Chapter 5- Michael P.O.V

Michael and Bubba went to the mall for lunch shortly after that. It was crowded. Michael remembered when the mall had been nothing but a piddling collection of failing stores. Put a roof over something and people swarmed in.

Michael ordered a turkey sandwich from Ed’s Sandwich Selection. His mother was usually too tired after working all day as a secretary in a downtown high rise to cook; he had grown up eating most of his food wedged between two slices of bread.

He was practically finished with his sandwich before Bubba had even decided what to order. Bubba finally opted on Indian food, which took time to prepare (to his specifications). By then many of Tabb’s students had already come and gone so they could be back for the special assembly of candidate speeches. Michael also had a mild interest in hearing the talks. Plus he hoped to run into Jessica Hart again. He had begun to take Bubba’s threat seriously. At Michael’s prodding, Bubba got his dishes to go.

The assembly was well under way when they entered the gym. The bleachers were jammed. They stood near the ticket booth beside the entrance, Bubba holding his aromatic spiced dahl and rice in a  white cardboard container, surveying the audience for a seat. In a high, cracking voice, a girl at the microphone was talking about school spirit and how far-out she was.

“Do you see her?” Bubba asked.

“I’m not looking for her.”

“I believe you. I see her.”

“Where? Don’t point.”

“Sixth row on the far right, two rows behind Fosmeyer’s body.”

Michael saw her. It was amazing how her beauty had magnified since morning. The shine of her long brown hair seemed to jump right out from the crowd. “All right, let’s leave,” Michael said.

“But you dragged me back here. No we’re going to sit behind her.”

Michael didn’t like that idea. “There’s no room.”

Bubba ignored him. “Come on.”

They didn’t actually get the seats directly behind Jessica, but a couple of rows back. Bubba obtained the space by gesturing to a couple of sophomores to move to the rear. Bubba did not have a reputation of being violent; nevertheless, the kids jumped when he pointed. Climbing the steps,. Michael had kept his head turned away from Jessica. He didn’t know if she noticed him.

Sitting in the row between Michael and Jessica were a couple of Tabb’s football players. They cheered loudly as the next speaker was announced: Bill Skater. Bubba began to lay out his Indian delicacies, opening a bottle of Perrier and spreading a cloth napkin across his lap. Michael saw Jessica lean forward as Bill strode towards the microphone. She had a pudgy girl with dark hair on her left and an orange-haired girl on her right. These two girls turned and spoke to Jessica when Bill appeared. Michael leaned forward trying to block out Bill’s opening statements, straining to hear what the girls were saying.

“He walks like a stiff board,” the one of the left said.

“I hear he’s the worst quarterback in Tabb’s long history in terrible quarterbacks,” the one on the right said.

“Shut up both of you” Jessica said.

“Oh but I think he’s cute” the one of the left said.

“He should take his shirt off and give his speech,” the one on the right agreed.

“Shh. I want to hear what he has to say,” Jessica said.

“What for, we’ve heard it all before,” the one on the left said.

“Yeah, I wish I could get down there and tell them what this school really needs,” the one with orange hair said.

This last comment caused Jessica and her pal on the left to break into laughter. Michael didn’t know what was so funny. He wondered if Jessica was interested in Bill Skater.

Michael listened to Bill’s speech with an open and unprejudiced mind, but never did figure out what he was running for, much less why anyone should vote for him. Bubba continued to savour his meal. When Clair Hilrey’s name was announced next, however, Bubba looked up.

“Isn’t she something?” he muttered as Clair swaggered to the microphone in her cute blue-and-gold cheerleader uniform.

“She’s an empty phoney devoid of an iota of intelligence.”

Bubba nodded. “True. But if you look past the superficial qualities, you’ll see her true value.”

“Which is?”

“It’s hard to express in words. Just imagine her naked.”

Clair’s speech had content similar to Bill’s, which is to say it had no content at all. But she giggled a lot, whereas Bill had been as stiff as the board Jessica’s friend had compared him to, and she have an alluring way of propping her hands on her hips at the top of her undeniably gorgeous legs. Clair made it clear she wanted to be school president.

The name Sara Cantrell was called next.

“What the hell?” the girl on Jessica’s right said.

“Go ahead, tell them what this school really needs,” Jessica said.

“No way. I’d have to start by telling them it doesn’t need me.”

“Coward,” the girl to Jessica’s left said.

“Don’t call me a coward, you spineless fish.”

“Sara Cantrell please?” the announcer repeated.

“It took you three years to alienate everybody at Mesa,” Jessica said. “Just think of the power you’ll have behind that microphone. You can do it all in one afternoon here.”

The logic appealed to the strange girl named Sara. Michael watched as she stood and made her way down the bleacher steps and on to the gymnasium floor.

“Hi, I’m Sara,” she said completely at ease. “I’m not really running for anything.  My friends Jessica Hart and Polly McCoy signed me up because they thought it would be funny to get me down here.” Sara pointed towards her friends. “They’re sitting right over there. Let’s give them a big laugh to show them that at least we think they’re funny.”

The audience cheered loudly. Jessica and Polly turned beet red and buried their faces in their knees. Michael burst out laughing.

“But since I’m here,” Sara continued, “I do have some things I’d like to say. First, I don’t think you should vote for anybody who’s spoken this afternoon. They struck me as a bunch of insecure idiots, looking to get their egos stroked. Second, I don’t believe we need student officers at all.  What do they do? I’ll tell you. Nothing! And finally, I don’t know who out there stole the chewing gum from my locker, but I hope you choke on it. Thank you.”

Sara received a standing ovation and thundering applause. She walked back to her place as though she were just another spectator taking her seat. But she grinned when she reached her friends.

“How did I do?” she asked.

“You’ll probably be expelled,” Polly said.

“Or elected,” Jessica said.

“I think your girlfriend’s right,” Bubba whispered in Michael’s ear.