Chapter 24 – The Deceitful Snake – Holly Hayfield

Valentina, Lilith, Jay, and I arrived early to the assembly event. It was being held in the gym. We were told to wait there near the stage. Apparently the event staff was behind schedule. The stage looked like it was still being worked on by a man adjusting the main platform. We waited quietly as the gym flooded with girls from all over the school.

The student population count was higher than I imagined it. My earlier population estimation was based on how hard it was to get into my locker. Seeing them all sitting in front of me like this made me reevaluate that number. There could have been nearly one-thousand students across all grades in attendance. That was quite a feat for a school of all-girl delinquents.

There weren’t enough seats for all the students. Eventually everyone started crowding in the back and then against the side walls. The gym went from being relatively quiet, the only sound being the man hammering nails into the temporary stage, to being so loud that it was hard to think straight. Ms. Sampson got up on the stage to tell everyone to quiet down politely. They paid her no attention. Then she put the microphone closer to her mouth.

“Everyone shut the HELL up!” She shouted.

The chattering died instantly.

“Thank you. As you all should know by now you’re here to listen to speeches from the student council president nominees. We’ve already narrowed the pool of nominees down based on grades and attendance. Some of you didn’t read the prerequisites when you submitted your forms. There were others that qualified that I wasn’t going to let run wild in the student council room so I trashed those applications.” Ms. Sampson said frankly.

The student body laughed when she said she trashed those applications. They probably thought she was joking. She definitely wasn’t joking.

“There are three students you will hear from today. First, you will all stand for the pledge of allegiance. Well… those of you who aren’t already standing, I mean.” She said.

Everyone that was sitting stood up in preparation for the pledge of allegiance. Someone was pushing their way through the crowds of students near us. It was Sam. She squeezed through the group of girls behind us and took her place beside me. Val looked at her with an arched eyebrow. Sam gave a thumbs-up.

“Naomi said she agrees to the new deal,” Sam whispered, “She says we’ll have a meeting whenever you’re ready.”

“Good.” Val said and looked at me, “We’ll have plenty of time to talk about things soon.”

My stomach dropped a little. The conspiracy theory was getting out to the most unpredictable person possible, not to mention Jay. It wasn’t that I didn’t trust Val to keep it silent. I didn’t trust how she might react to the information. If she were the aggressively curious type like Lilith then no one would be safe. I barely had enough restraint on Lilith as it was.

If Val took up the ‘case’ then no one was off limits to interrogate. Val, who was proving to be a literal sociopath, probably wouldn’t settle for such roundabout approaches like talking to Malorie’s family members. Val was type to go directly to the main source of the conspiracy, Ms. Sampson herself. Valentina was rumored to be at this school for attacking a teacher. Who was to say she wouldn’t do it again?

“You may all sit. Go on. Sit down.” Ms. Sampson said with a coy smile as the pledge of allegiance ended.

The first time was an honest mistake. Now she was just having a laugh. Some of the girls in the back tried to make room enough to sit on the ground but there was no way they could see the stage.

“Now let’s get straight into business. I’m not going to waste time giving a speech of my own. You all know I hate such ceremonial B.S. Instead we’ll hear directly from your three candidates. First up will be Valentina Ivanovich. Val, get your tail up here.”

“Wish me luck.” Val whispered into my ear.

She sneakily slapped me on the butt before walking away. Heavens have mercy on our school if she was to become our class president. Here I was helping to make that happen. As Val made her way up to the stage people started clapping and cheering for her. However when Val turned to the crowd her vision focused only on me. She was looking to me for support.

The entire situation was making me nervous. I gave her a shy wave to show my support, unlike Jay. Jay was flailing both her arms at Val and trying so desperately to get her attention. We were standing close enough that Jay probably imagined Val was looking at her rather than me. My impression of Jay’s intelligence was stained by her delusional behavior.

“Thank you for that wonderful introduction Ms. Sampson. My fellow students, I’d like to start by introducing myself.” Val said into the podium microphone.

Val had the voice of an angel. That was a sin in itself. She was more devil than angel. Yet, the image of herself she presented to the student body was like she was straight from heaven. With Lilith’s speech in her hands she seemed like an unquestionably worthy candidate.

As long as you didn’t know who she was beneath the surface Val was incredibly attractive. That was hard for me to admit after everything she had put me through but it was the truth. She was attractive. It wasn’t just that she was attractive to the eye. Her entire false persona was similar to the girl that I used to be. Maybe that was why I was so drawn to her in the first place.

I scanned the crowd as Val gave her speech. The girls sitting in the front row were the freshmen and sophomores. The way they looked at Val now was with foolish admiration. That was the same way I revered Val before I knew her. It was cringe inducing to reflect on.

I heard two of them close to me talking about how much they liked this senior giving the speech. Val’s popularity amongst the younger students was incredibly high. They didn’t know enough to fear her. I knew. It was because of the fact that I knew that I couldn’t let these young girls get too close to Val. As her vice president I’d need to act like her watchdog.

“No matter how this election goes I wish everyone the best.” Val said as she neared the end of her speech.

The crowd was already cheering and she was still going on.

“The most important thing is that we continue to cherish our school, cherish our friends, and cherish our families. We must work together to create a better environment in the memory of our beloved founder, Judith Meredith. Thank you all for your time and I hope to have your vote on Election Day. Thank you.”

As Val stepped away from the podium the crowd broke into thunderous applause. Jay was clapping louder than anyone else, or so it felt. She was right next to me and cheering like a happy idiot. Sam had disappeared into the crowd sometime during the speech. I assumed she would link up with Naomi’s group.

Lilith was the only one not clapping. She did have a certain air of satisfaction about her though. It was her speech after all. Val smiled and waved at me as she came back. I couldn’t help but to smile and wave back. That angelic Val was hard to ignore.

Val took her place beside me as the next girl came up to the stage. This was my first time getting a good look at one of the other candidates. Val had mentioned before that one candidate was a deceitful snake and the other was an idiot. This girl coming onto the stage was obviously the idiot, Megan Schwinn. I knew her.

Everyone knew her. She was popular, although not in the way Val was. Val presented herself as if she had a halo over her head. Megan never even tried to hide her horns. Although she wasn’t a physical bully, like Val, she was the type to get others to turn against you. She was still incredibly dangerous.

She was the princess-heiress of a successful local company. She was alo the queen of the school rumor mill. She also was the self-proclaimed empress of the school itself. This girl and her egotistical my-dad-can-fire-your-dad attitude made her loathsome. Luckily I had managed to avoid conflict with her up until now.

“Hi everyone!” She yelled obnoxiously into the mic.

The speakers blared so loud that the girls sitting in the front rows covered their ears and shuddered in pain.

“Most of you probably know me from my blog, Megan Makes Make-Up. For those of you living under a rock allow me to introduce myself. I’m Megan Schwinn, your future class president. If you make me your class president, my dad’s company will have pizza served every Friday in the cafeteria.”

The girls screamed their support. That was one major thing these students had in common, no matter their backround. The fact they regularly had to eat the crappy school lunches was on everyone’s agenda. I had actually visited Megan’s website once before out of curiosity. She had about ten-thousand followers on her webpage. Most of them were bots from a Chinese company that her father commissioned.

She was trying to use the same strategy here. She was planning to use her family’s wealth to manufacture success. Most people had mixed feelings about Megan because she was a drama magnet. The one thing they could easily agree on was that the cafeteria food was bad. That could give her just enough supporters to make her an actual competitor.

“I’m going to enjoy watching her cry in one of her videos when she loses.” Val whispered.

“How good do you think her chances are?” I asked Val. “She’s popular after all.”

“That’s why we need to find something we can use against her.” Val said.

It wasn’t a surprise that Val would go that route. In fact, I expected this entire election to descend into mudslinging if given the chance. It was a school for troubled girls after all. That meant underhanded tactics would be in play. I wasn’t entirely against Val’s idea.

The chances were that Megan was already coming up with something against Val. She probably started plotting the moment Val stepped foot on stage. If I had to choose between Megan and Val as student council president then I’d choose Val. Val would at least try to appear reasonable. Megan was just an entitled brat.

“I’ll be expecting your votes come Election Day.” Megan said, “If not, we’re going to fight!”

The girls closer to the front laughed at Megan’s little ‘joke’. The girls in the back stayed quiet because they knew she wasn’t joking. Megan’s version of fighting would mean stirring up lies about whoever she feels didn’t support her. This was the type of person Megan was. Even the people in her inner circle were at risk.

It wasn’t unheard of for her to exile members. Not just exile from just her social group either, but from others as well. The newly excommunicated member would be a danger for any clique or gang to adopt. This was what made Megan dangerous and powerful. She was a gang-leader that didn’t rule with violence. She ruled with social engineering.

Megan left the stage with a stupidly smug look on her face. I was secretly wishing that she’d trip off the stage as she left. Ms. Sampson replaced her at the podium. There was only one candidate remaining and it was the one I was most curious about. This would be the girl that Val called a deceitful snake.

I couldn’t imagine who that was. So I was surprised when a girl that I had already met took the stage. It was Erica the office assistant. She was on duty when Ms. Sampson threatened me, Sam, Lilith, and Naomi. Just how was she a deceitful snake?

“Here’s the last candidate.” Ms. Sampson said, “I’d personally like to introduce you all to Erica Henson, my favorite student. She may be the best our school has to offer. I hope you’ll all lend her your support!”

That wasn’t biased at all. Ms. Sampson backed away from the podium as and clapped for Erica. Erica took her place at the podium and smiled.

“Thank you very much Ms. Sampson. Thank you all for coming here to listen to our speeches. As most of you may know I was on the student council last year as treasurer. This time I’m running as president. In my first year as a student council member I saw a lot of our schools problems laid out in front of me with little power to act on them. As your student council president I’d be working to make life here at the school better for everyone.”

The crowd seemed luke-warm to her. There wasn’t as much cheering as there was for Val and Megan. The crowd was hardly reacting to her. The person having the biggest reaction was standing right beside me. Val could hardly keep her emotions contained.

Her feelings towards Erica were written all over her face. Her face was scrunched up into a tight glare that I had never seen on her. It was like the look a german shepherd had just before biting. Not only that but she was shaking, trembling uncontrollably. Was I the only person seeing this? Her reaction was out of this world.

Seeing her like this made me feel sympathetic. As terrible as Val often was to me she was still human. I reached out and took her by the hand. The moment my hand came into contact with hers she finally snapped back to reality. The surprised look on her face was probably more from the realization that I was watching her than the fact that I was holding her hand.

She nodded at me. She must’ve realized that she needed to cool down. She entwined her fingers with mine and held my hand tightly. Luckily the area around us was crowded. Jay didn’t notice me and Val holding hands.

“With your help, we can make this school year a great school year! With me as your class president I’ll lead charge towards creating a better community atmosphere. I’ll be counting on your support! Thank you all!” Erica said.

Everyone clapped for her as she walked away from the podium. This seemed more to be out of politeliness than genuine support. Mrs. Scott took the podium after Erica to talk about the dress code and plans to enforce the rules more tightly. Of course this was the part that most of the students stopped paying attention to the speaker. Everyone started talking amongst themselves.

This was the perfect time for me to look for Sam and Naomi. I wanted to know just how much they planned to tell Val. Except I couldn’t get away. Val wouldn’t let go of my hand. I thought she was playing around at first. Then I saw Erica coming straight toward us. I stopped trying to break loose and stood my ground. Val held my hand even tighter.

“Well, well,” Erica said as she approached us, “Isn’t this quite an interesting student council group you’ve got going here?”

“What the hell do you want? Didn’t I tell you never to speak to me?” Val said.

Her every word was filled with venom. Erica blinked innocently. That was when I confirmed something about Erica. This person, just like Val, had mastered the art of insincere expressions. They were a cut from the same cloth.

“Hm? I wasn’t speaking to you. I was talking to Holly.” Erica said and looked past Val to look at me. “After that whole fiasco on Friday I expected you and Lilith to lay low. Instead, you’re joining the student council race?”

Val turned to me with a look I had never seen before on her face. That was fear. She was terrified. Her out-of-character expression made me feel terrified.

“You know her?” Val asked in a whisper.

“I…”

“Of course she does.” Erica said, “I’ve been hoping to meet her for a while now, actually. We finally met when Ms. Sampson called all four of the troublemakers into the office. So Lilith and Holly joined a student council group, huh? Not just any group, but Valentina’s group. What? Naomi couldn’t give up her girl-gang to join up also? Then again, I did see a white-haired Sam sporting one of those silly surgical masks. That’s so suspiciously juicy!”

This was concerning for a number of reasons. Firstly, it jeopardized the plan to continue searching for a way into the school basement. Secondly, this girl had a hold over Val like I nothing I had ever seen before. Val looked like she was ready to erupt. Even Jay took a step back when she saw the look in Val’s eyes.

This time I was the one to tighten my hold on Val’s hand so that she’d get a grip. She looked at me with concern. Then she looked back at Erica. Erica blinked and smiled innocently. Val knew she was being toyed with. Val grabbed Erica by the collar of her school uniform.

“Just like old times, huh?” Erica asked, “You still haven’t learned your lesson here, have you? You can’t change, can you? Is violence the only thing you know?”

I didn’t know what game Erica was playing at. Whatever it was it was having an enraging effect on Val. It was suicidal for Erica to be acting like this. Val let go of my hand so that she could attack Erica. I stopped that from happening by stepping in-between them.

We had caught so much attention from other students around us that this was turning very bad, very fast. I had to calm Val down or else that would be the end of the student council plans right then and there. I wrapped my arms around Val into a bear hug. She was forced to let go of Erica. She did so without a struggle.

“Please don’t do it Val!” I begged her, “You still want to become student council president, right? You can’t fight with her! Keep your goal in mind!”

Val looked down at me angrily. She took me by the hand again and spirited me away. She slipped through the crowd of people with me in tow close behind. We disappeared in the back of the gym and snuck the exit without anyone noticing. She didn’t stop outside the gym. She didn’t stop when we all alone in the empty hallways. She kept pulling and pulling me until we were all the way in the library office room.

Once we were in the library office room she let go of me. She turned away from me only to close and lock the door. The intense look in her eyes made her look scarier than ever. She was fixated on me as if the rest of reality had faded away. I was all that remained in her vision.

When she stepped towards me I backed up until I hit the office table. I was so scared of her in that moment that I just froze up. She grabbed me by my shoulders and pushed me back. She laid me carefully onto the table. She leaned in close enough that her face was hovering right over mine. She finally opened her mouth to say something for the first time since leaving the gym.

“You, not Naomi, are going to tell me what happened that day. You’re going to tell me everything.”