Duncan and the Student Advocacy Club: Help is on the Way!

Chapter 1

"Duncan, please sit down," Chris said, pointing to the chair on the opposite side of his desk. Chris' office was small. An ugly brown desk took up most of the room. Piles of loose paper were scattered over top of it. A small window peered down on the school grounds. The ceiling fan creaked as it struggled to spin.

Duncan tossed his bag onto the ground, took a seat, and leaned back in the chair. His white dress shirt was untidy. The sleeves were rolled up. He wore the black tie loosened around the neck.

Chris watched Duncan closely. Chris looked to be in his mid thirties. He wore a checkered dress shirt under a tweed blazer with elbow patches. Stubble covered his square chin and his medium brown hair was styled to look messy. Chris shook his head at the sight of Duncan's green mohawk. "You know they have a policy here about dying hair unnatural colours." Chris informed Duncan.

"You know I have a policy of not giving a fuck," Duncan retorted.

Chris pressed his fingers onto his left temple. "Duncan what am I going to do with you?"

"Nothing and let me go?" Duncan spoke. "Come on."

"Yeah, no. Unfortunately we are past that now. You've got too many obstructions on your record to let me do that: skipping class, getting into fights, talking back to authority figures and now setting fire to the campus lawn. I mean, seriously?"

"It was supposed to send a message."

"What?"

"The fire. It was supposed to spell out words. I just didn't have time to finish it."

"Could you possibly be more stupid?" Chris asked. There was not a hint of joking in his voice. "You're lucky the administration hasn't kicked you out and I guarantee you that your father and his sizeable donations have played a role in that decision."

Duncan rolled his eyes at the mention of his father. "Tell me something I don't already know."

"Alright, well for starters, you've basically been given one final chance. Get caught doing something stupid like that again and you're gone. On top of that, as your home room teacher and assigned 'mentor'" Chis made air quotes when saying the word mentor. "I have been tasked with helping keep you out of trouble and allow you to give back to this fine establishment."

"Why do I have a feeling I'm not going to like what you're about to say?" Duncan asked hesitantly.

"I'm mandating you to join a school club."

"Goddamn it." Duncan cursed.

"Do you have any preference? The computer club is very popular right now. Have any interest in anime? I think you'd get along nicely with the anime club's current president Harold."

Duncan shook his head. "How about you sign me up for the go fuck yourself McLean club."

"Somehow I had a feeling you might be hesitant. Good thing I already signed you up for one."

"And what is it?" Duncan asked. "If you say the mathletes I am jumping out that window." Duncan pointed at the small window behind Chris' shoulder.

"The Student Advocacy Club." Chris spoke. "Their new president has been begging me to find her some new members, so I think this will be beneficial for all of us."

"What the fuck is the Student Advocacy Club? What kind of shit do they do?" Duncan asked.

"How about you go give them a visit and find out. They have the club room 303."

"You have no idea, do you?"

"I have no idea." Chris admitted. Chris stood up from his desk. "Well Duncan, I can hardly call it a pleasure meeting with you. But my office door is always open, so you can always drop by if you need something. Or you can ignore that piece of information, I honestly don't care. Hell, I might even prefer it. Now if you'll excuse yourself I have some real work to do. Oh and when I said to visit their club room, I wasn't asking. I'll be keeping regular tabs so don't try to fight it. Otherwise I'm sure the mathletes could use a new teammate."

Duncan did not need to be told twice. He got up immediately from the chair and walked out of the office. He shook his head as walked through the administration building's empty halls. It was mostly abandoned in the afternoon after school hours. No one wanted to be there, even the teachers.

Outside, Duncan walked past the main building of Wawanakwa Academy. It was an old red brick building five stories high. It stretch out in a single line, with a tall bell tower in the middle of it. The administration building sat before it on the grounds. Behind the school, the clubs building was tucked away across a small field. It was made of the same brick as the main building, but it had noticeably worse upkeep. It sat in contrast with the sleek ultra modern sports complex next to it. On the other side of the sports complex, the two identical dorms sat next to each other: one for the boys and one for the girls.

Duncan walked right up to the club building. He looked it over. He had never actually stepped foot in it for the entirety of his three years at the Academy. It was part of a mandatory tour of the campus for freshmen but Duncan had skipped it, just like he'd skipped every school related event that wasn't class. And for living in the dorms, his class attendance record wasn't great either.

The halls of the clubs building were nearly identical with the halls of the main building, except for the lack of lockers. It took him a second to find the stairs. He climbed up to the third floor and began to look for the room. Each door had a sign above it with the name of the club written out. He passed by the Astronomy Club, the Orienteering Club, and the Literature Club. Duncan shook his head at each one he passed. They all looked so pathetic to him. Finally he came upon room 303. The sign looked like it had been crossed out. Duncan peered through the small window on the door and saw only one guy in the room.

Duncan opened the door and walked in. The room was about a quarter the size of a regular class room. There was one big table in the middle of it able to fit six chairs. A couch sat under the large window at the back of the room. A wooden cabinet rested against the left wall. Opposite to the cabinet was a table with a coffee maker, stereo, electric kettle, a couple of mugs on it. Otherwise the room was completely bare. The stereo played a Radiohead album.

The guy sat at the table with his head down. "Hey," Duncan greeted him.

He looked up. "So you're the new guy?" He had straight medium brown hair. He wore a white shirt with a black tie and a black pullover sweater over top.

"Yeah," Duncan said.

"Great." He moaned before putting his head back down on the desk.

Duncan grabbed a chair and sat opposite the guy across the table. "Where's the rest of the club?" he asked.

The guy perked up in his chair. "The Student Advocacy Club has a complicated structure. It consists of three committees that work in unison. There's the policy and research Committee that meets once every two weeks to discuss school policies and to draft submissions. There's the Public Awareness Committee that's in charge of publicity, marketing, and communicating with the larger student body. They meet in the library every Thursday at lunch. Then there's the Advocacy Committee that does the majority of the communication with the school administration and the student council, while also making sure the Club speaks with a unified voice. As a member of the club, you will be expected to sit on two of the committees.

"Really?"

"No. Fuck no. Seriously Duncan. Are you retarded or something?" He asked. Duncan did not say anything. "What you see is what you get," the guy said extending his arms. "There's me, Courtney and you, apparently."

"Wait, how do you know my name?" Duncan asked.

The guy stared at Duncan for a second to make sure he was serious. "Duncan, I live four doors down from you."

Duncan took another look at the guy and saw that he did recognize him. "Noel?"

"Noah."

"Sorry. I never cared to learn the names of all random dweebs living around me." Duncan shrugged.

"Fair enough. I never cared either. Although I did care to learn the name of the asshole who starts blasting Black Flag at two in the morning. Plus, it's hard not to know your name after that stunt you just pulled," Noah shot back at him.

"People know about that?"

"You literally set the lawn in front of the girls' dorm on fire. Half of the student body were witnesses. How could people not know about it? That girl you were trying to impress had better been worth it."

"I wasn't trying to impress a girl," Duncan made clear.

"Sure. You set fire to the lawn in front of the girl's dorm, spelling out the letter G, which I can only assume was the beginning of someone's name. It's not that hard to grasp. What else could you have been doing? Hell, I'm sure if I actually cared, it wouldn't take too long to figure out who you were doing it for. There's only so many names starting with the letter 'G'."

Duncan grunted. "Whatever. So what exactly do you do here then?" He asked, trying to change the conversation.

"On paper, we're supposed to help students. That's it."

"Who'd come to you for help?" Duncan asked.

"No one. And that's precisely the point. Look, here's the deal. We don't 'do' stuff. The purpose of the Student Advocacy Club is to look good on a college application. I intend to keep it that way. Got it? I usually sit around, pretend to work, and listen to records. So long as no one comes knocking, then we're fine."

Duncan leaned back in his chair. "I could get used to that."

"There is one problem."

"Yeah? What's that?"

"Courtney."

"Who's that?" Duncan asked.

"Seriously? She sat in front of you all year in geography when we were freshmen," Noah said. Duncan stared blankly at him, clearly with no idea who he was referring to. "Look," Noah tried to clarify, "remember the girl last year who ran for student council president? The one who lost to Heather?"

"Hell yeah I do!" Duncan remarked jovially. "Shit. How could you forget that? Heather reading her love poems during the morning announcements was classic! I still quote them occasionally: 'Your face is like a polished mirror'. Ha!" He laughed out loud.

"Right. Hilarious," Noah said deadpan. "She's Courtney. She's also the president of this club. After that whole ordeal, she was so embarrassed that she quit the student council altogether over it. She joined this club to start fresh, and is hell bent on turning it into a legitimate group. I'm sure the only reason Chris signed you up for this club is to stop her from calling him at home every night demanding he help us recruit new members."

"She sounds obsessive," Duncan noted.

"You have no idea," Noah said.

"How'd you join this group?"

"I started it."

"Really?"

"Well, more accurately: I resurrected it. When I was a freshman, I volunteered at the library, hoping it would both look good on a college application and involve the least interaction with other people. Unfortunately, I forgot that the only people who hang out in high school libraries are obnoxious jerk offs. So, one day in my spare time, I went through the old year books till I found an old dead club with an important sounding name. It's the perfect scam: on one hand I can claim to have been a member of a club with a hundred year old history, and at the same time claim that I took the initiative to start my own club."

"Sounds like a lot of effort to me," Duncan commented.

"It was, but it was worth it. For most of last year I had this whole clubroom to myself. I could do work with no one disturbing me. I forged the signatures of the required five members, so no one else would bother me. It would have been perfect, if I didn't screw up and tell Courtney about it."

"You precious thing," Duncan said with mock sympathy,

Noah shrugged. "Whatever. Do whatever you want, just don't disturb me." Noah rested his head back on the table. "And don't think of changing the music."

Duncan nodded. He leaned his back on his chair, resting his feet on the table.

The door to the clubroom opened. A girl walked in with medium length hair and freckles on her nose. She wore a green blazer with the school crest sown on it, with a white dress shirt and a black kilt. "Duncan!" she announced, her face lit up as she noticed him in the room. "Glad to see you've decided to join us."

"Not sure if I actually 'decided' to join you. I think saying I was 'forced' or 'sentenced' to join you would be a bit more accurate." Duncan remarked.

Courtney continued to smile, unphased by his attitude. She walked right up to him, and extended her arm to shake his hand. Duncan stared at her for a moment, before tepidly shaking it with a weak grip. "We're really excited to have you join us," she said.

"You sure? He doesn't look too enthused," Duncan pointed at Noah, whose head continued to rest on the table.

"Noah just shows his enthusiasm in different ways than most. You should be proud. You are officially the third member of the Student Advocacy Club."

"Great," Duncan said flatly.

Courtney leaned into Duncan, her face only a couple of inches away from his. "Look shithead. I don't give a fuck about your cooler than everyone else attitude. I'm not super happy about our only recruit being a delinquent with a tendency towards arson. But we are all going to have to make the best of it. So long as you show up to all of the regular meetings and actually help people according to our mandate, I'll tell McLean whatever you want him to hear. If you don't, or if you keep whining incessantly, then I will report your ass on the first thing I see. Got it?"

Duncan sat silent, watching her face for a moment. Her fierce glare pierced through his defenses. "Alright. Shit." He said, raising his hands in the air. "And what do you even mean by help people?"

"Well," Courtney paused, "I'm not entirely sure. We haven't actually had a student ask for our services yet. I imagine when it does happen, we'll do whatever they ask us to."

"Whatever they ask us to? What if they ask us to do something ridiculous?"

"We'll figure that out on a case-by-case basis."

"This doesn't sound very well thought out."

Courtney placed her hands on her hips. "Well, shit Duncan, not everything's perfect. Who knows what the future will bring?"

"So what are we supposed to do now?" Duncan asked.

"We wait," she informed him. Courtney stepped over to the counter and picked up the electric kettle. "Want some tea?"

"I'm fine," Duncan replied.

"Noah?"

"Whatever," Noah mumbled without raising his head.

"Great," Courtney said in a perky voice. She smiled at Duncan briefly, before heading out the door to go fill it with water. Duncan watched her move closely, unable to take his eyes off her, trying desperately to comprehend his new reality.

Afterword:

We hope you liked this chapter. We had fun writing it. This is our first story after finishing Pillars of Destiny, so we wanted to try something a little different. Let us know what you think.

Please leave a review.

Till Next Time -Nyhlus and BJ