Running for President

Chapter 17: Betrayal

Chapter 17: Betrayal

"You did WHAT?!?!" I practically screamed in blinded fury making a few customers turn towards our direction.

Amy played with her fingers, not looking me straight in the eye.

"This! You! What?! Why?!" I sputtered, suddenly having the inability to form a complete sentence. I started heaving, my breath coming in short periods.

My asthma hasn't sparked up in quite some time now...

Amy's eyes widened and in a panic she grabbed my bag and searched for my inhaler.

"Give me that!" Pauline took it from her hands and spilled all the contents in the floor. She shuffled around before spotting my blue inhaler, she quickly handed it to me and I took a deep inhale from it.

Soon, my breathing went back to normal.

"Are you alright?"

"Are you okay?"

They both asked at the same time.

I slowly stood up and gave them both a look that told them not to ask stupid questions.

I looked at Ames and visibly saw her gulp from the stare I was giving her. She opened her mouth to speak but I held up my index finger, cutting her off.

"Just answer this one question: Why?"

"I thought you weren't taking the campaign seriously so I thought to do something to spike you up..."

"That's-!"

"I know! It was s-stupid and wr-wrong but... I guess I was sorta jealous..." She stuttered out while fiddling with her fingers.

My eyes softened. Amy always fiddles her fingers when she's really sorry and ashamed of something

"What do you mean, jealous?"

"I-I wanted to be like you. Confident. And doesn't give a damn about what other people think. You stood up for what you believed in, even if it meant standing alone while I was always watching... admiring you.... while staying in your shadow..."

"What??" I asked, dumbfounded. She admired me? Me?

The social outcast.

The reject.

The awkward one.

Anti-social to other people other than my friends.

"What are you talking about?"

Amy started sobbing while PAM rubbed her back slowly in circles.

"There's nothing to admire about me! If anything, you're the one that deserves admiration! You're smart, teachers and adults like you, you have a way of bending people to your will." I rambled.

"What I don't get is why you did it."

Amy opened her mouth to speak. "You were running for president, something I've always wanted to do and you weren't even taking it seriously... I guess... I just.. snapped, you know..."

"I didn't know you felt that way, Ames. You should've told me..."

Amy nodded. "I'm so sorry for framing you, PAM. I completely ruined this friendship..."

PAM shrugged. "Meh, it's okay. You'll just have to buy me mint ice cream and we'll be good." Ames giggled, but after all her crying, it sounded like she was choking.

Ames turned to me. "I'm so-so-so sorry... If I were you, I wouldn't even forgive me..."

PAM slung her arm casually around my shoulders. "What do you say, A? Give the girl a chance?"

"I..."