Short story Ignore the lack of character description and grammar, as the title says, this is only my first-ish draft! Hugh lifted his head slowly and blinked the goop from his eyes. This wasn’t his bed. His bed was warm and comfy, and had a real pillow, not his tattered jacket. The zipper had left a print on his cheek, and his neck hurt terribly. He looked around. He was in his classroom, where Miss Shaw would be teaching the same boring subjects over and over, and each Friday the paper airplane race would take place in the back of the room. (Unbeknownst to their teacher, of course.) But now, nobody was there. Hugh ran over to the window, and saw all his classmates playing outside. At first, he was disappointed. They were having recess without him, just because he fell asleep instead of doing his times tables again! So unfair! He checked the loose blue watch hanging around his wrist which he had taken from his dad’s bedside table that morning. Hugh couldn’t perfectly read clocks, but he knew he had at least ten minutes before they came back in. His mood brightened instantly. It was the perfect opportunity to sabotage Sophie! The class was hosting a vote for class president, and whoever won when votes were announced the next day would become the class president for the rest of the year! The class president was the face of the class, a leader of the school, and the first step to becoming an icon of the world. (At least in Hugh’s eyes. His dad said it really wasn’t that important.) Even though, as one of the two candidates, he wasn’t supposed to know who else was running for the position, it was obvious that Sophie was his competition. She would go strutting around the hallway, acting like an especially self-absorbed peacock, followed by her many friends who would no doubt shine her shoes if she asked them to. He had to think of a plan fast before they all came back to the classroom. He had just put his imaginary thinking cap on when he saw a large spider perched sideways on the wall. His grin grew wider. It was perfect. A few minutes and five failed attempts later, the spider was cupped in his hands. It had fuzzy black fur and eight legs. But he couldn’t admire it forever. He crept over to miss shaw’s desk and opened up her drawer, which he dumped the spider into. Then he stuck an index card including incriminating evidence against Sophie into the drawer with the spider and ran back to his seat. Sophie would never see it coming. He was just in time, about thirty seconds later the class came back in looking rather sullen that recess had ended. The line leader was, as always, Sophie. Miss Shaw walked over to Hugh. “How was your little nap?” She asked in a voice that suggested she didn’t actually care how his nap went. Hugh gulped. His nap was great, but his plot had left him a little nervous. “Miss Shaw, is it a crime to forge signatures?” She didn’t answer him, but sighed. “Let’s get back to class.” She announced, and returned to her desk. Hugh saw her hand reach to open her drawer… then she shrieked so loud, everyone on this side of the Pacific sea could hear her. Or maybe the Atlantic. Hugh wasn’t the best at geography. “Sophie, did you do this?” She demanded. “No! I would never put a… what even is in there?” Said Sophie, trying desperately to defend herself. “A spider,” said Hugh before he had time to think. +
+ Every face turned to him. His own face, not able to flip around to face himself, turned pink instead. “It’s, uh, not what it looks like!” He yelped. His dad would’ve called him a deer in headlights. And then sent him to his room. Miss Shaw’s reaction was very similar. She sent him straight to the principles office, which he visited so often it might as well be his room. He sighed. He would never be elected for president if he was stuck with Mister Jackson on voting day! The next day, Hugh climbed out of his father’s old black car and ran into his classroom. He had never been so eager or so nervous to get to school. Today was the day Miss Shaw was revealing who would be class president, aka revealing Hugh’s entire future. When he entered familiar classroom, it seemed as if nothing was out of the ordinary. His teacher was counting up votes and Sophie was at her desk showing off her new doll to five girls wearing pink bows. Sophie was wearing them too, her blonde straight hair was in pigtails tied up by pink bows. He looked around the classroom. Most of the students had pink bows, even some of the boys had them tied around their wrists. It was probably a symbol to show that they were voting for Sophie. She noticed him staring and walked over. “Hey. I’m still mad you blamed it on me… but that prank yesterday was actually pretty funny.” She said, looking into his eyes. Ew. Sophie was appreciating him. Maybe she was just trying to get more votes by being nice in front of Miss Shaw, but Miss Shaw wasn’t watching. He made sure she knew this. “Miss Shaw isn’t watching, you can stop pretending to like me.” Sophie rolled her eyes and walked away to complain to her friends. The bell rang, and everyone stood for the pledge of allegiance. (Eagle noises caw caw America) Even Hugh, although usually he ignored it. When the pledge was done, Miss Shaw cleared her throat. “And the class president is… Hugh Johnson.” Hugh froze. She had to be joking. He won? Even after he put that spider in her desk? And stranger still… Sophie was cheering. And so was everyone with a pink band… was that his symbol? Why did it have to be pink? Miss Shaw continued. “The runner up was Ally Smith, behind by five votes.” Ally?? So Sophie wasn’t even running against him? The whole hour in the principals office was for nothing? Ally sat in the front of the class, and had been quiet as long as Hugh had known her, which was since second grade last year. She didn’t seem like the type to ever run for class president. That night, Hugh propped his feet up on the coffee table. “I learned a lot today,” he told his mom. “Hmm?” She said, which was about the attention he expected from her in response to his insightful comments. “Doing bad things pays off.” “Get your feet off the table.” Said his mom. He kept his feet on the table. Thumbnail is that one love is blind guy with that one haircut
