they are just as worthy as anyone else. She takes a big breath and slips her hand behind her back. She's able to scratch on the back of her neck just under her sweater. For a second, it feels better.
Suddenly, she hears her name. Mr. Brown is looking down the row at her with a big grin on his face. He's calling her up. She'd thought it would start the other way around, with her going last. But she's first.
Slowly, Deja gets up. Slowly, she walks to the microphone, which Mr. Brown is lowering to her height. This is it. She has her index cards clutched in her hand. She hasn't looked at them since that morning before school. She's a little panicked to see that they aren't in order. Where's the one with her introduction? She shuffles through them quickly, and they spill out of her hands. Laughter spreads across the auditorium.
"Excuse me?" Mr. Brown says in a booming voice.
It stops as suddenly as it started, but it leaves Deja feeling even more jittery.
"My name is Deja," she says. Mr. Willis rushes over and adjusts the microphone just as she's saying, "and I'm running for student body president of Carver Elementary." Her voice suddenly booms out in the middle of her sentence, startling her. She stops and looks at her cards. They seem as if they're covered with scribble. She can't make out one word.
She blurts out all of the things she'll do for the school if they elect her. Nikki was right. All her promises suddenly sound silly. They're just promises, with no thought behind them. She wishes she had something else to say, but she can't remember anything else, not even her closing. She just says thank you and takes her seat, feeling a tiny bit relieved that it is over.
Arthur is next and he is not much better. He basically lists all the reasons people should vote
Â
for him. He sounds scared and unconvincing. Sheena holds her speech, written on a piece of notebook paper with torn holes, right in front of her face. She keeps stumbling over her own handwriting. Deja wants to laugh, but she suppresses it. Lashonda and the other fourth-grader wrote theirs kind of like poems.
Lashonda's is better,
Deja thinks. It's even funny.
Paula, from Mr. Hick's fifth grade, simply reads her speech like Sheena. But it sounds as if it was written by someone way older. Deja thinks Paula's mother probably wrote it because it it has a lot of big words that Paula can't pronounce. Deja really wants to laugh now. But she knows that would look bad, so she bites her tongue. Gregory Johnson does his in a kind of interesting way. After he introduces himself to the audience, they cheer. He then answers questions about what he will do as student body president from a question box he'd placed on a little table just inside the entrance to the school building. Deja wonders why she didn't think of that. She can feel everyone's total attention as he answers each question smoothly and with a big, confident smile. He even has on a shirt and tie. He already looks like a student body president.
When he's finished there are cheers and loud, enthusiastic applause, which is more than the polite response Deja got. He takes his seat and Mr. Brown steps forward, clapping as he approaches the lowered microphone. He bends toward it to give his usual end-of-assembly talk about how to exit the auditorium in an orderly way. The candidates remain in their chairs onstage until everyone leaves. Then Mr. Willis dismisses them to their classrooms. Deja leaves the stage feeling she could have done better. She wishes she had another chance.
As soon as Deja enters the classroom, Ms. Shelby leads the students in applause for their classmate. "I know we're all excited about the election and the announcement of the results on Friday morning."
Some kids glance over at Deja; some don't even look like they're paying attention. Nikki gives her a tiny smile.
9. Last-Ditch Efforts
Â
"You did good, Deja," Nikki says as they walk home. Nikki is no longer giving her the silent
Suddenly, she hears her name. Mr. Brown is looking down the row at her with a big grin on his face. He's calling her up. She'd thought it would start the other way around, with her going last. But she's first.
Slowly, Deja gets up. Slowly, she walks to the microphone, which Mr. Brown is lowering to her height. This is it. She has her index cards clutched in her hand. She hasn't looked at them since that morning before school. She's a little panicked to see that they aren't in order. Where's the one with her introduction? She shuffles through them quickly, and they spill out of her hands. Laughter spreads across the auditorium.
"Excuse me?" Mr. Brown says in a booming voice.
It stops as suddenly as it started, but it leaves Deja feeling even more jittery.
"My name is Deja," she says. Mr. Willis rushes over and adjusts the microphone just as she's saying, "and I'm running for student body president of Carver Elementary." Her voice suddenly booms out in the middle of her sentence, startling her. She stops and looks at her cards. They seem as if they're covered with scribble. She can't make out one word.
She blurts out all of the things she'll do for the school if they elect her. Nikki was right. All her promises suddenly sound silly. They're just promises, with no thought behind them. She wishes she had something else to say, but she can't remember anything else, not even her closing. She just says thank you and takes her seat, feeling a tiny bit relieved that it is over.
Arthur is next and he is not much better. He basically lists all the reasons people should vote
Â
for him. He sounds scared and unconvincing. Sheena holds her speech, written on a piece of notebook paper with torn holes, right in front of her face. She keeps stumbling over her own handwriting. Deja wants to laugh, but she suppresses it. Lashonda and the other fourth-grader wrote theirs kind of like poems.
Lashonda's is better,
Deja thinks. It's even funny.
Paula, from Mr. Hick's fifth grade, simply reads her speech like Sheena. But it sounds as if it was written by someone way older. Deja thinks Paula's mother probably wrote it because it it has a lot of big words that Paula can't pronounce. Deja really wants to laugh now. But she knows that would look bad, so she bites her tongue. Gregory Johnson does his in a kind of interesting way. After he introduces himself to the audience, they cheer. He then answers questions about what he will do as student body president from a question box he'd placed on a little table just inside the entrance to the school building. Deja wonders why she didn't think of that. She can feel everyone's total attention as he answers each question smoothly and with a big, confident smile. He even has on a shirt and tie. He already looks like a student body president.
When he's finished there are cheers and loud, enthusiastic applause, which is more than the polite response Deja got. He takes his seat and Mr. Brown steps forward, clapping as he approaches the lowered microphone. He bends toward it to give his usual end-of-assembly talk about how to exit the auditorium in an orderly way. The candidates remain in their chairs onstage until everyone leaves. Then Mr. Willis dismisses them to their classrooms. Deja leaves the stage feeling she could have done better. She wishes she had another chance.
As soon as Deja enters the classroom, Ms. Shelby leads the students in applause for their classmate. "I know we're all excited about the election and the announcement of the results on Friday morning."
Some kids glance over at Deja; some don't even look like they're paying attention. Nikki gives her a tiny smile.
9. Last-Ditch Efforts
Â
"You did good, Deja," Nikki says as they walk home. Nikki is no longer giving her the silent
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