Disclaimer: Beating a dead horse here.

Chapter 10: I Get Involved with Student Elections

-September 29th, Sunday-

I was looking at my planner when I noticed something was written down for Friday. Written in little words were: application for freshmen president and treasurer open; must not have any demerits. I looked at my roommates and asked, "There are elections here?"

"Like it says on the planner." Bartholomew said, scratching his head underneath the fur cap.

"Are any of you going to run?"

"Not I."

"Well, I've never been into elections myself. I'll pass."

"I…might." Manuel said a little reluctantly. "I'll need to think about it more."

"No rush; applications aren't until Friday, anyways. Want to try building your first deck?"

"Yes." Manuel got up and sat next to me.

I got out my cards and said, "Okay, first off, would you like to play with one or two colors, or would you like to try an artifact deck?"

"Green deck."

"Alright, let me get out the Green cards. The most important thing about deckbuilding is balance. Too little land and you might not be able to play anything, too much land and you won't have enough creatures or spells to defend yourself and attack. Let's start with creatures…"

-October 2nd, Wednesday-

Today, I shared Green magic class with Mary.

"So have you heard about the student elections?" Mary asked me.

"Yeah."

"Are you going to sign up for them?"

"No."

"I'm going to run for president, but Virginia thinks that Minnie Cochran will win." She rolls her eyes. "I am so glad she has such confidence—."

"Settle down, kits and cubs!" The voice of Professor Potsdam spoke.

We fell silent.

"There are some things I need to talk to you about before we begin today's class. Most of you identify yourselves as a boy or a girl, and that identity might be very important to you, even if your own physical traits might not necessarily match."

"Wait," Mary whispered, "this isn't going to be about sex education, is it?"

"But even with humans," Professor Potsdam went on, "sex is always not as simple as 'male' or 'female' with nothing in between, and in the magical world, there are many more possibilities which you should be aware and respectful of. Some entities are sexless and will be confused if you address them with masculine or feminine terms. Some can change gender roles at will or be both at once. Some beings even have more than two sexes, all of which can be difficult for the English language to cope with.

"Furthermore, some beings will take offense to being called 'it'. It is both wise and polite to ask those who you meet how they prefer to be addressed. In order to make things easier, the magical community has their own special pronouns to use when gender is unknown. Everybody, repeat after me: e, em, eir, eirs, emself."

We repeated the words back to her.

(This is like elementary school all over again.)

"Here's an easy way to remember: 'Someone with enough magic can say whatever e wants!' Now to begin class. Everyone gets hurt at some point in their lives, so it's a good idea to learn how to Heal yourself. Now keep in mind, this spell only works with minor injuries and ailments, for more serious things…"

-October 4th, Friday-

That afternoon, I was looking though my White magic book when Manuel entered the room and announced, "I-I did it."

I sat up and asked, "Did what?"

"I…I applied for treasurer."

"You don't sound so sure of yourself."

Manuel closed the door and sat on his bed. He confessed, "I-I'm pretty nervous about this. I-I'm not so sure I can do this."

"Then why did you apply?"

"Because…I…" Manuel words became mumbles.

"What?"

"I-I want to be somebody here. I've never been anything other than 'that boy with the ears and tail' to everyone. I want to be noticed, Adrian."

"I notice you, Manuel."

"That's because we share the same room." Manuel's face scrunched up. "Be honest with me: if we weren't roommates, would I be someone other than a freshman with wolf ears and a tail to you?"

I did not know how to answer that. Honestly, I probably would have just known him as someone with ears and a tail, just because he stood out that way. I don't think I would have been able to approach him for fear of being unintentionally rude.

Manuel took my silence as an answer. "I thought so. That's why I'm running for treasurer."

"Well, do you need any help?" I offered.

"I don't know; I'll be receiving further instructions from Professor Grabiner on Monday."

"Wally and I will do what we can to support you."

Manuel's face eased up and he said, "Thank you."

"Who will do what now?" A familiar voice asked.

Wally—wait, he's wearing the top hat, so he's Carlyle. Carlyle stood at the door and stared at us.

"Manuel's running for treasurer," I explained, "and I said we would support him."

"I am fine with supporting our friend and roommate, but what is my name?"

"Carlyle."

"Very good." He focused his attention to Manuel and said, "Manuel."

"Yes?" He asked.

"It is good to see you stepping up to do something. I will most certainly help out if I can."

"You guys…" It looked like Manuel was about to cry. "Thank you…so much."

-October 5th, Saturday-

Once more, we went to the mall together. I've noticed that Wally always assumed the persona of Louis whenever we went, and he always ate something at the pastry shop. Manuel and I had no particular schedule; we just went wherever we felt like going.

When we returned, we found that there was a box left in front of our door.

"Now what do we have here?" Louis asked. "It can't be the mail, since it was already delivered this morning."

He approached the box and examined it. He looked at me and said, "It has your name on it."

"Mine?"

I also examined the box. Taped to the top was a white card and written in cursive and purple ink was my name.

(Who would send me something?)

"Purple ink. I wonder if a girl sent this to me?" I mused.

"Well, what's inside?" Manuel asked.

"Only one way to find out."

I carefully opened the folds of the box to reveal a—.

"Pie!" Louis suddenly exclaimed.

Sure enough, there was a pie in the box. I took a whiff: apple. I reported this fact to my roommates.

"You think it's poisoned?" I also asked.

"Poisoned?" Louis asked incredulously. "Why would someone want to poison you?"

"Why would someone send me a whole pie?"

"Secret admirer, maybe?"

(Secret admirer? It could be from Damien…but it seemed like he wanted nothing to do with me anymore. It could be from Mary. Does she like me?)

Just in case, I did a quick Inspection spell. Snippets of information flew through my mind: fresh apples, milk, sugar, eggs, and other such ingredients, but no poison. I announced, "Not poisoned. We might as well eat it."

"We could borrow some forks and knives from the cafeteria." Manuel suggested.

"To the cafeteria!" Louis shouted and ran off.

Manuel and I shrugged and we ran after him.

-October 8th, Tuesday-

Yesterday, Manuel had received posters and badges from the school, at the cost of some of his pocket money. Today, Meese and I walked around the buildings with Manuel to help put up posters and pass out badges to everyone we met. Along the way, we saw other people doing the same thing. We also saw who else was running for what: Mary Sue for president, Minnie Cochran for president, Jacob Blaising for treasurer, and Suki Sato for president.

"It looks like you only have one opponent, Manuel." Meese noted.

"Jacob Blaising…" Manuel muttered. "I think he's a Falcon."

"Falcon, hm? I have the feeling he's going to charm his way to the position of treasurer."

"I-I don't have charm."

"And I don't think you need it." I gave my two cents. "Anyone who's voting for people just for charm are idiots. Good leaders need to have good character, and you definitely have that, Manuel."

"Thanks…"

Once we ran out of posters and badges, Manuel told us, "Tomorrow afternoon there will be campaigning. Can you help me out then, too?"

"Of course." I nodded.

"You never had to ask." Meese said.

-October 9th, Wednesday-

Chaos. That was the only word to describe that afternoon.

Tables were set up in the front courtyard, and I think the whole school was present. Not only were there elections for the freshmen class, but all the other grades as well. Signs were held up, people were shouting, and some students even used magic in various ways to get attention.

"For someone dependable and kind, vote Minnie Cochran for freshman president!"

"Jacob Blaising for freshmen treasurer; he knows how to handle money!"

"Suki for freshmen president; it has been foretold!"

"There's no better student for freshmen president than Mary Sue!"

Near the middle of it all, we felt swamped. Manuel, it seemed, had a case of stage fright, and he would not speak up. With so many people around, I felt like hiding in a corner like a scared dog. Hattingway, on the other hand, was doing his best to bring attention to his roommate, but in vain. He shouted, but his voice was lost among the other callers.

Manuel laid his head on his table and sighed, "No one's noticing me."

"Some people are doing magic light shows." I noted. "I guess we could use magic as well, but how?"

"I can't think of any spells to use." Hattingway admitted. "However, there's more to attention getting than shouting and magic. Look," he pointed towards Mary's table, "Mary's singing and dancing."

True enough, Mary was singing and dancing in front of her table. It was energetic, but awkward. Nevertheless, people were staring at her as she sang over and over, "Come on people, you know what to do: come on over and vote for Mary Sue!"

"I am not singing or dancing in front of anyone." Manuel groaned.

"None of us are." I made my opinion known.

"Well then..." Hattingway pondered for a few seconds, then shouted, "Aha!"

Manuel lifted his head up. "What is it?"

"Two words: human tower!"

I gaped. "No way. I don't have the arm strength to do that."

"We can do it if we use the Boost Strength spell. You know it, don't you Adrian?"

"Yes…"

"Then we can each cast the spell on ourselves and then lift Manuel up. Heck, we can even toss him up for extra flair!"

"Don't throw me in the air!" Manuel looked horrified.

"I'm kidding about that part, Manuel. Anyway, this will be a good way to get attention. You up for it?"

"Just as long as you don't drop or throw me…"

"I'll give it a try." I shrugged.

"Okay! Get on the table; we can get more height this way."

We all climbed on top of the table, hoping it wouldn't break under our weight. I channeled energy from my core to my arm and leg muscles. I could feel the magic reinforce and strengthen them. Hattingway and I cupped our hands and crouched down. Manuel carefully placed a foot in each pair of hands. At Hattingway's count to three, we hoisted Manuel up.

"Careful! Careful!" Manuel panicked.

"We got you, we got you." Hattingway reassured him.

Though we had the strength, we did not necessarily have the balance. Our hands couldn't help but wobble some, and poor Manuel worked to maintain his balance. I turned my head and saw that some people were finally taking notice of us. With nothing else to say, I said, "Manuel Arias for freshmen class treasurer!"

Hattingway joined in, "He is kind! He is understanding! He (steady there, Adrian) is what this school needs!"

"For someone you can truly rely on, vo-whoa-whoa—!"

I could feel my muscles weaken to their default state. The spell was wearing off. I could tell that the same thing was happening to Hattingway. Our hands trembled and our legs buckled. Manuel slowly swayed and, in an attempt to not fall, he suddenly jumped forward. As we collapsed on top of the table, he landed on the ground on his hands and feet. He slowly stood up and we saw that all attention was on him.

"P-please vote." Manuel said meekly.

We returned to our room later that day, tired and a little humiliated.

"That could have gone better." Hattingway sighed.

"Why does Boost Strength have to be so temporary?" I questioned out loud.

Manuel lowered his head and said, "Thanks for trying guys, but I don't know if I will get the position. I saw Jacob's table, and he was giving away cupcakes."

"It's not over yet." I tried to be positive. "When is the actual voting?"

"Friday…and I have to give a speech."

"A speech?"

"Do you know what to say?" Hattingway asked.

"N-not really. I mean, I have an idea, but I don't know how to say it."

"Well, you have tomorrow to think about it."

"Y-yeah. Actually, I think I'll start tonight."

So while Hattingway and I went to bed, Manuel stayed up for who knows how long to work on his speech.

Next time, speech and election results.