Don't Be Yellow

Written for "The Whatever Contest." "The Whatever Contest -- Closed for Now" 
Word Count: 994, Fiction

Prompt ▼

Write something with the color yellow as a dominant theme, topic, or idea in honor of the July 21, 2022 promotions to Preferred Author.

Hearts thudding, we put our hands in the paper bag Ms. Irani held out. The next few seconds would determine a major part of our school lives for six years to come.

Grade 5 students picked, by drawing slips of paper, which 'House' they would go into. From Grade 5 to Grade 10, their 'House' would be where their extra-curricular activities were. They'd be chosen for sports, debates, drama shows, art exhibitions, science fairs, quizzes and other activities by their 'House Captains', to compete against other 'Houses'.

Gunjan and I badly wanted to be in the same House. We were best friends, and neither of us was any good at sports. It wasn't said aloud, but the other activities were considered inferior. Being an athlete was cool. Being a debate winner might bring you some cheers, but it was not cool, it was nerdy. And we wanted each other for support in our nerdiness, or perhaps nothingness, depending on what others were good at.

My last name being alphabetically before hers, I picked before she did. YELLOW. I'd be in the Yellow House. I sighed with relief. The Yellow House Captain, in Grade 10, traveled home in the same bus-route I did and had often snaffled my sandwiches. Surely that would count for a few brownie points.

I held my breath as Gunjan picked her chit. Why was it taking her so long to get her hand out of that paper bag? Slowly, slowly -- YELLOW! We hugged each other. We sensed some of our classmates sneering.

At our first House meeting, the two of us sat on the last bench, trying to make ourselves invisible in the big hall. We felt insignificant. We had always been first-benchers, we'd never sat this far back before. We looked at the others from Grade 5 who were our fellow yellows. They were all good at sports. We didn't dare look beyond them to the older girls, Grade 6 to 10 - we were intimidated enough by our peers.

The Captain, Meherzin, got on to the platform and took the mic. Silence fell. She welcomed us. She talked of Yellow House's achievements, of where we were ahead of the others, and where we needed to improve.

"But this year," she boomed, "there's going to be a whole new contest. It's going to be held on the first report-card day, three months from now. And I want ..." she paused, her eyes searching the hall. The pause was a long one. She searched row by row.

"Ah, there you are," Meherzin finally piped up again. "Didn't expect the two of you in the last bench. I want Gunjan and Sonali to lead our House in this new contest."

Both of us blushed. We faltered and tripped up as we made our way to the front, to the platform.

"The contest requires your type of creative thinking, you two. Each House is going to be given a room to decorate for report-card day. The room is to be decorated to bring out the significance of the House Colour in our lives. So you have to bring out the importance of YELLOW. The Reds, Blues and Greens will be doing the same thing in their respective rooms. And the parents are going to judge. They'll vote for their favourite room as they come to collect their children's report cards."

We couldn't believe it. Right on Day #1, we were project leaders. We actually had older girls working with us, having to listen to our ideas and - yes - obey our orders. It took some getting used to, but Meherzin made sure everyone showed us some respect. The best thing was, it was out of her faith in our ability - nothing to do with snaffled snacks.

We decided to spend a long time brainstorming. There were some mutters about this - other Houses seemed to have gotten down to work actually creating stuff long before we did, but we knew that to beat them, our idea had to be the best.

YELLOW.

Daisies are yellow. The sunshine is yellow. Ducks are yellow. We tossed ideas about. We rejected them. It was about the significance of the colour in our lives. While sunshine is significant, as are flowers and birds, the ideas seemed too pat.

It was Gunjan who hit the jackpot.

"Listen," she said at one meeting. "Listen, I think I know."

Everyone listened as she spoke. The expressions changed from disbelief to gradual agreement - and then, pleasure. Aha. Gunjan really did have it.

It was fortunate that we got to pick which room we'd decorate. The Greens picked the library, the Reds picked the gym and the Blues picked the assembly hall.

We picked the attic.

"Are you crazy?" the other Houses asked. "The attic? Which parent will go up to the attic? You won't get ANY votes, they won't even see your room."

We made sure they did.

The signs led them that way.

The signs that prominently said DON'T BE YELLOW.

Every parent was intrigued enough to follow the signs up the stairs. Every parent was curious enough to ask for an explanation. They read the posters we'd put up and studied the other art-work and decorations displayed.

Gunjan's idea resonated with every parent who visited.

You see, 'being yellow' has negative connotations. It means being scared, being cowardly. Like the two of us had been, cringing on the back bench that first day.

But being yellow also meant being the sunshine, being the vital life force without which nothing would survive.

The slogan, when completed, was Don't Be Yellow, Be Yellow! The decorations and explanations were about choosing your yellow, about going from fear to importance.

The Reds, Greens and Blues had done brilliantly in their rooms. The vote was a close one. And you know what? I'm actually glad we didn't win outright. It was lovely to tie with the Greens for first place. More people to hug, on the platform!