Cast Your Ballot! by Rachel Wise Page B

the spaz that I am. I stood up to see a dad in the row in front of us give it a good whack with a newspaper, and it fell, dead, onto the floor, where the dad picked it up with a napkin and smiled at us.
    â€œThanks,” muttered Hailey weakly.
    Just then, Jenna and Kristen returned with the snacks and asked what was going on, and the lights started to dim. They hustled into their seatsand handed out the candy and popcorn. I was just starting to relax when a boy’s voice from down to the left yelled, “Eek, Sam! A mouse! Get it!” in a perfect imitation of Hailey. The crowd erupted in laughter, and as I turned to smile at Hailey, I found her pushing past me out of the row, up the aisle, and out of the theater.
    I watched her go and then turned to Jenna and handed her my snacks. “I’ll be right back,” I said, and I went after Hailey.
    I found her outside the theater, crying and mopping her face with a napkin. I put my arms around her for a hug, but Hailey just stood there stiffly.
    â€œHails, it was a joke,” I said.
    â€œA joke? It was humiliating!” she cried. “I’m never going to the movies again!”
    â€œOh, Hailey,” I said lamely.
    â€œGo back in. You don’t need to stay here with me. I’ll just call my mom to come get me,” she said, sniffling. Best Friend Is Mortified, Refuses to Be Comforted.
    â€œNo way. I’m not leaving you.”
    â€œBut the movie . . .”
    â€œHailey, really? I think I’ll live.”
    â€œAll your stuff is in there,” she said lamely, not trying that hard to get rid of me. I think my staying was actually making her feel a tad better.
    I shrugged. “Jenna and Kristen will bring it out after. Want to play Angry Birds on the machine over there?”
    She shrugged a yes, and we went over and began pumping the machine with whatever quarters we had in our pockets. When that ran out, we sat on a bench in the theater lobby. She seemed to have calmed down.
    â€œDo you still want to go home?” I asked. “I’ll go with you if you want.”
    â€œNo, you can’t miss your ice-cream date,” she teased.
    Now it was me who shrugged. “Whatever,” I said. “It’s girls’ night.”
    â€œThanks,” she said. “I just don’t want to be sitting here like a loser when the movie gets out, is all. Maybe we could wait for them at the ice-cream place.”
    We were quiet for a minute.
    â€œSammy?” asked Hailey in a small voice.
    I turned and looked at her. “What?”
    Hailey looked down at her nails, what little she hadn’t already bitten off. “Um, before the bug thing, you were talking about stuff.” She sighed and looked up at the ceiling searchingly. “Like, about Anthony Wright?”
    I shook my head. “I don’t remember. Trauma causes memory loss.”
    She smiled wanly. “Like, about a running mate for him. You were describing what he needed. It . . . it sounded like . . .”
    â€œYou,” I said at the exact same moment she said, “Me.”
    We laughed.
    â€œWhat do you think?” she asked.
    â€œAbout you running for vice president with Anthony?”
    Hailey nodded.
    â€œWould you want to?” I asked.
    Hailey looked back at her nails again and nodded again. “Yeah,” she admitted, looking up at me.
    â€œHuh!” I said, and smacked my knee with my palm. I was surprised, and I couldn’t hide it. I sat there and thought about it for a minute. I felt a little bittersweet about it because it would have been fun for me to run too, except for the newspaper part. But I could actually see Hailey doing it, the more I thought about it. She’s a hard worker who likes to win; she’s captain of the varsity soccer team again, and she knows how to lead and inspire people. She’d be a good cheerleader for him, too. And she did have lots of friends