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Chapter 11 - People Showing Up

[Chapter 11 - People Showing Up]

"Good morning, students. This is Principal Peterson, and it's a great Monday morning."

Ugh! It's the first class in the morning and Principal Peterson's voice is hurting everyone else's ears. I'm in homeroom with El sitting beside me. All my classmates are trying to stay awake on their seats while they listen to what Principal Peterson has to say in this sullen morning. Mr. Crawford, our homeroom teacher, rolls his eyes in front of the class, also irritated.

Two speakers in front of the room makes it worse. Everybody hates the principal and when I mean everybody, it includes students, teachers and even janitors. It's because everybody finds her very annoying. Annoying. That's the only thing I could describe her. She tries too hard to be sweet that it gets to the part where people want to stay far away from her as possible.

I sit straight on my chair, forcing myself to listen.

"Homecoming is yet again fast approaching and we only have two weeks left."

"Two weeks? Are you kidding me?" Tiffany, a member of the bitch squad says too loudly. Then, everybody murmurs, complaining about homecoming.

"What's the big deal? It's just homecoming." I whisper to El.

"Of course, you'd say that. Girls like Tiffany make homecoming a big deal."

"Don't I say it every year?" I snicker. "I bet you'd be nominated Homecoming Queen this year and you'll probably be crowned."

"I don't think that's even possible because you were crowned Homecoming Queen last year and Homecoming Princess for two straight years since freshman year." The world is just messed up. A senior and the bitch squad captain, Aimee Foster, was supposed to be crowned last year, but everyone got sick of her crap, so they voted for me.

"I didn't wanna win, you know. But I'm gonna help you win this year."

"Oh, yeah? And how are you going to do that?" she asks.

"You're now part of the team. You're dating Willem Robinson. And you're Elaine Elizabeth Lewis. I think those things are enough to make everyone vote for you."

Just for the record, I never wanted to be crowned. I didn't know why people voted for me, and I never get tired of asking this question to myself over and over again. I beat the past bitch captains before Carrie. How was that even possible? I was also Prom Queen last year, and I just don't know what's wrong with people. This year, I'm not going to win because Elaine will.

Our conversation ends when Mr. Crawford tries to hush the class, but the complaining doesn't stop. He gives me The Look. The Look means that he needs my help settling everyone down. That's because I was elected as the class president a week ago, and I'm not too happy about it. I'm off my seat and yell, "Everybody please shut up!"

Eventually, the noise pipes down, especially Tiffany's bickering. Mr. Crawford smiles and mouths me a thank you. I'm surprised that Principal Peterson hasn't said anything yet since Tiffany complained. Does she know that students are complaining about her sudden announcement?

"Nice one, president." El says, smirking.

Now, there are muffled voices coming from the speakers. Principal Peterson clears her throat and says, "I apologize about this. I know we should've started a week ago, but we have so many conflicted schedules."

We? I don't think she has many things to do. Every time I pass by her office, she's either playing games on her computer or she's sleeping.

She continues blabbering, "I would like to request the presence of the president and the vice president of each class on helping me plan the events that are to take place this week and the next. Margaret Parker, the Student Council president, will be coordinating with me as well as the class presidents and vice presidents. Please be guided.