The Festival of the Moon (Girls Wearing Black: Book Two) by Spencer Baum

institutions that once nurtured them. But still the connotation remained. A chapel like the one in which Nicky now sat, with an altar, a cross, and little statuettes of the saints, wasn’t the sort of place one would expect to find a vampire, or a collection of teenagers who longed to become one. Yet here they were.
    Terry Reese, the senior class president, went to the front of the chapel and stood at the lectern.
    “The Festival begins this Friday,” Terry said. “Brawl in the Fall will be at Sutter’s field. The party starts when the sun goes down.”
    Terry was referring to the next event in the Coronation contest: The Festival of the Moon.
    Inspired by a lunar harvest festival Daciana had witnessed in China, The Festival of the Moon commemorated the Chinese goddess Chang’e, who, according to legend, chose eternal life even though it meant she was forever confined to the night sky. For Daciana, the analogy to her own life as an immortal was clear. Just as the villagers on the Pearl River Delta celebrated Chang’e, the goddess of the moon, Daciana wanted the students at Thorndike to celebrate her and all the other immortal creatures of the night.
    The Festival of the Moon opened with Brawl in the Fall. A variant of a ceremony Daciana once witnessed in a South China village, Brawl in the Fall was a night of drunken debauchery in the woods where boys from the senior class fought in a tournament for a million dollar prize.
    After Brawl in the Fall, the Festival continued with nightly celebrations at school to commemorate the goddess of the moon. Then, at the end of the week, in an old theater downtown, the Festival closed with the next fundraising game for the girls wearing black: the Date Auction.
    “The Date Auction will be at the Penbrook Theater on 48th Street,” Terry said. “Tickets will be on sale through the activities office starting today. Those who intend to bid must be seated with auction paddles in-hand no later than eight o’clock.”
    Terry went on to talk about student council, a meeting for the honors society, a meeting for the rotary club, and some gathering in the Provost’s office for people who liked chamber music. He finished with a terse, “Thank you,” then left the podium.
    Ms. Childs, the assistant principal, was next up to the lectern, and in a squeaky voice she said, “The Danson Citizenship Medal For Teachers is awarded to one high school educator every year who...”
    The interesting part of the assembly already finished, students all around the chapel pulled out their phones. Nicky hadn’t even gotten the phone into her hand before the first text arrived. It was from Annika, who was sitting right next to her.
    Someone please kill me now.
    Nicky reached out with her elbow and gave Annika a nudge.
    Another text came in, this one from Mattie. Where do you all wanna go to lunch?
    Annika responded: Sorry gals. I already made lunch plans with Art.
    Nicky turned to Annika and mouthed the words, “Lunch plans with Art?”
    Annika went back to her phone and typed: Art and I need to have a little business discussion.
    What are you going to tell him? Nicky texted back.
    I’m going to tell him that if he wants a piece of you, he needs to pay for it at the Date Auction like everyone else.
    Be careful not to drive him away , Mattie texted. He’s rich.
    From what I saw at Nicky’s after-party there is no driving him away , Annika texted back.
    Mattie snickered at this one. Nicky did too. Poor Art had really made a spectacle of himself at the after-party, following Nicky everywhere she went, hanging all over her like some drunk monkey.
    I’m being the bad guy on this one , Annika texted . I’ll tell Art that Nicky is crazy about him, but I’m making her stay away until after the Date Auction. We want Art to be a pent-up ball of hormones when it’s time for him to raise his auction paddle.
    At the front of the chapel, Ms. Childs was getting gushy about the award for Ms. Benchley. “Sarah