"I'm Your Next Class President!"
Story Written by Freedom Fighter
Who will show up at the presidential debate, at the risk of certain humiliation? Let's find out...
Also, if you did not vote on the poll on my profile page stating who you'd vote for, you still have time to do so! But hurry! The poll closes TONIGHT just before 12 midnight EST.
Disclaimer: The characters of 'Phineas and Ferb' belong to Disney.
-
Chapter Seven - Turning the Tides! (05.16.11)
Class Presidential Debates Today!
2nd, 3rd, and 4th Grade - Starting at 9:30 am
5th and 6th Grade - Starting at 1 pm
[Flier on cafeteria door.]
-
Isabella arrived at the school the next morning, back in her normal clothes. She sighed sadly as she headed in, to the dismay of Phineas, Ferb, Gretchen, and Ginger, all of whom had been on the bus with her but none of which had succeeded in getting her to tell them why she was feeling that way.
"I've never seen Chief like this," Gretchen noted.
"I know," Ginger said in agreement. "I can't remember the last time I saw her without a smile on her face."
They stopped and heard Isabella sigh loudly as she continued to head inside.
"That sigh sounds familiar," Phineas thought aloud. "Kinda like... kinda like... Adyson!"
"Huh?" Gretchen and Ginger yelped in unison.
"You see, yesterday, we were all working after school to prep for the debate today. She said she was going to get a few things from her locker. Problem is, she never came back."
"Never came back?"
"No. She went home. I called her last night, but she wouldn't tell me anything! She just sighed... the same way Isabella's sighing today! I called Holly, and she said she'd get to the bottom of it. But she never called me back."
"No need!" Ginger declared, pointing to a car that had stopped in the loading area. "There she is now... and Adyson's with her!"
They saw Holly and Adyson hop out of the car of the former's parents, and they raced into the school. They passed by the gang without even noticing them. But they saw that Holly had a CD enclosed in a paper sleeve in her hand.
"I wonder what's going on."
Suddenly, the warning bell rang.
"Maybe we'll find out in class," Phineas said. "Let's go!"
But when they got to class, Adyson was not there. Phineas, Ferb, and Gretchen each asked a few classmates if they had seen her, but none of them had. Class began shortly thereafter, with the brunette still missing in action.
Then, 20 minutes into class, there was a knock at the door. Their teacher went to answer it, and was greeted by both the principal and the SGA sponsor. The principal whispered a few names into the teacher's ear, and she reacted surprised at a couple of them.
"Buford, Isabella, and Baljeet... the principal would like to talk to you three."
"Eh, whatever," Buford uttered as he got up out of his seat.
But Isabella and Baljeet were scared upon hearing their names. They were used to going to the principal, not to him coming to them. They slowly stood up and joined Buford in the long walk out of the classroom, with the eyes of everyone affixed on them.
An hour and half passed, and none of the trio had returned to class. Phineas, Ferb, and Gretchen decided to skip recess and instead to go to the office to check on their friends. The trio was joined by Ginger along the way, who had asked to be excused as well.
"Thanks for keeping me in the loop," Ginger said to Gretchen as she held up her phone with the text message she had sent her displayed. "So... do we have any clue yet as to what's going on?"
"We might find out right now!" Phineas exclaimed as he pointed ahead. "There's Isabella and Baljeet coming out of the office! Adyson, too!"
Sure enough, the three presidential candidates were outside. And they were all relieved that their ordeal was over.
"What's going on?" Phineas asked as the group came to a stop.
"Buford got busted!" Isabella proclaimed.
"For what?"
"For trying to blackmail both me and Isabella into dropping out of the race," interjected Adyson.
Gretchen and Ginger gasped upon hearing this news for the first time.
"But don't worry. It's all straightened out, the blackmail material has been proven to have been falsified and was destroyed, and Buford got suspended for the rest of the week!"
"And I am happy because I no longer have to do everything I promised him if I won!" Baljeet rejoiced. "But... now I do not have a campaign manager, and the debate is in two hours!"
"Ooh, ooh," oohed Ginger, whose hand shot up into the air. "Can I be your campaign manager, Baljeet?"
Baljeet sighed. "It is not like I have..."
"Great!" Ginger said, as in an instant she was next to him and had an arm around him. "We've got a lot to do to one-up Isabella and Adyson, and I've got a few ideas..."
Ginger started pulling Baljeet away to find a place to 'strategize.'
"We're going to have to prepare too," Isabella stated, before turning to Gretchen. "Ready?"
Gretchen pulled out a folder and presented it to her candidate. The two then walked off to begin their preparations. That just left...
"How about you, Adyson?" Phineas asked her. "We haven't even gone over proper debate tactics with you."
"It's okay. I'll just do what I do best. WING IT!"
That afternoon, in the cafeteria, Isabella, Adyson, and Baljeet were waiting just off-stage, ready to walk out just as soon as the fifth grade debate was finished. In fact, the last candidate was making her closing statement.
"...and remember, I stand for truth, justice, and apple pie! Oh, and almost forgot... free apple pie at my victory party after school tomorrow! Thank you, and vote for me!"
The future fifth graders applauded as said candidate, Milly, handed the microphone to Irving, who was acting as moderator for the debates.
"Thank you, Milly, for that spirited, one-candidate debate! I'm pretty sure your classmates will have a tough decision at the polls tomorrow! And surely you'd let me come to your victory party, right?"
"After you ate MY apple?" Milly glared at him, recalling a certain incident. "You're not getting any more of my fruit, weirdo!"
Milly marched off-stage as the crowd laughed.
"Anyway," Irving tried to change the subject, "let's move on to the big race... the one to determine next year's sixth grade class president! Let's bring out the candidates... Isabella..."
The crowd cheered as Isabella walked out, waving gracefully to them before taking a spot behind the podium farthest from the side of the stage she had entered from.
"Adyson..."
Another round of cheers came for Adyson, who blew one-handed kisses to her fellow students before heading over to the middle podium.
"And lastly... Baljeet!"
Baljeet came out, and was stunned when he got the loudest cheers of all. He waved sheepishly as he sidestepped slowly over to his podium. Isabella and Adyson seemed surprised the most, as they looked at each other.
"When did Baljeet get so popular?" Isabella asked.
Adyson struggled to come up with an answer, until she pointed at...
"Ginger."
Ginger was standing on a table off to the left side of the cafeteria, holding up a handmade sign that read 'Clap 4 Baljeet,' with his head on it instead of his name, and under that, the words 'Get a,' and then a picture of a chocolate chip cookie.
"Can she do that?" Adyson objected.
"No rule against signs at the debate," replied Isabella. "I wish I would've remembered that earlier."
"Isn't this fun?" squealed Irving. "Okay, candidates, let's get cracking! The first question is for Isabella."
Isabella put on her best smile as she waited for the question.
"Your platform is, and I quote, '180 days of school, 180 ideas to make school better!' How are you going to pull all of that off? What happens if you don't come to school one day because you're out sick?"
"Great question, Irving! You see, I've passed through these halls since I was a kindergartner, and every day I always hear somebody complaining about something. Not that there's anything wrong with Danville Elementary. I mean, our school ranks in the top ten percent primary schools in the state in both percentage of students on the honor roll AND percentage of students who pass the national physical fitness test! And our teachers are not only some of the most well-paid instructors, but they encourage creativity and imagination and push to make sure every student does their very best! But as good as our school is, there are still plenty of ways to make it better, like..."
"Sorry," Irving cut her off, "time's up! Rebuttals?"
"May I just say," Adyson immediately jumped on the opportunity, "that, Izzy, while I DO appreciate your vision, I'm being blunt when I say... YOU'RE PROMISING TOO MUCH! You may be trying to appeal to the wants of each and every individual kid out there, but do you think that the kid who's 87th on your list will be happy to wait 87 days for you to fulfill your promises to the other 86 before you get to his? Stop trying to custom fit your campaign to each new person you meet! You should be doing what I do! I'm only promising two things... to push for no homework of any kind on Fridays, and longer recess. That's it! And that's why they're going to vote for me."
Adyson smirked as she waited for Isabella to counter-rebuttal.
"37 and 121."
"Huh?"
"37 and 121. Both of those are on my list, Adyson!"
"So, what, you're accusing me of stealing your ideas?"
"No, I'm just saying I'm promising what you're promising, and a lot more!"
"And I say you'll never pull all of it off!"
"I'm Isabella Garcia-Shapiro, and I can do anything!"
"Now you're stealing other people's catchphrases? Does Kim Possible know?"
"Do you know Kim Possible's a cartoon character?"
"You're the only character around here, Izzy!"
"Takes one to know one, Addy!"
The two continued to argue as everyone watched with stunned silence. Finally, Baljeet decided to input his own rebuttal.
"If I get elected, the first thing I promise is to change the voting bylaws so that friends cannot run for the same class office! Isabella and Adyson should not be at each others' throats! They are best of girlfriends, and it pains me to see them this way!"
Isabella and Adyson had stopped upon hearing Baljeet's promise. They both rubbed the back of their heads sheepishly as they looked at each other.
"All of this fighting really is silly," admitted Adyson. "I should be happy no matter who wins this election. Whether it's me or... someone other than me."
"Yes," Isabella agreed. "I promise that if I don't win, I will throw my support completely behind the president-elect."
"As do I."
"And I make three," Baljeet made it unanimous.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Irving cut in, "that's all well and good, but we still have 25 minutes of debate to..."
He was going to hold up his stack of index cards with questions on them, but he no longer had them. Suddenly, they all heard a buzzing sound. They turned and saw Ginger had just sent them all through an automatic paper shredder.
"Um..." Adyson questioned, "isn't THAT tampering?"
"I believe that only applies to voting ballots," answered Isabella.
"Well, I hope you guys know whom you're going to vote for tomorrow," Irving said to them. "'Cause I don't!"
He then marched off in a huff, bringing an abrupt end to the debate.
To be concluded...
