Election Madness (5 page)

Deja thinks Carlos should be up there reading off the ballots, since Ms. Shelby took over his paper monitor job when she passed out the ballots. Instead Antonia stands there, looking important and smiling secretively as if she already knows who's gotten the nomination.

"Let's begin," Ms. Shelby says cheerfully.

In a quiet voice—too quiet, Deja thinks—Antonia begins to report the nominations. "Richard," Antonia says, then places the ballot on Ms. Shelby's desk. Ms. Shelby carefully places a tally mark beside his name.

Deja bites her lip.

"Here's one for Erik," Antonia says.

Deja's sure boys nominated Richard and Erik. She feels her heart pounding in her chest.

"Deja," Antonia continues, her face revealing no emotion.

Deja feels some relief.

"Yolanda," Antonia says.

That must be her ballot, Deja thinks, but then Antonia says Yolanda's name again. Now there are two checks beside Yolanda's name. She is officially winning.

Antonia calls out her own name, then Erik's, then Richard's again, then her own.

Where's Nikki's ballot and those of the five other people who'd said they'd choose Deja?

"Deja," Antonia says dryly.

Deja watches while Ms. Shelby puts a check beside her name.
Now that's more like it,
she thinks.

"Yolanda," Antonia says next.

Once again, Yolanda is ahead.

Who are all these people nominating Yolanda?
Deja wonders.

"Erik," Antonia says. Now Richard, Antonia, and Deja are tied for second place, with Yolanda and Erik tied for first. Deja quickly takes a head count. She's certain the boys are nominating boys. There are nine boys in the class and eleven girls. That means so far only five boys and seven girls have had their ballots read. The boys have four more nominations and the girls have four more. What if some of the girls chose Erik or Richard? Deja's heart sinks. Then Antonia says Deja's name two times in a row. The second announcement comes after a long pause, to the point that Ms. Shelby offers to look at the ballot. Perhaps the check beside a name was too light.

But no. Deja hears her name spoken softly but clearly. "Deja."

She looks down and smiles. She's leading.

"Keisha," Antonia says. Then, "ChiChi."

They nominated each other, Deja is certain. She tallies the marks. Unfortunately, the girls are finished, but the boys still have their four votes left.
It's over,
she thinks.

"Yolanda," Antonia announces, with a hint of triumph in her voice. Yolanda has caught up to Deja. And it was probably with a boy nomination.

"Erik," Antonia says.

"Yolanda," she continues. This time she looks at Deja and smirks. Yolanda has taken the lead again.

It could be a lost cause,
Deja thinks. One more to go, and she and Erik are the only two who can benefit. The others don't have enough votes. She waits to hear what Antonia has to say, but Antonia is silent. Everyone looks at her, waiting. Ms. Shelby, with the marker poised to make the next tally mark, looks over her shoulder.

"I can't make this out," Antonia finally says. "It looks like this person voted for two people."

"Let me see that," Ms. Shelby says.

Antonia holds up the ballot for Ms. Shelby to check.

"You're right. It seems as if this person selected two people. One tally mark looks erased, but not completely. I can't be sure who this person intended to nominate. Erik, could you help us out and tell me whom you meant to nominate?" She takes the ballot out of Antonia's hand and brings it to Erik to verify his nomination. Erik studies the ballot for what seems like a long time.

"I nominated Deja," he says.

At first Deja can't believe it. With just three words spoken, she has tied with Yolanda. Yolanda! She might as well have the nomination. Yolanda is definitely not going to be a problem. Ms. Shelby's voice interrupts her thoughts.

"Looks like we'll need to have a runoff between Deja and Yolanda," Ms. Shelby says. "But not today. We've already used up too much math time. We'll continue with the nominations tomorrow."

Deja is lying on her bed, tossing a balled sock into the air. Maybe she should go out and practice her Ping-Pong serve. It's still light outside. She looks out the window at the Ping-Pong table in the driveway. No, that wouldn't be fun. She can hear Auntie Dee downstairs in the kitchen making tofu burgers and sweet potato french fries—but they're not going to be fried. They're going to be baked. They're going to be fake fries. And all through dinner, Auntie Dee is going to keep saying, "Aren't these yummy? Aren't these just like real french fries?" And Deja is going to think that they're not at all like real french fries, and why can't they have real fries at least some of the time?

Still, Deja is a little bit hungry. But mainly she is thinking about who everyone nominated. After all, she was supposed to get seven nominations, not five. If she had gotten the seven, she'd have easily been the nominee. Deja likes the word
nominee.
She
will
be the nominee. The phone rings but she doesn't make a move to get it, since it is probably for Auntie Dee. Then she hears her name being called.
It's probably Nikki,
she thinks as she goes down the stairs.

It
is
Nikki, and her voice is full of excitement.

"Deja, guess what!"

In the second before Nikki speaks, Deja imagines that Nikki has spent the time since she got home from school making phone calls to all of their classmates, and they have all told her that they are choosing Deja. They had just nominated Yolanda to make her feel better about being fat. But that is not what Nikki has to say.

"My father told a joke at dinner and my mom laughed. They're talking again!" Deja is disappointed. Not for Nikki—she's happy for Nikki. But she's disappointed for herself. She had hoped Nikki was calling with new information about the election.

"Great, Nikki," Deja says. "How many votes do you think I'm going to get tomorrow?"

"I don't know," Nikki says—and rather impatiently, Deja thinks. She knows Nikki's mind is not really on the runoff. It's still on her mom and dad. "Look at how many people picked Yolanda. I gotta go. See you tomorrow."

When she hangs up, Deja is still thinking about the election. Five people nominated Yolanda today. Who were those kids? She thinks about it while she watches TV later with Auntie Dee. She thinks about it while she brushes her teeth, while she lays out her clothes for the next day (which Auntie always insists she do), and while she makes her lunch and puts it away in the refrigerator. Which kids were the kids who chose Yolanda?

On her way to school the next morning, Deja can hardly follow Nikki's constant chatter about how her daddy made her mom breakfast, how her daddy is taking her mom out for dinner, how her mom is going to call Auntie Dee to see if she can babysit tonight, and won't that be great because they can plan election strategy together.

Deja's ears perk up at the mention of election strategy. That's right—when she gets the nomination, she's going to have to immediately come up with a
strategy.
She tugs on Nikki's sleeve. "Listen, Nikki, as soon as everyone's in line—before Ms. Shelby gets there—I'm going to find out who nominated Yolanda." Nikki doesn't say anything, but Deja thinks she hears a little sigh.

As soon as the bell rings, releasing everyone from their freeze positions, the Room Ten students mosey over to their line. A few are yawning, a few are staring off into space. Everyone looks as if they're not quite ready to start the day. Deja has to be quick and direct. She looks toward the school building, then at Mr. Brown, the principal, who is busy with a parent. Happily, he's facing the other way.

Deja starts at the back and moves forward. She has to be careful. Once everyone is lined up, no one is allowed to talk or get out of line. Some kids blink at her uncomprehendingly before they understand what she's asking. Some get a bit hostile, thinking she's going to get mad at them for not nominating her. Only three admit to voting for Yolanda. She skips over Antonia, knowing Antonia wouldn't tell her one way or the other. But Deja suspects Antonia voted for Yolanda, too, thinking, like Deja, that her vote wouldn't make a difference because it would be the only one. Deja scoots back to her place in line just as she sees Ms. Shelby making her way across the yard. She's feeling pretty confident. She's going to get that nomination. She just knows it. As they begin walking toward the school doors, it occurs to Deja that she didn't see Yolanda.

When Deja enters the classroom, her eyes immediately go to the posted agenda. She scans down for the magic words. Today Ms. Shelby has termed it
Election Activity.
It's scheduled right after morning recess. Deja checks the morning journal subject and her heart lifts.
Open Topic.
When Ms. Shelby can't think of a topic, she lets them write what they want. Sometimes she'll pick someone from each table to share what they've written. Deja hopes it's one of those times. She dives right in.

Why I Think I Would make the
best President Carven
Elementary School Ever Had!

I think I would make the best president Carver Elementary School ever had because I would be the best president CarVer Elementary School ever had.

She reads that over. It doesn't sound right, but she presses on. She needs to finish.

I really care about my School. I care about what people think of it. If it iS bad. with a lot of bad kids no one will want to come here. If there are a lot of fights and people writing all over the walls. People will think it's a bad School. But it's not a bad school. My school is good. And I will make it better. I will make it so that a lot of kids will want to come here and there parents will want them to come here too.

Deja's proud of herself for spelling "too," t-o-o. She's proud that she remembered to indent. Ms. Shelby hates when they don't indent. Ms. Shelby says, "I have to tell the same people over and over to indent. Why is that?" Deja is happy that she is not one of those people.

I want lots of new kids to come to our school. We have had the same ol kids for a long time. I would make it so new kids came to Carver Elementary School. Smart kids. I would make it so we have better food in the cafeteria. I would make it so the bad kids
had detension for five hours after school so they wouldnt fight anymore and make our school look bad, I would do a good job for our school so it would become famous all over the country.

Deja hears Ms. Shelby's timer. She stops writing and begins to read what she has written. It sounds pretty good. Her hand flies up before Ms. Shelby can direct them to put away their journals and take out their workbooks.

Ms. Shelby looks up from the attendance roster. "Yes, Deja," she says, sounding like her mind is still on attendance.

"Can I read mine?"

"Read yours? Oh, sure. In a nice, loud voice."

Ms. Shelby doesn't really have to tell Deja to read in a loud voice. She never mutters or holds her paper in front of her face, blocking the sound waves like some people. While Deja reads, she notices Ms. Shelby taking attendance and making notations in her class book, the one that has everyone's scores and attendance and homework. The scary book.

When Deja finishes, she looks around. Some kids were paying attention but some were doing other things. Deja thinks Ms. Shelby should have made everyone give her their undivided attention—that she should have instructed Deja to wait until everyone was listening. But Ms. Shelby wasn't even listening herself. Not really.

"Good, Deja," she says. "You may sit down now."

Deja sits down and looks around. Did anyone even hear what she had to say? Ayanna is drawing daisies with a purple marker on her journal cover. Carlos has some kind of doughy substance he's pulled out of his desk. He's keeping it out of sight as much as possible as he rolls it into a long snake. He's completely engrossed. And Ralph ... Ralph is playing with the flat marbles from the classroom's mancala game! No wonder they always have to ask Ms. Shelby for more pieces from the stash in her desk drawer. Ralph's been taking them home! Deja feels a flash of anger. She's about to raise her hand again when Ms. Shelby tells them to put everything away and take out their workbooks.