(February 612)

The following week, Elizabeth and David had their hands full. Elizabeth had suggested they begin planning their next steps ahead of the PTA presentation to prevent a slump afterward. Regardless of whether they got the PTA’s approval, they needed to get the BISM student body on their side. Elizabeth took a page out of David’s book and decided to coordinate an information campaign to present their plans to the students. Elizabeth had also been inspired by how Isra had pulled people in during the protest and intended to recreate this effect in their presentations. David had to kiss his fliers goodbye and content himself with friendlier-looking ones. David was much more reluctant to accept Elizabeth’s plans for the PTA presentation.

“I still don’t get why you and I can’t do it,” he said to Elizabeth.

The two of them were having another planning session. Isra, Ollie, and a few student council members sat on the other side of the student council room, chatting and folding fliers.

“We could,” said Elizabeth, “But Isra has a much more personal angle. It gives a face to the issue and they’ll know exactly who they’re letting down if they decide against it.”

David’s brow furrowed but he conceded the point.

“So why don’t we just let her do it with Akeem?” asked David, “He’d also be let down.”

Elizabeth sighed. She heard Isra laugh at something Ollie had said.

“Two people is too personal,” she said, “If we throw two people who’d be personally affected in their face, they’ll know exactly what we’re doing and might say no out of spite. We need someone from the student council to make sure they still feel like it’s their choice to say yes.”

David gave her an incredulous look. Elizabeth watched with mild curiosity as Akeem entered the room with a tall, curly-haired blonde whom Elizabeth recognized from class 10A.

“Okay, then you and Isra should do it,” said David.

Elizabeth felt tension rising in her as she turned her attention back to David. Her grip on the pencil in her hand tightened.

“Why not Gloria?” she asked, “She’ll be saying what we tell her to anyway.”

David snorted and shook his head.

“Gloria doesn’t care,” he said, “It’s great Gloria made the PTA connection. But she doesn’t care enough.”

Elizabeth rolled her eyes. On the other side of the room, Tina and Gloria were whispering and shooting glances at Akeem’s new friend. Isra waved Akeem and the girl from 10A over to sit with her and Ollie.

“Just because she hasn’t been a part of this from day one does not mean she doesn’t care,” said Elizabeth, “And even if she doesn’t, Gloria’s great at presentations and she’ll make it seem like she does. She has the PTA connection, she’s likable, she’s got the whole blond-hair-blue-eyed golden girl thing going on that charms the suburban mothers — need I go on? She’s perfect for the job.”

David still wasn’t convinced.

“It’s inauthentic,” he said, “It’s so staged and fake —”

“It’s politics,” said Elizabeth, cutting him off.

David rubbed his temples before letting his hands drop on the table.

“If you need someone blond and blue-eyed, I can also do it,” he said, “Then I won’t feel like I’ve completely sold my soul.”

Elizabeth grabbed one of his hands. David’s gaze flickered from their joined hands to her face with an odd look in his eyes.

“David,” she said, “You’ve got amazing ideas and an inspiring amount of passion.”

He looked at her suspiciously, clearly knowing that there was a catch.

“But you’re every suburban mother’s worst nightmare,” said Elizabeth.

That was a little harsh — David wasn’t the worst thing a suburban mother could dream up. He was a skinny, angry, vegetarian political activist who dressed like he’d just raided an estate sale, but he had a good heart and no tattoos Elizabeth knew of. That being said, the medium was as important as the message and Gloria was a medium that seemed almost tailor-made to this group.

David retracted his hand and crossed his arms.

“It’s fake,” he said, again.

“That’s politics,” said Elizabeth, again.

The presentation fell on a Saturday, which was convenient because it meant that most of the PTA had time to watch it. Being an international school, some of the parents had to participate from afar through video calls. There were a few parents who lived in Borlême, of course, but there weren’t enough to be able to carry on a legitimate vote. This was why Elizabeth found herself alone in the student council room several hours before the presentation, trying to get the video call program to work. She cursed as the program shut down again.

“That’s unexpectedly strong language,” said David.

Elizabeth looked over her shoulder to see him standing in the doorway.

“It keeps telling me I need to be an admin to use this program,” she said, “This is my computer — Who else is the admin?”

David walked to stand beside her and watched as she tried the whole process again.

“I’m awful with computers,” he said.

Elizabeth sighed and saw David pulling out his phone from the corner of her eye.

“Hey,” he said into it, “Can you come to the student council room? We have a tech problem.”

He paused.

“Student Center,” he said, “Fourth floor.”

This surprised Elizabeth, who assumed he was calling IT or Ollie, both of whom would know where the student council room was.

“Do you want me to pick you up from your dorm?” David snapped, “Just come here.”

He waited for a response, grumbled out a ‘sure’, and hung up.

“Who was that?” asked Elizabeth.

“My brother,” said David, “He’s good at this stuff.”

A few minutes later, Max Behrends knocked on the door frame. Max was taller than his brother, but he had a childlike face that made him look several years younger. The impish grin he shot David faded into a more timid expression when he caught sight of Elizabeth. He ran his fingers through his dark blond hair self-consciously and stood in front of the computer.

“Sooo.” He drew it out into several syllables. “What’s the prob?”

As Elizabeth explained it to him, his eyes darted over to her as he hunched over the computer’s keyboard nervously. He did what she explained she had done before and nodded vigorously before looking back up at her.

“That happens to,like, almost everyone” he said, “Don’t even worry. It’s also crazy easy to fix— Here, you see?”

With a few extra clicks, Max had managed to open up the program and Elizabeth felt a wave of relief wash over her.

“Thank you so much,” she said to him.

He smiled brightly — the way he did whenever Gloria allowed him to sit next to her.

“Sure thing,” he said, “If anything else pops up — I’m your guy!”

He turned to David who lifted an eyebrow and gave him a nod. Max looked a little unsure about what to do with himself, but ended up saying his goodbyes and stumbling out of the door again. Before Elizabeth could ask David how in the world he was related to someone so unlike him, David pulled out his notebook and asked if there were any last things they should go over. Just as they had sat down and confirmed that everything was going as planned with the vegan refreshments, Max came storming back in. His backpack hung off one shoulder and his hair had become an unruly bird’s nest. He knocked on the door frame despite them both making full eye contact with him.

“Um, Gloria sent me to—” he looked down at his phone, “I’m meant to give you a message from Gloria.”

That could explain his entrance, Elizabeth thought. Of course he’d be elated to have Gloria entrust him with a task. However, his fidgeting didn’t seem delighted and neither did his concerned expression.

“What is it?” asked David.

Max bit the inside of his cheek before he came out with it.

“Gloria says she can’t work with Isra,” he said, “And unless Isra is kicked off, Gloria won’t do the presentation.”

Elizabeth groaned and buried her face in her hands. David swore violently.

“Sorry guys,” said Max, looking a little small in the doorway.

Elizabeth heard David tell him to ‘just go’. She turned to David with a look of desperation.

“What are we going to do?” she asked.

David shook his head helplessly. Elizabeth knew he wasn’t good at this kind of stuff.

“I’ll call her,” said Elizabeth, “And I’ll call Isra. Just— Can you set up everything else?”

David assured her that he could and although Elizabeth couldn’t quite find it in herself to trust him, getting Gloria to do the presentation had become infinitely more important than her intricately planned layout for the refreshment table.

Mediating between Isra and Gloria had been Elizabeth’s job for as long as she’d been at BISM. But while in elementary school Isra and Gloria could be reconciled with each other through a forced hug or a game of hopscotch, they were far more stubborn at sixteen. Gloria claimed Isra had insulted her, called her names, and said all kinds of terrible and untrue things about her. She was, however, open to reconciliation if Isra just apologized and took back the things she’d said. Elizabeth had delivered this offer to Isra, who rejected it the second she heard it. Isra thought it was offensive, thought Gloria was being childish, and the only thing Isra felt she had to be sorry for was that Elizabeth now had to deal with Gloria’s temper tantrum.

As Elizabeth dashed from Gloria to Isra, the events that led to their fall out became increasingly clear, as did the surprising role of Akeem’s new friend. Isra had taken a liking Carolína Salcedo, as the 10A blonde was called, and been disgusted to hear from Akeem that Gloria had said rude things about her. Gloria claimed she had done no such thing, that she barely knew Carolína, and that all she did know about the girl was that she was the rude one. Isra called Gloria a bully, Gloria said the same thing about Isra, and neither of them agreed to put their differences aside for the sake of the PTA presentation.

When Elizabeth returned to the student council room with Isra in tow, she saw the first parents had arrived. David, wearing a disturbingly wide smile and shaking parents’ hands, greeted them at the door. Elizabeth ignored his expectant look, gestured for Isra to go inside, and rushed away from the room. She ducked away into a corner where she hoped none of the parents would pass by. David followed her into the corner a second later.

When she looked at him, she saw his uncharacteristic smile had been replaced by an equally uncharacteristic soft look in his eyes.

“No luck?” he asked.

She shook her head.

“We need a plan B,” she said, “I think it should be either you or Akeem.”

David let out a startled and unwelcome laugh.

“Me?” he asked.

She glared impatiently.

“Of course,” she said, “You’ve been a part of this from the start. You know Gloria’s part of the presentation. You’re perfect for this.”

David still looked a little amused.

“That’s not what you said a few days ago.”

Of course, she thought. She had judged the interpersonal drama between Gloria and Isra that had left her stranded at sea. Now the interpersonal drama she herself had caused would lead the whole island to sink.

“I’m sorry,” she said, “I was wrong to say that.”

David snorted.

“No you weren’t,” he said, “You were right. There’s a woman in there who keeps looking at me like I’m five seconds from blowing up the school.”

Elizabeth was beginning to feel a little desperate and certainly more than a little frustrated.

“David,” she said, “I am begging you to do this. Isra can’t do the presentation alone and if we don’t make this happen, the project is dead in the water.”

She paused and looked away.

“Honestly, without Gloria’s help it may already be,” said Elizabeth.

“Calm down,” said David, “It won’t be. And you should be the one to do the presentation.”

She had worried he was going to suggest that. She had worried since the first time he’d suggested it and worried since the last.

“I can’t,” she said.

David quirked an eyebrow.

“Why?” he asked, “You’re objectively the best person to do it.”

Elizabeth swallowed.

“When I was in middle school, I did a presentation,” said Elizabeth, “And—”

David interrupted her.

“So? This isn’t middle school,” he said, “Swallow your pride and your useless fear and do it.”

He grinned — really, genuinely, almost as impishly as his brother had before, and not at all like the way he’d grinned at the PTA members.

“And if they make the mistake of saying no,” he said, “Then we’ll start the revolution.”

Elizabeth started to laugh.

“I can’t tell if you’re being serious,” she said.

His grin didn’t fade when shrugged and started to walk away.

“Then don’t mess up the presentation,” he said, “Or you’ll have to find out.”

He disappeared around the corner. Elizabeth looked at her watch and saw it was about time. She fixed her hair, turned the corner, and walked into the classroom.

One PTA presentation, two themed days, three meetings with the principal, several student presentations, and many fliers later, David and Elizabeth had managed to make good vegan and vegetarian meal options a reality for BISM. Jake had sheepishly applauded their efforts and Clement was telling everyone who would listen that he had been on David’s side all along. David and Elizabeth sat together before another student council meeting and sketched out plans for their next project.

“We’re not doing another ‘Hipster vs. Hippie day,” said David, “I still haven’t recovered my dignity from the last one.”

Elizabeth rolled her eyes.

“Themed days work and you know it,” she said, “People hate their uniforms. People love dressing up. People will pay to not wear their uniforms and dress up. This project needs funding and—”

The last student council member to enter the room closed the door behind him and Jake got up to speak.

Elizabeth lowered her voice to a whisper.

“We’ll talk about this later.”

David looked at her with the resignation of a man finally meeting his executioner and nodded.