Hana

It wasn’t like I was regretting coming here, but I sure was feeling homesick early.

It was bad enough getting off the wrong foot with my roommate. We haven’t had a full conversation since I arrived. That conversation is gonna be keeping me up at night. I’ve only talked with two out of the four other members of my class. Jazmin was nice enough, a good change of pace compared to how shut off everyone was here. The other person she introduced me too, Noah, was hard to get a read on. He was introverted, looked disinterested in us but polite enough not to say it. I was slightly surprised when he showed up to dinner in a fully brown suit and cream pants with a tie, but I’d seen stranger outfit choices. If I was going to get along with him, it looked like he’d be a tough nut to crack. I didn’t have much of an impression on Lola or Rowan yet–other than he was running late when we were assigned class members.

At least that’s what I had time to ruminate on before I noticed the other students clearing their trays and going to their classrooms. It was time to properly introduce myself to mine.

I didn’t exactly remember the room number but it turned out I didn’t need to when all I did was make a left turn and there was a room that said in large letters CLASS D. I opened the door and stepped inside.

Calling it a classroom would’ve been a stretch. It was more like a club room. There was a foldable table with five chairs, papers, a corkboard, and a whiteboard. Very bare bones. Jazmin, Noah and Lola were already there. Jazmin and Lola were engaging in small talk while Noah was looking and writing in his notebook. Nobody seemed to notice me so I went up to their table

“Hello, I’m Hana…again.”

“Hi Hana.” The hello came from Lola who didn’t do much more than acknowledge my existence. Jazmin gave me a polite nod while Noah didn’t respond at all.

“So uhh, when’s Rowan showing up?” I ask

Noah muttered under his breath, “Late to orientation, late to his first class. Prick.” I pretended I didn’t hear anything. Noah cleared his throat:

“Alright, so since most of us are here anyway. We have a checklist of things we need to do and I’d like to finish them before lunch. So if you would all sit down…” he not so subtly looked up at me as he leaned his hands down on the table like a teacher disciplining his students, “I would like to read it all together–”

The door squeaked, signaling that someone just entered. Surprise surprise it was Rowan. He let out a dramatic yawn and took up the last remaining seat. Noah was biting his tongue.

“--to repeat myself. We have a checklist we need to get through that I would like to be done as soon as possible–”

“--Are you the teacher?” Rowan asked, Noah sighed through his nose.

“I am your classmate, Noah. Not that you were there to learn that.”

“No need to get pissy, it’s just that you sound like one.” He looked around the class as if he was expecting some of us to laugh with him. Nobody budged. (Though he did have a point.)

Noah was practically gritting his teeth, turning around briefly to rub his temples. “Is that supposed to be an insult?”

Rowan leaned one of his elbows on the table, “More like an observation.”

Noah didn’t give him the dignity of a response. He picked up a piece of paper with large black text on top that said Class D Orientation. “This is the list of things we need to do today. Don’t forget that this is a competitive workshop and you can be eliminated at a moment’s notice.” He gave up on the lecture format and slid the papers across the plastic table we were sitting at. “Read them over, if you will.”

I read over the two-sided paper. It was a series of directions that read as follows:

1. Decide on a class president/representative

2. Since studios and other rooms are closed past 9:00. After deciding on a president, make a list of items you need to make this classroom your number one space together on campus

3. On the green paper, write down the name of the class president and requested items. Your class is responsible for setting up.

It was much similar than Noah made it out to be, once he sensed that everyone had finished reading, he continued, “With that in mind, I would like to offer myself up as a potential candidate for class president. I am a very diligent person and will make sure we are on the best path to winning together.” he places his hands back on the table for emphasis.

Rowan’s head was leaning on his cheek as he leisurely raised his hands. Noah bit his bottom lip, “Yes Rowan?”

“Yeah, you accept rival candidates.” It was a rhetorical question.

“Are you interested in running?”

“I am actually.” Rowan stood, not bothering to push in his chair. “In fact, if I did get your votes, it would not be the first time I was in a position like this.” Rowan leaned on the wall behind Noah, Noah’s face getting redder with anger. “And as your leader, you could say that I’ll play as dirty as I need to be for us to get signed.”

Noah rolled his eyes but still attempted to maintain a veil of politeness. “How are you planning on doing that?”

Rowan rested his arms over his head, “We don’t have any classes or challenges yet so I don’t have one yet. But when the circumstances come you can count on me.”

“Oh really? Like how Miss Von Fay counted on you to arrive on time for orientation?”

“I was fashionably late–”

“Or how we counted on you to show up on time to our first class meeting so we could all be on the same page without you slowing us down?!” He was beginning to raise his voice.

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“What’s wrong with a slow breakfast?”

“What’s wrong is that so far you have shown you do not respect our time, which gives me absolutely no reason to peg you as a good student–YET ALONE good leader.”

Rowan rolled his eyes and muttered under his breath, “Good leader, what do you define as a good leader anyway? Some asshole who talks at you and treats his class like drones. You’re forgetting this is also our summer vacation, right?”

“THIS IS A CAREER DEFINING PROGRAM! NOT A RESORT!” Noah was fuming now.

I stood up just a little, “Can we tone it down please? This doesn’t have to be a fight.” I gave an awkward laugh, still trying to lighten the mood.

“You’re a prep school kid aren’t’cha Jonah.”

“Noah.”

“Whatever, y’know we’re supposed to be a class right.” Rowan looks at the three of us for an answer, Lola actually answers. “Kind of.”

“And we’re supposed to be a team. Now you Noah, You think leadership means you have one teacher who bosses everyone around and they follow like lemmings right? Well if I’m the leader, you’re not lemmings at all. You’ll be the spine, the muscle, the brain, the heart…Other body parts. We’ll act together and I’ll be your guide. Who’s with me?”

Noah was about to refute his argument when Lola lazily raised her hand. She was leaning in her seat, a new lollipop in her mouth. The men went silent as she popped it out.

“Boy do you guys suck at campaigning.”

Noah and Rowan were stunned, Jazmin audibly gasped, “Hey! That’s rude!”

“Yeah, yeah. All this is showing me is you guys love the sound of your own voices and got big egos to go with it. Works for some people but I’ll need more substance if any of you hope to convince me. And I’m a fifth of the class.”

Noah tapped his foot, no longer standing in place at the front of the table like he was at the beginning, “You still have to vote.”

Lola put her pointer finger up to her cheek, swinging her legs, “Yeah, I could…or I could be a candidate myself.”

"WELL YOU’RE ONE TO TALK!” Yelled Noah, Rowan chuckled.

“You can consider me laissez-faire. I’ll stay out of your business for the most part. But when it's time to compete, you can bet I’ll come up with the perfect strategy for our victory.”

“HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO BET? I BARELY KNOW WHO YOU ARE?!”

“I don’t know who you guys are either, so all we can do is talk.”

“Oh, so you can just criticize me and Noah for bein’ all talk but admit that’s the only thing you can do? Hypocrisy ain’t exactly a good look for a candidate.”

“Anyone running for anything knows It’s not about talking, it’s about what you say.”

Jazmin looked at Jazmin from the left side of the room and the boys from the right, “Would now be a bad time to say that I also want to run. I’d be a great representative!”

Rowan looked a little surprised but open to the idea, “What’s your pitch?”

“Well you and Lola don’t know this but I found Hana and Noah in the dining hall and we sat together and introduced ourselves so I kind of brought the group together before yesterday. Sorry I couldn’t find you guys hehe.” Jazmin smiled. She did introduce herself and Noah to me yesterday and does seem the kindest of the class so far. But this also meant I was the only non-candidate voting.

“Hold on, but if four of you are running, how are we going to vote? And I don’t think it would be fair if we voted for ourselves.”

“We should just cut out strips of paper and write down who we want, put them in a box and count them. I don’t think yelling who we want or what we hate is going to help anyone,” said Lola.

“Could we close our eyes and raise our hands to vote and pick a person to count them?” Asked Jazmin.

“No offense but I don’t trust any of you all not to rig it.” replied Rowan.

“I like Lola’s idea, actually, who wants to get the paper?”

Jazmin changed her mind fast because her hand shot up right when Noah asked that. “Do you know where the paper and scissors are?”

She gave him a bright smile, “No but I can find it!” Noah shrugged and she took that as a cue to search for them, skipping out of the room. A minute goes by and no word from Jazmin, I catch a glimpse of her denim bunny baseball cap and she comes back, empty handed, going for the empty bookshelf and taking out blank paper and scissors.

“I forgot we already had them,” Before anyone had time to respond, she began cutting the paper into strips and individually handing them around. Once she put out the fifth strip, she stopped, staring at the table

“...I forgot the pencils…sorry!”

Making myself useful, I take her up on the offer, I’ll get them. I spotted a thing of pencils near where she found the paper and scissors and brought them over to the table. Jazmin took off her cap and put it upside down, “You can place your votes in here!”

Looking at the other three’s expressions, Jazmin’s behavior caught them off guard , but they didn’t object to her idea. Jazmin was already writing who she wanted to vote for so I grabbed my pencil and started to do the same. In fact, I wrote down her name and put it in the hat. The other’s followed soon after and the hat was filled with paper strips.

“Let’s see!” Jazmin smiles as she picks up one of the pieces of paper, “Me!” she places the vote down and picks up another, “Hana…” she gives me a smile–but wait, why was my name in there?

“Hold on, I’m not a candidate!” I interject, apologizing quietly to Jazmin.

Lola shrugs, “four out of five of us are running, we’re all basically candidates at this point.”

Jazmin continued, “Hana”, she placed the paper next to the other one that said Hana, I wanted to say something but she continued counting, “Noah…” Noah smiles but it fades as soon as it creeps onto his mouth, “And finally…Hana!”

Rowan looked at me in a funny confused way, not “haha” funny but you know, funny. Noah looked confused too but not angry and Lola smiled, still sucking on her lollipop.

Jazmin didn’t seem upset with her defeat at all, “Congratulations Hana! You’re our new leader!”

I took in both directions, “Wait, how did this happen? Why did you–who voted for me?!”

The three other candidates look at each other, the boys realizing what they did, Noah facepaling and Rowan groaning, “Ok but come on, it wasn’t like I was gonna vote for the people I’m running against! That’s cucked!”

Noah decided to respond respectfully, “Process of elimination, who is the least rude and most competent…”

Lola tilted her head, “I predicted what these guys were gonna do and scored you a win since I couldn't vote for myself.” She said to me, directly and honestly.

The class falls silent as I feel their eyes on me. What was I supposed to do? I wasn’t built to be a leader. I could easily fail them. They watched, waiting for me to respond. Dear God, I don’t deserve to be here.

I cleared my throat, “So guys ummm, thank you very much. Let’s get started on designing our class together!” I say, motioning towards the table which still had paper and pencils. Nobody refuted. Nobody took back their votes. The results were final.

Good Lord.