Your mind is racing, and you're wondering if you should just back out now. But no, you were going to do this. You could do this. You needed to remember that Hillary willingly wanted to go with you. All you had to do was agree.
You don't even know where you're going. You don't even know where to find him. Not to mention, you look pretty dumb wandering the halls. But you do feel pretty dumb after all.
Then, you remember that Hillary is usually tutoring in the library. Except that realization made you more anxious rather than less.
You make your way into the library---making sure you're not stomping too loud---and find Hillary talking to another student. You don't want to interrupt her, but her eyes flash on you for just a second, and a blush spreads across her face. After that, she seems pretty unfocused on her conversation.
She clears her throat. "Excuse me, sorry, just a second." She knots her fingers together as she walks towards you. "Did you tutoring for come in? Wait, no, I mean, did you come in for tutoring?"
You rub the back of your neck. "Uh, not really. But I did come here for you."
"Oh, um, you know, I hadn't seen you in a while, and I thought maybe you found another tutor, because what I did was extremely unprofessional and--"
"I'll go to Homecoming with you."
She freezes, her eyes widening, and you think that maybe you accidentally took a screenshot of her. You don't really know the logistics of how that's possible, but science isn't real, anyway. But a smile reaches her lips. "Y-you want to go with me? You're being serious?"
"As serious as Einstein when he discovered the lightbulb."
"Oh, well, that's not actually..." She shakes her head, her smile widening, "Well, that's great. I'll see you there. Or should I pick you up? Wait, no, isn't this when people rent limos?"
You laugh. "No, I'll meet you there."
"Great, it's a date. Or, I mean, a date-- no, no, a day in which--"
You laugh. "Now you're being adorable."
She rubs her arm. "Yeah, I guess I kind of am. But what I'm trying to say is: see you there?"
"Of course." You're a little glad that she appears more nervous than you are, because you almost wanted to spill your guts onto the library floor. Maybe it'd become as iconic as the cheese touch in Diary of a Wimpy Kid. That book was about a sociopath anyway.
But, gee, you really managed to get through that. You high five yourself inside of your head and are put off balance for a little, because you did that a little too hard.
You leave the library and carry on through the rest of the day. As you do, you realize that today is your last day to submit a vote. With a smile on your face, you submit your vote for Hillary.
Afterschool, you head shopping for what you're wearing to Homecoming. In all that time, you're in semi disbelief that you're actually going to Homecoming. You'd never gone before. Mostly because you'd never had anyone to go with. And now you had someone. You actually had a choice of who you wanted to go with, and you chose Emmanuel.
But here you are, very unsure of how far you come. And then you remind yourself that you're supposed to be enjoying it. And you would.
Later on, all dressed up, you head down to the Harbor and see that for the most part, the aura is warm. There are colorful string lights, music, people dancing and talking, and much more. To say you never imagined yourself being in such an environment is an understatement. It's a little embarrassing that you have to be seen with all of these people outside of your school. When Jeff Bezos said he didn't believe in 'work-life' balance and saw working at Amazon as a circle, you thought that was just a joke. But you were essentially at school, just with partying. That also happens to be what you think prison is like.
You spot Hillary standing near the fountain, her eyes darting around. She's wearing a light blue chiffon dress that reaches her knees, a short pair of black wedges, and a silver necklace and bracelet. In the light, she looks dazzling. You're pretty sure she's out dressing you by a mile, similarly to how her intelligence dwarfed yours by a mile. Though, you liked to think you were bright enough.
You walk towards her, imagining all the possibilities you could mess this up. Hundreds of them appear in your mind, and you wonder if you should turn around now to save both you and Hillary that embarrassment. It didn't help that those oatmeal raisin cookies disguised as chocolate weren't really agreeing with you.
Hillary's face lights up when her eyes land on you. "Y/n... you look great."
"Thank you." You smile. "You look wonderful, too."
She adjusted the strap of her dress. "I've never come here, so I was a little worried I underdressed."
"First time for both of us."
"Really?" She seems genuinely shocked at the piece of information. You suppose she hasn't met the worst parts of you yet or found out that you've been talking to the ghost of Abraham Lincoln during the school year.
"Yeah, really. But it's great that I get to go with you."
"I agree." She glanced around. "There's so much to do. I'm overwhelmed by choice."
"Personally, I'd start with the food and drinks."
She laughs. "Not a bad idea."
"It might take me a while, if I'm honest. You want me to grab you something?"
"Maybe just a fruit punch if they have any. They've got a line for a photo booth over there, so I'll hold the line."
"It's a plan."
She smiles at you as you walk away. You head to the food and drink area, her infectious smile on your face. You think this is going well, but maybe you could be wrong. You either thought things were awful or perfect, because was there even really an in between?
If it was going awful, then you needed to hurry up and find that fruit punch to recover this.
"Good evening, y/n."
You gasp, almost spilling your drink as you see that Lincoln's has appeared next to you. "What are you doing here?"
He smiles. "I just wanted to stop by to let you know how proud I am of you."
That was sentimental of him. "Aw, thanks. I'm proud of you, too."
"I have become the most perfect man. Union, if you will." He chuckles to himself. "But how is it going? Must I haunt that man as retribution?"
"No, no, it's fine. It's perfect. Everything's perfect." And for once, it didn't feel like you were exaggerating.
"I'm glad to hear that. You've worked hard for this." His expression grows thoughtful. "You know, I knew someone that made me feel such a way as you feel now."
"Your wife?" you question.
A wistful look crosses his eyes. "Rather... someone more general." He clears his throat. "But, um, I guess this is where I say goodbye."
"Goodbye? What do you mean?"
"You know, I've done a bit of rambling on the space time continuum, and this is it. This is where my path ends, I've realized succinctly in my time of brooding and ghosting."
Your face falls. "You're... leaving?"
"I am." He gives you a sad smile. "You've done it, y/n. It's time you realize you aren't nothing but rather someone very special. There's proof in the person who decided to invite you, Emmanuel. And you... I'll miss you. But I've heard heaven is a pretty place. At least I hope that's where I'm going now. I'd rather not be downstairs at that place where Reagan is primed to be in."
You laugh, despite the despondency sitting in your chest. "I hope you have fun." God, why did you feel like crying? "I'll miss you, too."
"Ah, don't waste a tear over me. Like d'Amelio said, be happy."
"That's not exactly--"
"Shh." He grins and draws you into a hug. When you pull away and look up, you see that he's gone. All you can do is stare at the now empty space in front of you. And you couldn't care less that other people are staring at you.
You take a deep breath. He'd done what he needed to do and guided you in the right direction. Now all you had left was to live your life. Like he would have wanted.
You head back to Hillary just as she reaches the front of the line. She takes the punch from you with a grateful smile. "Thanks. I was worried that you'd been kept behind, and I'd have to go by myself."
"Sorry about that," you say. "But I'm here now."
She nods, and the two of you head into the secluded booth. It's rather dark in there, and you're not even sure how a photo booth works. "Say, you know how to use one of these doohickeys?" you ask.
Hillary laughs. "I might." She reaches towards the booth and pauses, taking in a deep breath. "Thanks for coming with me."
"Of course, I wanted to come with you."
"And I'm glad you did. I don't know, I'm just so used to helping people and getting nothing back, and I'm content with that, and I expected you to say no--"
"But I didn't. And that's what matters."
She gives you a small smile. "You're right. It's important to focus on what's in front of me."
"Unlike math, science, and English. Those are all fake."
"If you keep saying that, I might start believing you eventually."
"Then I'm pleased to make your acquaintance as a bad influence."
You grin at her as you pick up a mustache prop and bring it to your face. She laughs. "Right, the pictures."
"I think I look like Jeffrey." Honestly, any man with a mustache looked like a Jeffrey to you. Maybe you'd have to unlearn that behavior before you entered the professional field, but you didn't have to worry about that right now.
Hillary picks up a red lips prop. "And me?"
"Just the wonderful person I came to Homecoming with."
She begins to blush---even more so than before. "I-- that's... thank you. We should probably leave now. The line is pretty long."
You nod, and the two of you head out of the booth and walk back towards the fountain. You peer inside and see heaps of coins on the bottom. Who would just leave free money in there? "Is this supposed to be a wishing well?" you ask.
"Well, I guess," she says. "People toss coins in any running body of water."
You fish in the water and pull out a coin, handing it to her. "Well, maybe you should make a wish."
"Does it have to be a secret?" she asks.
"Nope, but it'll stay a secret with me."
She looks away from you, fidgeting with the skirt of her dress. "I wish--"
"Hi, everyone, so sorry to interrupt your hopefully age appropriate activities," she looks pointedly at a couple that seems to be barking and biting each other, "but I have an important announcement to make. The results for class president are in."
Your eyebrows shoot up as you look at an anxious Hillary. "You alright?"
"A little nervous," she breathes.
AOC looks down at her card, her smile widening. "This year's president is... Hillary Clinton!"
"Oh my gosh!" you shout. Wow, she really did it! "You did it!"
She breaks out in the widest smile you've ever seen and jumps up and down. "Wow, this is really happening?"
You pull her into a hug. "It definitely is."
"Oh my god, what do I even do now?"
"First," you say, "you can make that wish."
She looks between the coin, the fountain, and you. Then she tosses the coin in the fountain, and before you realize it, she's pressing her lips against yours. You wrap your arms around her, leaning into the kiss. She's light and warm against you, and you feel like this describes this moment perfectly.
You pull away with a grin. "What was your wish?"
"I thought I made it clear enough." She laughs.
"You should know by now that you're the one with the long end of the stick when it comes to intellect."
"I guess. Still, I wouldn't trade it for the world."
Neither would you. You certainly wouldn't trade this moment. It was one of a kind---just like the two of you. The Class President and the one that had somehow charmed her.