Election, Set, Match

Muffled murmuring quickly hushed in the school auditorium when Principal Carson approached the podium.

“Good afternoon, students. You all have been working hard over the past three years for this moment. So, it brings me great pride to welcome to the stage your nominees for senior class officers.

Mara rolled her eyes at her friend when she noticed “Miss Perfect” Kaitlin stood and moved to the side aisle before Principal Carson could even begin introducing the candidates.

Lacey giggled and patted Mara on the shoulder. “I don’t know why you let her bug you so much.”

“Your nominees for secretary are Abby Green and Ashley Wilson.” Principal Carson encouraged applause after each announcement. He always says that every student is worth an accolade.

The effort of Mara’s and Lacey’s support was haphazard at best, resembling a sloth sauntering to the ground for its weekly whiz.

“How could I not let her get under my skin? That she-devil has been after me since middle school. It’s senior year and just last week she welcomed me back to school by putting a bag of poop in my locker from that cotton ball she calls a dog.”

“Ew, gross.”

“Duh.”

“Still, it is senior year. Anything could happen.”

“Pfft. Sure.”

They clapped again for the announcement of the forever unopposed Kelsey Betters, the other half of the plastic-doll duo, for vice president. “And finally, for class president, Kaitlin Waters…”

Mara raised her hands to clap, as did many fellow students, when Principal Carson continued, “…And for the first time for the Class of 2020, Ms. Waters will have some company. Please come to the stage, Mara Philips.”

For a split second, you could hear the crickets chirping.

Lacey stood up. “Yay!”

All heads turned to them.

“Mara, stand up. He called your name.”

“But, how?”

Lacey nudged her friend to stand. “You can thank me later.” She then shooed Mara to the center aisle. “Yay!” she shouted again.

Surprisingly, the whole auditorium roared.

Straightening out her awkwardness, Mara rushed up to the stage, and claimed a place next to Kaitlin, whose fake smile wasn’t fooling anyone.

“What are you doing?” The tension in Kaitlin’s jaw was slightly amusing to Mara.

“Kicking your sorry ass out of office.” Mara waived at her classmates.

“You will regret this, Fatty Philips.”

Blood drained from Mara’s face at her haunted memories just as Kaitlin’s smile became more confident—a truer version to her sinister-self.

***

“What were you thinking nominating me to go against ‘The Plastic Pageants?’”

“Oh, you’ll be fine. Just think about what it could do for your college applications.”

“I’m already set for college. My grades are great, and I have enough extracurriculars.”

“Um…reading books under the bleachers during games and creating a ‘Friends Forever Club’ to excuse us from attending extracurriculars doesn’t necessarily qualify.”

“Whatever. The point is, now I must spend my senior year cleaning more poop from my locker, or worse…”

“What do you mean ‘or worse’?”

“Up on stage, Kaitlin called me ‘Fatty Philips.’”

“Okay, and…?”

“And? That’s not part of my life anymore. Wasn’t really my shining moment.”

“No. I suppose not. But that was years ago. It fizzled out. No one remembers that. Plus, then you went to fat camp, lost a ton of weight, your pants haven’t ripped on you, and, I’m assuming, you know how to use tampons now?”

“Damn, bitch. You took it all the way home.”

Lacey giggled which caused Mara to laugh at herself.

“Maybe you’re right. I mean, you heard them in there, right? I think the people have spoken. They want a new leader.”

Dropping her book bag, Mara jumped up onto the closest bench and belted out, “Seniors of 2020, I am Mara Philips, your class prez.”

Lacey keeled over in laughter, tripped over Mara’s book bag, and lunged right into Mara. The two girls finally caught their breath lying on the grass.

“Here I come, bitches.”

***

“Hey, Mrs. Philips. Is Mara ready?”

Mrs. Philips ushered Lacey inside and shut the door. “She said she isn’t feeling well.”

“Do you mind if I talk to her?”

“Of course. You know where to go.”

“Thanks, Mrs. Philips.”

Lacey ran up the stairs two at a time.

“Mara. It isn’t as bad as it looks.”

“Really. Easy for you to say. You don’t have a picture of you eating a hotdog, oh wait, of a dick in a bun, floating around the internet. You also have all of your hair. I can’t even sit in class without worrying if one of Kaitlin’s secret minions is stalking me with scissors. The pile of poop baggies seems so micro at this point.”

“But you can’t give in. You can’t let her win.”

“Lacey, you can’t tell me what to do in this situation. I didn’t even sign up for this. You did that wonderful thing without my consent. I don’t want this for my life. I just want to get out of high school and go to college where the airheads just stick to themselves and leave the education for the actual intellectuals.”

Lacey backed up from her friend and plopped on the bed. “I’m sorry I caused all this for you. It wasn’t my intention.”

“I know. It isn’t you. But what if today’s prank is…I don’t know, throwing bleach on the hair that I have left. I did smell some yesterday.

“I think that means that they cleaned the bathrooms…finally.”

“I hear girls laughing up there. Does that mean school is a go?” Mrs. Philips yelled from the bottom of the steps.

Mara sighed then let her head drop to a very reluctant nod.

“We’ll be right down, Mrs. Philips.”

“What’s one more day anyway. Tomorrow is election day.”

“That’s the spirit.”

***

“See that wasn’t so bad.”

Both Lacey and Mara walked home from school. The jocks clique followed them, and the “most adorable” couple that has been together since kindergarten walked ahead.

“I have a feeling that their silence today simply marked the calm before the storm.”

“Oh, relax. You have this election in the bag. I took secret votes from everyone except them today and trust me when I say, you’re a shoo-in. You have nothing to fear.”

Lacey’s phone chimed. The couple’s phones sang out in the same ringtone, and then the jocks’ phones behind them also sounded.

“I guess I’m not invited to the party.” Even though she attempted a snicker, Mara knew

she couldn’t ignore her gut. Here entereth the storm.

“Yup, no partying for you.” Lacey went to jam her phone back into her pocket.

“Tell me, Lacey.”

But just then her phone beeped. Keeping her eyes on Lacey, Mara pulled her phone out from her back pocket.

It was a text message from an unknown number. Mara clicked it open to find a GIF of a fat cartoon girl twerking. Each time the booty came toward the screen, the cartoon ripped its pants, revealing a bleeding cat.

Mara threw her phone down onto the sidewalk and ran. Tears rushed down her cheeks and neck. At every street she approached, her peers were snickering, and Mara knew they were laughing at her.

***

The stage was ready for the nominees to make their final remarks before the winners were announced.

Principal Carson peeked from the stage’s curtain and locked eyes with Lacey as if questioning where Mara was.

Lacey turned up her palms and shrugged.

Applause began when the curtain parted and revealed Principal Carson at the podium.

“The winner of the 2020 Class President is...Mara Philips.”

From the shadows of the stage’s wings, Mara stepped onto the stage. Principal Carson sighed in relief then began the wave of applause.

After shaking the principal’s hand, Mara took her place at the podium for her acceptance speech.

“Thank you. With our great leader’s permission, I’d like to add a slideshow for my speech.”

The rosy-cheeked man nodded.

A projector screen lowered as the lights dimmed.

Grainy numbers counted down: three, two, one. The screen blackened as Mara began her speech.

“I want to take a moment to talk about my honorable and worthy opponent. You all know Kaitlin Waters.”

Pictures of Mara’s nemesis flashed on the big screen. “She came to your school as a freshman and quickly rose to the top of the cheer pyramid, so she was the easy choice for class president, and, like, totally throws the best parties!”

Some of the student body woo-hooed as Kaitlin took a not so humble yet forced curtsy from her place on stage.

“But what you don’t know is that your beloved Kaitlin was once known as Nancy.”

A photo of her appeared from her elementary days. She was shoving chocolate bars in her mouth and looked to be about five times heavier.

Kaitlin lost all composure, mouth agape.

Mara simply winked at her, then continued.

“Nancy was a fat girl. Yup, just like me. You may be asking how she managed to climb to the top of your school looking like that, right?”

The next photo that flashed was a very recent photo of her throwing up into the porcelain throne.

“That’s right. Instead of going to fat camp, as she had promised me, her once best friend, she got rid of all that lard by vomiting it all up. Mmmm, doesn’t that sound delicious?”

A video started playing.

Mortified, Kaitlin ran off stage. Vice Principal Hudson followed her while the principal went down the stage stairs, making his way to the projector room.

“I know how much you all enjoyed the pictures of me in my heyday, and really, who wouldn’t love that GIF.”

Mara stayed strong and held back the tears even though she knew that the GIF was playing right above her. Before the principal made it to the back of the room, Mara turned to the projector, struck a match, and lit a string that dangled from the bottom of the screen.

Screaming students started stumbling over each other, racing to get to the exit. Lacey went in the opposite direction when she noticed Mara simply watching the screen go up in flames.

“Mara, let’s go,” her friend shouted.

Closing her eyes, Mara could feel the warmth on her skin. Her tears began to fall.

She was jolted from her thoughts and she saw Kaitlin run past her, down the stairs following everyone else.

Mara flailed trying to escape the grips of whomever had picked her up like a sack of potatoes. “Let me go. I don’t want to be here anymore.”

Finally reaching outside, Mara was plopped onto the ground, a short distance from the rest of the students. Lacey stayed with her while the vice principal went to meet up with Principal Carson.

“Are you okay?” Lacey asked.

Mara curled into a ball on the grass. “I was a fool to think that this year would be any different than any other year. I just want it to be over.”

“I don’t think that setting the school on fire was the best way to speed up the school year.”

Mara stood up. Backing away from her friend, she shouted, “No. You don’t get it. I don’t want to be here anymore. I hate my past. I hate my life. I hate Kaitlin or Nancy, or whatever you want to call her. I hate the adults. They never see what’s going on. No one pays attention. Even now…what do you think will happen now? I’ll be the one in trouble because I had the guts to show the truth. Kaitlin will take her place as Class President. And I…if they can find me, I’ll probably end up sitting in front of doctors asking me, ‘How does that make you feel?’”

“Mr. Hudson!” Lacey, growing more concerned now for her friend’s mental state, called for some adult backup. “Mr. Carson!”

Continuing to add distance between her and her friend, Mara took in a deep breath of fresh air. “Save your breath, Lace. I’m tired of fighting the world and their expectations. They are more worried about their precious school burning down anyway.” She turned and walked away.

Sirens and lights whistled and flashed as rescue teams arrived on site.

“Mara!”

***

Mara sat under her willow tree by the lake. She watched as blood flowed from her wrists into the calm waters of the lake. The scissors lay next to her, tarnishing her dress. She closed her heavy eyelids. A slight wrestling of leaves caught her attention, but she no longer had the curiosity, nor the energy, to look.

“Mara, can you hear me? Wake up. Don’t leave me.”

“Step back, Lacey. We’ll take it from here. Mara, I’m a paramedic. I’m here to help. Stay with us, okay?”