What He Heard

Chapter 22

            The low hum of conversation slowly rose in volume, filling the whole of the auditorium. Seated in the balcony, leaning back in the wood seats just a few feet from the brass railing that sat on top of the narrow wall that kept people from falling, Rune shook his head. “I know I should be grateful for the opportunity to practice following a kind of political campaign, but these speeches suck.”

            Willow grinned. “And just think, if the Secretary, Treasurer, and Events Leader positions hadn’t run uncontested, we’d have even more speeches to sit through.”

            “Thank god for that! The Sports Leader speeches weren’t bad, Chad’s was actually kind of funny, but the one for the Events Leader and Treasurer were awful,” he said, careful to keep his voice low. His eyes flicked to where Mr. Beasley stood in the aisle a few seats away, leaning against the wall, before continuing. “I mean, I expected their campaigns to at least have a clear platform, or really, just have something interesting to say! I don’t know the people running for President and Vice-President well enough to know what kind of speeches they’re likely to have, but I can’t say I’m hopeful.”

            “That’s probably for the best,” Willow said, dropping her voice to a whisper as Mr. Marsden walked back out on stage. “Sports Leader is generally where the good speeches are.”

            Rune’s groan was only audible to her, making Willow chuckle as she turned her gaze to the stage below. “Well, WASS Bears, we’re about to start our speeches for Student Council Vice-President. Please give a warm welcome to our first candidate, Stacey Bishop!”

           “Oh, no,” Willow said, voice just barely above the half-hearted applause coming sporadically from the crowd. “Not Stacey! I thought she’d pulled out as a candidate, especially after the last election!”

            “What’s wrong with her?” Rune whispered.

            “You’ll see soon enough,” she replied, slumping further down into her seat.

            The girl who climbed up on stage had her curly hair pulled back into a ponytail that only emphasized the roundness of her face. She cleared her throat as she got up to the microphone, shuffled the papers in her hand, and then began to speak. In moments, Rune got an idea of exactly why Willow hadn’t been happy to see Stacey up on stage. The girl had the kind of quiet, droning voice that would put a coffee addict to sleep.

            Worse, it was the kind of speech that meandered through topics, talking in depth on minor details before glossing over the larger issues to move on to the next triviality. In short, her speech was the worst one yet.

            Rune turned to look at Willow, his wide eyes, wrinkled forehead and twisted mouth painting a clear expression of horror across his face. She nodded. “It’s not going to get any better. Her speech last year was almost ten minutes.”

            “God, I change my mind. I’ll gladly take the Events Leader speech again so I don’t have to listen to more of this. Didn’t anyone tell her that her speech sucks?”

            “I think someone tried last year. From what I can see, I don’t think she got it,” Willow replied. “Stacey’s not exactly the brightest bulb of the bunch. She does try.”

            Rune wrinkled his nose. “I wish she didn’t.”

            They weren’t the only ones talking. As the speech moved onto its third minute, whispers began to pick up all over the auditorium. By the fourth minute, it was obvious no one in the room, except some of the teachers, was still paying attention to what Stacey was saying.

            “Why do I get the feeling this is going to be another ten minute speech from hell?” Willow asked.

            “Because you’re psychic as well as hairy,” Rune replied dryly. “What we need is one of those giant hooks to drag her off stage.”

            “I don’t think even that would stop her.”

            “It’d still be fun to try.”

            The sound of applause from below drew their attention. While Stacey had paused for a breath, a cluster of students at the back had begun clapping. As the girl forged on, several other people joined in with the applause during her next brief pause. Still not taking the hint, Stacey continued with her speech.

            On the third bout of clapping, with half the auditorium joining in, Mr. Marsden stalked out onto the stage, waving his hand at Stacey. When she stepped back, he grabbed the microphone and said “That is enough! You will show proper respect to all our candidates and listen! I don’t want to hear anymore applause until Ms. Bishop’s finished.”

            He stepped away and nodded at Stacey, who was visibly pinker, and left the stage. Her shoulders hunched up a bit, she moved back in front of the microphone and continued reading off the papers in her hands.

            Willow winced. “Now I feel kind of bad for her. Stacey’s not bad when he’s not giving speeches.”

            Rune shrugged. “If she chooses to put herself in the spotlight, then she has to accept the consequences. No one forced her to do this. Now, if someone used this as an excuse to start harassing her, then that’d be different. But you have to be prepared for people not liking your stuff when you’re performing in public. The same way we could get criticism and angry responses to the articles we write. It’s a fact of life.”

            Listening to Stacey wind up a speech far more quickly than she’d obviously intended to, Willow wasn’t sure Rune was right. But, she did have to admit, she was glad she didn’t have to listen to the speech anymore.