I’d fought for this, I’d wanted it, certainly believed in my cause, but I’d never really believed inme. Maybe part of me thought I’d create a ruckus and change a few things, but who on earth would actually vote to put me on the citycouncil?
“Are you guys old enough tovote?”
“Yeah, we’re all over at thecollege.”
Oh, that made sense. But what didn’t was how they’d foundme.
“What got you out heretoday?”
“Horde,” the young womanresponded.
“Horde?” I mouthed as the others chimedin.
“Man, we couldn’t believeit.”
“Yeah, when he postedyesterday—”
They talked over each other in their eagerness to tell me all aboutit.
“He never comes out of hiding, you know? I mean, other than a whisper on Reddit every now andthen.”
“And on some hac—someforums.”
“Dude’s a legend,” one of the guys broke in. “No idea why he’d even care about thiselection.”
“Told you, man. Heliveshere,” said the big, quiet kid farthest fromme.
“Oh, please. He lives in like Argentina orsomething.”
“No way H would stay in a dinky place likethis.”
The girl nearest to me shrugged. “Whatever it is, he’s invested in this election. Put it out there a couple daysago.”
“Everywhere,” one of them said, all hushed andreverent.
“Yeah. The university’s on itnow.”
I said, “But, whoishe?”
“Nobodyknows.”
“No, I mean, why do you know abouthim?”
“You’re kidding, right?” They all stared at menow.
I shook my head, clueless and, honestly, more than a little afraid. This all felt bigger than anything I belonged in. I caught the tail end of a look passed between a couple of them and could have sworn one of them shook hishead.
“He’s a financial genius,” someone finally said, his eyes shifting immediately away frommine.
Was that what got kids up and out nowadays? Someone’s moneymaking prowess? That crushed my soul a little. “What—” I gulped. “What did he do to get you out here? I mean, what did he tell youguys?”
“Message boards just talked about your campaign. Said it was time tomobilize.”
“Gave us a link to CaraVan and that printing place where we picked all this stuffup.”
A kid held up a sheet of paper. “Gave us a script,too.”
“That’s…Wow,” I whispered, utterly out ofwords.
