Calling Affection (Boyxboy)

Chapter 20

Chapter 20

Oliver's POV

I underestimated Van. I tried not to glare at him as he badly hid a smirk.

You got me this time, Van, I thought.

I walked through the crowds of people, smiling at those who patted my back and gave me congratulations.

I had to take back control of the situation, and to do that I'd have to act like I was the one who initiated it. I gritted my teeth as I made my way up onto the stage, forcing the smile to remain on my face. 

I didn't have a fear of public speaking, but it was kind of scary being up there in the front of the school. Kind of, not really. I could use this to gain favour with a ton more students. I didn't have an interest in popularity, but I couldn't deny it made life so much easier. 

Ideally, I would have enough popularity to prevent something like this from happening, but, well.

I tried to prevent the annoyance from showing on my face. 

Van was a devil. I knew he was planning something, but our school was massive—how could I expect he'd actually have the capacity to pull something like this off?

It took a lot of work to run for these stupid popularity contests. Since it was based on the number of votes you got, you had to be very well-known. Worse, it depended on your partner. Nobody would vote in a King and Queen who didn't look good together. So coordinating with other candidates was necessary. There were massive betting pools—even with the teachers—on who'd win or lose, and the funds and campaigning required to win was just like actual mirrored actual federal elections. 

But Van pulled it off. More impressively—he pulled it off without letting me know. 

Nobody told me. Nobody hinted towards it. Not my 'friends', acquaintances, teachers, or even people who didn't particularly know or like me. Brock's encounter told me what I already knew—that something was going on—but not a single person actually told me that I was being campaigned with Axel. 

If I wasn't so annoyed, I'd be impressed. I'd underestimated Van. His grip over the student population was much tighter than I had possibly believed.

And, this only worked because Van knew that I didn't care about others in high school despite how much of a social butterfly I appeared. 

If, even once, I had bothered to check who was running on the prom King/Queen ballots—information that he couldn't prevent me from seeing—everything would be over.

But Van had taken a gamble, and he won. Van must have been really confident in his assessment of my personality.

That pissed me off. 

To take control of the situation, I smiled at everybody as I stood on the stage. The student council president, smiled back at me, lifting the remaining crown onto my head.

The gym was loud and wouldn't quiet for a couple of moments so the student council president leaned in, trying to tell me something.

"I was really surprised when I heard that Axel's been crushing on you the past few years," she said as she fixed the crown on my head. "But it's really cute that Axel has a crush on you and wants you to win beside him, you really should give him a chance!" She smiled, patting my shoulder.