𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐀𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐧, zombies

FOUR, "POLITICS AND WEREWOLVES"

Bucky gasped dramatically and a warm smile split across his face, an expression Hayden doesn't typically see too often on her brother. "You're right! What would I do without you?" He didn't let her answer. Not like she would have. "Time to go vote for your cheertastic president!"

Once Bucky left, Hayden continued heading to her locker with a sigh. She loved him, sure, but the boy was a pain. She often wondered if he ever had it in him to change—to truly change—from his self-absorbed mentality. He'd made progress somewhat, but he always reverted back to his narrow-mindedness when it came to things changing that didn't benefit him.

A hushed clamor of voices echoed in the emptying hallway, making Hayden hesitate to close her locker before entering the auditorium. Her eyebrows pulled together at the sound.

Hayden waited to hear the sound again, but it never came. All she heard was the echo of her locker closing shut, clicking loudly. The girl shook her head. Everyone else being on edge with the danger of werewolves now must be affecting her too.

She had to be hearing things.

"Hey, it's about to start." Addison greeted Hayden as she came up alongside her and Bree after weaving through the crowd of students.

"Yeah, girl! Where have you been?" Bree said.

"I was putting some books away." Hayden waved it off. She looked between them and the empty stage. "I take it I didn't miss anything?"

"Just the Acey's shutting down anyone who looked like they would even think about running for president."

"Typical." Hayden chuckled under her breath. "Anything to please their leader."

Principal Lee had got up on stage and stopped conversations amongst the students, asking if there were any more president nominations. "Just a reminder," she told them, "that being part of student council means that we get to hang. Anybody, anybody want to hang? Just.. anyone want to hang out?" People looked around as their principal smiled at them, rather awkwardly.

"Bucky sure does," Hayden grumbled beneath her breath.

"Oh," Principal Lee's face lit up with an idea to try and provoke her student body to become involved. "We could come up with our very own complicated high five. That'd be fun, huh? Like.."

Hayden forced herself to avert her eyes. She couldn't handle the second-hand embarrassment much longer. "Please, no. God, please. Please make it end," she murmured quietly, wanting to hide behind her pompoms.

Luckily, her prayers were answered.

The band erupted into fanfare as a poster unrolled from the banister, revealing a massive image of Bucky' face. Some of the cheerleaders parted the crowd to form a path. They revealed Bucky at the end, turning with one of his classic grins on his face. He flipped down the makeshift aisle of people and finished with the same expression.

Bucky walked up to Principal Lee to give her a high five but dodged it. Embarrassed, Principal Lee stepped aside and the boy proceeded to stand in front of the podium. "Great news, we have a brilliant and cheer tested candidate running for president this year. Me!" The crowd cheered as he waved his signature jazz hands.

Hayden clapped for her brother as people started chanting his name. The band had resumed playing, so she wasn't able to hear Bree when the girl leaned over to say something to Addison and her. She could barely hear the own rustling of her pompoms in front of her.

But the clamor came to an abrupt spot when Zed tumbled down the stairs. Worry washed away from people's shocked faces when the zombie jumped up, saying, "Zombie strong." Bucky was moved aside as Zed stood in front of the podium. "Hello everyone. My name is Zed and I am running for president."