And the Winner Is …
At three o’clock, as requested, the freshman class filed into the ornate, high-ceilinged assembly hall. All day, I’d been jittery, waiting for this moment with a combination of anticipation and nervousness. At lunch, I had to sit with my back to the voting table so I wouldn’t see the other girls’ faces as they went up to cast their ballots.
My friends had been great about it. Amory, Harper, and Morgan spent their lunch periods passing out our propaganda until the very last minute, while Camille sat with me, trying to distract me with a very original theatrical performance starring animal crackers purchased from the vending machine.
My hands down favorite was: “Here’s Willa, the lion on her way to the River Styx for a drink—whoops—she just got her head bit off. Mmm, tasty.”
Now, I filed into the third row of the assembly hall, flanked by my friends and trying not to make eye contact with the real-life version of Willa Rubenstein, whose head was still intact and even more haughtily set than usual.
I looked around the room that just last week had seemed to be filled with girls I didn’t know and was slightly intimidated by. But today, almost everywhere my gaze fell, I recognized a girl I’d taken the time to get to know. There was Mattie Hendricks, nose deep in her folder of Student Senate supplies. There was the Dara, Veronica, and Olivia trio, giving me the thumbs up from their row. There was Faiden, flipping her hair in the front. There were the Nail Filers from my English class to whom I’d lent my Burt’s Bees cuticle cream on Friday. There was Ramsey, looking up at the ceiling with that concentrated look on her face that I could tell meant she was working out field hockey strategies in her head.
It was definitely a big change from last week, and it made me think about how much fun I’d had getting to know everyone. Even though I’d been making a lot of these efforts so that I could count on people for votes today, I knew that there was more to it than that. If I didn’t win Virgil Host today, all the insanity of last week would still have been worth it, because I’d made some real connections with these girls.
Then again, it would be really nice to win….
“Attention, attention,” Headmistress Winters called out from her podium. I realized I’d been so consumed by my own thoughts that I hadn’t even heard the auditorium hush up when the headmistress walked in.
She looked just as regal as she had last week, in a blue St. Johns suit and Donna Karan glasses.
“Good morning, girls,” she said slowly. “I know you’re all eager for me to make the announcement about which of you will be hosting the first Virgil of the new year.” Her gaze swept the room. “But first, I’m sorry to inform you that we have some unpleasant business to attend to.”
My friends and I shot each other a confused look.
“As you know,” she continued, “Thoney has a large treasury. We take our funds and our fund-raising very seriously. There are strict rules for each organization about how money is to be raised, and there is strict monitoring of how it is allotted.” She cleared her throat. “I won’t pontificate any longer. Someone has taken a sum of three thousand dollars from the treasury.”
A gasp rippled through the room.
“The money was accounted for on Friday. And now it is gone,” Headmistress Winters said. “Rest assured, we are looking into this matter very thoroughly. But if anyone knows anything about this unfortunate situation, you are best advised to come forward immediately with the information.”
There was a long pause during which I felt the critical eyes of the board of faculty members boring into each and every one of us. They were some powerful gazes. I didn’t know a single thing about the missing money, but I still felt incredibly guilty all of a sudden.
“Well,” the headmistress said after a painful moment, “I imagine no one is going to come forward in this public forum, so we’ll leave the option open for you to come to us.” She nodded, as if to change gears, and said, “And now, on to something much more pleasant.”
This was it. My brain was still thinking about the loss of the money, but my heart started thudding in my chest.
“It gives me great pleasure to inform you that your first Virgil of the year will be hosted by an exceptional leader in your grade.” Yikes. Willa was class president—as in official, elected leader. Was that what the headmistress was referring to? In that instant, I resigned myself to the fact that it would make more sense for Willa to have won. All week I’d seen just how much of a fixture she was at Thoney. And I was just—
“Flannery Flood,” Headmistress Winters said with a smile. “Please give her your warmest Thoney round of applause.”
It took a minute, and a rib cage nudge from Camille, for it to sink in that I had actually won. Oh. My. God. I did it? I did it!
Shakily I got to my feet and gave a small wave as the auditorium erupted into applause. A couple of girls whistled and so many people were cheering that the headmistress had to thump on the microphone to get our attention again.
“I’m glad you are all so enthusiastic about Miss Flood,” she said. “I’m sure it will be a lovely event. And before you are dismissed, without putting a damper on my own congratulations to our new host, I must implore you all once more to please come forward with any information about this egregious theft. You are dismissed.”
The din in the auditorium grew louder, and a huge grin spread across my face. Even Headmistress Winters’s downer parting words didn’t do a thing to kill my buzz. In fact, if I hadn’t been surrounded by a hundred other girls, I might have started jumping up and down.
I scanned the room to see if I could catch a glimpse of Willa or Kennedy, but before I could spot them, I was surrounded by people coming up to me with hugs and congratulations.
Mattie tapped me on the shoulder. “I knew you’d win this, Flan,” she said. “You’re the best thing to happen to Thoney all year. Now, on behalf of the Student Senate, here’s the folder with all the historical information about Virgil and all the practical information that might help you plan. The only thing you have to do by Wednesday is confirm with whichever caterer you choose. Let me know if you have any questions.”
“Thanks, Mattie,” I said, so excited that I gave The Barker a big hug. As I slipped the folder she’d just given me into my bag, vowing to go over it later that night, I felt my phone buzz with a text. It was from Jade Moodswing.
ARMORY FITTING. NOW AS IN NOW. NEED OUR NUMBER ONE MODEL TOUT DE SUITE.
Camille grabbed my elbow.
“Hey, winner,” she said, grinning. “Knew you could do it. How does it feel?”
“Awesome,” I said. “Overwhelming. Hey, can you do me a favor? I just got an urgent text from Jade and I have to go to The Armory Show for a fitting right now. Would you explain to Ramsey why I’m missing practice?”
Camille’s face fell.
“It’s for the good of the team,” I tried to explain. “I promised I’d help with these uniforms.”
Camille rolled her eyes. “Like I care about missing practice?” she said, laughing. “But what about the thing with Xander and Alex? We’re supposed to … you know …”
“Oh, shoot,” I said, slapping my forehead. Since when was I so flaky about plans with my best friend? “The double date. I’m so sorry, Camille. Can we reschedule? How about Wednesday?” I was looking at her but my feet were already moving me away. I said, “I’ll call Alex and take care of it. It’s my fault, I’ll fix it.”
“Okay, but you promise we’ll do it on Wednesday?” Her eyes looked serious.
“Promise!” And with that, I gave Camille a quick hug and ran to hail a cab.