The Cloak Guard

Attack of the Living Dirt Monsters

When Gabriela got home from school, she had decided that enough was enough. She was finally going to sit down and write her speech and she would not leave her room until it was done.

That had been 3 hours ago. And she still had squat.

"Ugh," she groaned, bopping her head off her desk over and over. "Why is this so hard? It never used to be this hard."

"Still having trouble I see."

"Dad!" Gabriela jumped up in surprise. "When did you get here?"

He gave her a confused look. "What are you talking about? I've been home all day. I talked to you when you came in, remember?"

Gabriela blinked. "Oh, right, yeah."

He shook his head, chuckling. "Well, I just came in to tell you that I am leaving now. There are some things at the office that need taking care of. I won't be back til after midnight it seems, so..."

"Yeah, yeah, I know the drill dad, don't worry," she assured him. This often happened given the nature of his work. Though Gabriela still didn't know what sorts of projects he was working on, she did know they were all very important and time consuming. "Joaquim and I have things handled."

"I know you do, Gabi. And good luck with your speech."

"Ha ha," she said dryly.

"See you later," he gave her a wave before heading out.

Gabriela turned back to her blank piece of paper and let out another groan. At this rate, she should just hand Dredden his victory right now. Unless she came up with something truly brilliant over the weekend, she was toast.

"Why do I even want this position?" she asked herself aloud. "Just to look good on college applications? Yeah, that's a good line, I should lead with that. 'Hey everybody, guess what, I'm only using the student president so I stand above all of you went Yale comes calling. So sorry.' Bet that'll go over well."

She tried pacing around her room, brewing up some tea, even meditating for a little bit, but nothing helped. She even tried writing it with her dog Bruna on her lap for that extra 'puppy power!'

It did not work.

"Gabriela, dinner!" Joaquim called out.

"Coming!" she replied, sighing afterwards. "Oh well, maybe some of Joaquim's cooking will get my creative juices flowing. Oh who am I kidding, I'm never going to get this."

She wished that whatever had given her these powers had given her some sort of writing or inspirational super powers instead, something she could actually use right now. As tempting as it would be to blast Dredden off the stage next week, she was pretty sure that wouldn't win her the election. Though given the current state of their country's government, she might be surprised.

"Any luck?" Joaquim asked as she walked into the kitchen.

"Ugh."

"I'll take that as a no." He handed her a plate of fried sweet plantains, her favorite. "Here, have one. Fresh off the pan. But no more than one." He wagged his finger.

"I know, I know," Gabriela said, taking one. She knew it was supposed to be hot but she didn't really feel extreme temperatures anymore thanks to her powers. One of the small perks, she guessed. She placed the whole plantain in her mouth and felt it dissolve into caramelized goodness. "Eemmm!" she exclaimed.

"Yes, I am good," Joaquim acknowledged.

"You're freaking amazing," she said around the food.

"No talking with your mouth full. Now, enough of that. Let's get some proper..."