“I left for all of sixty seconds. What’s wrong?” Ford asks, wiping my tear away.
I let go of Aubrey and hug Ford. “Aubrey’s sad she didn’t get nominated, and I’m sad I did. She started crying first.” I glance up, and Cameron has his arm around her.
She shrugs. “Sorry, not sorry.”
“What she said,” I say, looking at Ford.
“Come on, let’s get to class.” Ford chuckles, grabbing my backpack and taking my hand.
In chemistry, Ford and I get a letter telling us we have to attend a mandatory homecoming court meeting during lunch. I turn my summons over and scribble a note to Ford.If I don’t attend the meeting, does that mean I’m disqualified?
I slide the paper over to him to read. When he’s done, he writes one word.No.
“Whatever,” I mouth.
After class, I drag my feet to Mrs. Bouchard’s classroom, where the meeting is. Unsurprisingly, we’re the last ones to show up.
“C’est gentil de vous joindre à nous Monsieur Cross.” Mrs. Bouchard says as we sit down at a couple of empty desks.
“Désolé, nous sommes en retard.” Ford gives her a tight smile. I bite the inside of my cheek to keep my mouth closed. I knew Ford was taking French, but I had no idea he spoke it so well. Language has always been difficult for me. I took two semesters of Spanish and called it quits.
“What did she say to you?” I whisper to him.
“She said she’s glad we made it, and I said sorry we were late.”
“Oh.” Too bad, I’m not sorry we were late. I don’t even want to be here—well, mostly. I’m excited that I get to experience this with Ford. I’d be jealous standing on the sidelines watching. But I feel socially awkward at school. I always have.
Bree doesn’t even turn around and acknowledge me. Hopefully, it stays that way. I have no problem pretending that she doesn’t exist.
“Now that everyone is here, we’ll get started. I want to start by congratulating you on your nomination for the Homecoming Court. This year we are doing the voting differently. We will not pass ballots out in classrooms. Students who want to vote can do so by filling out a ballot and turning it into the office.”
Melissa Ellis raises her hand but doesn’t wait for Mrs. Bouchard to call on her. “Does that mean students can vote more than once?”
“No. There is a space at the bottom of each ballot for the student to write their student ID number.”
“Are there any other questions about the voting?”
Bree raises her hand. “Yes, Miss Chandler?” The teacher points to her.
“Can we campaign?”
Campaign? She can’t be serious.
“That’s very proactive of you. Yes, you can do that if you wish. You’re limited to one large banner, but you may create as many smaller posters as you like.”
“Mrs. Bouchard.” Ella Garcia waves her hand in the air. “Can we have flyers?”
I glance at Ford and mouth, “Seriously?” He smiles and winks at me.
“Yes, you can have flyers.” The teacher says.
After another ten minutes of campaign questions about handing out everything from cupcakes to cans of soda, we finally move on to the point of the meeting.
“The Homecoming Court takes part in the homecoming parade every year. This group is responsible for decorating the float and riding on it in the parade.”
Leah and I glance at each other. The cheerleaders also take part in the parade. We’d planned on decorating Leah’s dad’s truck and walking behind it cheering, dancing, and handing out little pom-poms and foam fingers for Friday night’s game.
“I know most of you are part of other organizations also taking part, but as a homecoming court nominee, this float is your priority.”
