“I can’t believe the very first election of my editorial career is finally here!”
Eve and Jade exchanged looks. Jade spoke first. “Um… Marc, you do realize that this is an election for class president, right? It’s not exactly the sort of thing that sells papers.”
“Nonsense! All elections are hotbeds of intrigue and scandal!”
“Also, you’re only editor because there are only three people on the newspaper staff, and neither of us wanted to do it.”
“You just have to crush my spirits, don’t you. But this election has dramatic potential, I can feel it!”
“If you say so.”
If only she had known how right Marc was…
--------
“Are you really planning on running for class president?”
“I am.”
“Why? Surely you know that you can’t possibly hope to beat me.”
“I wouldn’t count on that, Maddie.”
“Don’t act like we’re friends. I am queen of our grade. You are a nobody overachiever with no friends. Who do you think our peers will support?”
“I think that they’ll support me, especially with Beckett publicly campaigning for me.”
Madeline laughed out loud. “There’s no way that will ever happen. You really think you can turn my boyfriend against me? You might be his brother, but he hates you. He wouldn’t help you with your homework, let alone campaign for you against me, of all people.”
“He made me a promise.”
Madeline froze.
“He made me a promise.”
Madeline froze.
Alaric smirked at her. “I shouldn’t have to remind you that Beckett always keeps his promises. But if you still don’t believe me, ask Beckett. He’ll confirm my story.”
--------
“Madeline! Where were you?” Beckett grinned at his girlfriend, but his smile faded when he saw her face. He began mentally retracing his steps, trying to figure out what he could have done to upset her. He eventually gave up. “What’s wrong?”
“Did you tell your brother that you would campaign for him in the class president election?”
“Yeah, months ago. Why?”
Madeline’s face was like stone. “Did you happen to forget that I planned on running?”
Beckett froze. “That… yes. I’m really sorry, but you understand why I have to do it, right?”
“No, I really don’t. Please enlighten me, Beckett.”
“I made a promise. I always keep my promises. It’s just… I feel like if I break a promise, no one will trust me anymore.”
“Alaric doesn’t trust you anyway! Come on, Beck, I’m asking you to break one promise, not compromise your entire moral code.”
“But breaking one promise would compromise my entire moral code.”
Madeline glared at him with more venom than he would have thought she was capable of. “Look, you can keep your stupid promise, or you can keep me. You can’t have both.” Then she flounced off, leaving Beckett to wonder when his life had gotten so dramatic.
--------
By that night, the story was all over the school: the class president election had the potential to break up the ruling couple of the freshman class. Jade was staying after school for “newspaper”, which was really just her, Eve, and Marc standing around gossiping.
“Are you sure you can’t get us any inside information?” Marc looked hopeful as always.
Jade snorted. “You’re saying that as though I have an inside source. I’m telling you, I barely see my brothers. You probably know as much about them as I do. Actually, you probably know more, since you have your uncanny ways of getting information. You have to tell me how you do that one day.”
Marc winked at her. “Trade secret.”
Jade gave him a strange look, and Eve rolled her eyes and turned to Jade. “Shouldn’t you be leaving soon if you want to get to your date?”
Jade glanced at the clock. “Yeah, I should get going. Ted’s probably already there, perpetually early person that he is. Thanks for the reminder!”
She didn’t see Marc’s slightly wistful gaze as she left the room, but Eve did. “She doesn't think of you like that, and I doubt she ever will.”
Marc was still looking at the door. “I know, but a man can dream, can't he?”
--------
“What do you think about it?”
Ted looked at her, shaking his bangs out of his eyes. “What do I think about what?”
“All of the election drama. I figure that if anyone has an unbiased opinion, it would be you.” Everyone knew that Ted was as fair a judge as any fourteen-year-old boy could be.
Ted looked thoughtful. “I don’t know. Beckett shouldn’t have made a promise that he wouldn’t want to keep, but Alaric shouldn’t have asked for that promise in the first place, and while I can understand Maddie’s point of view, she’s blowing the whole thing out of proportion.”
“Well, isn’t that kind of what Maddie does?” Jade grinned at her maybe-not-quite-boyfriend.
He frowned back at her, and she sighed. She’d forgotten how rigidly moral he could be. But… maybe that was good for her. Plumbob knew she wasn’t nearly as moral as she should be. “Maybe we should talk about something else. How’s soccer going?”
He rewarded her with a smile, then talked some about his soccer season, always sticking to the facts. He didn’t like to add unnecessary embellishment. But again… maybe that was good for her.
Author's Note: Hello again! It feels like it's been forever, but it's actually only been about a week. I think I'll be getting chapters out almost exclusively on weekends for a while. (This one was done this weekend, I was just too lazy to publish it until today.)
On the bright side, I officially have the rest of this generation plotted out! I don't have the chapters written yet, but I do know the general idea for all of them. This generation, like the last one, will have 20 chapters, and I'm hoping to speed up and get it done by the end of March, beginning of April at the latest, so know that while you still have a few chapters before you have to pick a favorite, this generation will be done in the next couple of weeks (hopefully). Join us next time for the results of the election and even MORE drama!
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