Revamped!

[Happy 100 chapters! (I won't lie, I thought we hit it a while back). And thank you all for 300 reviews! (What a perfect time to hit it).]

[2020: I revamped this entire arc in one sitting. Someone help.]

Act of Kai-ndness: Part Ten

It's election night.

Kai stands in the campaign headquarters feeling more nervous than he thought he'd be. It was possibly because he unexpectedly went viral. He thought it would only be an internet sensation within Commonwealth's borders but mainstream media was all over it. Now, he feels as if everyone is looking at him differently, as a hero of some sorts. It's moments like this when Kai wishes that they would go chat with Torin who's definitely feeling more nervous than him.

Everyone except his friends, thank the stars, continue to look at him normally. Most of them are here, dressed in their business casual attire not to stick out. They came to support Kai as the city votes for their mayor and the results slowly come in.

There's a projector showing a live newscast of the voting and the climbing results as they come in. Seeing those numbers change and fluctuate make Kai shake a little.

"What if my message meant nothing?" Kai asks worried.

"Are you insane?" Thorne questions rhetorically. "I was there and I recorded that historic moment. It went viral."

"So? Lots of things go viral and die within an hour."

Cress taps a few times on her phone screen before turning it to face them. "According to posts I'm reading, there has been a 55% voter turnout so far, which is better than what they predicted before your video."

"When my dad would rerun, he would get at least 80%," Kai states.

Cress hesitates for a second. " … well, the polls are still open for another two hours or so, granted that nobody wins in advance with a majority."

Kai shrugs, drinking the rest of his water bottle before tossing it in the recycling. He isn't a drinker in any way but now understands why people drink in tense and nerve-racking moments like these: so they could look professional about their stress and feel as if they weren't in the room. Maybe he could sneak a glass that all the real adults got to have.

Winter holds her phone out for her friends to look at and it's on her social media feed. "All the selfies helped. I didn't think your face was in so many pictures."

Kai's eyes open wide at all the photos he was tagged in ever since his viral moment. He hasn't touched his phone since Thorne posted the video for reasons such as that. "Neither did I."

"I'm serious." Winter scrolls through her feed and it's an endless stream of Kai's face with other people. "Who even has these many selfies? Other than a complete narcissist."

Kai narrows his eyes at her. Winter lights up his mood by taking a quick selfie with him for her story. They have bright smiles and animated flower crowns on their heads with the caption #ActOfKaidness in a neon cursive font. She then makes a boomerang where she's smirking and sticking out her tongue and Kai has the most unamused deadpanned expression that could pass off as its own photo. His expression was aimed at her but he smiles and she captures it in a third photo.

"Have you guys seen Scarlet?" Wolf asks them as he looks around.

"Who?" Thorne questions.

Wolf glares at him. "Seriously? I'm talking about Scarlet."

Thorne shrugs. "Are you imagining things?"

"I will make you see stars."

Thorne's laugh simmers a little. "Maybe she went back to France."

"I will throw you to France to get her this time."

"Love a good tag-team."

Thorne sips his drink because he believes that Wolf will do that despite his jokes. He hides behind Cinder although she wouldn't protect him. If anything, she'll help Wolf throw him to France.

Cinder jumps a little on the spot. "I'm so nervous. Look at how hard I'm unintentionally clenching my boobs just by crossing my arms."

Before anyone could comment, someone else pops in just in time.

"Stress balls!" Scarlet exclaims about Cinder's boobs.

She skips right into their social circle with a wild grin on her face. She pokes Cinder's boob (or one of her stress balls) for fun before getting her hand smacked away. Her curls are damp as she pulls them back and by reading the curious expressions on their faces as to where she was and why her hair is wet.

"I had to go home and rinse off the scent of The Rampion," Scarlet explains. "As much as I love the smell of butter, bacon, onions, and fries, I needed to look presentable."

"I feel like barfing," Kai states.

"Wow, thanks Kai," Scarlet says sarcastically only because she knows that his nausea comes from his nerves and not her tardiness story.

"You know what?" Wolf questions rhetorically. "I think we'll be fine."

"Well," Cress interrupts before everyone gives her looks not to finish that sentence based on the downfall of her tone of voice. "Nevermind."

The rest of the night consists of constant nerves. Nobody talks to one another because they're too fixed on the live stream of the polling results. They watch as the numbers continue to rise on both sides, causing the lead politician to change every time they blink. That fluctuation combined with the ticking clock decreasing how much time till polls close was unsettling because although there was still enough time before it hits zero, the results could just conclude once a majority hits.

Kai blinks and the election is over. They have a winner.

His eyes blur and he suddenly can't hear anything around him. He can make out people around him jumping around and hollering but he isn't sure why. Kai looks around him but everything looks the same. Someone's shaking him and he can't breathe for a moment.

"Kai!" Someone screams at him and it sounds like they're saying their words in slow-motion with an echo following it. "You won!"

"I'm the mayor?" Kai questions softly as reality catches up with him.

"You won the majority!" Cinder exclaims, smiling excitedly at him.

It takes Kai a second to realize that he didn't win mayor, Torin did which means his father did. Kai wins as well. He exhales with a small laugh; the first thought that pops in his mind is how his father is such a good politician that he could even win as a dead man. Go figure.

Kai quickly cups Cinder's head and kisses her as he runs over to cheer with Torin who grabs him in the biggest fatherlike bear-hug possible. Kai even hugs Mallory and the twins tightly. His friends watch him go, all wearing proud parent faces on their own.

"He seemed so out of it," Thorne mutters, chuckling a little. "Imagine if you weren't the one standing beside him and he accidentally kissed one of us."

Cinder cringes a little. "I'd rather not."

"Long live Mayor Rikan!" Winter exclaims as confetti falls above them.

[I don't know about you guys but when my province was electing a new premier, he won with the majority in literally ten minutes so don't attack me by saying this is unrealistic. (Especially since provinces are bigger than cities).

And that concludes Kai's arc! Feel free to guess whose arc will be next! It'll have a different style in terms of execution, but I'm excited about it already.]