The Halo Effect

33 | linchpin

Macallan Blake announced her campaign to be the Cannondale School's student body president at the final WAC meeting of the year. Kelsey - our beloved club president - had graciously yielded the floor to her in the final minutes of the meeting for what she'd prefaced as a game changing announcement.

And it was.

Macallan's speech conveyed everything that any aspiring politician would want to convey - she was gracious, prepared, and ambitious to the highest degree of it not coming across as arrogant. Our teammates rallied around her afterward, and her beaming smile lifted my heart in my chest. No one outside of our insular friend group would've guessed that she'd harbored insecurities about running.

That said, Macallan didn't go down without a fight, nor did I think for even one second that she would when I'd encouraged her to cast aside her qualms and run.

That night when I'd returned to my room after speaking to Jameson, I'd allowed myself a small window of wallowing on my bed before mapping out my approach. I'd jotted down my main arguments and counterpoints, which might've been excessive for a conversation with Macallan, but I didn't care. If I didn't plan, I would be planning to fail. I couldn't afford to do that. Not when one of my most cherished friendships hung in the balance.

As I'd spoken to Macallan, I was acutely aware that it was the first time we'd explicitly spoken about her running for student body president, and guilt tied knots in my stomach. That was a big part of why I wouldn't ever claim responsibility for Macallan deciding to run, knowing that all I'd done was remind her of what she could achieve in the face of the bullshit she'd endured. It had only made her stronger and more resolute in the face of conflict. I wasn't so sure if the same went for me. 

"Welcome to the first unofficial cabinet meeting of Macallan Blake," Win Petrov began, snapping me out of my reverie. He stood on Macallan's right, but positioned himself slightly behind her as though to keep her in the limelight, the focus of our attention even when he was speaking. "The first debate is scheduled after AP testing for all of the obvious reasons, so until then we're focusing on maximizing Macallan's visibility - posting on the campaign's Instagram, defining her platform, opinion pieces in the school newspaper, campaign flyers. All that good stuff and more. Cannondale needs and wants to know what a Blake presidency would look like."

Win continued his realpolitik, but I tuned him out as my mind revisited something that had become increasingly intriguing to me. For some inexplicable and mesmerizing reason, Win had become the linchpin to Macallan's campaign. He was omnipresent and irreplaceable. And he'd made damn sure of that.

As I averted my gaze away from Win, I noticed that I wasn't the only one preoccupied with his presence. Gianna appeared to be watching Win very closely, her winged eyeliner intensifying the sharpness of her gaze as she stood beside me with her arms folded in front of her chest.

"It just seems a bit odd, don't you think?" I asked in a quiet musing voice.

Gianna flicked her gaze over to me, cocking one of her perfect eyebrows in a way that was almost jarring. "What seems a bit odd?"

I glanced around the room and ruled that no one was paying us any attention. "Win Petrov is obsessed with Macallan's campaign. I feel like I'm an extra in The Politician."

She rolled her eyes. "He's not obsessing, and you definitely wouldn't be an extra."

"Thanks," I scoffed. "What do you think he's doing, then?''

"Helping?"

"It's more than that," I insisted, speaking in a hushed tone as I subtly jerked my head in Win's direction. "He's bending over backwards for Macallan. I mean, you'd think he's in love with her or something."