Chapter 37: The Council
Theo
"I withdraw from the election."
The seven of us stared at her, our mouths hanging open in shock while she just stood straight and determined.
"Y-You want to withdraw from the competition? But--"
"Mrs. Mendoza, my withdrawal will not be a loss but rather to open a spot..." She then gestured to me. "A spot for Theo. I give my position to Mr. Willshire." She continued.
"What?! But this is not allowed! He--"
"He did nothing wrong, Mrs. Mendoza. Nothing in the rules says that it's forbidden." Mr. Martinez defended.
Mr. Pablo looked up from the book he was currently reading. "But it does say in the rules that this needs to be decided by vote."
"That's settled then. We are ready to give our votes tomorrow, for now, the three of you can go home." Mr. Martinez dismissed us and the three of us exited the room.
"I'll see you later, Theo. I'm so happy you're still in the competition but I really have to go." Rhea waved me goodbye to which I returned with a forced smile.
When I've made sure that Rhea is gone, I immediately turned on Shane, every inch of my face in confusion. "What's this? What are you doing?"
She raised a brow at me, crossing her arms over her chest. "A 'thank you' would be nice."
"No! I know you enough to know that you're not just doing this 'cause you had a change of heart!"
She matched my glare. "Well, what if I am?" She clasped back. She then frowned, furrowing her brows as she pinched the bridge of her nose. "Look, I heard you and that Reign girl talking about how this is so important to you, that it's the only chance your family can... do whatever. I thought you were just doing this because you wanted to be popular... But I was wrong." She admitted.
I considered her thoughtfully for a while before letting a small smile form on my lips. "Well... thank you and I hope this pays off."
She gave me the first ever genuine smile I'd seen from her. "I hope so too."
An awkward silence fell over us, neither one of us attempting to break it until she sighed.
"Well. I'll see you later Willshire. I hope you succeed... or whatever." She said before giving me an acknowledging nod and leaving me alone.
I also walked out of there, confusion still eating me.
...
I was sitting with my friends at lunch, explaining to them about what happened the day before.
"She was actually nice, I never thought I'd see it. She also protected me from Rod and we beat the heck out of him." I narrated with a grin.
Mal gave me a tight hug, cradling me back and forth. "The Council will for sure support you. We may have a chance after all!"
"I'm happy for you guys. I'm sure you'll win now." Masha said with a smile.
I scrunched my nose as I shook my head. "I don't really want to jinx it. I'm just so happy and I actually have something to celebrate this coming Winter Formal!" I clapped happily, dancing excitedly on my seat.
"Yeah, I'm pretty excited for Winter Formal. I didn't attend last year because I was so sick." Mal said with a slight frown.
I laid my head on Mal's shoulder as we resumed eating when Rhea approached our table.
"Theo. The Council's ready, after lunch, go straight to the meeting room." She informed to which I nodded.
"Moment of truth."
As I was preparing my stuff, Cielo stopped me, a horrified look on his face. "There's one more problem, Theo."
I took note of his face with a worried face of my own. "What?"
"You can't go straight... to the meeting room." He said before smiling teasingly.
My worried face turned into anger. I punched his arm to which he winced as he and the others laughed.
"Assholes, I'm gonna kick you all out when I own the school." I said before proceeding to the meeting room, their laughs fading as I walked further away.
...
When I reached the room, the first thing that I immediately noticed was the second chair between Mr. Martinez and Mrs. Fortnum that was not occupied.
I sat down at my usual chair in the middle beside Shane and Rhea as the members were either typing something on their computers or checking their binders.
"Where's Mrs. Gonzales?" I whispered to the two beside me.
They shrugged for an answer before I turned back to the four members, waiting for anyone of them to speak.
"Ah, Mrs. Gonzales is still not present, how will we do this?" Mr. Martinez turned to the members.
Mrs. Mendoza crossed her arms across her chest, coldly staring at the three of us. "I suppose we start without her, we've kept the students long enough already, they're gonna miss more lessons if we waited for Mrs. Gonzales."
Yeah, don't wait for her 'cause her vote is definitely gonna be a yes.
"I-I think that's best. I'll start now. I vote 'yes'." Mr. Martinez said.
"I vote 'no'." Mrs. Mendoza said simply.
"I think we can give Theodore another chance, aye? I vote 'yes'." Mrs. Fortnum said with a warm smile.
Everyone turned to Mr. Pablo, his innocent face in shock as we waited expectantly. "I-I read in the books that something like this have been forbidden before and ever since it's been allowed, it hasn't happened." He said.
"So, your vote is...?" Mr. Martinez asked.
Mr. Pablo shot me a sad look through his glasses. "I'm sorry, Mr. Willshire but I need to vote 'no'. It's nothing personal, really." He said.
I nodded in understanding. "I understand." I said.
"I believe being the--"
Mrs. Mendoza was cut off by the door swinging open and stands Mrs. Gonzales.
"Loretta? But--"
Mrs. Mendoza was once again cut off by Mrs. Gonzales. "You've already voted without me? Oh well. I'm here now."
"What happened?" Mr. Martinez asked as he scratched his chin.
She shrugged nonchalantly. "I was just taking care of some unfinished business in one of the departments." She suddenly glared across the room at Mrs. Mendoza. "The Math Department."
So the teachers do sabotage each other sometimes too? I don't know what could've happened but Mrs. Mendoza definitely did something to keep Mrs. Gonzales busy so that she wouldn't be able to come and vote.
"Well. You're here, and you're vote is the only one we're waiting for." Mr. Pablo said in a sad tone.
Is he always miserable?
"No! The vote is done!" Mrs. Mendoza intercepted.
Mr. Martinez looked like he snapped. "Can you let her do what she needs to do? You've been awfully against letting Mr. Willshire here succeed." He said and that made her shut up. "Thank you."
"I think we all know what I'm voting for." Mrs. Gonzales smiled at me dearly. "Welcome to the Final two, Mr. Theodore." She added with a smile.
...
I swung the light blue jacket over and inserted my arms on the sleeves. I adjusted it and looked at myself in the mirror. I looked pretty good but something was missing. I tied the bowtie around the collar of my polo.
Perfect.
I was finally fully dressed for the Winter Ball when I heard knocks from the front door.
"Wait!" I shouted as I finished doing my face.
I ran towards the door and opened it to find Hunter alone.
"Oi! Where's the others?" I said as I looked behind him to find no one.
"All of them are already at the school. I'm here to pick you up." He said with a small smile.
I wanted to avoid him as much as I can but I guess there's no avoiding it this time.
"Okay... Just wait here, the house is pretty messy." I said before walking away from the door and continuing what I was doing. I then joined him wordlessly and jumped into his red BMW.
We drove in awkward silence, neither of us attempting to speak and break it.
When we reached a deserted road, Hunter suddenly stepped on the break with a screech, our seatbelts preventing us to be thrown forwards.
"Damn it!" Hunter cursed as he punched the steering wheel in frustration.
I glared at him. "What the hell?! What's wrong with you?!" I shouted angrily.
He rested his forehead against the wheel, his face etched with visible pain. "God, I'm so sorry, Theo. I... I want to beat myself up for... for not returning it." He said shakily, clenching his fist and drumming it against his leg.
My gaze soften, biting my lip as I took in his current state. "Hunter... what are you talking about?" I said quietly.
He took a deep breath, looking at me as his eyes glistened with tears. "Theo, you deserve better. I can't return... what your feeling right now for me and I-I'm frustrated."
I touched his shoulder, calming him down. "Hunter, it's okay. I'm used to it."
"And that's what angers me! You're just so amazing and kind and... and strong, you're compassionate, funny, talented and you deserve to be loved and I just can't give it to you... I'm so sorry."
I shushed him as I unclasped my seatbelt and wrapped my arms around his shoulder. "It's okay. Like I said, I'm used to it. This is no different..." I explained sadly.
"Can we just forget that this happened? I... I'm not like me recently." He said.
After a moment, I nodded. "Just calm down for a moment, I don't want to go to the ball with a red suit."
He chuckled softly, the situation already forgotten. "You're the only one who can make me laugh at this kind of time."
I smiled to myself before he continued driving peacefully.
...
"You two are late! What happened?" Mal said as a greeting.
"Something... came up." I excused as Hunter and I met eyes.
"Well. Let's go!" She said before leading us towards the gym.
The gymnasium was decorated with blue and white streamers, balloons and drapings.
"Wow, you really pulled out all the stops for your outfit this time, hmm?" Athena said as she, Cielo and Masha sauntered over to us
I hugged all of them tightly. "How are you guys?"
"We're good but um..." Masha pointed behind me.
I turned around to see Shane standing behind me, her arms crossed as she raised an eyebrow.
"Willshire."
"Harrington."
She nodded in acknowledgement. "Walk with me." She said.
I walked alongside her, away from my friends and led me to the edge of the gym.
"So..." I tried to start a conversation but she already beat me.
"Cut the chit chat, I wanna get my point across directly. I'm gonna start of by saying sorry, I know I've been prideful and... a jerk." She said quietly.
I slowly sighed with a smirk. "Yup. That's actually an understatement 'cause--"
"I know, I know. And I just wanted you to know that I did that because I was insecure, the first time I saw you this year, you were friends with Hunter and then you won that competition back in September, you won Homecoming King and you were invited to Hunter's birthday and I also heard you threw a luxurious party on your birthday."
I raised an eyebrow as my smirk dropped. "Really."
"Yeah, I was so jealous that you were this cool kid that was so talented and had no care in the world, everyone was basically saying that I should give up... that I didn't have a chance against you."
"So you did everything to make me lose? You sabotaged and embarrassed me?" I asked.
"I belittled you, disrespected you, embarrassed you in front of everyone but I never sabotaged you. I'm... at least above that."
I looked off to the side. "So who's been sabotaging me? The vandalizing, the presentation, the information about Renza."
"I'm afraid I don't know any of that." She said.
I met her eyes, and for the first time, they were friendly, mild and... kind. "I forgive you, Shane. It doesn't mean that I'll ever forget what you did to me but what's important is that you recognized your mistakes and actually own up to them."
"You know, at first, I wanted to be your friend but... my mother said that friends will get you nowhere."
"No offense, but she's wrong. My friends are the reason why I'm still even surviving right now."
She chuckled slightly. "Thank you, Theo. You helped me get it off my chest, I hope we... we're good."
I nodded in agreement. I was about to speak when my friends surrounded me.
"What are you all doing here?" I asked.
"We wanted to check on you since... you know." Athena gestured at Shane's direction.
I suddenly remembered something before taking out something from my pocket. I brought out seven bracelets made out of plastic shaped like paper clips with a slice of apple at the middle.
"I made these friendship bracelets, it's very shiny." I grinned happily as I passed Mal, Hunter, Cielo, Athena, Masha and Rhea their bracelets. "I'm sorry, Shane. I didn't make one for you, I didn't expect us to make up."
"No, that's quite alright. I was gonna go find William anyway." She said before walking past me and into the crowd.
The others stared at her as she walked away. "Whoa, I've never seen her... not... hostile." Cielo said as he struggled to clasp the bracelet together.
"I hope ya'll don't break that, it was so hard to put those paper clips thingy."
"I love it, thank you!" Masha said as she one-arm hugged me.
"And look! It forms an apple!" I cheered gleefully.
The others laughed at my cheerfulness. As the ball resumed, Rhea offered me a drink with a smile. "Here."
"Thank you! Augh, it's been so long since we had a chance to unwind and to just... celebrate without any worries." I said as I took a sip of my drink.
Rhea watched me carefully, eyeing me from the rim of her glass.
"What?" I asked concerningly.
She shook her head with a smile. "Nothing, nothing. I just... I agree..." She said before taking another sip of her drink.
We had another conversation before we continued into celebrating, laughing and dancing.
...
As Cielo, Athena and I hung out separately from the others, a loud scream from the edge of the gym echoed around the room.
The three of us shared a look before squeezing through the crowd to see what was happening.
"I'm not drunk, maybe you're drunk! I'm having a good time!" I heard Rhea's booming voice say.
We reached the edge to see her dancing exuberantly, pulling people to dance with her.
"Rhea--"
"Shut the fuck up!" She interrupted me.
The crowd was stunned to silence at her outburst. I faced my friends, their faces worried.
"What's happening?!"