"I'm Your Next Class President!"
Story Written by Freedom Fighter
This is the last of the plot set-up chapters. Next week is the first featuring the candidates' campaign! But first things first... you gotta turn in that packet to get on the ballot, Isabella and Adyson!
Disclaimer: The characters of 'Phineas and Ferb' belong to Disney.
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Chapter Three - One Signature Short! (04.11.11)
"I was not born here! I cannot be the president!"
[Baljeet, mixing up running for U.S. President with...]
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Friday had arrived, and it was late in the day. Isabella and Adyson, both potential candidates for sixth grade class president, had completed their nomination packets earlier in the morning. But neither had gotten a chance to get down to the SGA office and turn it in. The only real opportunity that they had during the day was at lunch. Neither could, though, as Isabella spent it voluntarily tutoring three of her classmates in math, while Adyson was chatting away with a few others on topics non-related to the election. The end of lunch came, and both realized they did not have time to drop by the SGA office and get back to class without being tardy.
They knew they only had one chance left to get their packets in. They would have to rush down there right after school, and hope that they could get there in time.
The second the school bell rang, both Isabella and Adyson raced out of the classroom. Each of them was holding nothing but their completed nomination packet in hand, both having earlier decided in trusting that their classmates, particularly Gretchen, would pick up what they had left behind on their desks.
But the two girls had a tall task ahead of them. The hallway was quickly filling up with fellow students exiting their classrooms, heading to their lockers, and then to the buses outside to go home. The girls would have to get through all those kids to get to the office.
Upon reaching the main hallway, the two girls diverted paths. Isabella turned right, heading for the stairs towards the front of the school, while Adyson bore left, barreling in the direction of the central staircase.
"What is she thinking?" Adyson thought after noticing Isabella's actions. "The middle stairwell is closer to the SGA office!"
"What is she thinking?" Isabella did the same, in reference to Adyson. "Going against the upperclassmen flow is tougher!"
Sure enough, Adyson quickly found herself fighting against the flow of traffic, which consisted of getting through bigger-bodied kids, some taller and/or wider than she was.
"One side, comin' through!" Adyson yelled.
But that did not help her much, as students were clogging up the hallways, gathering like packs for short conversations and at points making it hard for more than two people to squeeze by... and that was heading in the right direction. Good luck trying to go opposite, especially with the back-up growing even more.
"You're interfering with my destiny!" Adyson cried, reduced to having to push people aside to get through. "Move!"
Meanwhile, Isabella had reached the stairs, which were jammed to capacity but were at least steadily moving to the bottom. Isabella did not force her way through, deciding to patiently wait in line even as the clock continued to tick.
The staircase emptied into the main lobby, where the large gaggle of upperclassmen merged with the exodus of underclassmen whose classrooms filled the first floor. Isabella did a one-eighty and started heading into the school's younger population. But unlike the older kids, who tended to hang around until the last second to try and catch the bus, the younger ones always immediately rushed out at the bell. That meant that the hallway was jam-packed, many of which still did not understand the concept of lines. Thus, they spread from wall-to-wall, leaving little, if any, room for someone heading the opposite direction to squeeze by.
"Pardon me, please!" Isabella said. "I need to get by..."
But none of the tykes would dare step aside for fear another kid would steal their spot. So instead, they kept inching forward while keeping their ranks forward.
"You don't understand," pleaded Isabella, as she slowly got pushed backwards. "This is a matter of life and death!"
Adyson was slowly inching ever closer to the stairs, but she was not getting there fast enough! She would need nothing short of a miracle to get out of this mess.
"SIMON SAYS EVERYBODY TAKE TWO STEPS BACK!"
Adyson recognized the voice, but was slow on the uptake as everyone in the hall took two steps back, clearing a path straight to the stairs and just wide enough for Adyson to pass through untouched.
"YOU! YOU'RE OUT! STEP UP HERE!"
Adyson followed the command, a little frightened. But she breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Holly at the end of the line, by the stairs, standing on a small three-step ladder and holding a bullhorn in her right hand.
"Holly?"
"I guess that 'Play Simon Says for 12 Hours' badge paid off after all," she greeted, before pointing out said badge sewn to her shirt. "Everyone always does what I tell them to!"
Adyson smiled. "I knew there was a reason I really liked you!"
Holly responded to the compliment by lifting the megaphone and shouting loudly at her friend.
"SIMON SAYS STOP WASTING TIME THANKING ME AND GET YOUR BUTT DOWNSTAIRS AND TURN IN THAT NOMINATION PACKET!"
Adyson nodded, then ran down the stairs, through the open path.
Isabella was beginning to make progress as the crowd started thinning out. But given the third graders at that back of the line, it was going to get more difficult, as a number of them were among her size and were willing to use physical tactics to keep her from slowing them down.
"I need to get through," Isabella begged as she tried to squeeze between one third-grade boy and the lockers. "Come on!"
"And I'm trying to get home!" he shouted back. "You get out of my way, girl!"
A few of the boy's friends came to his aid, and they quickly formed a wall blocking Isabella's path. They enclosed her in such a way that the only direction they would allow her to go was back towards the front of the school, and towards the exit. If she allowed them to push her all the way out, she would have no chance at reaching the SGA office.
Then, out of the blue, they broke up their formation, opening some space to get through. Isabella wondered why they had suddenly changed their minds. And then she found out the reason.
Standing next to her was Melissa, who was flashing her school patrol badge up in the air.
"Safety patroller coming through!" Melissa started shouting.
Melissa grabbed Isabella's arm with her free hand and pulled her through the crowd, which gave way to the duo without exception. Seconds later, they popped out on the other side of the logjam, only two doors away from the SGA office.
"Thank the stars they allowed kindergartners to become members of the safety patrol this year!" Isabella exclaimed.
Melissa giggled, then waved goodbye as she turned around and assisted with guiding kids out of the building. Isabella seemed to relax, albeit that feeling would be very brief, as she heard a door close nearby. She turn and gasped as she saw the SGA sponsor pull out a key to lock the door...
At the same time, Adyson had reached the bottom of the stairs, mixed in with the upperclassmen who were using it to get down to the first floor. She, too, upon emerging into the hallway, saw the sponsor close the door and pull out her key.
Knowing that their campaigns would be over the second that door was locked, Isabella and Adyson ran for it, packets still in hand. They reached the teacher at the exact same time. Unfortunately, that meant that they ran right smack into each other, colliding and sending them both falling to the floor.
"Cutting it close, aren't we?" the teacher smirked.
Both girls groaned in response, then ignored their pain as they lifted their arms to hand in their packets. The teacher took both and scanned them hastily for the needed materials. Isabella and Adyson got to their feet, rubbing the areas where they felt the most pain with their hands as they waited for approval.
"Everything looks in order. Except..."
"Except?" both girls shouted in anguish. "Except what?"
Instead of telling them, the teacher showed them. They were both one student signature short - and only because the space for the 25th and final one was on the back of the last page, separate from the others.
"How did we NOT notice that?" Adyson wondered out loud.
"Great!" Isabella threw her hands up in frustration. "Where are we going to find one more student to sign at this very moment?"
The two girls desperately thought of options that visibly were not available. That is, until...
"Duh!" they both realized, smacking themselves on the forehead. "We're in the same grade! We can sign each other's forms!"
They took their packets back from the sponsor, then exchanged them amongst themselves. Both girls then pulled out a pen and started to sign their name.
"Don't be fooled into thinking this is me endorsing your silly, frilly platform!" Adyson warned.
"Ditto," Isabella shot back. "And you better sign your REAL name!"
They finished and simultaneously handed them back to the sponsor.
"You were the one who gave me that fake name for our 'Phone Call Prankster' badge," recalled Adyson. "Oh, and just so we're clear... Amanda Hugandkiss? So not original."
"Like to see you try making one up on the fly," grumbled Isabella.
"Alright," the teacher spoke up. "It's official! Three candidates for sixth grade president!"
"Wait..." Adyson did a double-take. "Three?"
"But," Isabella said with worry, "who else is running?"
Both girls then felt someone put an arm around their shoulders. The two then looked towards each other and saw that Baljeet had come out of nowhere and had squeezed himself between them.
"Girls!" he exclaimed. "You'll NEVER guess what office I'm running for!"
To be continued...
