Foreign Love

XXI - Goals

Chapter 21: Goals

"...ETHAN JACKSON AND SAMANTHA CHAPMAN!"

Amanda's smile quickly faded, in a scene that I can only describe as the most satisfying of the night thus far and she, for a moment, forgot to clap. I applauded them hard, as I had voted for them.

Two other members of the student body appeared as Ethan hugged Samantha, who was bawling her eyes out — one of them carried a silver crown and a bouquet of white flowers that were given to Samantha and the other a golden, less ornate, crown and a sceptre, that were given to Ethan. Mylène then hugged the winners and congratulated them both.

After about 30 seconds in front of the microphone, trying to put it together, Samantha finally spoke:

"Well... The queen of Egypt finally got her crown." Everyone laughed, including me, as I'm always up for a good historical joke. "Uh... I-I'd like to thank everybody that voted for me and Ethan; thank you Mylène for organizing this beautiful dance and being the best president our student body has ever had." Mylène placed both hands on her chest and mouthed the word 'thank you' before blowing her a kiss. "And thank you, Ethan, for being the best boyfriend a girl could ask for." More applauses were heard as she hugged him. "This is a moment I'll treasure forever, thank you very much for this." She stepped aside, giving Ethan some room to say his words as well.

"I know most of you want to keep partying, and that's fine, so I'll make it very quick. I'd like to thank everyone who voted for us. I know it was hard choosing just one couple. Amanda, Andrew, Tracey, Cole, who's also my teammate, you all look great and it's a pleasure to have been selected among you. Thank you, Mylène: everything's so beautiful tonight and I think we can all agree that you're indeed the best president our student body's ever had. And finally, thank you to my queen, Samantha, for being this amazing, funny and loving person. I couldn't have wished for a better partner, thank you."

They remained on stage, as asked by Mylène, while Mr. Farley took some pictures of them with the school's camera, used solely for academic purposes. Their portrait is later going to the 'Hall of Fame' alongside past years' winners.

It didn't surprise me that they won, honestly, as Ethan and Samantha have been friends for as long as I can remember and had been together ever since 8th grade. They were the power couple at Palm High and what they had was relationship goals for most people at school.

What did surprise me, though, was Amanda and Andrew making it to the top 3, by passing some other famous couples that ran for king and queen. Amanda was popular among boys, as you might have realized by now, but not so much among girls. In fact, now that I'm thinking about it, I can't remember ever seeing her with a single girlfriend — likely because she steals all their boyfriends. On the other hand, Andrew was only a part of the swimming team and I can't recall a moment when a single swimmer was popular in that school. In sum, their nomination is, to this day, a mystery to me.

Amanda and Andrew could be more popular, from what I've heard from the crowd, but no couple looked better together than Ethan and Samantha. Samthan, if you will.

"Do you know them?" Nikolai asked me.

"He's Amanda Jackson's brother, believe it or not, and she's just some rich girl who's very popular. I voted for them, actually."

"Is he nice, at least? Because from what I've heard his sister's a bitch." I laughed.

"You're not wrong there, but he's actually a very nice guy. I can almost consider him as a friend."

"Almost?"

"We don't speak with each other that often. He's more like a nice acquaintance who eventually pops out of nowhere and talks to me."