Tomorrow will be better... Right?

Chapter 2-The Assembly

One month later, and the euphoria of the meeting had faded. The words still lingered, but the happiness of having community had left, leaving in its place a nervous knot. Everyone was nervous, even the senior 1ps, who had attended the school since it's opening. All of the students had their bags with them, not having the time to drop off their clothes in their dorms before the first assembly of the year. In the years previous, the whole school would gather in the auditorium, filling every last seat with no one standing and no empty chairs. This year, however, with the addition of the 2ps the auditorium would no longer hold everyone, so the whole school was forced to move to their gym. Despite there being ample room on a single side for everyone to sit, both sides of the gym had bleachers spotted with small clusters of countries.

After the gym settled down, the principal asked for the Class Representatives to come down. Alfred had somehow managed to get this title for himself, with Julichen of all people representing the Nyos. The 2ps had elected Oliver as their Representative, seeing as he had the most recognizable face and the best reputation. The Class representatives has been asked to give a speech about their view on the coming year.

Alfred went first, of course. He stepped up to the podium with self confidence and a self assured grin. He started his speech with his usual banter, before switching to his serious mode. The first thing he addressed was the 2p's. He never referenced the 2ps directly, instead referring to the 'Big Change' that not many people were happy with. He made it clear that he didn't like the 'Big Change' either, and wanted it to go away. Most of the school seemed to be on his side. Most of the school didn't notice when he started echoing ideas of his country's radicals.

Julichen was was not much better. Her speech was 75% About how much better the 1ps and Nyos were than the 2p's, 15% about how Nyo's were much better than everyone else, and 10% about how she was better than anyone else. The applause after the speech was mostly Nyos, but some 1ps agreed with what she said as well.

Oliver was scared. Julicen and Alfred had meant to rile up the school, and they had succeeded. He wasn't sure if they would listen to reason, and more importantly, peace. Despite his fears, and the nagging sense that he would be shouted down, Oliver stepped up to the podium. With a deep breath, he started the bravest and most dangerous task he has ever embarked on.

"I ask only that you listen." The gym quieted down. "You don't have to agree with me. You don't have to like me. But I hope you to listen to me, so when you do argue against me, you at least know what you are arguing against." He took a breath. So far so good. 

"I know most of you don't know me, and those of you who do know me don't like me. That's understandable.

"I have a checkered past. I won't bother hiding it. I have killed before, I am not some innocent child. But let's all be honest here, who among us is?

"We all have had wars, we all have blood on our hands. We all are guilty of prejudice and willful ignorance. We have all fought the person next to us at least once, with the exception of the neutral nations. Even then, Switzerland, the main neutral nation, has fought wars in their past.

"Because no one is perfect. We all make mistakes. We all fight each other, we all get injured, we all break the rules. We try to be the best we can be, but oftentimes, we are just as fickle and asinine as the humans we represent.

"I've made mistakes." He declared. "To error is to be human. So I ask that we start this year fresh. We have pretended that plenty of old wars didn't happen, and that's the reason why many of us are friends. So let's forget one last war, the war between all of us."

With baited breath, Oliver waited.

There were a few moments of dead silence. Then Allen, Matt, and Francois started clapping. A few more 2ps joined in. A few more people joined in, even some 1ps and Nyos. It wasn't much, but it filled Oliver with hope that with time, everything would get better.

Of course, Life never goes well, even when one wants it to go well.