Final campaign speeches will be conducted on Thursday, October 10. Each presidential candidate is expected to give a speech up to three minutes in length. All speeches must be turned in to Mrs. Lee for approval no later than first period, Wednesday, October 9. Following the speeches, ballots will be distributed. Election results will be tallied and announced by end of school on Thursday, October 10.
All candidates must pledge to maintain the highest standards of personal conduct, to act in the best interests of their school, to reflect opinions of the students they represent to the best of their ability, to promote school spirit, and to practice effective leadership and good citizenship.
I understand the requirements and duties of the office I am applying for and agree to commit to the campaign rules as outlined above.
Student signature:
Parent signature:
Chapter Nine
TWO NOSES (PLUS AN ADDITIONAL TWO) TO ONE GRINDSTONE
(AND YOUR SECRETS ARE SAFE WITH ME)
I prop my elbows on my kitchen table, and my chin sinks into my hands. It’s pretty hard not to think about the fact that it’s Saturday, and instead of the sleepover I have every weekend with Meghan, I’m sitting here, at the kitchen table, working on my campaign with Ben.
“Adams, we need to think big,” says Ben. “BIG! BIG! BIG!”
He’s right. We do need to think BIG. Especially after Meghan’s breakfast giveaway. Le petit dejeuner. That’s what you call breakfast in French. Not that it matters.
I push Principal Ferguson’s letter across the table at Ben and jab my finger at the line about distribution of food. “Meghan is lucky she gave out those donuts before Principal Ferguson gave all of the candidates this letter saying she couldn’t.”
Ben waves a hand through the air. “One preemptive strike won’t kill us.”
He’s right. Dad would say, “You can’t change the past, so focus on the future.” Which is what I intend to do.
I clear my throat. “Step one to winning an election is getting our names out there,” I say. Then I remind Ben that posters can go up, and we can start handing out stickers on Tuesday. “That means we need to get everything finished this weekend so we’ll be ready to put up the posters and pass out the stickers first thing Tuesday morning.”
“Agreed.” Ben nods.
“So,” I continue, “I have an idea for a slogan.” But before I tell it to Ben, I show him my inspiration notebook and tell him my parents are making me keep it. I wait for him to snort-laugh so loud that Mom and Dad (and the Cooper family that lives next door) will all come running to our kitchen to see what’s so funny.
But to his credit, Ben doesn’t snort-laugh. “That’s cool,” he says, flipping through the pages. When he gets to the one about Thomas Jefferson, I stop him. Then I tell him my idea.
“TJ’s face is on every nickel out there. What if we make stickers and posters with nickels on them, but instead of TJ’s face, we put ours on them with the campaign slogan “Face It, Adams and Ball Are the Best Choices for Seventh Grade President and Vice President.”
Ben purses his lips.
“Or not,” I say, suddenly self-conscious that my idea might not be such a good one.
A slow smile spreads over Ben’s face. “Adams, you’re a campaign genius. That’s brilliant,” Ben says. “I love it!”
“So do we,” say a duo of voices accompanied by a chorus of clapping.
I turn slowly in my chair to face my parents, who have somehow materialized in the kitchen. No telling how long they’d been hiding behind the door, waiting for the right moment to make their presence known. “Mom, Dad, I got this. Really,” I say.
I made it very clear before Ben showed up this morning that this was my campaign. Not theirs. And when he arrived, I made all of the introductions and told Mom and Dad that Ben and I would be working in the kitchen. It was a hint (which clearly they didn’t get) that they could choose any room in our house to hang out in. EXCEPT THE KITCHEN!
“Oh, Amanda.” Mom says my name like I’m being silly. “We want to support you.”
“The more noses to the grindstone, the better,” adds Dad. He goes into the pantry and returns with a bag of Oreos and offers it to Ben. “Ben, you like cookies, don’t you?”
“Love them.” Ben helps himself to a big handful.
Mom gives him an approving smile, and that’s all it takes. “Honestly, Amanda, no one knows more about campaigns than your parents,” Ben says. “It can’t hurt to get their input.”
“We’d love to help in any way we can,” says Dad.
“We really would,” adds Mom.
Three sets of eyeballs shift in my direction like they’re all waiting for me to grant permission for two campaign pros to help two novices. “Fine,” I mumble.
My parents exhale like they just scored front row seats to a Taylor Swift concert.
I twist off the top of an Oreo and stuff it into my mouth. For the next half hour, Ben, my parents, and I eat Oreos and talk about slogans. Ours shifts from putting our faces on a nickel to putting them on a hundred-dollar bill with the slogan: “Vote Adams and Ball, the Most Valuable Candidates for Seventh Grade President and Vice President.”
Once that’s decided, we make a list of all the supplies we need to make stickers and posters, and Dad volunteers to drive us to Target to get what we need.
“Adams, we’re off to the races,” says Ben as we get into Dad’s car. We high-five. And I have to admit, I’m feeling better than I have all week about our campaign.
Dad peels off a neat stack of bills from the wad of cash in his wallet. He gives me the cash, then says he’ll wait in the car while Ben and I get what we need at Target. We make our way through the weekend crowds shopping for clothes, home goods, and food, and head straight to the art supplies aisle.
But before we get there, I hear a laugh I know better than my own.
“Ben!” I hiss his name, then pull him down the party supplies aisle and use his body like a shield to protect me from the unmistakable sounds of a certain someone’s laughter that is getting closer… and closer… and closer!
Ben pivots, then places a hand on my forehead like he’s checking to see if I’ve developed a sudden fever. “Adams, what the heck is the matter?” he asks.
But before I answer, I’m face-to-face with Meghan, Bree, and the J’s. Meghan and I are wearing the same shirts. The Hello Kitty ones we bought on sale at the end of sixth grade.
“Ladies,” says Ben, breaking the silence. “You look armed and ready.”
Dangerous. I think that’s the word he should have used.
“Hi, Amanda,” stammers Meghan. “We were just picking up a few art supplies.”
Even though Meghan and I have been best friends for a long time, our definition of a few is clearly different. “Looks like a lot,” I say, eyeballing what they’re carrying: a thick stack of pink poster boards, boxes of markers, jars of paint, an assortment of brushes, glue sticks, tubes of glitter, rolls of ribbon, pink felt, pink streamers, and bags of confetti. My mind reels. What are they going to do with confetti? This is an election. Not a New Year’s Eve party.
Meghan opens her mouth to say something, but Bree beats her to it.
“We better get going,” she says.
“Yeah. See ya around,” adds Meghan.
“See you around,” I say. Meghan and her crew go one way, and Ben and I the other. But as they walk off, the skin on my neck feels prickly hot.
“Um, that was awkward,” I whisper as soon as the sound of their footsteps has faded away. I fight off an unexpected urge to cry.
“Adams, you okay?” Ben asks as we make our way to the art supplies.
Even though Ben Ball is the last person I would ever consider confiding in, he is my running mate. And the only person around for me to talk to. And right now, I’m a ten on the need-to-talk-to-someone scale. I stop in front of the display of poster boards and study it.
What color should we buy? White or g
reen? I can’t decide and pull out some of both. “Truth?” I finally ask.
“Your secrets are safe with me,” says Ben.
My eyes search his, unsure if I can trust a kid who up until this week I hardly knew. Not to mention he’s also known as the class clown. Do I want to spill my guts to him and end up the butt of some bad joke? On the other hand… well… I don’t even know what the other hand might be. “Seriously, Ben, if you tell anybody what I’m about to say, I’ll kill you.”
He laughs. “Adams, in case you haven’t heard, murderers don’t get elected president. Hey, what’s it called if you kill your friend?” Ben doesn’t wait before delivering the punch line. “Homie-cide.”
I can’t help but smile. Then I blow out a breath and start talking. “I’m pretty upset about the whole way this went down with Meghan.” I pause, taking a moment to choose my words carefully. “It just sucks that she went behind my back the way she did.”
“Yeah,” says Ben. “It does. Not very best-friend-ly.”
Having someone else see what I see feels good.
“Did you see all that stuff they were buying?” I ask Ben.
“Couldn’t miss it,” he says, then mumbles something about fighting fire with fire, or in this case, art supplies. He grabs a pack of green construction paper. “Maybe we should buy this to make the hundred-dollar bills.”
“Good idea,” I say, grabbing a pack of black Sharpies. And some labels we can use as stickers. And some green and black paint and brushes. And a box of colored markers. Then I give Ben a long, hard look. “I’m afraid we have a LOT of work to do if we’re going to win this election.”
“Adams,” he says, “I’m afraid you’re right.”
MY CAMPAIGN INSPIRATION NOTEBOOK
THEODORE AND FRANKLIN ROOSEVELT, AKA THE R’S (LIKE THE J’S EXCEPT TOTALLY DIFFERENT)
Theodore Roosevelt
BORN: October 27, 1858, New York, NY
DIED: January 6, 1919, New York
SIGN: Scorpio. Traits: Passionate, ambitious.
PARTY: Republican
STATUS: Married
KIDS: Five of them
NICKNAMES: Teddy (which he hated) and TR (the first president to be known by his initials)
PETS: TR loved animals, especially dogs. He had lots of them. And he let his kids have lots of pets, too, including a lizard, a pig, a badger, a rooster, an owl, and a small bear.
SIDE HUSTLE: Writer. He wrote 35 books and 15,000 letters.
FAMOUS SPEECH: “The Man in the Arena”
Franklin Delano Roosevelt
BORN: January 30, 1882, Hyde Park, NY
DIED: April 12, 1945, in Georgia
SIGN: Aquarius. Traits: Wit and imagination.
PARTY: Democrat
STATUS: Married to Eleanor Roosevelt
KIDS: Six of them
NICKNAMES: FDR
PETS: Lots of dogs, including Fala and Meggie, both Scottish terriers; Major, a German shepherd; President, a Great Dane; and Tiny, an Old English Sheepdog.
HOBBIES: Boating and stamp collecting (he had over a million stamps!)
FAMOUS SPEECH: The “Infamy” speech
Ben and I did a lot of work this weekend. Our posters are really good. So are our stickers. Come Tuesday, we’re putting it all out there for everyone to see and judge for themselves.
And that makes me a little nervous. Okay, a lot nervous.
It just feels like we have some obstacles to face if we want to win this election.
Like running against Meghan. And Bree. And knowing they have Jayda, the best artist in our grade, on their side.
When I asked Mom which president I should look at who faced lots of obstacles, she suggested President Roosevelt. Well, there were two of them, and I’m not sure which one she meant. So I’m looking at them both—Theodore Roosevelt, our nation’s twenty-sixth president, and Franklin Delano Roosevelt, our thirty-second president—to see what these fifth cousins really do know about obstacles.
First, Theodore Roosevelt.
TR believed that the success of democracy was about three things: hard work, character, and having a leader who set an example for others. He was a strong president. (I don’t know how much weight he could lift.) TR was known for his passion (There is something to this zodiac stuff!) and for getting crowds going with his loud voice and fist pounding. He worked long and hard on matters that were important to him, like conservation and world peace. He even won a Nobel Prize for his efforts.
But he faced some pretty big obstacles, too.
Obstacle #1: Before he ever became president, his first wife and his mother died on the same day. He spent two years in the Badlands of the Dakota Territory driving cattle and grieving.
Bottom line: I don’t know much about cattle driving, but I kind of get the grief thing. Losing your best friend isn’t the same thing as losing someone who dies. But still it hurts.
Maybe in time Meghan and I will be friends again. Or not???
Obstacle #2: Republican leaders didn’t want Roosevelt to be president. They didn’t like some of his policies, or the way he went about things. But he kept going anyway… all the way to the Oval Office.
Bottom line: I have to keep going all the way to the office of seventh-grade class president despite any obstacles.
Obstacle #3: While in the White House, TR went blind in one eye after a boxing injury. His retina detached and he had to stop fighting, so he took up jujitsu instead.
Bottom line: I’m sticking with soccer.
TR liked to hunt, and in 1902 he got invited on a bear hunt by the governor of Mississippi. When TR hadn’t found a single bear, one of the governor’s assistants cornered a bear and tied it to a tree for the president to shoot. TR thought it was unsportsmanlike and refused to do it. News spread fast that he refused to shoot a bear. There was even a political cartoon making fun of him. But TR didn’t mind. He even laughed about it. Then a toy company started making stuffed bears and called them Teddy bears!
Good to know that TR had a sense of humor even when he faced obstacles.
Now, on to Frankie D.
One of the things he’s most famous for is the “Infamy” speech. FDR delivered it to a joint session of Congress on December 8, 1941, the day after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and unexpectedly declared war on the United States. Going to war was a HUGE obstacle he faced. More on that later, because war wasn’t his only obstacle.
Obstacle #1: In the summer of 1921, when FDR was only thirty-nine years old, he came down with polio, a disease that left him paralyzed from the waist down and unable to walk. Despite this, he went on to become governor of New York and was elected President of the United States FOUR times! That’s more than any other president.
Bottom line: Never give up!
Obstacle #2: When FDR was elected president in 1932, the United States was in the depths of the Great Depression. Thirteen million people were unemployed, and almost every bank in the nation was closed. Despite tremendous challenges, he helped revitalize (not a vocab word, but sounds like it should be) the economy and got the American people believing in themselves again. He told them: The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.
Bottom line: Even when things seem scary, the only thing to be scared of is being scared.
Obstacle #3: World War II!
For many years, FDR tried to prevent the involvement of United States troops in the war. He helped many countries in Europe through his policies and aid, but when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, Roosevelt declared war against Japan, and the United States took military action. FDR refused to let up until the Japanese and the Nazi regime were defeated. FDR knew that when the war ended, the future of world peace would be at stake, so he worked hard in his later years to find ways to ease international tensions. But his health worsened. On April 12, 1945, he died while in Georgia, of a brain hemorrhage.
Bottom line: Being a leader means fighting until the end for what you believe in.
Bottom, bot
tom line: The R’s faced lots of obstacles, but they kept on keeping on.
And so will I!
Chapter Ten
NOT ALL PRINCIPALS LIKE BREAKFAST BURRITOS
Dad pulls into the morning drop-off line and brakes before he’s supposed to. The driver of the car behind us honks like crazy. But it does nothing to get Dad to move forward.
“Amanda, why is a food truck that sells burritos parked in front of your school with your name plastered all over it?” he asks.
Holy guacamole!
That’s actually one of the specialties the food truck in question sells.
“Don’t know,” I say. I then hop out of the car before Mom or Dad has a chance to ask me any more about it.
My eyes scan the scene. There’s a Bob’s Burritos truck with a huge sign on the side of it that says: VOTE ADAMS AND BALL. And there beside it is Ben. Smiling. Handing out sheets of paper to every seventh grader in sight. By the sea of smiles and head nods, it looks like whatever is on that paper is making the people who are getting it pretty freaking happy.
I rush over to the scene. “Ben, what’s going on?!?” I whisper, careful to keep my voice at a two on the loudness scale. Attracting any more attention than the looks I’m already getting is NOT my goal. Ben shoves a stack of papers into my hands and I look down at them.
“Adams, kids like donuts. But they LOVE breakfast burritos.”
“BEN!” I hiss. “Remember what Principal Ferguson said about giving out food?”
Ben shoots me a sly smile. “I’m not giving out food. I’m giving out coupons for food. Subtle but important difference,” he adds.
My mouth falls open, but before any words come out of it, Ben keeps talking.
“I’ve worked for my Uncle Bob every Saturday for two years for free. He owes me one, and now I’m cashing in my chips. For burritos.” He adds, “All is fair in love or war.”
The Campaign Page 6
