Oblivious

9: The Campaign, Week 2

Elain's POV

  Today I woke up in a good mood. That's pretty strange considering that it was a monday. Maybe it had something to do with my absolutely terrific weekend.

  First, at Friday night, Jamie, Blair and I all spent the night in Jamie's room, which is the biggest one, by the way. We snacked on marshmallows, pretzels, chips and ice cream as we watched a series of movies all night. Of course, before that we caught up with how things were going at school and talked about our crushes. Blech.

  Anyway, the following Saturday, we slept until noon and when we finally woke up lunch was waiting for us.

  Dad hired a personal chef to prepare a really classy lunch for his 1 PM business meeting. Of course, since they were going to be discussing serious matters, we had to be let out of the house for the afternoon. The four of us went shopping with Mum and somehow, Aaron convinced her to buy him a Rotweiler. He named him Gruff. Gruff turned out to be surprisingly lovable.

  The next day, Gruff went with us to Church but he stayed in the car. Afterwards, we went for some ice cream and spent the rest of the day relaxing at home.

  But now, Jamie is totally stressed about the Candidate's Debate today. The school decided to change it up this year and make it a team debate so they could make sure that the Vice Presidents from each party could also be trusted and relied on. Since yesterday, she's been asking us to throw some practice questions at her. By the time I was finished eating breakfast, I was all out of possible debate questions. I mean, there really wasn't a lot to begin with. St. Andrew's was a really high-maintenance, close-to-perfect school. There was almost nothing to complain about.

  On the car ride to school Jamie played some feel-good music to help calm her nerves down. When the radio started playing that all-too-familiar intro of the song A Thousand Miles, the four of us geared up to sing along. We were belting the last chorus when we rolled into the school yard.

  I looked around and immediately saw Kylie and James under our usual tree. Kylie was sitting down and reading, while James was leaning sideways on the trunk. They both waved at me.

  I got off the convertible and heard the car doors lock as I walked towards them. A cold wind blew, making me stuff my hands in my coat's pocket. The weather is getting colder as we draw closer to the month of November. My guess is that by the time the elections are finished, it's going to be close to freezing.

  I finally joined my friends under the tree and after greeting each other a good morning, we head into the school.

  "Cool hat," I complimented James' navy beanie hat. This was one of those rare occasions that I get to see his face without the wild hair. I liked it.

  "Thanks," James said with a smile. His cheeks were red from the cold.

  My phone buzzed with a text.

Kylie: October 28th, I had the guts to compliment his hat.

  I elbowed the sender's arm.

  "So, is your sister ready for today?" James asked suddenly.

  "I think so," I replied reluctantly. "She's nervous but I'm confident of her."

  We took the short route to the auditorium, which involved going through a hallway on the left wing that had these enormous windows that just lit the place up from floor to ceiling. It was my favorite place in the school.

  Everything seemed right about this day. I had a really good breakfast, the drive with my siblings to school was great, I'm walking down my favorite hall with my best friend and my crush on our way to see my sister win. It was literally too good to be true.