"Good morning Institute of War! I'm Janna Windforce and this is the Homeroom Morning Announcements!" The bubbly blonde in the blue blazer cheerfully smiled into each room from the closed-circuit television network running through the school. Her long hair was pulled back in a professional ponytail and she wore a special pair of wireframe glasses to complete the look. Anyone who knew Janna could tell you she was usually very calm, but as soon as she was on camera she took on a completely different persona.
"It is a wonderful day to start the school year on and I know you're all just going to have a great year. Let's kick things off with some student news shall we? Our top story: Who will be the new student council president? A new year means a new vote for the most coveted position within the extracurricular student government. If you think you, or someone you know, should be on the ballot, then know that all nominations must be placed with counselor Shen before the end of the day. All candidates need a running mate for vice president as well. Elections will be held on Friday morning during homeroom and will be announced at the end of the day. We will keep you updated as the news develops.
"Moving on to our next story, all club activity will be suspended until after the student government has been formed. But does that mean you should ignore them? Getting together with a teacher to sponsor your club early will make the process easier come next week, when all clubs must be approved by the student council.
"Finally a tip to all the new students: please do not go wandering around in the forest behind the school. If anyone tells you there are giant lizards or stone golems out there, don't believe them. You may end up lost. Or worse, eaten by the dragon. Hahaha!" Such a phoney laugh.
"Next we'll turn it over to Karma with her report on school uniforms. What will you wear? Stylish remake or traditional outfit? Karma goes over the fashion do's and don'ts for accessorizing your uniform to be uniquely you. But first, the weather!"
The students at the Institute of War are allowed a great deal of freedom with their school uniforms, despite the vice principal's wishes. The basic uniform is as follows: male students were to wear a white short or long sleeve buttoned shirt, navy blue or royal purple slacks and black shoes. The option of a jacket or vest matching the color of their slacks and/or a tie may also be worn.
For the female students the basic uniform consisted of: white short or long sleeve buttoned shirt, navy blue or royal purple plaid skirt and black shoes. Likewise, they are also allowed the option of vest, jacket or tie.
That said, many of the students chose to customize their uniforms. For example, of the Demacian students sitting together in the cafeteria for lunch, each wore their uniform differently. Jarvan Lightshield IV wore his more like a suit, his navy blue jacket buttoned and his tie affixed to his shirt with a gold tie clip with Demacia's crest; two winged lions crossing swords over a shield. His tie clip matched his cufflinks and really gave him an air of importance. Despite his clean look, he let his wavy black hair grow long, just passed his shoulders.
In contrast, the Crownguard siblings Garen and Luxanna sitting across from him wore their uniforms closer to standard. Keeping with the blue many Demacian students chose to wear, Garen wore the short sleeve shirt but with a matching blue scarf. Similarly his sister wore the short sleeve shirt, but with a large ribbon bow on the front. While Garen stood taller than his sister and had short, cropped brown hair compared to her long, silky blonde hair, they both shared the same bright blue eyes.
Sitting next to Jarvan was a girl with a long red braided ponytail and sharp eyes that shot over to catch a glimpse of the man whenever he wasn't looking. Shyvana wore the long sleeve shirt with a vest over it. She wore long white socks up to her thighs, right up to her skirt line. The flesh between sock and skirt tended to expose itself more often when Jarvan was around, not that he'd ever noticed.
Rounding out the crew, leaning forward in his flipped around chair, Xin Zhao brought the most casual look to the Demacian clique. He wore the long sleeve shirt, thought he rolled up the sleeves and neglected to button the top two buttons of his shirt, exposing his white undershirt. Being of Ionan decent he wore is long black hair in a top knot, tied at the top of his head and bound again half way down his back.
"You should totally run for class president J4! I mean it only makes sense," the blonde girl continued excitedly. "You're a shoe in. Everyone knows your dad is the president of Demacia, so it's in your blood. Who else is more qualified?"
"Presidency isn't hereditary Lux," Garen answered for his best friend, knowing well enough what his response would be and earning himself a punch in the upper arm from his sister.
"Not the point. I still think you'd make a great student council president," she continued.
"I simply have no interest in it Lux. I do not intend to cast my father's same shadow," Jarvan replied.
"Awww, it could have been fun. Then Garen could be vice president and I could get away with anything I wanted," the girl disappointingly shrunk into her seat.
"As if!" Garen nearly knocked over his milk tumultuously. "First of all, I wouldn't want to run for vice president anyway, no offense J4," he said, raising his drink in respect. "Secondly, I wouldn't let you get away with squat! The way you torment me I'd have the student disciplinary committee lock you up in detention faster then you can say Demacia!"
Lux harshly stuck her tongue out at her brother and there was a tense silence at the table brought on by the two. It wasn't uncommon, the sibling rivalry had existed since the two of them could remember. Nothing got under Garen's skin quite like his sister. The others in the group wondered why they bothered hanging out with each other, but having no siblings of their own it was something they simply couldn't understand.
"I heard Darius was going to run," Xin offhandedly broke the tension. Jarvan paused for just a second, a napkin in hand wiping his mouth as he heard the words. In a swift action he threw the napkin onto his tray and stood, dragging Xin up by his arm.
"You're my vice president. Let's go," he ordered as he marched his way to the counselor's office.
"I'm coming with!" Shyvana hastily grabbed her's and Jarvan's trays to clean up after them as she raced to catch up.
Darius was balancing a text book on his forehead while kicking his feet out in a little dance on the grass. He and his friends had taken lunch period outside to get away from the crowds. Darius had thrown his purple jacket aside as he tried preformed his balancing act. The other Noxians with him chose to wear the royal purple uniforms as well. Darius was the largest one there, his physique muscular and intimidating. He wore his dark brown hair slicked back to a point.
"Nice move," one of them complimented in a deep, gravely voice. Darius launched the book up with a fling of his head and caught it as he stood back upright.
"Thanks bro," he said, surprised to have gotten any praise at all from his brother.
"Not you, Draven was talking to the man in the mirror." Sure enough, Draven was staring into a hand mirror, running his other hand through his hair and then pointing at his reflection with a grin. Draven wore his short sleeve shirt untucked and unbuttoned. If he hadn't already gotten in trouble for it on more than one occasion in previous years, he wouldn't be wearing an undershirt at all. But apparently that was just too much Draven for some people to handle.
Draven had enough product in his hair to cause it to stand straight up, though his hair was shorter on top than the ponytail draped over his shoulder. After his hand ran through his hair one more time it found it's way to caressing a budding pencil thin mustache. Draven's pride and joy.
A scoff came from under a tree as Katarina regretted turning her gaze from her tablet up to the two when she heard talking. The redhead had taken some liberties tailoring her jacket to only extend half way down her torso. She then tied her shirt together at the base to expose her navel and turn some heads as she walked the halls. She wore black leggings under her skirt to ensure all attention was drawn to her well toned core.
To keep the grass stains off her skirt she was using Talon's jacket as a blanket. Against his wishes, of course, not that his wishes meant anything to the Du Couteau girl. Had it not been for her father he likely wouldn't be attending the school, hence why he was often subjected to being her lackey. He wore a gray hooded sweatshirt which he now pulled up to his waist as he hung upside down from the tree above Katarina. With his free hand he checked in on various social media sites with his mobile phone, pausing only to peek at Katarina's screen. She hadn't looked at his text message yet, which made him frown. But she also hadn't beat his high score in the game she was playing, which brought back a satisfied grin.
Darius went back to trying to entertain himself as Katarina finally got around to reading Talon's text. She looked up at him confused and simply asked, "You want to run for class president?"
"I was just wondering what you'd think," he clarified, trying to play it cool.
"No one would vote for you. You're too..." She searched for the right word. "Quiet," was her choice. "Darius could probably win though if he ran."
"No," Darius tersely rejected.
"I wasn't saying you should," Katarina barked back defensively. "Just saying that if you did you'd have a better chance of winning."
"I could easily win. I just don't want to."
"I was just saying-" she began, her voice raising to a shout before Talon cut her off.
"Jarvan's running. Janna posted it on her news feed."
Darius grabbed the book balancing on his forehead and looked at the others. They were staring at him expectantly. Waiting. Instead of trying to argue or fight, he simply pondered for a moment. After he came to a conclusion he pointed at Draven and said "I hate you the least. You're my running mate."
"Alright, Draven's making an exit."
As the brothers ran off, Talon flipped down from the tree with some grace. Nailed it he thought to himself. He figured this was as good an opportunity as ever and nonchalantly leaned against the tree. "Soooo... Kat. How about-"
"Shut up. You're not allowed to talk until I've beaten your high score." Katarina stood and started heading back inside, her eyes still glued to the tablet. And just like that, opportunity gone. Talon sighed to himself and bent over to pick up his jacket, frowning at the grass stains. With a dispassionate shrug he threw the jacket over his shoulders and followed the gang back inside, updating his status on his phone.
The next three days were a vicious power struggle between the Demacian and Noxian candidates. When Darius promised to return all the previous popular clubs, Jarvan rebutted by saying he'd approve all club applications. When Darius questioned where in the student budget they'd be able to afford every club, Jarvan promised a sizable donation from the president of Demacia.
After a day of exaggerated and unlikely promises, the slander had begun. Rumors made their way from lips to texts telling of Jarvan's plan to raise lunch prices. Rumors of Darius already approving of a 'League of Draven' club. Rumors that the Demacian was only running so his father could pull the strings on the inside. Rumors that Darius's campaign was secretly being run by Swain to ensure a Noxus victory.
Finally the last day brought direct conflict. Who could eat the most burned hotdogs at lunch? Who could lift more weights than the other? Who would win in a one on one basketball game? Vice principal Volibear had to break up the arm wrestling contest in the boy's dorm at lights out and scatter the students to their rooms.
Friday morning the ballots were in and the vote was cast. All that was left was the waiting. Each one knowing it was still up in the air. Though neither one would admit it, they were nervous. Having underestimated their opponent, they were now truly seeing just how formidable they were. As they day came to a close, they found themselves each back in their respective homerooms to watch the results.
"This is Janna Windforce reporting live on Campus Campaign Coverage! The long awaited moment is here. The votes have been tallied and the results are in. We are joined now by counselor Shen, who has the final count. Take it away Shen."
"Understood," the Ionian man said in a dusky voice. The camera panned over to the counselor who had donned a blazer of his own, clearly caught up in Janna's news theatrics. "After receiving all ballots, there is no dispute. With honor, I announce the new student council president is..."
A dramatic pause gripped the entire school in a single moment. Was Jarvan's wild promises enough to earn him the victory? Or had Darius's hardball game changed hearts and minds in his favor?
This was it. The moment of truth. The final blow in this age old conflict.
The counselor cleared his throat before delivering the verdict. This was another cue from Janna, just a little something to spice up the news a bit. After Shen felt the drama was at it's climax, he quickly and flatly blurted out the winner. "Ashe. Congratulations."
Ashe sat behind the large desk in the student council's office, her back to the orange sky of a setting sun. Her long white hair seemed to glow in the evening light. She fiddled with the pin on her blue vest. She liked the way it gleamed when she spun in her chair look out the window. The pin was her symbol of presidency.
She turned back around and closed her laptop. Frowning as she surveyed the room, she reached into her bag and pulled a hard plastic case out. She didn't like what was inside, but she knew she needed it. Opening the case, she pulled out a pair of thick framed glasses and slid them over her ears and onto her nose.
Surveying the room she saw her boyfriend slash vice president Tryndamere moving the last of the chairs. He wore a blue vest like her, but he had ripped the sleeves off his buttoned shirt to reveal muscular arms. Ashe wondered what he saw in a nerdy girl like her, but being able to see his strong arms almost made wearing the glasses worth it. Almost.
A long table had been placed in the middle of the room, perpendicular to her desk, with chairs lining it. To the left side of the room were some file cabinets that she had already gone through and organized a system. She'd planned to make physical copies of all the records she'd get, as a backup. On the wall to her right was a white board she had just finished cleaning. It looked brand new, just how she liked it.
"So, tell me again, how'd you know we'd win?" Tryndamere asked as he placed the last chair at the table.
"It's simple really. You chose your target, wait for the right moment, then strike with power and precision. I calculated everyone's alliances and used it to my advantage. I had to pick my targets carefully, two people who had more than political differences between them. I planted the rumor with Xin Zhao that Darius would be running knowing he'd pass it on to Jarvan. Jarvan would then enter the election and Janna's up to the minute news feed would flag Darius into the running through Talon, social media junkie. No one else would bother to enter against such titanic personalities, but neither truly wanted to win the office, they just wanted to win the competition.
"Once they were off making making this a popularity contest, I hit all the swing voters. The Ionian students, Piltover, Zaun and Bilgewater. While the popularity contest was taking attention off of me, I started to quietly spread the word. One school, one people, one Institute."
"So you're saying," Tryndamere rubbed his stubbly chin as he pieced it all together, "you started a fight between Jarvan and Darius so you could base your campaign on uniting the school and preventing these kinds of fights?"
"Don't say it like that! You make me sound so sinister. I was just uniting the strongest force. In the end, they only competed with half the votes, while I took the other half undivided." She had to admit to herself, it was a little sinister. But now she was here, and she was ready to make a change.
"What did you think of the election?" the old principal asked his larger colleague. Vice principal Volibear was stirring milk into his coffee as he stirred the thoughts around in his mind.
"I'm actually quite impressed with the way the Avarosan managed to seize power. But now we'll see if she deserves to keep it."
"No need to be so dramatic, Ursine." Labeling Volibear by his tribe's name was a risky gambit on Zilean's part. It usually brought up the unpleasantness between the two and broke whatever amount of tolerance they'd managed to build towards each other. "This isn't the civil war anymore. It's just a silly little high school election."
"If that's the case, you can stop bothering me with silly little questions. I've got work to do. If no one else is going to keep things together here, it may as well be me." The massive man stormed out of the teacher's lounge and the old man cocked a grin. He couldn't help but feel pleased with himself. Any victory, however small, he would take.