Dark Night

Tryouts

Just for you guys, a bonus chapter!!

"So what office are you going to run for?" John asked me in earth sciences.

"I thought maybe treasurer," I said cautiously. He rolled his eyes.

"Go big or go home," he said. "Why not go for president? I know you're accustomed to keeping to yourself," he said more gently. "But now is a great time to work on coming out of the shadows and taking some risks. You could make a solid run. I'll help. And if you don't win, well, that'll be too bad, the school will lose out, but at least you'll have tried something new."

So that is why I ended up signing up to campaign for student body president.  There was a meeting Friday during lunch where the principal laid down the ground rules. "No name calling, no smear campaigns," he warned us. "If there's any kind of dirty tricks, your name will be removed from the ballot and any write-in votes will not be counted. This isn't professional politics, and you will behave yourselves. Campaigning begins the week after next and goes for one week. Friday afternoon, we'll have an assembly where you can make a three-minute speech to the student body, after which the students will vote in class. Faculty members will count the ballots. The winners will be announced on Monday. During your campaigns, you are encouraged to remember that our school district supports wise use of resources, so extensive leafletting is discouraged and no more than five posters can be put up. Homemade goodies are prohibited because of food allergies, but if you have prewrapped candy without peanuts, tree nuts, eggs, or flour, you may hand it out to students.  We have roughly three hundred students enrolled in our school."

That weekend, we met at Zayna's since she had the house with the most room, and we made my five posters. Four, and one banner for the main hall by the front doors, actually. I wanted to avoid any hints of negativity, so campaign slogans that urged students to be smart weren't used because I didn't want to imply that people who didn't vote for me were stupid.

"You're too nice for politics," Cass said, grinning, as she carefully did the lettering and art for the banner. Between all of us, we came up with "She's Got Heart, She's Got Style, Vote for the Girl With A Smile, Delia Knight" "Just Do It (with a Nike swoosh) Delia Knight Student Council President" "The Choice Is Elemental--Delia Knight President" (for the science hall) "I've Got Heart, I've Got Vision, Vote For Delia, It's a Good Decision." The banner just had my name with Student Council President on it, with Spartan helmets (school mascot) on each end.

I recruited John and a few classmates like Samantha, the girl who'd volunteered to help me with drill team, to help me pass out candy at lunch. We could have a little table with a poster, so I bought big bags of purple and white grape suckers, sugar free mints (thanks a mint for your vote!), Jolly Ranchers (I'd be so jolly if you voted for me), Tootsie Rolls (Don't let this opportunity roll by, vote Delia) and bubble gum (thanks for 'chewsing' me!)

My competition was Carl Bangston, a popular guy, genial, in the running to be valedictorian. Everybody liked him, so it was an uphill climb for me.

Things were a little tense at home. Everybody, including Grandpa, was irritated that I'd pressed my brother for money. "I told you I'd make it up, Delia," Grandpa had chided. Well, I didn't want somebody else to 'make it up.' I wanted the people who had hurt me to pay. Literally. But instead, I was the villain.

I went to school early on Monday to hang my posters, and John met me there. The halls were deserted, so we could talk freely. "I forgot to ask how your meeting with the brass went," I said contritely. "I'm sorry, I've been self-centered."

John smiled and patted my back before tearing off some masking tape neatly. "It's been upsetting for you, Leia. They also told me to play down our friendship." He rolled his eyes. "They passed along offers from Chopard watches, Ford, Fitbit, Asic, and Samsung. On the one hand, I'm grateful for the offers. My grandparents have been extraordinarily generous in subsidizing my skating, but it would be nice for them not to have to. On the other hand, it's not really comfortable to put myself forward like that." I understood where he's coming from. "And they're positioning me to highlight diversity in US figure skating." He rolled his eyes. I patted his shoulder. "But one more year and I'm done."