Welcome back kiddies. I hope that you all are as excited for this next segment as I am! On with the story!


I smoothed out my poster and stood back. Lilly really had made the poster professional looking.

"Well now, the circus has come to town." Christine sneered.

"And you're the ringleader." I shot back.

"I will push you off your throne James, and you will have to obey my every whim." Christine said getting in my face.

"You know what Christine; you can tell that to yourself when you're curled up in your action man pajamas in your mother's basement, but in end it will be you who is groveling at my feet." I retorted. Fire brimmed in Christine's eyes.

"We will see James, we will see." She said and stalked away. I turned around only to see Jack Wellington's face in mine.

"Lilly made that for you didn't she?" he asked.

"Yes, and what of it? She's a good artist so I asked her to do up some posters for me." I shrugged and turned back to the poster.

"You watch yourself, Lilly's my girl." Jack growled.

"Welly, how about you use your last brain cell to figure out that Lilly dropped you like an atomic bomb. She doesn't belong to anyone, especially not you." I informed him. Jocks, they're always so possessive. Wellington was practically rupturing a blood vessel beside me, puffing like an angered bull.

"It was you wasn't it? You took Lilly away from me. It was you at the bar last week wasn't it?" he asked, his eyes flashing intensely.

"It was just a glass of sherry; she is after all my campaign manager." I said nonchalantly.

"You better watch yourself Lester." Jack spat, shoving his finger into my chest. I shook my head and walked away from the fuming football player.


It was around 3rd period when I heard the sound of something being slammed against metal. I swiveled around to see Jack pinning Lilly against a locker.

"You're not going to dump me!" he yelled, shaking Lilly by the shoulders.

"Leave me alone! I'm not your girlfriend anymore!" she yelled, trying to twist out of his grasp. People began to crowd around her.

"You're mine Lilly; nobody's going to take you away from me!" Jake screamed.

"Let me go!" Lilly shrieked. I pushed my way through the crowd and slapped Jack's hands away.

"Leave her alone." I said, my eyes burning. Jack grabbed Lilly's hands again.

"She's mine and I'll do anything I like!" Jack said and spat in my face. I wiped his spit off of my face and glared at him.

"Leave her alone!" I growled and without thinking I threw my fist full throttle into his face. I had involuntarily gone with my instincts, which in this case was a very bad decision.

"You're going to regret that Pansy." Jack sneered. He tossed Lilly aside and then smashed his shoulder into my chest. We tumbled to the ground clawing and punching at each other. His fist bounced off of my chin with a loud crack. In desperation I jabbed my knee into his groin. There was a moment's pause as he gasped through the pain. I took that moment to catapult him off of me with a swift push of my feet in his stomach. I crawled on top of him and didn't hesitate to put my full force in a punch to his nose. He grasped my arms, trying to stop me from beating the snot out of him.

"What is going on here?" a teacher yelled. Students began to account what had gone on. The teacher and someone else pulled us apart and restrained us.

"James Lester, what is the meaning of this-this appalling behavior?" barked the other person, who turned out to be head master.

"He was rescuing me sir." Lilly shouted. She stood up to address the crowd. "Jack Wellington was shaking me violently and was most likely going to hit me when our brave head boy, James Lester, stepped in. When Wellington refused to stop abusing me Lester realized that the only way to keep a fellow student from harm was to transfer Wellington's anger from me to himself, regrettably, by using force. James Lester took every blow from Wellington like a true gentleman in order to protect me. James Lester is not the problem here, Jack is!" she explained. The students cheered, Lilly was a good public speaker.

There was a silent and tense pause as the head master thought up a punishment. I just hoped it wasn't for me.

"I suppose, considering the situation, that Wellington must be suspended." The headmaster said. Wellington glared at me, when he got back he wasn't going to waste his time whining. No he was going to find a way to get back at me, or worse, Lilly. Jack was immediately escorted from the school to spend his week off of school property.

"James, James, James!" a student began to chant, and the others joined him. "The king has spoken!" They yelled.


Lilly pulled me out of the fray and down to the nurse's office. "Nice speech, maybe you should write one for me." I said.

Lilly laughed "I do what I have to, but that doesn't mean I will write your speech for you Mr. Lazybones." She sat me down on the cot and looked at me. "That really wasn't a smart idea, but I will say I am proud of you." She said.

"It sure has made me popular." I laughed, stopping quickly as a pain swelled in my chest.

"You have a nice bruise on your cheek there." She said staring at my face.

"I have a whopping headache." I added. Without warning she pressed her lips to my forehead, then to my cheek. Warmth flowed through my face and I stared at her with a slight smile on my face processing what had happened and what I was going to do about this.

"I have a split lip, if that matters." I muttered. Her lips hovered above mine, she was most likely afraid. I began to pull her closer and she held her breath in anticipation.

"Well now look at this. Is the hero trying to collect an undeserving kiss?" Christine sneered. Lilly stepped away from me as Christine pushed herself between us. "The little stunt you pulled just might cost me the election James. I'm going to make sure that I expose your little brawl as a set up." Christine informed me.

"You won't be able to do that Christine. No one will believe you." I said and slowly got up from the cot.

"Yes I can. A few witnesses, a couple twisted words, plus the fact that you've been seen with my enemy's girlfriend and voila, instant win." She explained. Lilly snorted and crossed her arms.

"Like I said Christine, if it's not the truth people won't believe you." I reminded her. She placed one hand on the wall behind me and the other on her hip. As she leaned towards me the noxious smell of her perfume wafted over me. Her overpowering mix of makeup and perfume could be used in the war as a knock out gas or something.

"It doesn't have to be the truth, it just has to be convincing." She said to me, her red lips parted in a smile. She pushed herself off of the wall and stood back to face us. "See you in the papers James." She waved her claw like nails at us and sauntered out of the room. Lilly turned to me, our romantic moment forgotten.

"What are we going to do?" she asked. A smile spread across my face.

"I know exactly what we are going to do, and I'm going to need your help."


Colton Kurt was the only person in the school who knew how to run the old printing machine, so if Christine was going to have something printed she'd have to go through him. Colton never left the door unlocked, never put the key down or gave it to anyone. There was no other way that Christine could get in. And even if she got it printed somewhere else it had to have a special symbol Colton had hid somewhere on the paper before it got put on the stand. This was so that not just any idiot could print something for the school. Colton would be extra careful during election season, and that's where Lilly came in.


"I feel terrible about this James. Is this really a good idea?" Lilly asked.

"All you have to do is get Colton not to print the story for Christine. How you do that is up to you." I told her.

"It still doesn't feel right." Lilly sighed.

"Well he's coming down the hall." I said. Lilly turned around and took a deep breath before she skipped down the hall towards him.

"Hey Kurt, can I talk you for a sec?" she asked.

"Well sure." Colton shrugged. Lilly latched onto his arm.

"Super! So here it goes, I was just wondering if you wanted to go out for a drink tonight, or something like that." Lilly giggled.

"Well sure." Colton shrugged.

That was it, our plan was going work.


The past few days Lilly had been hanging off Colton's arm. Even though it was an act it actually made me jealous. I just hoped that Lilly could convince Colton not to print Christine's story. At this moment they were laughing about something funny Colton had said. I was just awkwardly sitting at the same table. We were supposed to be hanging out, but it was really just the two flirting.

"Oh Colton, you're so funny!" Lilly giggled. Yeah, chicken jokes, real funny. Kurt turned to me and suddenly asked me a question.

"So Lester, how's the election going?"

"Um, it's going well. Christine's been hounding me a lot, but I just ignore it." I replied. Colton nodded.

"She's like that isn't she." he shivered.

"Oh Colton, it's terrible, really it is. Poor James doesn't want to complain, but Christine has been making nasty threats. She'd do anything to stop James from winning. She'd even try to print something that wasn't true, something that would take James out of the running. Oh please Colton say you won't do anything to help Christine, promise me you won't!" Lilly pleaded, clinging to Colton's arm. She was putting on the act again, and I hoped that Colton would fall for it.

"Don't worry Lilly. I don't like Christine either, I wouldn't want to help her with her campaign anyway." he said. Lilly squealed in delight and clapped her hands.

"You're the best Colton!" she said gleefully and bear hugged him. I winked at Lilly. As much as I hated the flirting, at least she got us what we needed.


"Do you think that you could come over to my flat and listen to my speech?" I asked Lilly, after her cheerleading practice one day.

"Oh I'm sorry James but Colton and I are going out for dinner tonight." she apologised.

"Why are you still hanging out with him?" I asked.

"Well, we don't want him to back out on us do we? So I figured I could still be friendly." she said. I groaned, she was right, but there was a fine line between being friendly and shamelessly flirting with someone.

"Yeah, whatever." I said. Lilly glanced over at me.

"You're not jealous are you James?" she asked.

"What the hell kind of a question is that?" I asked, trying not to let on that she was right. Lilly giggled.

"You are jealous!"

"No I am not! I don't care if you go out with Colton Kurt! I could care less even if you went out with Christine!" I shot back. "I-I just don't want you quitting on me. You're my campaign manager." I added.

"Okay then." Lilly snickered. "But I promise I'll listen to it later." she said. I was practically kicking myself. Why hadn't I just said it? Who cares if she knew I loved her? But that's the way I am. I can't express myself. Lilly was never going to understand how I felt about her.


The nest morning I was standing outside of my third period class waiting for the teacher to come unlock the door.

"James, James! It's horrible, you must come quickly!" Lilly yelled as she ran down the hall towards me.

"What's wrong Lilly?" I asked her. She took a moment to catch her breath.

"I just saw Colton Kurt letting Christine into his office! His printing office! He's going to print something for Christine!" She exclaimed.

"He's going to print Christine's story?" I echoed.

"Come on, we've got to stop him!" she said, grabbing my wrist and pulling me towards Kurt's printing office.


We arrived just in time to see Colton and Christine stepping out of the printing office. "Colton Kurt! I thought you promised me you wouldn't print anything for Christine!" Lilly shrieked. Colton chuckled.

"You obviously don't know when you've been double crossed songbird." he said. Christine sauntered up to me.

"Who has the upper hand now James?" she said. I growled, why she always had to be so-so annoying!

"Go overdose on printer ink Christine!" I shot back. She tossed a paper my way and I frantically caught it.

"There's a really superb article I figured you'd like to read before the paper goes out tomorrow." she laughed and walked away with Colton.

"Blast, she always seems to get one step ahead of me!" I said. I was so frustrated. Christine was always such a thorn in my side; she just wouldn't stop until she had ruined my life.

"She just can't beat you, she-she can't!" Lilly yelled. "She can't, right?" she added in a smaller voice. I turned away from her. "We have a plan, don't we?"

"What can we do now? Christine will get her false story out, there's no way we can convince Kurt to print something else. There's nothing we can do." I said sadly. Lilly looked downcast.

"We can't give up now." she said. I sighed.

"Sometimes you have to cut your losses." I replied. Lilly's face scrunched up and she grabbed my suit collar.

"I promised you that I wouldn't let that backstabbing, conniving little snake beat you. I don't break my promises James, I'm not giving up. You can if you like, but I'm not." she stated and then walked away.

She was right, she was always right. But what could I do? Colton Kurt was going to spread Christine's fake story to the whole school and then no one would vote for me. Even those who had dutifully put my name down each year would turn on me like the rest of the flock like student body. At least I'd be remembered for years to come.

Kids would say "Do you remember that Head boy we once had, James Lester?" "That Lester guy who staged that fight and lost his title, breaking his three year reign?" "Yeah, that's the one!"

I looked down at the newspaper in my hand. There on the front page, in blaring bold letters was a headline that read The King's fight with Welly uncovered as a scam! Christine Johnson tells all.

I read on.

"It's sad to think that someone so famous, someone we all trusted would have the nerve to cheat like this. I never had a chance, and he knew it. It was so unnecessary for him to stoop to such a thing as staging a fight. The only thing we can do now is order him to forfeit in the election. I really didn't want to win like this." Christine Johnson told the school paper.

I stopped; I couldn't bear to read anymore. She was going to lose, and she knew it. So of course, in common Christine style, she had to go to lower depths to get what she wanted. I'd probably never be able to run for head boy again. And that's just what she wanted, that's what she'd always wanted. All through our grade school days I had beaten her in everything. Spelling, Math, Sports, you name it, I was better than her. She always came in second; she was always being told she should try to be more like me. I suppose that's why she's the way she is. I guess it's a bit of karma or something coming back to me, not that I felt that I deserved it. There's always someone who's going to be better than you, it's all in how you take it. I never had that problem in school, unless if we were talking about computers, those were a whole different story. It was when I came home that I felt inferior. Three older brothers and two older sisters, all ordering me around, all criticizing everything I did. And for my parents nothing I did, not any awards I received, or medals I won, not a mark on a test or a good report card, was ever good enough for them. To this day, even if I was knighted by the Queen of England herself, they would not be proud of me. And now, after all of my success, I was going to become a failure, in everyone's eyes. I didn't know what I was going to do with myself.


I was surprised really, when I came to school I had expected to see hoards of angry students ready to burn me at the stake like a witch. But there was nothing, I didn't get one single evil glare, not one "accidental" shove. I passed the newsstand and I tried not to look at it. I couldn't bear to see all those papers, and all those people reading all those lies. I trudged to my locker and rested my head against the cool metal. I just wished I could melt into the floor.

"James! James! You have to see this!" I turned to see Lilly running up to me. She was holding a newspaper in her hand.

"I've already read it Lilly, I'd rather not read it again." I sighed. She stood beside me breathless and smiling.

"No, look at it! Colton changed it; he didn't print the story for Christine!" I looked at her, confused.

"What'd you mean?"

"Well Colton must have double crossed her. He made her think that he was helping her, but really he was gathering information to print this story, now look!" Lilly explained, shoving the newspaper into my hands. I looked down to the paper in my hand.

Rivalry during election season.

I kept on reading.

Christine Johnson has been ferociously fighting for the head position against our current head boy, James Lester. She has been known to say "I would do anything to beat that (censored). For once I will show him who is the best!" She seems very determined to win and is a very fierce competitor. When asked exactly what she would do to win she replied "Cheat, lie, and steal. Anything to grab that title." So far she has not done anything that would put her out of the running, but who knows what she has up her sleeve. We'll just have to wait until Election Day to see who comes out the winner. In my opinion, I hope its James Lester. Vote for the King.

A smile broke out on my face as I read that last sentence.

"He was on our side all along." Lilly smiled. I crushed her in a gleeful bear hug.

"I can win this election!" I said excitedly.

"Of course you can. I always knew you could." Lilly said warmly, not retreating from the hug. I pulled back so I could see her face.

"Thanks for believing in me Lilly. You're the best campaign manager I've ever had." I said. Lilly gave a small laugh and looked down shyly.

"That wouldn't have to do anything with the fact that I'm the prettiest campaign manager you've ever had?" She asked.

I raised my eyebrows "Oh of course not." I said sarcastically. Lilly looked up at me, a sweet little smile on her face. Her cheeks had turned a bit pink. I realized that she had let go, and I was still holding onto her. I released her with a nervous laugh.

"You want to go out for a celebratory drink or something?" She asked in a small voice.

"What do you think Miss Marx?" I questioned.

"I'll take that as a yes." She said.

I laughed "I certainly hope you wouldn't take that as a no." Lilly shook her head in amusement.

"You're a funny one James Lester." she giggled, her emerald eyes sparkling with something more than laughter.


Well there you go. That's chapter 3 for you. There was a lot in of stuff I had to put into that one that one. I know that Christine looks like she's out of the picture, but don't worry, Christine's not done. Neither is Jack for that matter either, he's still going to chase after Lilly. And it does seem that Lilly is starting to like our dear James Peregrine Lester, doesn't it? I don't see why she wouldn't. Wish me luck for writing chapter 4; I'm not exactly sure how I'm going to connect everything. OH NO! It's the episode 4 syndrome (sorry, inside joke for those who know me) Think brain, think! Toodles children.