The next couple of months were a blurry mass of oblivion. The days were darker and colder, emotions were at an all time high. Things were steady changing while everyone waited for the pending drop.
The weeks seemed to blend together for Ronnie. She was still processing the coming of age chapters in her life.
When Ronnie decided to run against Lisa for class president, she didn't feel too hopeful about the whole thing. She had Lisa and her ego to run against, as well as the teachers and students. But much to her surprise, Ronnie had found that much of the seniors class resented Lisa and her supercilious attitude toward them and got firmly behind Ronnie instead. And it didn't hurt that Ronnie had unwittingly won admirers in Joey, Vincent, Lamar, and Juan with her artistry during their stay at Camp Vacamas.
Another good thing about running for class president, was that it was helping Micah come out of his shell. He took his job seriously, making the t-shirts and posters himself personally, and when speaking to the other students about the concerns of the school, Ronnie noticed that he spoke with a passion that she'd never heard him speak with before. He too was rewarded with a new network of friends that he'd never experience.
When it was time to give her speech, Ronnie was nervous at first. What could she possibly say to the students that would convince that she was the right person for class president?
Then she remembered that she was Veronica Michelle Peyroux, daughter of Claudine Peyroux and Estaban de los Santos, musicians, poet, activists. It was their own intertwined blood that resided in her very veins; She was a poet, an activist in the making, born to speak her like her parents before her. So with that, she stepped up to that podium confidently and poured her heart out on that stage, injecting a bit of humor in it as well. Ronnie's speech was met with tumultuous applause, the only exceptions being Ellie, Joanie, Marilyn, and Sandra, who sat rigidly in their seats, wearing matching looks of disdain. But Ronnie expected this; She was running against their best friend.
Ronnie won in a landslide victory, though she barely got time to enjoy the victory as she immediately jumped into planning and overseeing the upcoming events for the City As; She had arranged a school bake sale for fundraising to add new activities to the cirriculum, she advocated for better lunches and updated textbooks, and arranged for a school dance. While not performing class president duties, she was working extra hard on school and homework and still working at the homeless shelter afterschool. She barely had time to herself anymore.
Meanwhile, after two years of absence, Estaban returned into her and Claudine's life. The great jazz legend Miles Davis had passed away toward the end of September. Both Claudine and Esteban had repeatedly cited Miles as influences throughout their careers and felt inclined to attend his funeral. After the funeral, Esteban explained to both Claudine and Ronnie that he had been a fool, walking out on the both of them, saying that partners helped each other instead of abandoning them. Ronnie was at a lost for words, but she hugged him for a long time, partly to make sure it was real, and that Esteban wouldn't leave again.
It was on the cusp of midnight. The autumn breeze caressed the multicolored leaves of the trees before wafting into Ronnie's open window, causing the curtains to flutter. She was sitting at her desk, admiring the quarter moon, her gazed fixated on it. She wished Mark was next to her, admiring it with her. Mark was thousand of miles away, though he always had time to be in her mind, in her dreams.
Ronnie had taken to getting her own phone line, that way she wouldn't tie up the main telephone. She hadn't seen Mark in nearly two months, and it was driving her crazy. She had taken to watching wrestling again just to see him, though on T.V. he wasn't her Mark with the warm baritone voice and genial smile, he was the stoic gothic Undertaker with his cold, unflinching stare and equally cold voice. Though, when he got on the phone with her, he was big teddy bear Mark again.
Ronnie opened her notepad and picked up a pen. Immediately, the words left her mind and flowed through her pen onto the notebook.
M is for the mesmeric optic spell you capture me in
A is for the ambient feeling of your arms wrapped around my waist
R is for the red ardent flames that grace your locks of hair
K is for knockout, because your love makes me punch drunk
And then it happened. A strong sea of nausea crashed over Ronnie like a tidal wave. She ran to the bathroom and threw up magnificently into the toilet. She tried to keep quiet, but she might as well have tried to fight the air for that matter. Moaning weakly, she leaned against the wall, wiping sweat from her brow. She hoped that her parents hadn't heard.
The nausea and vomiting had become a frequent thing. Ronnie initially had dismissed it, thinking it was from nerves of running for class president. But after she'd won, nausea and vomiting persisted. She had put off going to the doctor for a while, but the constant vomiting was scaring the hell out of her, as she didn't know what was causing it. Until then, she rinsed her mouth out with Scope and climbed back into bed.