The President's Daughter

Chapter 1

The sound of the tinkling of champagne glasses, excited murmur of about fifty very important people, and the energetic reporting coming from a flat screen TV filled the rooms of the Ryan house on November 20th. Despite the faces of countless imported watches reading 11:35, the air was far from sleepy. In fact, as the night progressed, the guests' excitement seemed to be building.

"They are just waiting on Ohio," called a nervous voice from closer to the TV.

Annie Ryan craned her long neck from her seat on an olive velvet arm in her family's bustling entertainment room. She was able to catch a glimpse of the map of the U.S. on the screen, which was fairly evenly divided between red and blue states. Her stomach turned fretfully. Please be blue, please be blue. I visited Ohio twice during the campaign, it has to be blue.

"Feeling okay, Annie?" a soft voice asked.

Annie nodded, flashing a reassuring grin. "Of course."

The 16 year old brushed a strand of her deep brown hair from her face with clammy hands. Her internal turmoil was halted suddenly by a loud shriek closer to the television.

"He did it! HE WON!"

There was an uproar of cheers amongst the guests. Champagne corks popped anew, and there was a large amount of hugging. The large screen now read in huge, bold, white letters: STEVEN RYAN ELECTED 48th PRESIDENT OF UNITED STATES.

"Look!" someone else called.

Annie stood now, not pausing to smooth the wrinkles in her black cocktail dress. She felt butterflies erupt in her stomach as CNN switched to a view of a large stage that had been erected in front of the Rhode Island State Capitol Building. A shower of multicolored confetti fell from the dark sky, illuminated dreamily by the bright lights that had been set up around the stage.

A beaming couple strode onto the stage. The man was tall, just slightly thinner than being considered well built, with peppered hair and kind green eyes. He wore a deep blue suit with an American flag pin, and on his arm was an even more beautiful accessory. His wife, in her mid-40s, was stunning. Her deep blonde hair was curled softly, and her natural suntan was complimented by her red gown. Her blue eyes shone so brightly that they upstaged her large diamond earrings.

Annie grinned at the sight of her parents- or should she say, the newly elected President and First Lady. "Oh, look at them," someone crooned.

Steven Ryan strode confidently to the microphone, waving to the cheering crowd. Elizabeth Ryan wore her usual closed-mouth smile, nodding and waving to those who called out most loudly.

"Thank you, thank you," Steve started. He immediately went into the victory speech that Annie had heard him practicing in mirrors throughout the house for months. Her father's words were smooth and hopeful- but Annie knew he could rattle off his defeat speech just as easily. The election had been neck and neck, no clear winner evident.

"You look just like your mom," a woman Annie recognized vaguely from previews for an upcoming movie commented.

Lizzie Ryan was smiling on the TV, her eyes crinkling the same way Annie's did. Her mother had managed not only to be the pinnacle wife for her father's two term senatorship, but remained a dedicated mother as well as staying involved in an enormous amount of charity work.

There was a large amount of cheering and applause, and Steven and Elizabeth Ryan departed the stage as the future President and First Lady of the United States.

That meant, Annie remembered with a jolt, that she was now the a First Daughter.

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