Red, White, And Royal TWO

Chapter 14

"Alright, thank you everyone for coming! We have a lot to add onto from last week, so let's review what we've gotten so far, and we'll go from there." It's been three days since Alex joined the REBEL team.

As Karla goes on with the review of the bill's key points, Alex's mind drifts elsewhere; to Henry, to his bed, to how much he misses Henry, and how much he misses sleeping with Henry. How much he misses sleeping. He hadn't gotten much sleep the night before, and he presumes it's because he was excited to be on this team; and because it had officially been eighteen days since Henry had last spoken to him. He would barge into Kensington Palace like he had back in October, but Henry had recently acquired some hounds after a fan broke in, peed in his private bathroom, and stole his shampoo. Scary.

"Alex, introduce yourself to the team." Karla says, snapping Alex out of his trance.

"Hey, you all know me, you've seen me around the White House and I'm sure around the Hill, I'm just offering my input on the bill as a recently graduated college student. Thanks for this opportunity, Secretary, and I hope I can be of some help." Alex replies. Polite applause.

"Alright, then, let's get to it. Sara, slides please."

The next hour and a half was about as thrilling as getting mauled by Henry's new hounds. Sara had no fucking clue how to get the slides in a presentable state, and the brainstorming went nowhere during the meeting. The most daring new addition to the bill was directing new funds to buying more number two pencils. What Alex was quickly realizing throughout the meeting was that the fun part, the brainstorming, was pretty much over and they were transitioning into the details part; not as fun. The details included where the money was coming from, what schools in what districts needed the most funding, that kind of thing. The meat of the bill, which Alex found out was practically abolishing standardized testing, had already been included. Now he had to be specific about how it was going to be done.

After the meeting had finished, Alex followed Karla down the hall to talk to her.

"So, I love this bill, it's wonderful, but I'm trying to be realistic, so I'm curious as to how we're going to get this past the Senate, you know, with the filibuster and all?"

"I'm glad you asked. The bill we draft here is going to be borderline Marxist, so that the Republicans can add all the amendments they want in the education committee hearings. The media will demonize Republican opposition, hopefully forcing their 'yes' vote." Karla replies.

"Jesus, that's risky as hell. Do we really want to run the risk of being called the communist administration?"

"Please, Alex. Even Republicans know the difference between Marxism and Leninism." Karla says jokingly, chuckling before getting the full sentence out.

"So what, you're a Marxist now?"

"Oh my God, Alex."

"Are you?"

"Yes, Alex. I'm a big, fucking communist!" Ringer laughs out loud as they walk down the empty corridors of the Education Department.

"Oh, I thought there was a difference between Marxism and communism!"

Karla rolls her eyes at him. He raises his eyebrow at her, and they break away from each other at the front door of the complex.

"Alright, smart ass, I'll see you next week." Karla says.

"See you then."

Alex walks out of the complex and down to the Secret Service car. There's the big fugly fortress again, Alex thinks. As he climbs into the Secret Service car, he turns his phone back on from sleep mode and sees a missed call and three text messages from Henry. Two are images.

Alex opens the texts to see that the images are of a screenshot of a TMZ headline: FSOTUS ALEX CLAREMONT-DIAZ SPOTTED ENTERING DOE HEADQUARTERS, and the other is a screenshot of a statement by the White House issued by Zahra right after the meeting started. It's quite brief: President Claremont's son, Alex Claremont-Diaz, will be assisting Secretary of Education Karla Ringer and a couple Senators and Congresspeople draft legislation at the Education Department complex, 12:00PM-1:30PM on 2/17/2021. Will be a weekly occurrence. The third text was a message. Alex responds. The thread reads:

Henry: what the fuck is this????

Alex: well it's pretty clear what it is in the statement

Henry: I thought I made it clear I didn't want you to see her

Alex: no, you said you didn't want me to see her alone. there were multiple senators and congresspeople there to watch us fuck

Henry: not funny

Alex: i think so

also now you start to talk to me again? after 18 days?

Henry's typing...

...

...

Henry leaves Alex on delivered.

Once Alex realizes that Henry has effectively left him on delivered and isn't going to respond, he turns off his phone and throws it on the seat next to him. For the rest of the car ride, he fumes and vents in his mind about how ridiculous and unreasonable Henry's being. How unfair Henry was being. Why is he being so psycho crazy about it all of a sudden? He was fine with it a month ago! It's practically ancient!

The Secret Service car pulls up to the White House gate and Alex practically jumps out. He storms off to his room straight past the Secret Service agents and the tourists trying to steal a picture of him from beyond the gate. He rushes up the steps, past the special guests of his mom's, and into his room. He hops onto the bed, kicks his shoes off and doesn't even bother to take off his dress pants before crawling under the covers. He opens his phone to a text from Karla in a group chat titled, "the REBELlion." (These are Alex's contact names)

The REBELlion

Karla: yo here's the info for the next meeting; same time, same place. bring notes from prev meetings and you'll be set. that goes for everybody.

Lizzy Warren: Thank you. Will review in detail. Should we try and get Senator Diaz on this? We could use a big state like California backing this bill. Alex?

Alex: I'll try. right now he's working a lot on oil and sanctions with foreign relations lol

Yankert: Congressmen Dorian and Dooney and Congresswomen Siwa, Stiles, and Swift said they'll co-sponsor with my sponsorship

Karla: great!

Lizzy Warren: ok cool

Alex, right as he's finished reading through the texts, receives an email from Karla.

____________________________________________________________________________

Subject: One on one convo

To: Alex Claremont-Diaz

Hey we should talk one on one bc I feel like you didn't talk a lot at the meeting today. I still really want your input!!! Here's the link for a Zoom tomorrow afternoon, 2/18/2021 @ 3:30PM

Zoom (link)