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The World as I Wish it Could Be

The Student Council at our school is a group of the most annoying human beings you will ever lay your eyes on. Most of the members are forgettable (I can barely even remember the names of class representatives and PR spokespeople and all that) but there are a few that really stick with you. Take our Student Council President for example. Mackenzie Cerbone is an obnoxiously dedicated person. She truly believes that high school government is the most important thing to have ever existed. Every day, you will find her and the other members of student council stalking the halls in search of kids without bathroom passes just so they have something to do. They are glorified hall monitors.

This week, in the midst of all the pranks, Mackenzie Cerbone is particularly energized. She has been pulling posters off of lockers, rewinding and fast-forwarding through corrupted security camera footage: anything she can do to catch the culprit. Today, she barges into my classroom with appalling doggedness and marches right up to my table group.

"Sunny Davidson," she says, extending her index finger to me. "You have been selected to join the 'Summerfield Scandals Dismantlement Taskforce'."

"What?" I say and she lowers her arm to rest both hands on her hips. Maeve and Victoria Robinson, who are sitting with me, look equally as alarmed.

"The student council isn't large enough to handle a protest of this magnitude! We need to up the stakes here. You know, add more bodies. As of now, your position is purely circumstantial."

"No," I say, shaking my head wildly. "No, no. Pick someone else."

"It isn't my decision. The council took a vote." Mackenzie speaks far too quickly. It's almost painful for my brain to keep up. "Operation surveillance is a go. We've all figured that whoever is behind this has to be doing it early in the morning, so we're staking out. Come tomorrow at 6:30."

"I cannot stand you," I say.

"Don't blame me," she replies. "Blame the instigator."

Mackenzie quickly exits, murmuring something about a ferret still being lost in the school, and my table group looks at me with wide eyes.

"Well, the teachers must like you," Maeve says. "They thought you were important enough to add on to the council."

"No offense, but why do the teachers like you? You don't exactly do much." Victoria crosses one leg over the other and I shrug.

"I have no idea. And, I wish they didn't right now. I do not want to be a part of this."

"Why? I thought you were all about stopping these pranks," Maeve says.

"I am, but Mackenzie's reasoning is completely different than mine. She just wants to shut it down because it disrupts the peace at school."

"That's not what you want?"

"I don't care about the peace at school. I want it gone because they beat a kid up, for christ's sake."

Maeve hums some sort of response and returns her attention to a conversation she was having with Victoria prior to Mackenzie's outburst. I hug my knees to my chest and scroll on my phone, silently seething about having to wake up early tomorrow morning. The entire situation was just senseless. Why me of all people? Does the Summerfield High student council simply like to watch me suffer? Is Mackenzie Cerbone that sadistic?

Really, I know the reasoning; Elio is my brother, and they see him as the root cause for the protest. Of course they would suggest I help in the investigation. But, it doesn't have anything to do with him, really. He just happens to be the poster child for this awful campaign.