Author's Note: Hey guys! Sorry it took so long for me to update (almost two months... :()! As you can see, I'm still working on the story and doing my best to get everything updated as soon as I can. :) This chapter was a little harder to write than everything so far - I hope you all like how it went! Thank you so much for your support, and I hope you enjoy this chapter. Also, sorry for the abrupt ending, this chapter sort of comes in two parts (I'm working on the second one now).
I found myself on Wednesday morning feeling somewhat prepared. Luckily for me, Tenten and Hinata came over to help me write my speech the night before, so I didn't feel completely alone when I was getting ready. Even Ino stopped by for moral support (and to tell me that Shikamaru had opted to drop out of the election).
"This looks good," Ino said, when I handed her my notes for the speech. "It's going to sound way smarter than Ami's speech." Ami was smart, but her writing was terrible, and I didn't expect her speeches to be any better. It was just the fact that she was popular that gave her an advantage over me.
"Thanks," I said, sipping the coffee I had made in preparation for the long night ahead of me. "It's pretty simple - there's not a lot that I have to say so far." I would have to think of something good, I thought.
"We'll think of some ideas," Tenten said. I was happy to see that she had kept her hair down like I told her to. "You're going to win this." I wondered if part of the reason why she wanted me to win the position was so that she would have more influence over the school.
Hinata nodded. "It's going to be great, Sakura."
"I have to go now," Ino said, "I'm still getting ready for my Christmas party on Friday. Oh, I forgot! You guys are invited too!" She added to Hinata and Tenten.
"Thanks Ino," Hinata said pleasantly. Tenten only nodded.
Once she was gone, I continued to write on my notecards, until I felt like everything I had to say was on them. "How does this look?" I handed the cards to Tenten, who looked them over.
"Good," she said, "just remember not to talk too fast."
It was already eleven o' clock by then, and I said goodbye to my friends, resolving not to go to bed until I was completely sure of what I wanted to say. I had changed a lot, sure, but I was still a perfectionist.
The next day, I woke up earlier than usual to dress up for my speech. If I was going down, I thought, at least I would look good doing it. Surprisingly, I didn't feel tired. I think I was so focused on what I was going to do that the lack of sleep I had gotten wasn't affecting me yet. For school, I wore a black pencil skirt with a simple white blouse on top. To complete my outfit, I settled for a black blazer and matching peep toe shoes. I tied my hair back so I looked professional.
"Don't you look nice," my mom said before I left.
"Thanks," I said. "Do you think this is too much?"
"I think it's fine," she replied, sipping her coffee. I had always appreciated her advice on what I was wearing.
When I got to school, I was happy to see that Hinata had just gotten to school too - she was giving Naruto a ride that morning.
"Sakura!" Naruto called.
I walked faster to catch up to them - they had been walking into the building when I got there. "Hey guys," I said.
"You look good, Sakura," complimented Hinata. "Very professional."
"I'm definitely voting for you!" Naruto said.
I grinned. "Wait until you hear my speech - Hinata totally helped me write it."
Hinata shook her head. "I didn't do that much."
Instead of first and second period, the whole school flooded into the auditorium to watch the debate between Ami and me. I made my way to the front of the stage, making sure that I still had my notecards in my bag.
"Sakura," Tsunade was standing beside Sasuke, who was dressed in a suit (all of the student council officers were dressed up, actually). It made him look great, actually. I wasn't surprised to see a few hopeful underclassmen staring at him from their seats. "Good, you're here."
"Are you ready?" Sasuke asked me when Tsunade walked away to make sure everything was ready. As President, he had stayed out of my speech-making process.
"As ready as I'll ever be," I responded. There were still students coming into the auditorium - I didn't feel nervous yet though, which was good.
"Sasuke!" A girl's voice said from behind us. I looked to see that Ami had arrived, wearing a black and white dress with pumps. Her long blonde hair was curled and down. She looked more like she was going out than making a speech. "What's up?" She completely ignored me, not that I was expecting anything different from a friend of Karin's.
Sasuke shrugged. "I have to be here," he said, and explained the thing about the officers having to show up dressed up.
I watched as Ami tried (unsuccessfully) to flirt with him. Did she have any shame? He had been dating her best friend only a few weeks ago. Finally, Sasuke made an excuse to go somewhere else ("I think Tsunade wants me to check on something..."). I wished he hadn't, I liked having him there with me.
"So, freak." Ami sneered at me. "Are you ready to lose?"
"As ready as I'll ever be," I smiled at her, which only seemed to make her fume.
"Good morning everyone," I looked up to see Tsunade at the podium at the center of the stage, "If everyone will please move to their seats now, we can get this started." She didn't seem thrilled to be having such a big last-minute event the week before winter break. I didn't blame her - it wasn't like I asked to talk in front of the whole school. But it wasn't like I had resigned all together either. "That means you too, Inuzuka!" Kiba, who had been talking loudly to his friends in the aisle, grumbled and went to sit down.
"Now," Tsunade continued, "we're going to start the debates for the position of Vice President of the student body. The Vice President, as all of you should know by now because I've been saying it over and over on the announcements for the past week, is in charge of helping the President, fills in the place of the President if they are unable to attend a meeting or steps down permanently, and is co-head of the Prom Committee." It suddenly dawned on me that that might be the reason that Ami wanted the position. "Once you have heard the speeches of the candidates, we will have a period where you can ask any questions that you want. Keep in mind that the questions must be school-appropriate, and must relate to the position that they are running for. If not, you could face serious consequences." Tsunade didn't mess around.
"If the first candidate will please come up to the podium please," Tsunade looked at the paper she was clearly reading from, "Ami Watanabe." We had flipped a coin with Sasuke to determine who had to go first before he left (a strange tradition that had been present ever since the school was brand new) - I was glad to go last, it would keep my speech fresh in everyone's minds.
As Ami sauntered up to the stage, I wondered how many people would vote for her because she was the only person they knew - as Karin's rumor-starting schemes had showed, I was pretty much unknown to most of the school.
"Hey everyone," Ami said, "most of you know me - I'm Ami Watanabe. If I get this position, I will do my best to help out our dear President, Sasuke Uchiha." She smiled at Sasuke, who was sitting on the side of the stage with Tsunade and the other officers. "I will also use all of the power I have to make sure we have the best prom in school history. Oh, and better food in the cafeteria." She ended her short speech with a smile. It was obvious that she thought she didn't have to do much to get the position. She got a lot of applause too.
"Okay," Tsunade said, "now it's time for questions. Anyone?"
The question process went like this - one unlucky nerd in the AV Club (this year it was Shino) walked around with a wireless microphone in the audience and found anyone who raised their hands to ask a question. This could take awhile, depending on who was answering the questions (during Sasuke's debate, Tsunade had to put a stop to it after half an hour because a lot of girls had been taking advantage of it just to say that Sasuke talked to them).
The first person to ask a question was Tenten, who had been sitting near the front. "So tell me, Ms. Watanabe," she said curtly, "what would you say are the most important parts of high school?"
"That's a hard one," Ami said, sarcastically enough to be condescending, but jokingly enough for not everyone to be able to tell that she actually hated Tenten. "Let's see... I would say the football team - any sports in general, actually, the cheerleaders, and prom." There was a cheer from the athletic-type people and the cheerleaders, of course.
I could see Tenten rolling her eyes from where I was standing next to the stage.
There were a few more questions, but most of them were from Ami's friends, and underclassmen that didn't know any better. Ami answered them like I expected - confident, and sometimes a little dismissively (to the underclassmen). I watched poor Shino hurry around to get the microphone to everyone who had a question.
There was a lot of applause when Ami left the stage - I watched as she curtsied and left (were you even supposed to do that?), and prepared to take my walk up to the stage.
"And now for our next, and final, candidate: Sakura Haruno." Tsunade smiled, but looked like she was trying too hard to sound pleasant.
There was less applause for me this time (like I said, not a lot of people knew me, even though I was slowly gaining popularity again), but my Naruto and Ino made up for it by shouting as loud as they could. I tried to hide my smile as I walked up to the podium.
From stage, I could barely see anyone because the stage lights were directly on me. It was hotter up there than I thought too. I placed my notecards on the podium, and then began my speech.
"Hi," I said, "I'm Sakura Haruno. A lot of you probably don't know who I am, and that's okay." I heard muttering from where I imagined Karin would be sitting. Ignoring this, I continued. "I'm interested in taking the position of Class Vice President because I think that there are a lot of things about Konoha High that need to change. While there are a lot of good things about our school - for instance, our stellar academics and athletic programs - there is still quite a bit room for improvement, and I plan on doing as much as I can about that. For too long, our other extracurricular activities have been under-funded and put on the back-burner - like the Art Club, the Yearbook Club, the band program, the Culinary Arts Club, and so much more."
"You're a bunch of losers!" Someone in the crowd shouted. I couldn't tell who it was, but I had my suspicions - the voice sounded a lot like Kiba's.
"Yeah, get out of here!" A shrill voice said loudly. I could hear snickering from some of the students.
"Settle down!" Tsunade warned from where she was sitting.
"As you can see," I set my notecards aside and just started talking, "there's not a lot of support for the other clubs and programs from a very small part of our student body. But even then, they're always the ones who are heard the most." I looked out in the audience, and imagined that I was only talking to Tenten and Hinata in my room. "That's why, I'm not talking to them right now. To those of you who are in the Art Club," - there was a small shout from someone in the audience - "the AV Club, the Yearbook Club, the Chemistry club - and everyone else who really cares about something that's not athletic - why are you letting them make decisions for you? Why is only a small portion of the school so influential?" There was silence in the audience now. "What I'm saying is... if you really want to make a difference, think about what I'm saying before you vote. Thank you."
There was silence after I started talking, and then it was like the audience exploded in applause. "Yeah, Art Club!" Someone shouted. "Go Sakura!"
When there was silence again, it was time for the question part - I was more nervous about that, wondering what questions I would get after the speech I had just made. It hadn't exactly gone according to plan once I had just started speaking my mind.
There weren't a lot of questions, mostly from the students I was addressing, asking me about how I planned to implement certain things, since I was only running for the position of Vice President, after all. I managed to remember what I had practiced repeating over and over to Tenten. When that was done, there was another round of applause, and I walked off, back to where Ami was standing near the stage.
"That little speech you gave was pathetic," she hissed at me.
"Compared to what?" I whispered back.
She glared at me. I smiled.
"Now that we're through with that..." Tsunade checked her watch, "it's currently second period. I expect you all to go back to your scheduled classes promptly." Everyone was dismissed then, and I suddenly felt myself being surrounded with students.
"Sakura," Choji approached me, "thanks for mentioning the Culinary Arts Club in your speech. Umm, we've been really misrepresented lately, so... thanks for supporting us!" He was always so shy when he talked to me, but I thought it was sweet.
"Of course," I said, "I wanted to make it a point to mention the lesser-known clubs. They matter too, you know?"
There seemed to be a line of people to see me, and I talked to them one-on-one as best as I could - after all, each vote counted. I was surprised to see so many students there to support me - and to my delight, they weren't the popular kids. They were the rest of the student body. I hoped that I could make them proud.
Finally, I was rescued by my friends, who were grinning.
"Great speech, Sakura." Tenten, who usually didn't have time for emotional nonsense, was beaming. "I couldn't have done it better."
"Thanks, Tenten," I said, "that means a lot."
"That was amazing!" Ino said - I could see Shikamaru trailing behind her. "Who knew you were such a good public speaker?" She gave me a hug.
Shikamaru just smirked at me. "I can tell you stayed up all night on that speech," he said. "Good job."
"You still like the football team though, don't you?" Naruto teased - at least I hoped that's what it was.
"Of course!" I said. "I just think the other extracurriculars need some time in the spotlight, and better funding. You joined Culinary Arts, didn't you?"
Naruto laughed. "You got me there," he said, "but it was mostly just to impress Hinata."
"Oh stop it," Hinata said, and then turned to look at me. "I think you said what a lot of us have been thinking for a while - you really have a chance at winning this!" It was nice to have so much support from my friends. I wondered if this would have happened if I had run for Vice President with my old group of friends. Of course, my real friends would have still congratulated me, but everyone else (Kiba, Ami, that crowd...) would probably compliment me to my face and then talk about me behind my back. It was comforting to have friends who actually cared about me, that was for sure.
I walked to my second period class - it was AP Biology, but thankfully Kurenai didn't have anything planned. Instead, she let us talk for the remainder of the class period, which was great. I didn't feel like doing anything after my little speech. In all honesty, I felt exhausted.
It wasn't until I got to Biology that I finally got the chance to talk to Sasuke.
"Well done, Haruno." He said.
"Thanks Uchiha," I grinned, "I'm actually really glad it's over."
He nodded. "The speeches are always one of the hardest parts."
We chatted like that for the rest of the class, with Tenten or Naruto occasionally cutting in. I didn't mind, of course. No offense to Sasuke, but it was hard to carry on a conversation with him sometimes, especially if he was just warming up to you.
I went through the rest of the day in a sort-of daze. I hadn't thought that my speech that morning would really affect anyone (I mean, no one really listens to those anyway), but there were so many students coming to talk to me, congratulate me even, that I was beginning to wonder if I had suddenly become well-known in the school. And this time, it wasn't because I was Sasuke's best friend, or Kiba's girlfriend, or so many other reasons that it could have been before - it was because of me. And that felt good.
When the results were announced on the following Thursday, I was nervous. Even though it was so short-notice, I really did want that position. I wanted to help change everything for the better before I left. I wanted to help everyone that I probably would have ignored before.
"Hello everyone," Tsunade's voice crackled over the intercom - it was during Calculus again, and Asuma had been in the middle of a sentence when he was teaching. "It's time for the election results for Vice President of the student body. I would first like to congratulate our two candidates - they both did a great job preparing speeches and questions for the debate. However," she continued, "only one of them can win.
"The next Vice President is," Tsunade hesitated for a second, "Sakura Haruno."
I suddenly felt everyone staring at me again - it was like deja vu from the last time my name was called out on the intercom a few days ago - but this time there was applause.
"It's an honor," said Asuma sarcastically, "to have the Student Body President and Vice President in my class."
We got back to the lesson pretty quickly after that, but I was elated. Now that I had this position, it felt like my voice mattered more. I would get to spend more time with Sasuke, and be able to influence more changes to the school that we needed. I was pretty pumped.
After school, I went to Tsunade's office with Sauske to get a good feel of what the Student Council was trying to accomplish now. Since I had come in so late in the semester, I had to catch up on a lot of things - procedures, policies they were already trying to pass, and other things that seemed more difficult than they needed to be.
"It's a lot," Tsunade said, "do you think you can do this?"
"I can," I said confidently. It was a lot of work, but I could handle way more than this. It would be fun.
"I can fill her in on more stuff during break too," Sasuke said it so nonchalantly that it surprised me. I guess it was a given that he wanted to see me over break. I mean, we were friends now, but it was Sasuke.
Tsunade nodded. "Good. You can see yourselves out now, I have a meeting that I have to attend in the library." She looked disgusted.