Student Council Debates (Part 1)

I woke up the next morning from a sleep, several dreams raced through my brain that had unpleasant endings involving me being killed at the hands of Viktor Hale. The ride to school was horrifying, it felt like a loop of torture, my gut churning just waiting to see what would happen when I stepped foot into Ms. Smith's class again. After all the crazy shit that happened yesterday I would've liked at least some room to breathe, but now Viktor Hale, my worst enemy, would be just a few seats away from me. What's next, he's going to run for council president or something?

On the way through the school gate, I froze in place as a terrifying realization hit me.

He would.

It all made sense now, his timing not only theatrical but also purposeful. Student council spots opened up in about a week, he planned to establish influence for a greater goal. I internally scolded myself for not realizing this sooner. He would be in a perfect position of influence and power, able to manipulate the entire school as pleased. I bet he wouldn't even need to bother with the secret meetings in dark alleys to deal with me anymore. For what purpose, I haven't the slightest clue, but I know I can't let him succeed.

Principal Meyers must've seen me freeze in place and came over to talk to me.

"What's up, Jeffrey?" He said as he kneeled down and placed his hand on my shoulder, a solemn look on his face.

I slowly turned my gaze to meet his.

"Viktor Hale is going to run for council president, and I have to do everything I can to make sure it doesn't happen."

Principal Meyers froze. He, too, understood the gravity of this situation, since he couldn't step in. The votes are based entirely on student input. Meaning that if Viktor got more votes than me, he'd win. Simple as that. There was nothing Principal Meyers could do.

"I'll see what I can do." He said and started back towards his office. I followed slowly behind, letting my feet drag on the ground behind me. There wasn't much I could do, Viktor is not only insanely intelligent, but a master manipulator too. On top of all that, insanely charismatic. He chose a game where his strengths came into play perfectly.

I barely had time to come up with a plan before I ran into TJ on the way to Ms. Smith's class. TJ looked as tired as felt, with bags under his eyes and his face drooping.

TJ blinked a few times.

"You hear the news?" He asked, his voice low, showing he was low on energy as well. "It's all over the school now, Viktor's running."

I cursed under my breath.

"Dammit, already? He just got here and everybody already loves him." I groaned and grabbed my hair. "Great, just great. This can't possibly get any worse."

TJ thought before his next sentence.

"Actually it can, he already has a campaign team. Posters are going up later today."

I gave him a soulless look, my face a void.

"What?"

TJ stepped back slightly, his face showing a mixture of fear and confusion.

"Yeah, he's already making moves. You know, you never really told me much about you and Viktor's relationship."

He was right, although I didn't tell him for a reason. But, I didn't want to hurt him.

"You're right, man, but now's not the time to think about that. All you need to know is that he is extremely intelligent, and we cannot let him become president."

"Okay, but if I know more about him, maybe I can be of more use."

Dammit TJ being so persistent.

"Alright, fine. I'll tell you the story later. But for now, I need time to formulate a plan. Also, bell's about to ring. Let's go greet our new classmate."

TJ being so insistent on knowing more about Viktor was entirely justified, but I'd rather it if he didn't know. It would be for his own good.

As TJ and I approached Ms. Smith's classroom, every other word I heard involved Viktor in some way. From what I'm hearing, he's already told people that he and I have been long time "friends".

This leads me to believe a number of things, but mainly that his entire purpose here would be to extract his revenge on me. It made sense, but I couldn't allow that to happen. While I do plan to pay for my actions one day, I'd rather not let the school suffer with me.

We finally walked in the room together and there he was, sitting a couple rows ahead of me. He instantly turned and locked eyes with me. His piercing gaze caught me off guard, but I returned the favor and we had a mini staring competition. He unfortunately won, I gotta get back into poker, man that made things like these so easy.

Viktor stood and slowly approached TJ and I, a group of kids noticed and started following him.

"Jeffrey, my buddy! How's it been, old friend?" Viktor said, his voice full of glee. A couple people behind him started to whisper. For a second, I almost thought he was actually happy to see me.

"Viktor." I nodded in acknowledgement. Just then, I had a really funny idea, but it probably wouldn't leave any lasting damage. "Been a while since you escaped prison, how's it been being an escapee?"

Viktor froze for a second, his brain calculating how he should respond to this. Of course, I expected as much from him, but it's still good to know I can catch him off guard, not even he can predict my actions perfectly.

"Hahaha! Oh, Jeffrey, how you make me laugh! You were always such a jokester!" He said, laughing, patting my shoulder. "Although, you really should work on your delivery, people would've thought you were being serious."

As expected, Viktor effortlessly dismissed my comment. I'm still glad to catch him off guard, it seems like he didn't predict a response like that, unless…

"Oh, you're right, old friend. It's always been an issue of mine." I replied casually, deciding to play along with him. "It's been so long, though, what's brought you back here after all this time?" Right before Viktor could respond, the bell rang, signaling class to start. He clicked his tongue in disappointment, but I knew it wasn't due to our conversation being cut short. The truth struck me like a bell.

It's because he predicted all of this.

I had an idea of how the conversation would go, I would try to poke Viktor and see how he responds, seeing if my profile of him was still up-to-date, then ask him why he's here.

What's insane is that he manipulated the conversation to go the way he wanted it to. He knows me so well that he was able to predict exactly how this conversation would go. TJ and I were rather late arriving to class, so he crafted his words perfectly so that the conversation would have me asking him his purpose here right before the bell rings. I can't fucking believe he pulled that off. Although this is expected of Viktor, I really need to start paying attention, especially now that Viktor is working on some giant plan that I still don't know the details of.

He shrugged and turned back towards his desk.

"Rather unfortunate timings, it seems." He said, his voice dripping with sarcasm that only I could recognize. "We'll have to catch up some other time. Talk to you later, Jeffrey!" He waved his hand and returned to his seat.

I turned back to my own seat and sat down as Ms. Smith finally entered her room again. Her lateness was expected, but I'm still curious as to what actually happened to her. Something told me I wouldn't be getting an answer to that, though.

"Morning, class." She said, her voice shaking a little. She took a deep breath and briefly glanced towards me. "I'm sorry for my unannounced absence. But, thankfully, everything's been taken care of for now."

As she said that, her eyes took a shaking glance towards Viktor, who nodded slightly. It seems he even has her under his control, although probably for a different purpose.

The rest of the class period blew by, Ms. Smith said she didn't want to go into details for "personal reasons" and then class resumed like usual. Ms. Smith seemed different from usual, but I can't put my finger on it. I guarantee it has something to do with Viktor somehow, but all the dots in my head aren't connecting. But then, I remembered something.

When Mr. Thorne took me to Principal Meyers's office, Principal Meyers mentioned an "Arcane Synd-" before Mr. Thorne cut him off, saying that I was right here. I might have to go ask Principal Meyers more about that, and maybe do some research on my own, although I was rather apprehensive to do so. Considering even Principal Meyers seemed to be unable to do anything, maybe it's best I try to not keep a paper trail for this one.

I had started to trail off and Ms. Smith snapped at me. Too bad, I was starting to get close to the truth. Viktor probably guessed I was deep in thought and signaled Ms. Smith. Although, I don't think Viktor would've hesitated to do it himself. I still don't entirely know what his final goal for me is, but I had an idea.

The bell finally rang for class to let out. I hurriedly shoved my books in my bag and ran out of the classroom. As I left, I saw Viktor with a group of students parading around him as he graciously exited the room. It hurt to watch, all these people were just pawns in his bigger scheme, and I'm still powerless to help.

…

Lunchtime finally came around, and I had started to formulate my plan of action, but I had to be quick before Viktor took control of the whole school. I already saw that he had begun making his moves, but something was missing. He needed a vice president. That should give him some trouble, since he doesn't have any real friends, all just admirers at the moment. I got TJ, everybody knows me and TJ.

Now, I had to figure out just how exactly I would counter Viktor's plan. He already amassed a large amount of influence, so I would have to do something to bring him down. My only win condition would be to somehow make his entire campaign seem fake, or a lie. Which it was, but sometimes the truth is hard to believe.

I was so lost in thought that I didn't even notice TJ who had just come up and sat beside me.

"So, Jeffrey, what's your master plan right now?" TJ asked excitedly.

"Uhhh, right now… I got nothing, man."

In all honesty, I didn't. Although I had an idea as to what Viktor had in store, the reality of the situation is that I have nearly no counter. But, I didn't say absolutely no counter.

I had ideas, but nothing concrete.

My campaign had to start immediately. I would run for president and have TJ run as my vice president. Whoever Viktor chose likely wouldn't have that same bond TJ and I had. Ideally, I would have diminished at least some of Viktor's influence by the time the public speeches and debates come around on Friday, but that would certainly be a challenge.

One of my ideas would be to attempt to trick Viktor into revealing his dark intentions while secretly broadcasting our conversation to the school, but I dismissed this idea since I knew how cautious Viktor could be.

I realized my only shot was to be genuine, promise the school that I could do something. But, I purposefully played dumb around others, so I wouldn't be forced to act smart all the time, but now it was time to act smart.

"Looks like we got some serious work to do…" TJ muttered as he bit into a sandwich.

"Yeah, but we have to start now. You'll be my vice president. Viktor doesn't have any real friends, they're all just pawns to him, and he's some idol in their minds. I guarantee he'll just choose the first person he feels like."

TJ nodded, starting to see what little vision I had created.

"Yeah, I got it. I'll start working on making posters, what should our slogan be."

The ball was finally rolling, my brain juices were flowing and I could feel it.

"How about, 'For the Students, by the Students'?"

TJ grinned.

"I like it. We'll have to take it far more casually than Viktor."

Suddenly an idea popped into my head.

"TJ…" I began, slowly turning my gaze to meet his. "What if we frame Viktor for doing something terrible, like a murder?"

But as the words came out of my mouth, I realized the issue.

"Never mind, he'd probably say it was another one of my jokes. Dammit man! Formulating a counter to him is nearly impossible, especially everything that's happened so far has been planned out by him. Well, I guess my only shot will have to be fighting him head on in the debates on Friday."

TJ nodded.

The rest of the day went by in a blur. Viktor's campaign was all over the school, they loved him. His charm was irresistible, and his ability to make use of him being a new student was admirable. Everyone wanted to see the new kid on the block be the council president, especially since he already showed everyone he was a genius. According to the rumors, Viktor was solving problems his teachers couldn't even solve.

This was starting to piss me off, I knew I couldn't deal with Viktor's tactics, and my campaign was off to a rough start to put it lightly. We had successfully got a couple people on my side, but I know it's too late. Viktor's been planning all this for a long time, likely ever since that day I left him. But, I can't let him succeed, since I know he'll attempt to destroy the school. On my way home from the library my mom works at, I got a text message from TJ, hoping for good news. I yanked my phone from my pocket.

But what I saw shocked me to my very core.

Viktor's vice president was going to be Emma Carrington.

I'm fucked.