Eugenie in NYC

“Hey, what about running for class president?” my mom asked me, handing me a plate of fruit.

“I guess,” I said. Being class president seemed fun. You would occasionally get to skip class to go to meetings, and you could plan fun days. Our class president last year, Marie, was no fun. The only days she planned were filled with extra academic classes like math, science, or history. If I was class president, I would show my school how fun I was.

“I think you should run for it.” my mom said.

“Okay,” I said., “I’ll email Ms. Caroline, the teacher who chooses class president, but don’t be mad if I don’t get in. Basically, our whole grade applies to it.”

I went back up to my room, grabbed my computer, and started an email to Ms. Caroline.

Hi Ms. Caroline,
I hope you are enjoying your evening. I was wondering if I could run for class president. Could you email me the form to enter?
Best regards,
Charlotte

I sent the email and grabbed a piece of paper. I started brainstorming what fun things I would plan if I became a class president. That night, I stayed awake, thinking of more ideas. The next morning, I met my best friend, Evelyn, at Starbucks.

“Guess what I’m doing?” I said, taking a sip of my drink.

“What?” Evelyn said, biting into her cake pop.

“I’m going to run for class president,” I said, “Won’t that be cool?”

I waited for a happy reaction on Evelyn’s face, but she replied, “I’m running

too.”

“Oh,” I said, “You could’ve told me. But it’s fine. Even if we’re running against each other, we’ll still be friends, right?”

“Yeah,” Evelyn said. But I wasn’t so sure about that. Evelyn was very competitive, especially when it came down to something she really wanted. I could tell how much she wanted to be class president, but so did I.

“May the best person win,” I said, hugging her.
A week later, when I entered my homeroom class, Ms. Olson, my teacher, told me to head straight to the school auditorium. The room was packed with the sixth, seventh graders, and eighth graders. Then, Ms. Caroline walked to the microphone stand and quieted everyone down.

“Hello, I am Ms. Caroline, and I’m here to announce our two finalists for class president.”

The crowd cheered, and I gulped as a sudden thought passed through my head. What if Evelyn and I are the two finalists? If I win, she‘ll be mad, but if she wins, she’ll stop being friends with me because she’ll think she’s too good for me.

“The two students are,” Ms. Caroline paused, “Evelyn Johnson and Charlotte Garnier.”

Evelyn and I looked at each other.

“Please stand up, Evelyn and Charlotte,” Ms. Caroline said, “And walk over to the podium.”

Evelyn and I stood up and walked to the podium. Ms. Caroline instructed us to give a speech about ourselves, and Evelyn went first. As she gave the speech, she gave me side-eyes. When it was my turn, I tried to sound positive and happy. I listed all of the fun things that I would do if I was class president. The whole school clapped when we were done, and then Evelyn and I exited the room and walked into the hallway.

“It was just a speech about yourself,” Evelyn said, “Not about the fun things you would do.”

“Well, you can’t be the one to judge,” I said, “You were literally side-eyeing me the whole time.”

“I was not!” Evelyn said, outraged, “You’re just jealous of me because everyone likes me and no one likes you! You know what? If you don’t want to be friends with me, then I don’t care! Go be friends with Teressa or something!”

Evelyn stormed off. I saw Teressa’s head peek out of the corner of the hallway.

“Hi,” I said, hoping she didn’t hear our fight, “Why are you here?”

“It’s perfect! I got that whole fight on record! And now you just need to make her mad a few more times on camera. When you’re doing your speech, you can show it to the whole school!” Teressa said, jumping up and down.

“Wait, you were recording the whole time!?” I said, grabbing her phone. She nodded, and I watched the recording.

During school the next day, I tried to make Evelyn as mad as I could. It wasn’t that hard. I would sit in the seat she always sat in, or steal her partners for projects before she could ask them. We had five recordings, and Teressa put them all together.

One day, when I was at Teressa’s house, I said, “Hey Teressa, I’m not so sure about this. Even though she’s mean, she’s still been my best friend for a long time.”

“But look at what we have?” Teressa said, “All of this just for nothing? And don’t you want to be class president?”

“Yes,” I said. Teressa was right. I shouldn’t feel bad for Evelyn. She’s probably doing the same thing right now. Trying to take me down.

“What do you think Evelyn’s doing right now?” I said.

“Probably hanging out with her boyfriend, James,” Teressa said, looking at her pink nails.

“We need one more thing, to finish our quest,” I said, “It doesn’t have to go onto the video, but it needs to destroy Evelyn,” I said.

“Wow, girl. That’s the thinking!” Teressa said, giving me a high five. “But what will destroy her?”

“I could steal James,” I said.

“Steal Evelyn’s boyfriend, the one she’s been dating for two years,” Teressa said, “Sounds good!”

“You know, it isn’t that easy. They’re pretty close. I’m pretty sure they’re going to the dance together. Maybe I can steal him then,” I said.

“Okay, but you better start thinking about ideas of how to do that, because the dance is in two days.” Teressa said, “But in the meantime, what should I wear?”

We spent the rest of the night picking out dressing and thinking of ideas. Finally, we thought of a good one.

“What if,” Teressa started, “We could make her think that you’re with John, and she’ll have the same idea as us, which is stealing him away! Then, we’ll get James to see her dancing with John, and he’ll think he’s cheating on her!”

The idea took a long time for my brain to process.

“Okay! But I don’t want to date John,” I said, “What about you?”

“I guess,” Teressa said, “But you’re going to need to do something too.”

“I’ll pick the dresses,” I said, hoping that was good enough.