Morals Aside

Date: October 2004

Disclaimer: All belongs to Kate Andrews except for Delilah Morgan.

"I am not going to apologize to her. Why should I?" Carrie crossed her arms across her chest stubbornly in Homeroom the next day. Sam turned to her, "Look, you said very hurtful things about her shots. How would you feel if I said your articles lack content and are dead dull?"

"How dare you!" Carrie glared at him.

Sam rolled his eyes. "I meant that hypothetically, you nitwit."

Carrie looked at Delilah over by the corner window. "Fine," she mumbled. "I'll say something. But I don't see why I should apologize. It was her fault to begin with."

Sam sighed. He reckoned that was better than nothing. Delilah helped improved his speech a lot the day before. Sam didn't realise his speech contained many loopholes that Amy, as an opponent could use to attack his arguments. Even though all three friends agreed yesterday that Amy Anderson couldn't recognize a loophole even if it was dancing right in front of her, they decided not to take the risk.

After class, Sam gave Carrie a look that said she had better talk to Delilah otherwise he would do it for her. Carrie grumbled further but approached Delilah nevertheless. "What's going on?" Sky asked when she saw Carrie and Delilah together at the corner of the class.

"Come on, Sky." Sam pulled her by the elbow. "Let's get to Math."

By the hall, Sam bumped into Amy as she emerged out of the girls' washroom. "Watch it, geek." She smoothed the sleeves of her shirt. "This is silk. You crumple it, you bought it."

"Now we know where you get that hideous skirt from then." Sky gave Amy's white skirt a dirty look.

"It's pleated, you bohemian freak." Amy gave Sky's long brown skirt and tied dyed T-shirt a quick glance. "Better than I can say for your monstrosity."

"Oooh, big word there." Sky said. "Don't stress your puny brain, Amy. Lord knows you might need it to remember your way to the mall."

Sam nudged Sky's elbow. "Come on, let's go."

Amy stood in front of Sam before he could walk off. "Don't even think about winning the election, Sam Wells." She crossed her over her chest. "You were lucky in middle school, but you won't be so lucky now. Know your place."

Sam couldn't suppress his anger any longer. "Can you guarantee that?" He glared at Amy. "Consider your territory invaded." He was never the sort of the person who would engage in a paltry argument but this time, Amy had gone too far.

He couldn't concentrate at all during Math. All he could think about was his strategies to beat Amy Anderson and shut her up for good. Instead of working on his Math problems, he was thinking of more ways to improve the school that would eventually benefit the entire student body.

Sam and Jordan went to their locker to put their heavy Geography books away before meeting the girls for lunch. "Come on, bro. Get a move on." Jordan leaned against the locker next to Sam's. "I'm starving, man."

Sam looked around the empty hall. "You go on ahead. I need to ask Delilah something about my speech." He turned to find Jordan narrowed his eyes at him. "What?" He took out his skateboard and played around with it.

"What makes you think she's going to come here now?" Jordan said while watching Sam twisted around with his skateboard. "She could have gone for lunch. Like what we're supposed to do right now."

"Don't you know?" Sam moved his skateboard from side to side. "She had American History before this. How many textbooks do you need for that lesson?"

"Three, one for reference and two others for the actual lesson itself. Wait," Jordan held up his hand. "How do you know she had American History?"

"I erm…" Sam stammered. "I just know. Look," he got down from his skateboard and nodded toward the end of the hall where Delilah was seen walking towards them lugging three enormous books in her arms. "There she is right there."

Jordan stood straight. "Make this quick, bro. I am in major need for a good Sloppy Joe now."

"Hi guys," Delilah handed Jordan three fat textbooks. "Help me with these while I try to open my locker, will you?"

Jordan took the books and nearly fell forward with all their weight. "How the hell did you manage to carry these all the way here?"

Delilah gave him a small smile. "Jordan, you're so weak."

"So… I saw you talked to Carrie just now," Sam said.

Delilah looked at him. "So?"

Sam shrugged. "So?"

Delilah opened her locker. "She just said that she didn't mean what she said about my photographs."

"That's great, right?" Jordan said. He struggled to keep the books in his arms.

"Yeah, it's great. Until she also mentioned that she was put up to talking to me because you forced her to." She looked at Sam.

"I didn't… I mean, I did. But it's only because she shouldn't have said that about your photographs." Sam said.

Delilah smiled. "S'alright," She removed a book from Jordan's arms. "I understand. Thanks anyway. We're cool now, if you must know."

"Amen to that." Jordan said. He handed Delilah the remaining books.

"Delilah," Sam said. "I need your help with something."

"What's up?" Delilah asked.

"It's," Sam looked at Jordan. "This may take awhile, bro. You're hungry, you should go ahead first."

Jordan shrugged. "Alright then. Want me to save a sloppy for you?"

Sam shook his head. "Maybe next time, I'm not that hungry."

"Boy," Delilah said when Jordan had gone off. "This must be big if you're losing appetite over it." She took her lunch bag from her locker and slammed it shut.

"Come on," she said. "Share my lunch with me. You have to eat something."

Sam thought the idea of sharing lunch with Delilah was surprisingly uncomfortable but he agreed anyway since she offered. They sat at a bench outside the science building. "What was it you wanted to ask?" Delilah removed her lunch box from her bag. "Sushi," she said when she opened the box revealing neat rolls of wrapped rice balls in seaweed. She frowned, "I never liked these. Here, you can have them." She handed Sam a pair of chopsticks.

Sam took the chopsticks and picked on one roll. "I need you to spy on Amy for me."

Delilah stared at him. "Are you for real? That's not very diplomatic, don't you think?"

"This is not an issue of diplomacy anymore." Sam dropped the sushi back into the box. "I cannot allow Amy to be President. Can you?"

Delilah studied Sam's determined face. "You're right." She leaned forward towards him. "What do you want me to do?"