First Impression I

Chapter Seven- Conversations

Chapter Seven- Conversations

“Hey, hey, you, you, I’ll be secretary

No way, no way, I’m gonna win this

Hey, hey, you, you, you know that you want me!” Audrey sang, her blue and white poms poms swishing in the air. She and her devote followers were doing a cheerleading routine to the tune of ‘Girlfriend’ by Aril Lavigne, in the middle of the central courtyard. Despite the weather, they were clad in similar skimpy navy blue gather skirts and tank top with a capital ‘T’ emblazoned across their bosom.

“Don't pretend, I think you know I'm precious
And so yeah, I'm a hey, hey secretary
I can tell you like me too and you know I'm right
I'm right, I'm right, I'm right…” she continued, her short skirt flipping up as she did a somersault and landed right in front of a group of tenth grade boys. They wolf-whistled and clapped. She smiled, flashing her pearly white teeth and posed with her hands on her hips. “Vote for me,” she whispered into their ears and then put in a wink for good measure.

I sighed. She was good. All the moves were executed flawlessly. And the song was creative too. Harnessing something popular to advertise for her campaign. Guess she was not some Barbie without a brain after all. But that would make it so much harder for me. A competent contestant indeed.

However, my good impression of her was short lived. It shattered completely when she and her cheerleaders pushed a group of seventh graders to the ground as they sauntered off the courtyard, swaying their hips.

“Leopards don’t change their spots. What did you expect?” Katherine asked scathingly as I glared after Medusa.

I shrugged, turning to face her. “I thought she would be acting a little nicer to everyone in the school since she’s running for the student council. Not to mention this goes against exactly against what she proclaimed yesterday, “When I am elected as the Secretary of the Middle Student Council, my first act will be to ensure social equality among all the students’.” I said, quoting her ambitious speech.

Alice snorted, “All students are equal but some students are more equal than others. That’s her logic.” We all chuckled, taking a quick break from the tedious work at hand. It was the first day of no exams. But instead of goofing around like everybody else, I was stuck colouring the photocopied posters for my campaign. Katherine and Alice had kindly offered to help out.

“It’s okay. We are so tired of all the childish pranks and games. This will be refreshing,” Alice had said when I told them to go and enjoy themselves. Even though if I felt bad, I just couldn’t refuse them when they were so nice. So we were all caught in a boring colouring activity that was at most, fit for a ten-year old kid. Joy.

Alice echoed my thoughts. “Gosh, this is tiring! I haven’t touched crayons since Grade 4!” she exclaimed as she completed the last poster and stuffed it in between the first few pages of the school’s official magazine. I had volunteered to help the editorial club deliver the magazines to the tenth graders.

I smiled, “Thanks a lot, Alice. And you too, Kat. You saved my life by helping out.”

“No problem,” they chorused. Ah. What great friends I had. I put down my crayon and rubbed my eyes. After four torturous hours, we had finally finished the posters. But we were far from done. There were still one hundred and fifty magazines waiting to be carted to the five different homeroom classes. We dutifully sorted out the magazines into the different stacks.

“So Lena, how’s the campaign with the seventh graders going?” Kat asked. Lena was hers and Alice’s new nickname for me. Eleanore was far too long and stiff, they complained. So they shortened it to Lena. I adored it. It was unique. And it had been ages since I had a nickname.