Page 19 of Beautiful Beginning

I pulled the knot of the tie and said, “Not complaining is a stretch. But Professor Martin had a point. The only way to assure nothing changes is to sit back and watch.”

Marcus leaned against my door and crossed his arms over his chest. Sucked his teeth. “Didn’t realize you were passionate about anything changing on campus.”

“I wasn’t. But whatever I do after Hillside can start now. All these students will be out in the world one day. Wherever I end up, it’s likely a constituent will be a graduate of here.”

He laughed. “That’s debatable. Have you heard about the graduation rate here? You should make that a talking point.” He cringed. “Whatever it is that has you running, I know you could make a difference. But…”

I knew Marcus was about to drop something. He had that look on his face like he’d spent the night contemplating life. Woke up and still had no answers for why he was here.

“Are you sure Professor Martin was the only one who influenced you to throw your hat in the ring?”

He wasn’t. I admitted, “Journey had a few encouraging words too.” I moved toward the kitchen and Marcus followed.

“So, what’s up with you two?”

I grabbed a water from the fridge and didn’t answer until I swallowed half the bottle. “We’ve been kicking it. She’s cool. We get along.”

“Sounds like there’s a lingering but somewhere.” He dipped his head and placed a hand over his eyes. “Where’s it at?”

“You’re a fool, man.” I laughed. “But… I’m not sure I can keep up with her. She’s outgoing, overly optimistic, and has a huge group of friends.” I smirked. “She’s a cheerleader for God’s sake.”

“You might not have to keep up. She finds something intriguing in your differences apparently. How many people would go out of their way to help with the impossible?”

My eyes narrowed. “The impossible?”

“Convincing students at Hillside to vote for a guy they hardly know. Someone they don’t realize goes to Hillside. A man who would rather kick it at the house than party at a club. This guy who—”

“Alright.” I held my hand up. “I get it. The impossible.” I shrug. “The worst that could happen is they vote for the other person.” In my eyes, voting was the winner. If we could get every student to vote in the election, that was half the battle.

Marcus grunted, “Or the worst that could happen is they vote for you.”

I finished the bottle of water, looked him in the eye and said, “It’ll be a change for me for sure.”

Marcus stayed behind as I headed to campus. Driving to the cafeteria, campaign signs lined the road. I’d need those too, didn’t talk to Journey about them, but then I saw my name. In bold, blue letters—Chaz Brown the Only Option for Change.When’d I get a campaign slogan?

I parked in front of the cafeteria and stayed in the car. The thought of calling the whole thing off crossed my mind more than I could admit. But I knew somewhere inside the café, Journey was waiting for me.

The cafeteria wasn’t somewhere I frequented often. When I moved off campus, I found other places to eat. Avoided the barrage of freshmen hanging out in front of the buffet. Walking inside felt like a blast from the past. The noise was as loud, the tables as crowded, and the smell of fried chicken as mouth-watering. The one thing I missed about eating there.

“Chaz,” I heard my name from the middle of the room. A group of people surrounded what looked like the cheerleaders in full uniform.

I walked their direction and got nudged to the middle. “Hey,” I said when I saw Journey. “How are you?”

The people surrounding her didn’t concern me. The guys trying to get close could wait. I ignored her squad holding flyers too.

“I’m good,” she tugged on the lapel of my blazer. “You clean up well, Mr. Brown.” She winked before asking, “Ready to kiss babies?”

“Kissing babies is the easy part.” I leaned in closer. “It’s convincing the adults to vote that is hard.”

“Good thing we already hyped them up. They are ready to meet you.” She smiled before spinning me around to face them. “And here is your candidate for SGA president. Ask him anything you need, but whatever you do remember next week, when you vote, vote for Chaz Brown.”

I cleared my throat, prepared to detail my plans. Outline my five pillared program. Tell each student standing before me how I planned to make a difference in my last year at Hillside.

There were no questions though. Not even one. I shook a couple of hands. Had a few pats on the back, but they were only interested in getting close to the cheerleaders. Eyes bulging, mouths open, they couldn’t care less about me, or an election.

I tugged Journey to my side and said, “I’m not sure this is going to work.”

She frowned. “Why wouldn’t it?”

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