Promises, Promises

by Annie Bryant

  “This is pretty intense—‘More honors classes,’ ‘A better homework corner,’” Isabel read from her copy.

  “Look at the bottom. She also wants Abigail Adams student government leaders to have day-long exchanges with student government leaders at other junior highs. Guess I don’t have to worry about that one,” Maeve said.

  “And don’t forget the last of her ideas right here at the bottom of the flyer…she wants the class budget to go toward hiring guest speakers or taking field trips to museums, and she wants a student internship program with local businesses,” Charlotte said.

  “Wow, that’s impressive!” Maeve said. Still smarting from Avery’s snub, a little part of her wanted Avery to feel bad.

  “A big YAWN if you ask me,” Avery said. “Let the teachers worry about stuff like that. The whole point of student government is to deal with things that really affect us—the kids. Besides, no business is going to have kids our age working for them. Our attention spans are too short!” laughed Avery.

  Maeve had regretted her enthusiasm for Betsy’s ideas the minute she had spoken. She was relieved that Avery didn’t seem to have even noticed her comment.

  “And then there’s Henry Yurt. Did you see his banner in between the locker rooms?” Charlotte asked.

  “Musta missed it,” Avery said.

  “I don’t see how! It was that toxic green—maybe he dyed a bunch of old bed sheets. I have no idea where he found dye that color. It’s hideous!” Katani said.

  “Hideous and huge!” Maeve added. “It hangs ceiling to floor between the boys’ and girls’ locker rooms. He must have used one of those wide markers on it because it was covered with a bunch of crazy ideas,” Maeve said.

  “Yeah…he wants to make school more fun. He has lots of different ideas,” Charlotte said.

  “Like what?” Avery asked nervously. Making school more fun was something all the kids could get into…including herself.

  “Like…a day when everyone walks backward,” Charlotte said.

  “Hmm. That sounds really practical,” Katani said sarcastically, obviously unimpressed.

  “A Pajama Day,” Isabel added, intrigued with the possibilities.

  “Finally! The world will get to see my pink fuzzies!” Maeve said happily.

  “And what was the last one?” Isabel asked.

  “How could you forget? It was the best!” Maeve said.

  “Oh, yeah! Green hair day,” Charlotte said, giggling.

  “What’s with that boy and the color green?” Katani wondered.

  “I hate green hair,” Isabel piped in.

  “Excuse me, but it’s not easy being green,” Maeve said in a voice that made her sound like she was in a Muppets commercial.

  They burst out laughing as Dillon walked up to their table.

  “Glad you girls still have a sense of humor,” he said. “Actually, I’m kinda surprised you’re all sitting at the same table.”

  “Why wouldn’t we?” Avery asked.

  “Well, with the election and all…” Dillon raised his eyebrows.

  They watched Dillon as he moved to the next table, smiling broadly and patting everyone on the back.

  “Hey Dillon,” someone shouted to him from a table across the aisle. “We want bigger chocolate chip cookies!”

  “You got it!” Dillon called back, giving them the thumbs up, and flashing a Cool Guy Smiley grin.

  The BSG table watched in silence.

  “Speaking of Dillon,” Charlotte finally said, breaking the silence. “Did you see his campaign issues?” She held up a small blue sheet of paper with bold, black printing for everyone to see.

  “Where did you get that?” Katani asked.

  “From a pile in the library. It’s a survey.” Charlotte held up the paper and read off to the group.

  Which Would You Like?

  Check off which issues are most important to you:

  —Homemade chocolate chip cookies in study halls

  —New sports uniforms

  —School dances every week with better music (maybe even a DJ)

  —A class trip to NYC

  —Other _________________________

  Please deliver to locker #184 and Vote Dillon—

  He’s One in a Million.

  “Does he think the seventh-grade budget is endless?” Katani asked. “We’d need thousands of dollars to pay for all that!”

  “He didn’t promise to do all those things,” Maeve said.

  “No, he just promises whatever people want to hear,” Katani shot back at her.

  “I’m not worried about him,” Avery said, tilting back in her chair and throwing her Hackey Sack up in the air and catching it.

  “You should be,” Katani said, leaning across the table toward Avery. “I am! Sounds like he’s promising exactly what most kids want to hear.”

  “What issues are you running on, Katani?” Isabel asked.

  “Well, I think…,” Katani started. She looked around the table. Her eyes locked on Avery’s. “I don’t know if we should talk about this now.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” Avery asked.

  “It means I don’t think it’s a good idea to talk about this right now. Maybe we should be talking about something else.”

  “You think I’m going to take your ideas?” Avery asked, sitting forward and putting her Hackey Sack on the table.

  “I didn’t say that,” Katani said, pushing back from the table and crossing her arms in front of her.

  “Then why won’t you talk?” Avery asked.

  “Well, I will if you will,” Katani challenged.

  “If I will what?” Avery asked.

  “Tell us what issues you’re running on!” Katani raised her chin as if daring Avery to do it.

  Avery was stunned. “I…I have lots of different ideas.” It was true. Avery had spent the night writing down ideas. Unfortunately, nothing had jumped out at her as the main idea that she should focus on.

  “Like what?” Katani asked. It was definitely more of a challenge than a question.

  “Like…” Avery faltered, looking around the room for a clue and grabbing the milk carton from in front of Charlotte. “Like having nutrition information for the school menu published each week.”

  “Oh, so Dillon is running on a pro-cookie campaign and you’re the anti-cookie campaign?” Katani asked with a snide chuckle.

  “I didn’t say that…”

  “Look,” Charlotte said. “Maybe Katani is right. Maybe talking about the campaign should be off-limits at lunch.”

  “Fine with me,” Katani said as the bell rang and the room sprang to life around them.

  “Fine with me,” Avery echoed, but her answer was lost in the noise of the lunchroom as chairs scraped the floor and everyone rushed toward the exits. Avery grabbed her Hackey Sack and threw it up in the air.

  It wasn’t that she didn’t have an issue. Avery had too many issues. Too many things she thought were important: not having ethnicity boxes on standardized tests, mandatory afternoon snacks so blood sugar didn’t drop, recess after lunch each day, etc. Real issues. Important issues. In fact, there were too many ideas for one poster. And the more Avery thought about which issue to concentrate on, the more confused she felt.

  She was completely freaked out. This should be easy for her. She shouldn’t have to think so hard. Everyone knew she was the one who wanted to be president of the United States. Everyone expected her to have great ideas and a real plan for achieving them.

  Avery couldn’t help looking up at the posters on the walls of the seventh-grade hall as she went to her locker. She’d thought that “Avery for President” would be enough, but running a campaign was more complicated than she’d ever considered. The longer it took her to decide on her issues and get her posters up, the more pressure there was to be spectacular and out of the ordinary.

  And the more she tried to squeeze an “out-of-the-ordinary” idea from her brain, the more paralyzed and un
inspired she felt. Avery looked at one of Betsy Fitzgerald’s glossy posters and felt panicky. For the first time since she had sent the e-mail to Ms. R, Avery wondered if she might be in over her head.

  Campaign 101

  Katani spent her study hall that afternoon putting the finishing touches on her campaign plan. She had no idea campaigning would be this sophisticated when she and Isabel had made the temporary signs. Dillon had his “One in a Million” slogan and Henry had his crazy “Yurt Alert!” Even Betsy had a flyer listing her ideas, and she was running unopposed.

  One vice presidential candidate stole a line from the Avis Rent-a-Car commercial—Jessica Bentley for Vice President. #2 tries harder.

  Both vice presidents were emphasizing how they were good helpers. Only the class secretary candidates didn’t seem to have any issues or slogans.

  Katani didn’t want to be gimmicky, that would be too cheesy. But she wanted to do something that would make her campaign stand out. She was still steaming that Avery had tried to force her to share her campaign issues. It wasn’t that she was hiding anything. It was just that Avery hadn’t made any of her posters yet. What if Avery decided to use the same ideas? If she did, then when Katani put up her main set of posters, she would look as if she were copying Avery instead of the other way around. Not that she thought Avery would really do that on purpose, but it was better to be careful. Things were definitely getting murky.

  Katani paused with her pen in midair. Should she ask Charlotte and Maeve to do a face-to-face poll with a clipboard, or should she do it via Internet? Better yet, she could do an impromptu poll after school today. She would stand at the door and ask kids as they walked out. It was still early in the election, but she had to know what page everyone was on.

  Survey Says…

  Katani stood outside the seventh-grade entrance of the school and waited for stragglers.

  She checked her watch. She had hoped to poll half the class, but she was far from successful. She had only spoken to twenty-nine. She decided to ask one more person before she collected Kelley and headed home. One more person would be one third of the students.

  Loren Tayagi pushed through the seventh-grade door. Katani asked in an even tone, “Excuse me…if the election were today, who would you vote for?” She showed him the clipboard where she had the candidates’ names listed in large letters.

  Johnson

  Yurt

  Summers

  Madden

  Or Undecided.

  “Point if you like,” she added.

  Loren shrugged. “It’s private,” he said, and trotted down the steps.

  Katani sighed as she added one more slash mark to the undecided column. A lot of the students had said they were undecided. But then, it was early in the campaign. She hadn’t kept track of boy vs. girl answers, but it seemed to her that most of the boys were for Dillon…though a couple had said, “the Yurtmeister.”

  She counted up the slash marks and wrote the totals next to each name. She quickly figured the percentages and scribbled those beside the totals.

  Johnson 5 (17%)

  Yurt 2 (7%)

  Summers 4 (13%)

  Madden 3 (10%)

  Undecided 16 (53%)

  Katani couldn’t believe that Charlotte and Isabel had both said undecided! And Maeve! She wouldn’t give a clear answer. She had said, “You gotta be kidding me! I’m late!” So Katani hadn’t counted her answer at all.

  Maybe Charlotte and Isabel had said “undecided” because they were together, and they didn’t want to reveal their votes in front of the other BSG.

  Katani was sure Charlotte and Isabel would vote for her. After all, Charlotte was the one who had talked her into running in the first place, and Isabel was helping her with the posters.

  Maybe she should change Charlotte and Isabel’s answers from undecided to Summers—that would give Katani a one-vote lead over Dillon, which she figured was a more accurate result. Maybe Charlotte and Isabel didn’t want to say anything in front of Maeve because they knew she was supporting Avery. Somehow, Katani would have to find out. Running for office was giving her a headache.

  CHAPTER 7

  Piecing It Together

  Avery glanced at her watch. 6:55 A.M. She shifted her weight from her left to her right foot and then jumped up and down impatiently. Charlotte should be here any minute.

  Charlotte had agreed to meet Avery at Montoya’s before school so they could discuss slogans. Avery had to get her posters done and up. She looked up Beacon Street toward Summit Avenue, and when she looked back, she saw Charlotte running toward her.

  “What happened to you?” Avery said when Charlotte was in earshot.

  “Sorry! Marty didn’t want to come in after his morning walk. He was squirrel hunting,” she panted. They both laughed. Marty wasn’t much bigger than a squirrel himself.

  “Let’s go in. I’m hungry,” Charlotte said.

  Avery launched into her list of ideas for her presidency as soon as they stepped into the bakery. She was still talking when they sat down at a table with their hot chocolates and mini-muffins.

  For once, Avery let her food sit and just talked. She had a huge list of ideas to get through before she could start in on her breakfast. Charlotte sipped on hot chocolate and nibbled on her muffins while Avery rambled on.

  “Wow, Avery! You really do have a lot of ideas,” Charlotte said when Avery finally paused to take a bite of muffin.

  “I KNOW! Too many for one poster. Too many for one speech. Am I right?” Avery asked, a thin chocolate mustache etched on her upper lip.

  Charlotte nodded and pointed at her own upper lip to let Avery know about her mustache.

  “Finally, this morning it came to me. It was so easy I don’t know why I didn’t think of it sooner,” Avery said as she grabbed a napkin and wiped off her chocolate mustache.

  “What?” Charlotte asked.

  “I mean, I want to let students know that I’m open to their ideas—after all, a president is supposed to be all about them—the people—projects they want to do—but when I looked at all my ideas, the ones I felt the strongest about were the environmental issues.”

  Avery took a crumpled piece of notebook paper out of her backpack, unfolded it, and tried to smooth it out so Charlotte could read it. In case she couldn’t, Avery said them out loud. “Paper recycling, an anti-school-litter campaign…”

  “I hate litter,” Charlotte said.

  “Me, too! It’s so nasty looking. I thought we could pick up litter around the school and maybe along Beacon Street. Maybe we could get one of those Adopt-a-Street signs, ‘This area kept litter-free by the seventh-grade class at Abigail Adams Junior High.’ Wouldn’t that look great?”

  Charlotte nodded enthusiastically. “I love that,” she enthused.

  “We can use the money from aluminum can recycling to raise money for environmental causes. And we could grow this year-by-year. I mean, more projects. More fund-raisers. And eventually, by ninth grade, I thought our class could start a cat rescue program. So how do I put this on a poster?” Avery asked breathlessly.

  “Wow,” Charlotte said. “These are great ideas…too great for one little poster.”

  “That’s why you’re here. I need a writer to help me sum it all up in just a few words. Something like—‘Vote for Avery, the Green Candidate.’”

  “I think Henry has established himself as the green candidate.”

  “Doh!” Avery said, smacking her forehead with her hand. “Duh! Of course. How else do you say environmental without saying green? How about the three Rs: reduce, reuse, recycle? Can we use that somehow? How about: ‘Avery: Your 3 R candidate?’” Avery asked.

  “I’m not sure if everyone knows about the three Rs—I’ve never heard that before,” Charlotte said.

  “You’re kidding me,” Avery said.

  “Remember, I haven’t lived in the United States since I was four years old,” Charlotte said.

  “Maybe I should just fo
cus on recycling. But how do I put that into a cool slogan?” Avery asked as she ripped the napkin into a thousand pieces.

  Charlotte grabbed the pad of paper. She had never seen Avery so hyper. “I think better on paper,” she said as she bent over the pad and started scribbling notes.

  Avery’s leg started jiggling. She tried to read what Charlotte was writing down, but Charlotte’s handwriting was too cramped and tiny. Before Charlotte even had a chance to finish, Avery blurted out, “I got it! Vote Avery! For the Best Junior High Ever!”

  “Well…,” Charlotte said, scrunching up her nose. “It doesn’t have anything to do with the environment or even recycling.”

  “But…I like it,” Avery said, flipping the pad of paper back around and printing the slogan in big letters at the bottom.

  “It does have Avery-like enthusiasm,” Charlotte said, relieved.

  The bell over Montoya’s door jingled as it opened. Avery looked up to see Katani and Maeve coming through the door.

  “Oh, no!” Avery said, scrunching down in her seat. “Don’t turn around, Charlotte! Keep your head down. Look that way and maybe they won’t see us.”

  But Charlotte had looked over her shoulder when the bell jingled. “Avery, they’ve already seen us, and they are our best friends,” she said angrily.

  Avery blinked. Charlotte never got mad.

  Avery peeked around Charlotte as Katani and Maeve stopped at the counter to order.

  “I know, but I’ve got to get this done this morning before school so I can start on the posters right after school. I’m the only candidate who doesn’t have any posters up.”

  “We can still think all day,” Charlotte said.

  “Shhh! Here they come!” Avery said when Katani and Maeve turned from the counter and headed their way.

  Charlotte sighed. This was not fun anymore…and to her surprise, she actually felt a twinge of annoyance toward Avery and Katani.

  Suddenly, Avery sprang into action, flipping over the sheets of paper on the table as quickly as she could.

  “Avery! What are you doing?” Charlotte asked in a loud whisper.