the lights were blinding me as i stepped up onto the schools stage, the grade had yet to vote on the class president of our grade.
i stepped up onto the stool behind the podium, giving me more height and confidence for my speech.
"hello," i said, the word echoing off the walls in the auditorium, "i'm Y/N Y/L/N. i'm not here to give you empty promises i can't keep, i'm here to give you someone to rely on."
i could tell i now had their attention, as last person to run, and i admitted on not being able to keep promises. well, it worked.
"we are all human, correct? all of our opinions matter. whether it is thought to be incorrect by a majority of other humans, it matters. we all matter. whether your skin is a different shade, your eyes are different colors or your mind thinks another way than others."
all eyes were on me now, and i could see the mumbled words on their lips. but only one person mattered ugh that crowd, and that was joey. he was my best friend, nothing more. i didn't want to be more, honestly, even though i heard he did.
he convinced me to run for class president, like most things.
"so i'm not here to tell you to vote me for class president or anything, if you don't think i'm capable of the things you would like to see happen in this school then don't vote for me. but you know what, if you do vote for me, good for you! i can see you understand that i will listen to each and every opinion thrown at me. and i will show you that you do matter. what i won't do is treat everyone like they are peasants and i'm the queen. thank you for your time."
and by the end of the day, all votes were in. joey was standing with me at my locker, and as i heard "and the ninth grade class president is..." we held our breath.
"Y/N Y/L/N! congrats to you, young lady." i jumped on joey, hugging him until he set me down and pushed his lips to mine.
but i didn't kiss back, instead i pushed him away and grabbed my things, locking my locker and running to the bus stop.
the hallway was silent accept from a few whispers of "rejected" and oohing all heard from the stray people with no sense.
later that night, though, i had thought it through. i did like joey like that, kind of. i liked that kiss, he had soft lips.
but when i texted him, there was no response.
