Mia Ginger sat in the second row on the left side of the aisle, holding a pen and pondering for a moment. She wrote Roy Anders in the class president position, herself in the vice president position, Blair Chester as the class representative, and Mina Lee for publicity officer.
After sitting and considering for a little while longer, she carefully filled out the remaining positions.
She breathed a sigh of relief.
"Mia Ginger!" Alexander Miller suddenly called out.
Mia Ginger looked up at him.
"Collect these on the left side," Alexander Miller glanced at Roy Anders, "Roy Anders will collect those on the right side of the aisle."
Mia Ginger responded and stood up.
She started collecting the slips from the last row.
She placed them on the podium together with those Roy Anders had collected.
Before returning to her seat, Alexander Miller spoke again, "One reads, one writes. Let’s tally the results now."
"I’ll write," Roy Anders smiled at Mia Ginger and softly said, "So the chalk dust won’t dirty your hands."
Mia Ginger hesitated for a moment but didn’t refuse. She smiled and nodded.
Holding all the slips, she stood to the side of the podium and began reading them out one by one.
"Class President, Mia Ginger. Vice President, Roy Anders. Committee Head, Blair Chester..."
"Class President, Mia Ginger. Class Representative, Blair Chester."
"Class President, Mia Ginger. Vice President, Roy Anders."
After three consecutive readings, she found herself as the class president each time. Mia Ginger was a bit surprised.
She unfolded the fourth slip.
She had a hunch this slip was written by Blair Chester.
"Class Representative, Blair Chester."
Mia Ginger maintained a normal expression and read aloud brightly, though her feelings were a bit complex.
Just as she had read, on the slip Blair Chester wrote, all other eight positions were crossed out except for the class representative, where her own name was neatly written.
It was truly unexpected.
Mia Ginger glanced at it once more and unfolded the next slip.
She recognized the handwriting; it was Wren King.
"Class President, Mia Ginger. Vice President, Roy Anders. Committee Head, Wren King. Class Representative, Tong Tong, ..., Class Officer, Mina Lee..."
Also a bit unexpected.
Mia Ginger felt even more complex emotions.
She unfolded the slips and read them in sequence, soon reaching the last few.
The final slip was written by Windsor Myres.
She was sitting at the far end on the right side, and it was a slip Roy Anders had collected.
"Class President, Mia Ginger."
After reading these only five words, Mia Ginger was momentarily stunned.
She instinctively glanced towards Windsor Myres’s direction.
Windsor Myres was leaning on the desk sleeping, her long wavy hair spread across the table.
Mia Ginger clutching the slip that Windsor Myres wrote, it took her a while to collect herself; meanwhile, Roy Anders had already tallied the final results.
"Class President, Mia Ginger, 36 votes. Vice President, Roy Anders, 26 votes, ..., Class Representative, Blair Chester, 21 votes, ..., Art Officer, Windsor Myres, 21 votes."
Mia Ginger read twice.
Only then did she realize she hadn’t seen it wrong.
She had 36 votes for class president, 5 votes for vice president.
Except for Blair Chester abstaining, everyone else, including herself, voted for her as class president?
"Mia Ginger has forty-one votes, my gosh."
"I bet she’s the only one who didn’t vote for herself."
"I voted for her as class president, I don’t know Roy Anders very well."
A few voices of conversation fell into her ears. Mia Ginger was deep in thought as Alexander Miller stepped onto the podium.
He turned to look at the blackboard, smiled, and said, "Mia Ginger is the people’s choice."
The classroom erupted with a spontaneous round of applause, Mia Ginger’s face slightly reddened as she returned to her seat.