Page 20 of Beautiful Beginning

“Because” I looked to the guys and lowered my voice, “they haven’t heard anything about me.”

“But” she defended, “now they know you exist. There’s a debate at the end of the week. If they care to know more, they’ll attend.” She lifted a flyer in front of me. “We got the week’s events printed on your flyer.”

“Chaz Brown the only option for change,” I read out loud. “Who came up with that?”

She laughed. “One of the girls. We were up all night ensuring you had everything you needed to kick off a successful week.”

“Damn. Meanwhile, I spent the night contemplating if I wanted to do this.” I got close to her ear and said, “There aren’t any babies around here to kiss. Think I could kiss you instead?”

She placed a hand on my chest and said, “Anytime. Anywhere.”

The time was then, and the place was there.

ChapterNine

Journey

Chaz’s campaign was my first and last. By day seven of corralling the entire school around him, I was over every talking point we came up with. I didn’t want to hold another flyer or hear another opponent’s rebuttal.

Unless, of course, Chaz decided to run for governor, congressman, or president one day. Then of course, I’d be ready with the flyers, the slogans, and talking points. I’d stand beside him all day, watching with admiration as his eyes lit up talking change.

His eyes looked nothing like amusement as we stood on campus though. They wouldn’t announce the final results until eight o’clock. It wasn’t like Amya, his vice president, said where we’d get numbers throughout the day. Have updates and almost know for certain if Chaz was our next SGA president. She informed us that was for sophisticated systems. Not a college election.

I don’t know which one would calm my nerves more. Getting a play-by-play update or waiting till the very end for the final announcement. As I rung my fingers together and paced the small circle available to me, I thought thesophisticated optionwould be much better. I tried to hold it together for Chaz though, kept the assumptions to myself. Most people I saw voting that day confirmed they voted for him. I didn’t let him know that. In case, well, things didn’t go his way.

“This is taking forever,” Nia stood behind me watching the crowd grow. “Can they do this already. They tallying votes by hand?”

Chaz turned and responded, “If it’s close, it could require a hand count.”

My stomach churned. “A hand count?” With the ten thousand students on campus, I imagined we’d be there all night.

He pulled my hand from my mouth where I started to bite on the tip of my fingernail. “It’s cool. Win or lose, you might have a career in campaigns yourself.”

I huffed. “Me?” I shook my head. “Not at all.” Then I reneged, told him, “Unless you plan on running for state or national office, count me out.”

His eyes danced across the courtyard where the stage remained empty. “I don’t know about that now.”

“Hey,” I thought about the busy week we had, “Did you have a chance to write an acceptance speech? Do you know what you’ll say when you go up to the mic?”

We spent a full day preparing for the debate. Hours drilling him with questions. And his appearance on stage showed his preparation paid off. He was the most interesting, informed candidate up there.

But the bug-eyed looked he was giving me made me think we wouldn’t have a repeat scenario. “I didn’t have time.”

Amya cleared her throat. “I have one. We can go up there together.”

Thank God for her. The boulder on my shoulders didn’t roll away, but it got a little lighter. “Okay, you got this. The two of you will have a great partnership.” I smiled at her. “Glad we convinced you to join the team.”

She snickered. “I’m still out on that decision. I’ll let you know at the end of the year what I think about it.”

“Bet,” I nodded.

The crowd hushed as we watched the dean of students take the stage. My heart pounded harder than it did when I held my Hillside acceptance letter in my hand. More than when I waited to hear I made the cheer squad. My palms sweated, and I could hardly hear through the thumping sound in my ears.

But I felt when Chaz’s arms wrapped around me. His soft whisper burst through the sound in my ear, and I heard him say, “We did it.”

“You did what?” I screamed. “You won?”

“We should go up there,” Amya stood beside us urging Chaz to let me go. “Say something before everyone clears out.”

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