Uninvited Guest

With the announcement of the shortlisted nominees that came a week after nominations were made, the period of voting was finally initiated. This news was received by the students; those who were anxious and excited alike.

The process of voting was quite simple. Each student would sign in unto their student's portal and vote for their choices of Prom King and Queen out of the available list. These votes would then be tallied and announced on the night of the Prom.

Each student, however, had the option of signing onto the portal once again and changing their choices whenever they had a reason to do so.

The following weeks were expected but quite interesting in the life of the school. Just like previous years, this year's Prom royalty running was filled with multiple cases of sabotage and revelations of secrets. It was a crazy period of time.

A few of the candidates who sought out to improve their reputations in order to garner more support, and the votes that came with them, were met with sabotages at every corner. They experienced cases where their deepest and damning darkest secrets were displayed for all to see thereby effectively ruining their current growing reputations.

Among the candidates, there were those like Samuel, McCollin, Karen and Elizabeth, who had completely no desires in partaking in the running for Prom royalty, not to talk less of joining in the somewhat senseless war between the current running nominees.

Unexpectedly, even those who had chosen to abstain from the reputation war were drawn in unwittingly. Even Samuel and Catherina, who were well known among the entire school to be two of the people who didn't give a rat's ass about such things, were also targeted.

Unable to find any credible dirt on them, their rivals attempted to fabricate a case of the two being extremely violent taking what happened in their first year against their seniors as an example. They also fabricated several reputation-ruining back stories of the two after the rumour of their friendship from childhood was spread around.

"Dude, can you believe the rumors being spread around the school?" McCollin asked Samuel in amusement after he and Elizabeth walked into the committee room after school just closed. "Dude, don't even speak about it. I'm already pissed as it is", Samuel fumed as he let himself plop down unto the soft couch in the office.

"This situation is incredibly ridiculous. We didn't even want to run for the positions. Why are they going after us so fervently?" Elizabeth asked as she plopped down beside him. "It's quite strange indeed. It's almost like someone is intentionally trying to ruin your reputations just like they are doing to each other. They are going at each other like wild animals", Karen said with a sigh of disappointment.

"I just can't believe they'll involve those clearly not interested in participating in the running, in their childish spat; revealing secrets and ruining reputations just so they could raise their own standings. Do we send a request to the school management to issue a communique for such activities to be halted?" McCollin asked his colleagues who thought in frustration.

"I think we should let it be. There are only a few days left for Prom. It would all be over by then", Samuel suggested after thinking for a while. "I think he's right. Cracking down on this could have unforeseen consequences on the upcoming programme. The least it could do is cause the nominees to be frustrated", Karen added.

"I think you are right. We just need to make sure that things do not go too out of control", Elizabeth concurred. "Very well then, I guess we can leave for today", McCollin said and stood up from his seat. The others followed and they left the room together heading down the hallway towards the staircase that led to the ground floor. Reaching the ground floor, they kept to the hallway that led to the school's entrance.

Getting closer to the entrance, they realised that the students were gathered there and not exiting the school building. "What's going on over there?" Karen asked in confusion. "I'm not sure. School closed a while ago. The students should have left already. I wonder what's keeping them here", McCollin wondered seeing the crowd packed together in the hallway close to the gates.

"We need to find out what's going on quickly", Karen said as she turned to Samuel and Catherina and realised that they were alert. The intense gaze in Samuel's eyes actually frightened her a little. "What's wrong with both of you?" she asked them but received no answer.

"Let's go!" Samuel said suddenly with a sharp tone as he quickly walked ahead, Elizabeth following closely behind him. Karen turned to McCollin questioningly and he shrugged in confusion. Not understanding what was going on, they decided to follow the two.

When they got closer to the entrance, the crowd of students and teachers noticed them and created a path down the middle to the gate surprising Karen and McCollin. Without hesitating, Samuel and Elizabeth walked along the path through the crowd heading for the gates of the school entrance.

"What's happening over here?" McCollin asked a nearby student. "I'm not too sure. It seems some delinquents are holding up the gates and preventing us from leaving. I heard they were calling out Samuel but I have no idea what for", the student tried to explain. "Thanks", McCollin said and followed behind Samuel and Elizabeth, Karen tailing quietly behind him.

"Just the person I wanted to see, Samuel Griffin, as I live and breathe", a familiar voice reached their ears and they turned to it. Standing beside an array of pick-up trucks parked haphazardly on the school's freshly cut lawn, with dozens of masked men in green hoodies with black skulls printed on them, standing around them; blunt weapons in hand.

Standing before them was Edmund Pascall, an old senior they had a chance encounter with on their first day in their first year. Judging by his choice of outfit and his predisposition, it was a safe bet that he was associated with the group and most likely the leader.