Chapter 10: Presidential Obligations

Alexa had set her alarm the night before so that it would awaken her earlier in the morning than she usually got up. The alarm was set to play her favorite music, alternating between various pop songs on different days. She woke up and got ready, then went to the office of the head mistress. Once in her office, the receptionist informed Victoria Valerius that Alexa Lockport wanted to see her, and Alexa was summoned inside.

"What brings you here today?" Victoria asked.

"I wanted to make sure that Carl isn't punished too severely," said Alexa. "I think I would be a bad sport if I didn't take that prank in stride."

"I can see to it that Carl won't be punished too severely," said Victoria. "He does have thirty days of detention, however."

"Can you waive that?" Alexa asked. "Does my ability as first year student president grant me any privileges?"

"I think I can swing that, if you promise to let me know if the Dark Mistress contacts you again," said Victoria.

"I saw her again recently," said Alexa. "But we didn't talk long."

"Did you travel to an alternate reality?" Victoria asked.

"I'm not sure," Alexa replied.

"Let me see your necklace," Victoria asked, and Alexa took it off and gave it to her. Victoria took it to a machine that scanned it. "I'm not seeing any signs of inter-dimensional travel." Victoria gave the necklace back to Alexa. "But since you were so forthcoming, I'm taking Carl off of detention status."

"Thank you so much, head mistress!" said Alexa as she stood up and shook hands with Victoria. Alexa turned and left, and headed to breakfast in the dining hall.

At lunch time, the six student class presidents were allowed to go to the front of the line, so they could get to the podium outside to give updates on the latest news as student leaders. The first year president had to make her speech first; it was a privilege to be able to take your time with your lunch, so the older presidents gave their speeches afterwards. It was first year, then second year, and so on until the sixth year student president went last.

Alexa stood at the podium and made her speech. "I spoke with the head mistress earlier this morning, and I convinced her not to punish Carl for that prank yesterday." The students began cheering and clapping. "If I couldn't take a simple practical joke, I wouldn't be fit to be your leader. I can give and take practical jokes with the best of them!" When Alexa was done, the students cheered for her. As the second year class president took the podium, Carl approached Alexa.

"The head mistress spoke to me this morning and told me what you did for me. I really want to thank you for getting me off detention," said Carl. Alexa could see that Carl was cuter than most of the boys her age, and realized she wouldn't mind getting to know him better. Carl made the first move. "Would you like to go to the Halloween dance with me in October?"

"That's over a month away," Alexa replied. "I'll go with you to the dance, but what should we do until then?"

"Would you go out with me?" Carl asked.

"Carl, I'm twelve years old," said Alexa.

"So am I!" Carl replied.

"Yeah, I guess so!" said Alexa.

Carl took off a skull ring he had, and gave it to Alexa, and she put it on one of her fingers. Alexa took off a ring she wore, and gave it to Carl.

"That makes it official!" said Alexa, and they briefly kissed.

"Two little love birds, I see!" said Umbra. Alexa and Carl turned and smiled at her, knowing they had been caught. "I just finished my speech. Alexa, we're meeting in the conference room today after school to go over some things, so don't forget."

"Okay, Umbra!" Alexa replied. "Thanks."

Later that afternoon, after the last class, Alexa and the other student presidents met in the conference room. Umbra was three years older than Alexa, so she was the fourth year president. The three youngest presidents sat on one side of the table, while the older three sat on the other side. 

Verso house was represented by only two presidents, they were outnumbered four to two. Alexa had found out through other Verso house students that the elections were usually skewed in favor of Recto house.

Alexa was in charge of the minutes, that meant she had to type on the notepad on her electronic tablet. It was a huge responsibility, but the younger class presidents usually didn't have anything else to do.

"The meeting will come to order," said Sally Taron, the sixth year Recto house class president. "We have too few school dances, but as most of you know, we go all out for Halloween. We need a theme for this year's Halloween dance."

The meeting dragged on, and nobody could agree on anything, so they adjourned. Alexa uploaded the minutes to the main computer in the conference room, so the other class presidents could download them onto their electronic tablets. Not too long afterwards, Alexa went to her desk in her dorm room to study. She was approached by Stratus.

"You can't study in here, Alexa."

"Why not?" Alexa asked.

"You need to study in the library, so other first year students can access you if they have a problem to bring to your attention. It's a school policy."

"Okay, I'm going there now."

Alexa and Stratus carried their electronic tablets to the library. Carl greeted Alexa, but didn't interfere with her obligations as first year class president. There were a crowd of students waiting to ask questions to the class presidents of their respective years. There was a boy and girl waiting to speak with Alexa.

"We want to know something about relationships," said the boy. "Can first years be in a public relationship together?"

"We've heard different opinions," said the girl, "and we want to hear it straight from you."

Alexa hadn't anticipated a question like that, so she spoke to her electronic tablet, and the paragraph dealing with underage relationships displayed on the screen. Alexa read it to herself silently, then read it out loud to the couple. 

"Discreet relationships are tolerated, but boys aren't allowed in the girl's dormitory at any time, and vice versa. Couples engaged in inappropriate conduct will be referred to the head mistress. It is up to the school staff to determine what is and isn't deemed inappropriate."

"Thanks for clearing that up," said the boy. "I've seen older couples making out, but I wasn't sure about kids our age."

When the boy and girl departed, Alexa got back to doing her homework. Over the next few weeks, as September gave way to October, there were a few kids in the first year of the academy who needed help from Alexa about different things. Carl was a good boyfriend, and they never got in trouble for being together during that time. The student government meetings went on, and the students finally figured out how to best celebrate Halloween. As the holiday dance approached, Alexa asked Umbra for advice on a costume.

"You could be a goddess, or a cheerleader," Umbra replied. "You should dress up in a way that makes your boyfriend go wild!"

Alexa decided to ask Carl what he wanted her to be for Halloween. "Whatever you want," said Carl.

Alexa could see that he wasn't getting the message. "Do you want me to dress as a goddess, or as cheerleader or something, Carl?”

Carl thought about it for a few moments, then replied, "A goddess sounds cool. Anything you want to be is cool, I guess."

"What are you going as?" Alexa asked.

"Maybe a biker," Carl replied.

Umbra showed Alexa how to order several goddess costume designs from the matter duplicator, and all of the costume jewelry that came with it, such as arm bands and a tiara. Umbra warned Alexa about one of the costumes, but she had it duplicated any way. Alexa took her costumes to her dorm and tried one of them on. She looked at herself in the mirror, but wasn't sure if she liked this design. She decided to let her captive decide. She took the terrarium down from the shelf and got her shrunken man, and placed him on her desk.

"How does this costume look one me?" Alexa asked. "My boyfriend is a twelve year old boy, and I don't want to over-do it."

The shrunken man took a whole minute to look Alexa over. She had a Roman style girl's tunic that showed her navel. The costume jewelry looked extremely realistic, and her hair was held in place by a golden tiara. The skirt was extremely short, showing her upper thighs.

"Well, what's the verdict?" Alexa asked.

"It's too provocative for a twelve year old," said the shrunken man. "Do you have another design you want to try on?"

"Yes," Alexa answered, and went to change into one of her other costumes. Her captive remained on the desk, knowing there would be no escape. Within five minutes, Alexa was back. The shrunken man looked her over. Her navel was covered this time, and the skirt was much lower, about the same as the length of the tennis skirt that was part of the school uniforms. It did bare more of her shoulder, however.

"This is much better," said the captive. "That other costume could've gotten you detention!"

Alexa scooped up her captive and returned him to the terrarium, then went out onto the hallway dressed in her Roman goddess costume. She stopped a girl in the hallway, and asked her to go get Stratus. A minute or two later, Stratus arrived, and looked her over. The two girls went inside Alexa's dorm room.

"This is the other one, my captive said it was too inappropriate for someone my age," said Alexa.

"I agree," said Stratus. "The one you have on is good, the other one could get you into trouble with the school staff."

Alexa laughed, and that made Stratus laugh. "Umbra warned me about the other costume, but I had it duplicated any way."

"It would be good to wear if you were sixteen or older, but not at our age," said Stratus.

The following weekend was Halloween, and Alexa was excited. It would be her first school dance, and she would be going with her first boyfriend. She changed back into her school uniform, and went to the library with her electronic tablet to study. Carl met her there. They had been texting on their communicators every evening, and they both knew a lot about each other. When she returned to the Verso common room, Stratus approached her.

"How are things going with your boyfriend?" Stratus asked.

"Great!" Alexa replied.

"How does he compare to Santiago?"

"They're about the same, but I never went out with Santiago," Alexa replied. "But I wanted to. I've had a crush on him since I was eleven."

"It's not good to crush on ephemerals," said Stratus. "My sister can show you how to use the library computers to find out the destiny of Santiago, and any of your other old school mates."

"I don't think so," said Alexa. "I believe in charting my own path in life, I don't want to believe that we all have some inescapable destiny in life. There might come a day when I'll want to marry Santiago, and what if I checked the library computer and found out that he gets married to someone else?"

"If your parents are like my parents, they won't approve of you marrying an ephemeral," said Stratus.

"I don't care what they think," said Alexa. "If they didn't want me marrying an ephemeral, then they should've told me I was a Futurian before I fell in love with one! How old were you when you found out?"

"I was about six," Stratus replied.

"You see?" said Alexa. "I was never given that opportunity. I found out a few days before the first day of class."

"How would things have been different if you had known?" Stratus asked.

"I don't know," Alexa replied. "But it would've been better than not knowing at all!"

"I have an older sister about seven years older than me, and she is the oldest kid in my family. She already graduated, but she found out like you did, the weekend before her first year at the academy."

"How did she deal with it?" Alexa asked.

"She became very rebellious. She is the reason Umbra and I became Verso house members, that's how she got back at my parents. When my parents went to the academy, they were strictly Recto house."

"How did your parents take it?"

"There was nothing they could do. That's why they informed my sister and me long before we were going to be students here, so we might join Recto house, but it didn't work. My oldest sister rubbed off on us too much, so we joined Verso house. She even influenced my cousin Gamma to join Verso house."

"Your family history is interesting, Stratus," said Alexa. "If your parents hadn't lied to your oldest sister, I wouldn't have had any of you as friends here at the academy! You all would've joined Recto house!”