Cade and Elsie were eating some snacks in the cafeteria. Since he had no friends, his last choice was to be with her during recess and lunch. Cade would rather hang out with her unwillingly than be with the other weirdos. It was also more practical because she was his human shield. She's not afraid to cause a commotion in front of the CCTV cameras like she had nothing to lose.
"You know what? I'll run as the campus president," Cade said arrogantly.
Elsie drank a bottle of juice as she choked on her food. "Are you hearing yourself? You don't have any shame, do you?"
"What? I'm qualified. I am intelligent, creative, diligent, and cooperative."
"Are you transparent and truthful?"
"Yes, I—" Cade paused.
I'm not. Curtis Fleming is a lie.
"I brought transparency to Mchalmmond by exposing Luke's inner demons. That is my edge."
"Everyone has inner demons, Curt. Don't call him a demon. He was being competitive."
"Competitive to a point of exploitation."
Elsie pointed her turkey sandwich to Cade. "You will lose. Do you think defeating Luke made you a hero? Actually, no. The students see you as a trying-hard-outcast."
Cade closed his eyes and gestured his hands to make her stop talking. "Stop. I don't need your pessimism right now." He exhaled some air and said to himself, "Happy thoughts, Curt. Happy thoughts."
Cade had consumed too much negative energy from Elsie and he could've doubted himself. But his goal encouraged him to look forward to becoming the newest president. His primary goal was to become powerful and popular like he used to be.
In times of a little downfall, Cade had a go-to person. Someone he could annoy whenever he felt like a loser.
It was during their art class when Cade had the chance to make fun of the ever-innocent Lily.
"Hey. You have paint on your face," Cade said.
Lily alarmingly touched her face. "Where? Here?"
"No. Come here. Let me wipe it for you," he replied.
Cade cupped her chin and wiped her forehead with some paint on his fingers. "There. It's gone now."
Lily turned red. "Is it?"
Her eyes were unsettling as she faced her canvas, while Cade was controlling his laughter. When Lily went to the restroom to wash her hands, she saw her chin and forehead tainted with paint. No wonder the students were looking at her in the hallway. Her nose was flaring as she rushed outside to look for Cade and beat the shit out of him. Though she didn't have the abilities, she wanted to kill him with her small hands.
"Curtis Fleming! Show yourself!"
"Looking for me?" Cade said with a cunning smile. Lily chased him who ran upstairs. He even shook his butt to tease her.
"Jerk!"
Lily bumped into Elsie.
"Why are you here?" Elsie asked.
"The Jerk fooled me! I need to catch him," Lily said as she pointed at Cade who was still running away.
"Let me do it," Elsie said.
She glared at her target while flexing her right arm in a circular motion. Elsie chased after him until she reached the back of his collar and dragged him back to Lily. Cade's shoes screeched as he let himself slide onto the cold floor like a corpse.
"You..." Elsie uttered when she recognized Cade.
"You are the jerk she's been talking about the whole time?"
"Wait. You know each other?" Cade asked while lying on the floor.
"Yes. She's my closest friend," Lily said.
"No way..."
Cade wiped the dirt on his uniform.
"So you are running for the presidency, huh? What a joke," Elsie said with cross arms.
"We were just having fun. It's not a big deal."
"It's not a 'we,' Curt. You are the only one who's having fun. We can also count this as bullying. This makes you unqualified for the position. Let's go, Lily," Elsie said, and they turned their backs on him.
"Ugh. Come on. Can't you take a joke?" Cade added.
In the afternoon, Elsie left a note on her desk saying that she had to go to the Drama Club audition, so she wouldn't be able to go home with Cade.
"Drama Club?" Cade uttered as he picked up the sticky note. "I thought she's in the Martial Arts."
***
Elsie was rubbing the diamond in her necklace while watching one auditionee perform on stage. The Drama Club held an audition for the different roles for their upcoming presentation. Elsie aimed to become the main lead as a stepping stone to becoming an actress. It was her dream to become a Hollywood star.
"I will marry you. I could marry you while being chased by a dragon. I will hold your hand while fighting against the warriors of the north. Even when our kingdoms are in dispute, I will remain as your bride. I will kiss you while arrows are shooting at us. And in my last breath, your name will be my deathbed."
The auditionee spoke every line with tears in her eyes. Elsie was amazed and worried at the same time. The auditionees were too good. She might not get the role. In the midst of her overthinking, the crowd was jammed in the theatre. But she didn't hear their noises. Not until a man's chest touched her head.
Elsie turned her head and met a pair of grey eyes. His eyeglasses shone as colored lights beamed through them.
"Archer?"
"Hi."
Archer was startled when someone accidentally pushed him because of the rushing students inside. Good thing he was fast enough to hold the seat in front of him, enclosing Elsie in his arms and shielding her from the crowd. It was too late for him to realize that Elsie was frozen with his close distance from her.
Archer's face twitched when he felt the injury in his left wrist.
"Are you alright?" Elsie asked.
"I haven't fully recovered from my injury. But I can manage."
"You shouldn't force it. It might get worse." Elsie removed his hand from the tip of the seat and placed hers instead. She diverted her attention back to the stage.
"Where did you get that?" she asked.
"During the basketball tournament. It's part of the game."
"Oh. I didn't watch the match. I'm not into basketball."
"Me neither. I'm in the Archery Club. It was for our grades."
"That's why you were so good with arrows."
A line formed on his lips. "I guess you're into dramas."
"You guess it right."
"Next to perform is Elsie Lynch," the director called her name.
"Good luck," he said.
Elsie intertwined her hands to stop them from trembling. They focused the spotlight on her. She gathered all her emotions as she spoke the lines of the heroine.
"I will marry you. I could marry you while being chased by a dragon. I will hold your hand while fighting against the warriors of the north. Even when our kingdoms are in dispute, I will remain as your bride. I will kiss you while arrows are shooting at us. And in my last breath, your name will be my deathbed."
Elsie didn't cry, but she let the tone of her voice and her watery eyes delivered the right emotion. When she was done, she went backstage and saw Cade waiting for her.
"Hey, I didn't know you can be so feminine," Cade joked. "You look so comical. To be honest? Martial Arts suit you more." Cade punched through the air.
"I don't need your opinion," she replied in a frigid tone.
"You're too manly for this. You should've auditioned for the male lead."
"I know I'm not good enough. You don't need to tell me," she replied before she stormed out of the theatre.
The night of the same day, Elsie was having a discussion with her group mates via Google Meet. She maintained a stern voice while sharing her ideas, as if she didn't shed a tear a few minutes earlier.
"Let's polish the paper tonight. I'll see you tomorrow. Bye," Elsie said.
Everyone left the meeting. She was about to end it when a notification popped up on her screen.
Stan Carline would like to join the meeting.
Elsie hadn't heard of such a name before. Maybe he got the wrong link. She accepted him with a plan to tell him that he was in the wrong meeting. But to her surprise, a familiar face flashed on the screen.
"Archer? How did you..."
"Hi."
"Who is Stan?"
He smiled. "I got the link from your group mate whom I know. And Stan is me. I'm Stan Carline."
"But you are Archer."
"Oh, sorry about that. I want to have that mysterious effect, so I used a different name."
Elsie smiled as she shook her head.
"Why are you here?"
"Well, I wanted to tell you that you did an awesome performance. You'll get the major lead for sure."
"You don't have to comfort me."
"I'm not good at comforting people, but I'm good at being honest."
"Am I not manly to you?"
"What? Manly?" Stan chuckled. "You are the coolest girl I've seen. Don't feel insecure about your differences because that's your asset. And as I listened to you a while ago, I wanted to become your groom. Every man in the theatre would feel that way because of your effective acting skills."
"For real?"
"For real. Did someone call you manly?"
Elsie bit her lower lip.
"Whoever it was, he doesn't have an excellent taste in pure talent. I frequent museums and theatres. Our house alone was filled with paintings and sculptures."
"Really? That must be so cool!"
"It is. But wait until you begin to imagine things like ghosts behind the paintings and hear whispers from the antics."
Elsie listened to Stan's stories matched with inside jokes until she fell asleep, while Stan was still up, watching her snore.