Everything I Didn't Say

Insecurities For President

Gummy worms. That's the first thing either boy thought about when asked about their friendship, it was back in the fourth grade at Greene Academy in Xanten, Germany. Ms. Wesman's fourth grade science class was prepared to do a simulation, there was a gummy worm, four toothpicks, and a gummy lifesaver, the objective of the experiment was to get the gummy worm into the lifesaver without directly using you hands.
Alex, the new kid who appeared in the middle of the school year and already had made friends with most of the academy's population, was partners with Ryker, who hardly uttered a word unless in the face of an authority figure or to answer a math question. Once the timer went off, signalling them to begin the experiment, both boys grabbed a toothpick.

"So how do you reckon we do this?" Alex questioned the other, glancing between the gummy worm and the gummy lifesaver.
"Y-You can stretch out th-the lifesaver while I-I put the g-gummy worm in?" Ryker suggested quietly, lightly shrugging his shoulders as if he thought his own idea wouldn't work.
"Yeah, yeah," Alex nodded, picking up yet another toothpick and using them to pry the lifesaver to make the center hole a tad larger.
Ryker picked up the gummy worm with the opposing toothpicks, using them as if they were mini-chopsticks, "B-Be careful you m-might-" he didn't have the chance to finish his warning before the lifesaver snapped in half. "R-Rip it," he finished with a sigh, "Great."
"Oops," Alex giggled, retracting the toothpicks, one having half of the lifesaver stuck to the side.

"W-We literally had one j-job to do," Ryker muttered, he hated to be the one who couldn't do something right, obviously that wasn't the case with Alex.
"Sorry, hey it was accident," Alex smiled goofily, slightly amused at how the boy got worked up about something so simple.
"St-Stop smiling like th-that," Ryker mumbled, trying to still look mad at the boy when really he just wanted to laugh.
"Mmm,"Alex pretended to think about it, "How about no?" he asked rhetorically.
Ryker rolled his eyes at the boy, picking up the gummy worm and throwing it over at the other, it hitting him on the cheek.
"Hey!" Alex laughed, snatching the ripped lifesaver and chucking it at Ryker, it was almost like the cannon that signified the beginning of a war, but instead of guns it was three bits of gummies, instead of soldiers there was two eight-year-olds, and instead of a bad outcome, the small fight sparked a beautiful friendship, and a pass to the principal's office for each boy.

All throughout junior high, the two grew closer than ever, subsiding the drama and rumors that wandered and crept around the school's halls.
It was lunch time, one of the two leaning against the other for comfort, the other's arm thrown around his shoulders as they both ate casually. To an onlooker it'd seem as if the two were a couple, in which they would ask and the two friends would exchange glances and laugh, shrugging their shoulders lightly and leaving the person's question unanswered.
"Gummy worm?" Ryker offered, holding up the bag of treats and looking up at the other boy.
Alex laughed lightly before nodding, "Sure," he smiled, stealing a few from the bag and plopping them into his mouth.
"Here take this one too," Ryker laughed, tossing the last one at his face.

"Oh no you didn't" Alex gasped playfully as he took a bite of the worm.
"I believe," Ryker paused briefly, "I did," he smirked lightly.
And yet another small food fight rose amongst the two and by the end of the day, both were covered in food stains and had a detention, but also got a laugh and milk shot out of their nose.
"Good morning students! We are pleased to announce the beginning of Bristine High School's Presidential Election! Forms and applications are located in the front office, we wish good luck to all of the candidates, and may the best candidate win!" The morning announcements blared, leaving the ears of many students ringing
"Ryker?" Alex questioned, knocking shoulders with the younger lad, he had been quite distant lately, it was beginning to worry Alex.
"Hm?' Ryker hummed, the lack of sleep was evident in Ryker's eyes. There were red lines circling the once bright green orbs. Bags forming underneath his eyes
"Are you gonna run? That was all you could talk about in Junior High," Alex laughed lightly, only for it to fade once noticing the haze in Ryker's eyes, "I bet it'd be fun?" he suggested lastly, not sure why he even bothered, knowing it was hopeless just to try.
"Ha," Ryker let out a small and sarcastic laugh, "Me? President?" he asked, amusement hidden in his tone, "What are you on?" he questioned once more, "Ah i can see it now 'Ryker Clifton, school's biggest social outcast as President'" he said loudly, earning a few strange looks from bystanders as he held his hands out to signify a banner, "Yeah, like I'll ever be elected as President," Ryker mumbled lowly afterward, while stuffing his hands back into his pockets.
"Oh okay," Alex said quietly, carding a hand through his bleached blonde hair, he sighed softly, parting from Ryker, and entering his first period classroom.

It was later in the day, Ryker had been thinking about what Alex suggested this morning, it was all he could think about throughout the day, he sat in his 5th period class, English, watching the clock as the second hand clicked by teasingly slowly, his eyes returned to the front of the classroom, only to redirect themselves to the presidential election flyer that hung on the chalkboard. He sighed lightly, burying his head in his hands and rubbing at his face tiredly. Maybe he should run? It would be something to put on his college resume, that was all he had to look forward to at this point, his college years and career as a musician or mathematician. He'd also no longer be the main target of the jocks' amusement, they always just waited for him to mess up. If Ryker didn't, they would, themselves, make him look like an idiot in front of, a good percentage of the school, on the internet, or in front of Dakota SanChez, Ryker's crush since about the third grade.
The bell chimed throughout the classroom, meaning it was lunch period. Great, just more time to sit silently and let his mind argue amongst itself, he shook his head, trying to make an attempt of clearing his thoughts before he stood, exiting the classroom to see Alex standing by his locker, "Hey Alex?" the boy called, walking over quickly, "Can we go pick up the forms from the front office? I think i might wanna run," he said quietly, a small smile casting upon his pale features.
Alex and Ryker made their way up to the front office, approaching one of the three desks, "Uh, hi, I was wondering if i could get an application for the presidential campaign?" Ryker asked, voice quiet, just short of a whisper, a small and actually warm smile on his face.
The lady who sat at the desk, dressed to the nine's and looked way too professional to be working at a run-down high school in Xanten, she gave a welcoming smile, "Well then here you are," she said, voice thickly accented in what sounded Polish, as she handed the teen an average sized pamphlet neatly stapled in the upper-left hand corner.
"Thanks," Ryker said in return, stepping away from the desk and exiting back out into the hall, Alex following closely behind.
Alex grabbed the papers from Ryker, skimming through the first few pages before the pamphlet was snatched out of his own hands, leaving him to run into a large figure. Ryker froze.
"What's this?" Nathan questioned, reading over the first few lines, silently mouthing the words to himself, "Aye! So Clifton's running for president, ha!" he laughed, amusement poisoned his tone, the accent, obviously fake, brought an annoying chime to the other two Germans' ears.
"Yeah, Nathan," Alex scoffed, "That's what the paper says, doesn't it?" he asked, quickly taking the heat of the moment to remove the papers from Nathan's grasp, "Well Ryker, looks like we better burn these papers now, seeing as they're contaminated."
"Might as well, like you will never stand a chance in the election, much less get enough signatures to even begin running," The jock laughed, "Literally no one will vote for you, loser," He spat before continuing on down the hall.
Ryker rolled his eyes, taking the papers back from Alex, making his way toward the English classroom, Mr. Wesmen always said that his room was open during lunch period, Ryker could have peace and quiet and reduce the risk of getting food or drinks spilt on the papers. About ten minutes later, Ryker had a good percentage of the packet filled out, he would have it all done by now if he didn't get distracted so easily by the ruckus made by his peers in the hall or the clock agonizingly ticking by, he often found himself to stare at the time counting machine.
It was only the next day did Ryker truly realise how difficult it would be getting 270 signatures when he had one friend and many people who found just his presence repulsing, he sighed, he tended to do that a lot lately, rubbing at his face before walking up to a raven haired boy with baby blue eyes, slapping a fake smile on his face, "Hi, I'm Ryker. Would you mind signing this sheet so I can enter the school election?" he asked, voice soft.
"No, no i wouldn't mind at all," The boy replied, voice filled with genuine kindness, as he took the blue ballpoint pen from the other's hand and quietly scrawled out his signature, "I'm Daniel by the way," he added, returning the pen to Ryker.
"Nice to meet you, Daniel," he said, "well it was nice meeting you, but I have to be going, I hope to see you around sometime," Ryker added, giving him a small wave as he walked off, large smile endearing his lips, paper in hand, "268 more to go," he whispered.
267 signatures later, Ryker continued to wander around the school, trying to find someone who wouldn't recognize him so they could sign for the last signature, making Ryker an official candidate, he wouldn't say collecting the rest of the signatures was easy, it had taken about two days to get the first 200 and another half to get 68, and he was just lucky that teachers could sign the ballot, considering that where most of the signatures came from. Eyes scanning over the sea of students he noticed a girl, decked head to toe in black, blue hair sat atop her head in a sidesweep. Running a hand through his hair nervously, Ryker made his way over, informing the girl of the election, her just nodding slightly. Her eyes showed that she was nor interested in the boy or the election, "So would you be kind enough to sign?" he asked hopefully, earning a shrug from the girl. She took the pen, carelessly scribbling out her first initial and last name, "Thanks," Ryker smiled softly before heading off to the front office to turn in his fully completed packet and filled ballot. He met up with Alex on the way to the office.
It was Tuesday, the first assembly for the presidential campaign, Ryker was a mess, a mess of the boy sat in an empty washroom stall, a mess of a boy bawling his eyes out, hands clenched in small fist that were held up to his eyes in attempts to terminate the useless flow of tears, tears that were a waste of time. He couldn't breathe, he felt as if there was a pillow pushed to his face, muffling his cries, or fingers wrapped around his neck, constricting his air. The next thing he heard was the door open, a loud creak flooded the room, but sounded distant to the panicking boy.
"Ryker? Ryker hey you okay?" his name rang out in the near silent air, trying to bring himself back to reality.