Stud– Coun– Mania!

After that fiasco of a game, Asa and I went right back to checking on the remaining clubs. And when I said ‘Asa and I’, I meant Asa; I simply stood out of her way. She was still working off the indignation from Niya and the maestro. Apparently, the prize was half of the Gaming Club’s budget – something useless to us, but Niya would ‘supposedly’ put to good use. No idea how given her penchant for wasting money on things like adamantite sealing bracelets.

Regardless, Asa’s work wasn’t any less efficient. In fact, it worked out pretty well – anyone who saw her smile almost immediately complied. Of course, there were plenty of questionable things, like a herbivore man-eating plant in the Gardening Club, but Asa managed to finish as the sun touched the horizon. I let out a sigh of relief myself.

“Why are you sighing? You didn’t do anything,” Asa snarkily questioned.

“What do you mean? I carried the heavy pumpkin!” I quipped back.

Asa grabbed it out of my hands for a moment before plopping it back, “That’s only twenty pounds. If you think that’s heavy, you really need to exercise more.”

“I’m good.” Asa should stop acting like my mom, not that I listened to her either.

We continued our march until we arrived at the… Student Council’s office? Weren’t we going to the Disciplinary Committee’s room?

“Why are we here?” I asked.

“Because we need to report to the Student Council?” Asa replied, confused at my question.

“Huh? But why? This was from Niya, not the Council.”

Asa rubbed her temples in annoyance. “Have you seriously forgotten again?”

“Forgotten what?” I shouldn’t be that surprised. I had been to the Council room a few times, but it wasn’t that important to me. My memory was as bad as a goldfish’s when I didn’t care.

“Ugh, whatever. It’s not worth explaining again. Just… come already.” Niya looked resigned as she pushed open the door.

The Council room was similar to the Disciplinary Committee’s, though they had a better table. Niya’s was fished up from some yard after we all petitioned for a place to sit. That didn’t mean Niya’s wasn’t still a nice table, but this was a nice table. Anyone who touched it would understand.

On the far side of the room was a small desk, filled to the brim with paper, as usual. A small girl sat between the stacks with a dead, hollow expression, scribbling something on one of the many sheets. Although she wasn’t dressed up, she leaned into the zombie look quite well. The occasional obscenity and the word ‘Paige’ passed quietly through her lips.

“Madame President, we have a report on the Halloween Festival for you.” Asa formally spoke. The President’s head whipped up, staring at Asa, then moving her eyes to me. In an instant, she appeared in front of my face and grabbed my collar.

“IT’S YOU!!!!” she yelled before–

~~~

“Gaaah!” I took a deep breath as a cold liquid drizzled down my head. What just happened? I barely remember Daria – the President – throwing me, and then… nothing.

“Could you not kill Heston? He may be a waste of space, but he’s good at keeping Niya’s attention.” I focused on Asa crouched down next to me. If I had to guess, a healing potion was dealing with some kind of wound on my head.

“I doubt it; Niya bosses me around every day. At least it’s better than the paperwork Paige brings in, but it still sits at an uncomfortable number two.” Daria heaved. Her clothes were ripped in random places, her hair terribly disheveled. “Plus he breaks almost everything he touches! Do you know how many complaints I received about that ‘little’ stunt with the classrooms? It makes my head hurt just thinking about it, and Niya just brushes it off like it’s no big deal! Classrooms were flinging around in the air! That’s not nothing!!! I seriously want to punch something.” She grinded her fists against each other hard enough to make a bit of smoke.

My mouth moved on its own. “What–”

Daria put her hand on top of my head. “Shut up–”

~~~

“Aaaagh!” By the time I came to again, the sun was already halfway below the horizon. The light filtered in through the windows, giving the Council room a more autumn tint. The bite of the cold potion still lingered on my back.

“Looks like everything is in order. I wish there were reports for the first few clubs, but I understand it’s Heston. Now get out of here.” Daria held a stack of papers in hand, reading through it in detail. With the other, she shooed us out of the room. She was a lot calmer, adopting her usual Student Council President persona. I wasn’t a big fan of being knocked out twice, but I could reign in my anger. After all, I was finally done with this charade. My rewarded break was imminent.

I pulled myself up, only to find the pumpkin undisturbed. It was the last thing I needed to get rid of. “Hey Daria? What do I do with this?”

Daria glanced over for a brief moment. “No idea. Ask Niya.”

Huh? Niya actually wanted this stuff? I thought that was a joke.

What would she need a bunch of random crap for?