All Eyes On You | Bel-Air

Chapter Nine

      "Okay, today's outreach effort is critical." Phillip says as he stands before us. "And remember, when you're not talking to voters, you're still sending them a message."'

Bright and early in the morning Phillip had made sure that all of us were dressed to impressed before gathering us into the living room. The coffee table is filled with his campaign materials, pamphlets detailing his platform, stickers with boring slogans, signs to be planted around town, and pins to be placed down on surfaces of probably every building we enter.

"This will probably be the only time these voters get to see us in the flesh and get the chance to interact with us." Vivian says. "So be respectful, be thoughtful. Just be yourself."

"Just better versions?" Ashley playfully ask her mother as she turns at the waist to look at her.

Vivian answers the question by chuckling lowly and shaking her head, Phillip smiles before grabbing two clipboards off the coffee table. "All right, let's talk assignment." Phillip hands them the clipboards, Will flicks my dangling earring, I swat his hand away but he smiles. "Carlton, Will, you'll hit the streets and knock on doors to register voters."

"Uh, question." Will says as he looks at the clipboard, draping his arm around my shoulder. "Does it matter that I've never done this before?"

"Hey, don't worry." Carlton tells him with a smile so fake that a blind man can see it. "I'll show you the ropes."

"Thank you, Carlton." Vivian smiles sweetly at him, a blind man has better vision than her.

"Yes, thank you, Carlton." Will says back sarcastically, the two of them share a fake smile to each other.

"Hilary, Halle, and Ashley." Phillip snaps his fingers. "You three will go to local business owners and ask if they'll put out campaign signs or stickers up in their windows."

Hilary smiles as she confidently says, "Who could say "no," to the three of us?"

"Looks like Will's going to have to live a couple hours without Halle today." Ashley teases.

Will pulls me towards me and point two fingers at Ashley as he quotes The Color Purple, "Nothing but death can keep me from ha!"

"Let's stay on topic." Phillip says. "We'll discuss Will and Halle relationship later tonight."

I hope he's joking. I don't want to have to run down the whole relationship thing a second time — Kennedy and Alanna was more than enough.

Will closes his eyes and holds his hand towards them. "Sorry, we're asking for privacy at this time."

Vivian chuckles before saying, "Phillip and I will be meeting with community leaders in Rev. Lamont's office. And if we're lucky, nobody will show up."

"Hey, yo, G," Will nods to Geoffrey. "Everybody's got an assignment. What are you gonna be doing?"

Verily vaguely Geoffrey says, "I'll be around."

Phillip claps his hands. "All right, thank you, one and all. We roll at noon."

Hilary wasn't up for driving, especially since she changed out of her blinged out teal two piece suit to an all white outfit, so next up was me. The second we got into the car Hilary and Ashley had talked my ear off about Will, which I knew was inevitable because lately everybody just wants to talk about us. They fired question after question, and my silence only seemed to fuel them more. The questions traveled from inside the car to inside the stores, store after store they were more interested in my love life than their asking people to stick their father stickers and signs in their windows. Well, I guess that is more interested.