For the People

Claudia looped her arm through Alice's, and Alice turned her attention over to her dear friend. Alice could read the silent words of Claudia's telling her to not pay them any mind since that was what they wanted. Alice lifted a shoulder in reply sending an innocent smile at Melanie since she made eye contact with her.

Alice didn't have any bad blood, and she was good at dealing with a crowd. But one mishap could make it all fall down. She was authentic to a point. Most people that surrounded her didn't even deserve to see her anyway.

With that thought, Alice knew that Claudia would agree with her and did her best not to bother the flocks.

Everyone's eyes lingered on her. She wasn't naive to say that they were looking for a misstep. It wasn't as if she was arrogant in that matter where she thought she was above others. It was a matter that everyone was waiting for each other to fall to go and take in the damage that would profit them.

It was every man for themselves in a world of wealth. There was only so much that could be accumulated after all. Alice didn't even have a wealth of her own. Her dynasty began and ended with the little convenience store that her parents owned. It was kind of funny to think about. Her dynasty was the convenience store family. 

Madeline had somehow found her way to the large megaphone from last time that Oliver was trying to wrestle out of her hands on top of the float where Noah called out to them to be careful since they were near the edge of the wooden-floored float. The float the class had put together was kind of a beast in size.

Then again, it was going to have to be big for a reason. It was going to hold two people for consultation and two people as the matchmaker. There was a large opening in the front to have some signs and whatnot to add some more interest to the overall shape of their float. Their float wasn't truly built on wheels. 

It was a large structure placed on wheels for the first showing, but once placed on the ground was a somewhat solid-looking square tent with walls. The colors were chosen carefully, and it was clear that everyone did well.

Their building was still in the works for a reason, because they were still building their way up. The guys in charge were doing a good job planning it. Madeline calling the vision to life.

Alice hot glued just a bit more pink sequins in quick succession just as she heard Madeline call her name. Claudia took Alice's hot glue gun from her since Claudia's glue was out before Alice went around to find the steps to get on the float. Noah pointed to the end of the right half, and she nodded before going up.

Madeline had her arms extended dramatically. "Hello, my girl."

"What do you need?" 

"I called you since I have some materials missing."

Alice raised a brow. "That's okay. Do we even have enough time anyway?"

"We blocked off the rest of the afternoon."

"Today?" 

Madeline nodded, and Alice hummed. "You should have let people know. They think it's a two-hour block."

"Another hour doesn't hurt."

Alice huffed out a breath. "I'm for the people."

"So am I," Madeline laughed.

Alice rolled her eyes. "People here won't agree with you. You should have told everyone earlier, but what can you do now? Let them know."

Madeline saluted Alice in understanding as placed the megaphone to her lips. "Hey, guys. The time block for today is for the rest of the afternoon. If you have another commitment, don't let me stop you. But if we do the time for today, then we would be good for the rest of the month."

Everyone's morale went low with groans only to brighten after hearing that Madeline would let them off the hook for the month. That went a long way considering that Madeline was close to being on everyone's hate list. The complaints were loud and definitely heard, but Madeline wouldn't budge. 

"A certified tyrant," Mason called.

A few snickers went around, but Sophie calmed them all down by reminding them, "It's a good thing, guys. We won't have to stare at each other like this for the rest of the month."

Knowing that there was nothing that everyone could do about it, there was a resigned acceptance. Everyone went back to work, and Alice breathed out a soft sigh.

That went better than she thought though. It was clear some weren't too happy, but no problem should arise from it. It was better to accept what wasn't too hard in the first place than make a fuss.