather eccentric outfits, but Gia could appreciate a club where she felt her talents could go to use for. She thought about asking Sammy if she wanted to go since she had been the whole reason for the fashion show at the concert, but Sammy was probably too busy for this anyway, so Gia didn’t bring it up to her. Instead, she found an empty seat by herself and waited for the room to fill p. She could have asked Laila or Joella to go with her and she couldn’t figure out why she hadn’t thought of it earlier. She knew Peizhi wouldn’t have come. Not just because she never seemed to like a lot of people, but also because she seemed to not like Gia anymore either. She no longer spent any time with them and Gia had no idea what they had done to make Peizhi hate them. Thought on her friend left Gia feeling sad and confused.

Before she could dwell any longer on her lost friend, the meeting began. Gia listened intently about the vision Emmy-Lou had for the club, but the more she listened, the more her heart began to sink. Gia was not at the level where she could comfortable design her own clothes. She could sew, stitch, and mend clothing, but designing was not something she had ever done before. The more she listened, the more she felt that the club catered more towards designers than for a club that was more for the enjoyment of fashion. Plus, ther was going to be competitions and Gia hated being pitted against other people, especially when it came to something she created herself and would have pride in.

Gia’s head dropped down while she listened, keeping her eyes on her hands as they fiddled in her lap. She was no longer certain that her talents would be very useful for this club. She had thought that they would have discussed fashion or designed things together in which she would assist with the sewing. When Emmy stopped talking and opened the floor, Gia hesitantly raised her hand. “What about those of us who do not design? What are we to do? Or is this club strictly for designers?”

6 Gia Donovan Finding my place. 308 Gia Donovan 0 5

Angelique Brockert

June 21, 2016 8:52 AM

Hoping to make friends by Angelique Brockert

So far, Angelique's time at Sonora had been a major disappointment. She didn't fit in with her yearmates at all and she hated it! She didn't want to be different. Being different meant being lonely and she couldn't stand being lonely. The idea of being an outcast was deeply upsetting. It also implied that there was something wrong with her and that was just not true.

Still, she wasn't going to change. She couldn't force herself to like sports and playing outside and being "adventurous". Honestly, she felt playing outside and making up adventure games was for children- male children mostly-and Angelique was too old for it anyway. Her mother had always told her that if you were old enough to go to school, you were too old for playing. Period. Even things like dolls and tea parties which had been her preferred play as a child, she was too old for now.

So all she could hope for was that there were actually interesting people in the new first year class. Preferably from the right sort of family, but Angelique would just be satisfied with someone whom she had something in common with. Common ground was something she felt was very important for friendships to develop. Otherwise what would they talk about or do? She'd rather bang her head against a brick wall than endure a conversation about Quidditch, let alone actually play it.

Fashion club seemed like a good place to start. The second year absolutely loved fashion, always had. Upstairs she had a ton of magazines, and tried to look her very best all the time, keeping up with the latest styles. It was just unfortunate that they had to wear uniforms most of the time.

Angelique had to admit,she was a little surprised Emmy Lou Scott was running the club. Nothing against the older girl, but she wasn't someone the Crotalus had ever really thought would be that into fashion even she did hang out with Louis Valois.

The meeting began. Angelique had to admit that it wasn't completely what she had imagined it would be. She thought it would be just discussing fashion not actually designing. And the idea of non-club members judging their designs wasn't a thought that thrilled her. Not that she didn't think her stuff would be good-she knew what looked good together- she just didn't really think people who weren't here would necessarily get what was.

She waited until the question and answer and suggestion part of the meeting was over and they were able to go on their own. Angelique turned to the person next to her and introduced herself, in case it was someone who didn't already know her. "Hello, I'm Angelique Brockert of the Western Brockerts. Are you as excited about this club as I am?"

11 Angelique Brockert Hoping to make friends 332 Angelique Brockert 0 5

Arianna Valenti

July 02, 2016 7:35 PM

Feeling the same by Arianna Valenti

This was it. Having spent more than an insignificant amount of time in front of her dorm room mirror, Arianna felt confident enough to make her first appearance at Sonora’s Fashion Club. Surely this would be the place where she would finally make the strong group of girlfriends she had been lacking for most of her first semester at her new school, and she wanted to make a good impression. It was strange being in a place that didn’t have a real fall (or necessarily real weather… she wondered how someone became powerful enough to control something as big as that) and she wasn’t sure what the fashion rules were exactly. But anything was better than those awful robes. Today, she felt confident in a white button-down sleeveless shirt with the edges tied in the front, a white skater skirt with tiny rose floral print, and white Chucks. Dark hair in a Dutch side braid, she was excited to see what everyone else in the club would be wearing.

The first year was impressed when she walked into the room, dark eyes scanning the runway approvingly. She’d expected to just sit around discussing their favorite trends and complain about school uniforms, but this seemed much more adult. Taking her seat, she wondered what the Fashion Club would actually involve, what the other students would be like, and what they would be doing today.

She was pleased to see that the leader of the club was an Aladren. Arianna often worried that she had been sorted into the nerd house, but it was good to see her housemates using their brain power towards creative and interesting pursuits. The first year was less impressed with Emmy Lou’s choice of skirt, it seemed so… childish. Arianna was ready to grow up as quickly as possible, and could not understand why anyone else wouldn’t be. That hat was cute though.

Arianna loved the idea of designing her own clothes, out of necessity as much as a desire to control her own look. For most of her life, Arianna could not afford the styles she so desired. She did what she could, taking advantage of sales and the thrift shops that her native Brooklyn had to offer. Magic opened a whole new world for her. By the time she was done with school, with just a wave of her wand she could have the wardrobe she wanted. And she relished the idea of starring in one of the Club’s fashion shows, whether as a model or a designer. She’d never really thought about being a model, before, but what wasn’t there to love about strutting down a runway in front of everyone in the latest fashions?

When Emmy-Lou was done talking, another girl turned to her and introduced herself. Normally, Arianna thought it was pretty dorky to be visibly excited about things. But, considering how desperate Arianna herself had been to get out of that awful school uniform, she understood. Besides, Angelique was a Brockert, and that seemed to be a pretty important name around here.

“Oh, for sure,” she nodded, allowing some of her own enthusiasm to show through as well, dorky as it may be, “It’s cool to see what everyone’s style is like outside of those school robes. I’m Arianna Valenti, from New York.” There was really no reason to specify, because as far as she knew, all Valentis lived in New York state. But Angelique had introduced herself with her general region of origin, and Arianna didn’t want to miss out on befriending the Fashion Club members because of a simple faux pas.

0 Arianna Valenti Feeling the same 343 Arianna Valenti 0 5

Sammy Meeks

July 03, 2016 3:48 AM

Same? by Sammy Meeks

Okay, so confession time: Sammy was maybe sorta kinda not exactly as strictly tomboyish as she liked to pretend. Ever since the fashion show--which, by some strange act of God or other divine intervention, had been her idea--she’d been thinking a lot about clothes. In fact, she had a sketchbook that she kept buried among her school stuff, and it was filled exclusively with drawings of outfits she envisioned. She didn’t tell anybody about it, though, because she had an image to maintain. Sammy was tough and cool. It was pretty hard to remain the Funny Athlete if people knew you doodled dresses in your spare time.

Still, she couldn’t resist a fashion club. She had a problem with joining clubs in general, honestly, but this was too perfect. Sammy knew she was taking a risk showing up to it, but it just seemed so fun. When she arrived, she immediately spied Gia, her roommate and best friend, and found a good cover if she was questioned: what better way to spend time with her friend than a club like this? In truth, she kinda had forgotten that Gia would be here. They hadn’t talked about it, but it made sense. She was pretty sure Gia did a lot of sewing and making stuff, so joining a club based around clothes was a solid follow-up.

Emmy-Lou talked quite a bit, showing she’d put a lot of thought into her club, and when she opened the floor to questions, Sammy was surprised to hear Gia basically ask if she was welcome. Of course, the brunette wanted to answer. You’re perfect for this! There’s magazines and things! You can learn how to design if you don’t think you can already. Sammy always thought the best of Gia and honestly thought she was being hard on herself to imply that she couldn’t design, anyway; Gia was awesome and she could do anything she put her mind to.

But she wasn’t in charge of the club, so she really had to wait and see what Emmy-Lou would say. She bit her lip, nervous that the answer would be unhappy. If it was negative, then Sammy would speak up. For now, though, she really did want to remain innocuous, like she really didn’t know why she’d even come at all. She planned to later flip “skeptically” through the magazines and then quietly and in a handwriting as different as she could manage from her own stuff the suggestions box with her ideas.

12 Sammy Meeks Same? 310 Sammy Meeks 0 5

Emmy-Lou Scott

July 28, 2016 12:56 PM

Trying not to put you in your place. by Emmy-Lou Scott

The thing about Emmy-Lou was that she was a very welcoming person, what some introverts may call too welcoming but she was largely oblivious to any insinuation that she could actually be perceived as intimidating. She wanted her club to reflect this and was therefore keen to make sure everyone felt welcomed. Although she was particularly excited to see the creativity of her schoolmates, she didn’t mind a little bit of tasteless and a little bit of boring if it meant people actually showed up.

All these plans of welcoming did not stop Emmy releasing a slight frown in response to Gia Donovan’s question, more confused by it than anything. She knew the older girl particularly as one of Chuck’s friends and knew he thought very highly of her. The first impression she was getting, however, was not all that great.

“What do you mean? What do you want to do?” Emmy quickly turned her frown into a smile because she did not want it to be taken the wrong way. She had half a mind to remind the Pecari that this was “Fashion Club” and not f***ing “Sewing Club” but she held her tongue because it was important that she did so.

“This club is for fashion,” the blonde emphasized as if that wasn’t obvious in its name. “Designing is a large part of fashion - fashion doesn’t create itself.”

She paused, wondering the best way to go about this. “Hopefully this club will help you develop your creativity by getting you to come up with your own designs. As I said, you will have so many different things to help inspire you. But, if you really don’t want to design,” she had to work really hard not to roll her eyes at the rest of the group as she said this part, “then you may always team up with someone who does.”

“The point of this club is to have fun,” Emmy added. “It will be fun to work with like-minded people and also develop your eye and tastes.”

8 Emmy-Lou Scott Trying not to put you in your place. 313 Emmy-Lou Scott 0 5

Gia

July 28, 2016 5:26 PM

My place is clearly not here. by Gia

The quick appearance of a frown on Emmy-Lou’s face led Gia to believe that the girl did not appreciate the questions, but Gia felt it was a valid question to ask and so, she wasn’t sure why the third year would frown, even for a moment. However, when the third year responded to her, it was Gia’s turn to frown. It was clear based on the girl’s confusion that she had her own vision about what she wanted from the club and the people in it and the opinions or thoughts from others would not be welcomed.

Her next words really upset Gia, however, and it made Gia want to get up and leave in protest. It wasn’t the words so much as the way in which the younger girl said it. It was a tone that Gia heard often when people thought she or her family were unintelligent or slow-minded, which was often came about when they found out they were from Greece. Apparently, foreign to Americans meant uneducated. “I am well aware of what this club’s name is and the fact that design is part of what makes fashion.” Gia replied, her voice cool and even, not at all like the usual bubbly voice that was associated with the Pecari and certainly not something that anyone who knew her would have heard before (except for possibly Barnaby). Gia did not appreciate condescending attitudes, especially from someone who clearly had no idea what being a hostess to a vaguely titled club meant.

“The name of your club is ‘Fashion’ but you are only discussing having people design. There was no context on the posters that indicated that this club was going to solely focus on that topic instead of on Fashion as a whole.” Gia stated. She was greatly miffed by how this girl was treating her and quite possibly others in the club who had not voiced their concerns over where they would be placed. “A person can find enjoyment in fashion without having a particular interest in designing it. I, for on, thought that this club would be a place for anyone who enjoyed fashion to meet and discuss trends, common interests with it, designers, and other fashion related things.” She explained, feeling more confident in what she was saying and valid in her opinion. Gia was sure that there were others in the room that were here because they enjoyed fashion and not because they felt a great need to design their own line of clothing.

“If this was meant to be a club for design only, then you should have titled it as such instead of making me feel like some idiot for asking my question in the first place.” Despite the girl’s offer of other options (though Gia felt that she only did so to be ‘polite’), Gia stood up and grabbed her things. “I appreciate the suggestions, but it is clear that this club is not as welcoming to everyone as the posters made it out to be and not at all accommodating to everyone who wishes to be involved but in other ways that simply design.”

Gia, feeling like she had said her peace and perhaps the third year could reevaluate how she was going to host future sessions of the club to be more inclusive, said her farewell and went to leave the room.

OOC: Anyone can stop her from leaving or say that she’s left, I’m fine with either.

6 Gia My place is clearly not here. 308 Gia 0 5

Emmy-Lou

July 29, 2016 4:15 AM

I'm sorry you feel that way. by Emmy-Lou

Emmy-Lou felt both mortified and indignant at the same time. This was far from how she had expected her very first club meeting to go. Sure, she had found Gia Donovan’s lack of appreciation for design irritating but she had done her best to try and make the girl feel included by coming up with solutions to the problems or ways around it. The last thing she had wanted was for the girl to completely blow her top and storm out of the room, which would look very bad for her and the reputation of her brand new club (which kind of needed a good reputation if it was going to get anywhere).

The third year really didn’t understand why the older girl needed to be so rude and confrontational when she was very clearly trying to accommodate for her (hopefully the others would at least be able to see this). Emmy thought it rather unkind of the girl to call her out like this in front of everyone when she had obviously put a lot of effort into making sure her club would be wonderful and had been very excited for a long time in the lead up to the first meeting. The whole thing felt rather unprecedented and a part of Emmy knew she probably could’ve handled the situation better but at the same time she hadn’t thought she’d handled it badly, at least she hadn’t until Gia had flared up faster than a hot knife through butter.

Emmy tried very very hard to remain cool and collected whilst the Pecari girl went off on one and criticised pretty much the entirety of her brilliant club. Her lower jaw stuck out marginally as she kept it clamped shut determinedly. Emmy had poured way too much time and effort into this club to let it all go to waste because of one girl.

For once in her life having let her assailant have her rant uninterrupted, the young blonde bit her lip as though to physically stop an angry retort emitting from her mouth. She moved quickly to join Gia on her way to the door, knowing better than to literally stand in her way as could appear aggressive to both the Pecari girl and their audience.

“I can’t stop you leaving,” Emmy shrugged, desperately trying to keep her tone pleasant, “but I would like to say something before you do.” She felt rather under pressure to be someone besides herself and never had she felt her self-proclaimed acting skills mattered so much. Oh how she would’ve loved to grab one of her hot pink posters and rub it around Gia’s pretty face but she couldn’t.

“If you listened to what I said at the start,” Emmy continued, expecting Gia’s attention, “this club is mainly about designing and making clothes, but we’ll also be looking at trends and styles and stuff. This isn’t a dictatorship - as I said, it’s supposed to be fun. If you want to sit around talking about fashion, that’s perfectly fine - to be honest, I kind of saw that as a given. When you’ve got a bunch of people interested in fashion in one room, it’s kind of inevitable that we’ll talk about fashion. And I also said that I’d bring in latest trends and that we could all contribute things that might help inspire design - inspiration being sourced from fashion. This club is supposed to bring in all sorts of fashion related skills - designing, sewing and making, an eye for style, keeping up with trends, etc.”

Emmy was definitely annoyed by the way Gia was confronting her so harshly, but at the same time she was saddened by the unenthusiastic response she had received. “The last thing I want is for anyone to feel that they can’t enjoy fashion in Fashion Club but I think most of us observe fashion on a daily basis because it’s what we’re interested in so a club should offer something more, something different, where we can actually create something from that.”

Gia was older than her and should have known better than to show up to a third year’s brand new club and start complaining that it wasn’t exactly what she had wanted it to be.

“I wasn't trying to make you, or anyone else, look like an idiot,” Emmy said finally because that really wasn’t the case. “If anything, I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s what you’re trying to do to me.”

Emmy’s shoulders sagged a little. The fight in her had been forced down so much it had pretty much disappeared completely. “Hey, do what you want,” she shrugged again, “but I thought I could make a club that’s fun for everyone…”

8 Emmy-Lou I'm sorry you feel that way. 313 Emmy-Lou 0 5

Gia

July 29, 2016 6:45 AM

No You Aren't. by Gia

Gia paused out of politeness as the girl followed her and asked for her attention by speaking. When she began to explain herself, Gia did not like where this was going. Instead of being open and understanding to one of the individuals who came to her club to support her and even apologize for not being as inclusive as the title of the club made it seem, she put them blame onto Gia for not ‘listening’ to her.

Was this girl being serious? Obviously Gia had listened to her, which is why she had voiced her concern in the first place. All Emmy-Lou was doing was reiterating everything that Gia was questioning and how it wasn’t being accommodating to all parties involved because it was only design base. Gia had not once raised her voice during her explanation of her feelings. She hadn’t spoken down to her or used a tone that would indicated she thought lowly of the third year the way the third year had done to her after she had voiced her concern. Gia had remained level headed, logical, and rather calm. But this girl was trying to say that Gia was attempting to make her feel like an idiot? She was crazy and immature.

“I did listen to you and voiced my concern about it. It is you who didn’t listen to me. ” Gia said, once again in her calm and collected voice. “Instead, you responded with being condescending and humored me with telling me to basically just find a way to design.” Gia explained. “And, please do not try to tell me that you did not do that. I know when people talk down to me. I have been around many people who feel that I must be stupid because English is my second language and talk in that very tone to me as you did.” Gia added in case the younger girl tried to claim that she hadn’t.

“Your poster said Fashion Club. Fashion club has many different aspects to it.” Gia’s family was in the fashion world and her mother had once modeled for their clothing or the clothing of the designers who used their embroidery. Her mother sometimes spoke of it whenever they were sewing together. But Gia couldn’t talk about that because then people might become curious about her Greek family.

“I love to sew. In fact, it was my sewing that put together the designs that other people created for the Fashion Show for our concert group. I love Fashion, which is why I came. But you aren’t not at all open to anyone who doesn’t necessarily enjoy design. Talking about trends and styles to inspire more design is not what I was referring to when I mentioned those topics.” Gia rationalized to the younger girl. “You want your club to be fun and inviting, but to only those who are interested in design. Not to anyone else who may have other things to offer to you.”

“I do not appreciate you saying that I am trying to make you look like an idiot when all I did was voice a concern and then explain my reasoning for it. I feel that as a host to a club, you should be more open-minded to such things. If your plan is to stick to strictly design, there is nothing more for me here. Good luck to you.”

6 Gia No You Aren't. 308 Gia 0 5

Emmy-Lou

July 29, 2016 2:55 PM

I really am. by Emmy-Lou

Talking to Gia before she left had been Emmy-Lou’s attempt at explaining herself and smoothing over the uneasy situation that had presented itself most unexpectedly but if anything it seemed to have prompted the fourth year into starting a full on argument. Emmy refused to rise to the bait, however, and was beginning to feel more and more bewildered by the whole thing.

If she had been in Gia’s situation where she turned up to a younger student’s first meeting for a new club they actually had the confidence and organisation to run only to find it wasn’t what she had expected, she would have gone along with it pleasantly for just one session to try it out and then made the mature decision not to turn up to any further sessions. One thing she knew for certain was that she wouldn’t have criticised the host for their differing opinions to her own and made a big scene in front of the rest of the members, which would clearly be embarrassing and upsetting for the younger student.

At this point in the conversation, she didn’t feel like it really mattered whether Chuck’s friend was actually listening to her or not because the Pecari girl seemed to have already made her mind up what Emmy apparently really meant despite her best efforts to continue to be as welcoming as she had begun.

“I do not wish to argue with you on this,” Emmy insisted, having expected Gia to have made the decision to peacefully stay or leave by now rather than dragging out this nastiness - it didn’t matter that she kept her tone cool because the truth was her words were beginning to hurt. “I only want to make it clear that everyone is very welcome in this club, including those with different skill sets to myself.”

“My only issue here is that I simply don’t understand what you want from me or the club, rather than that I don’t like what you’re asking,” the third year continued calmly, beginning to feel the problem Gia had might now be more to do with her (somehow, and she wasn’t sure how since she had only spoken politely) and less about the club. “Like, you say you want to discuss fashion but still seem to have a problem when I tell you that is something we will most certainly do? And now you say you like sewing which is definitely a great skill to have for this club. I don’t wish to repeat myself or insinuate that you haven’t been listening but you will remember that I told you the main focus of my club is on designing and making those things, the latter involving a lot of sewing so you clearly have a place here if you want it. I also don’t understand, though, why it would not be in your interest to a least try a bit of designing and see how you get on with it? Surely if you sew you must do some of that already?”

Emmy hadn’t realised that Gia loved to sew but this new knowledge only confused her further because she could not understand why, if that was the case, the fourth year only wanted to sit around talking about clothes, rather than trying to make them. People with good sewing abilities were definitely the sort she could use more of in her club and potentially fit in better than anyone so it didn’t make any sense to her how Gia of all people could feel like she had no business there.

“I agree that fashion has many different aspects to it,” Emmy nodded because that was a very valid point. “That is why I have tried very hard to incorporate as many of those aspects in my club and make sure we always have something we can do and things we learn to keep it interesting.”

“For the Fashion Show, we designed and made clothing just as I’m planning we do for this club,” she added, because the Fashion Show for the concert had actually inspired some elements of the way she planned to run the club. “If you enjoyed that then I honestly think you could enjoy being a part of this club too.”

“I’ve already said, if you have no interest whatsoever in attempting design then you don’t have to - there are ways about that and plenty of other things to do,” Emmy finished. “This is Fashion Club and the only limitation in terms of who is welcome is that members must have some interest in fashion in some way or another, which I believe is pretty inclusive.”

“Look, I’ve had no prior experience of running a club but I’ve put a lot of time and effort into planning this,” Emmy wanted to make sure Gia realised how important the whole thing was to her. Maybe then she’d sympathize a little more and grow aware of how inconsiderate her actions had been. “I know a thing or two about fashion, to say the very least, and this is what I want to do for my club. I’m sorry if it doesn’t meet your expectations but apparently, try as I might, I can’t please everyone. I hope you understand.”

8 Emmy-Lou I really am. 313 Emmy-Lou 0 5

Gia

July 29, 2016 5:56 PM

I don't think you know what that word means. by Gia

Gia sighed internally. The girl says she doesn’t want to argue, but she simply continues to repeat herself and then lie with her words as well. Everyone was not welcomed if her only answer to Gia’s concern was to sit and watch others to learn how to design. Gia didn’t want to design and she felt that Emmy-Lou lied to everyone about what this club would represent in the name instead of what it really would be; a Design Club. Gia didn’t know how many ways in which she could explain it to the girl. If she wanted to have a club for Design, Gia would understand, but don’t tell her that everyone was included but then tell them that they were only going to focus on one aspect of fashion, which was design.

“I do not want anything from you or your club.” Gia said. “I simply said that your club is misrepresented. Your club is focused on the design aspect of Fashion. You are telling me now that you want to include everything, but all the activities you stated earlier were only focused on design. A Fashion show for everyone’s designs. Trends and styles to help inspire their design.” Gia stated, hoping that by pointing it out, Emmy would see what she meant by not being inclusive towards everyone. “I have no intention of designing. I can have a joy for sewing and for Fashion and not have any for the actual design portion of it. I can appreciate designs and respect those who do it, but I do not share that same passion for it. But when I raised that point, your response was to find a way to enjoy design.”

Gia looked around the room at the other people there. Either they were paying attention or they weren’t, Gia didn’t really care because she was certain that she was speaking for more than just herself with some of her points. “My choices for this club is to sit every day and watch other people design or try to become inspired to do something that I do not want to do? Those were your options to me. I came here to support your club and Fashion but I do not feel that you are very supportive of your members and their wishes for maybe something beyond design.”

“Your club is perfect for design club and if that’s the path that you are choosing to take, then I feel like you should have represented that in your posters instead of stating that it was for everyone who enjoyed Fashion.” Gia explained. She had no qualms against a design club, only that Emmy-Lou had belittled her for trying to find a way for her to feel comfortable in a club like this one and not have to focus her time on design. And then Emmy called it her club and everything made perfect sense to Gia. “Right, your club. I thought this would be a club for members to have some room for ideas and feel like they have a place to belong, but as you’ve so nicely stated, it’s your club and this is how you want it.” That was that. Gia wasn’t going to waste her breath on someone who clearly wasn’t going to make any changes for those in her club. Everyone just had to design and deal with it. Feeling rather upset over the confrontation, Gia left the room without waiting for a response.

6 Gia I don't think you know what that word means. 308 Gia 0 5