When the council members got there, they could tell pretty quickly what was going to happen. No one needed to say it out loud, but they all seemed to guess what was happening. Even though he had trust in his fellow council members, Phil found himself pacing around the room, fiddling with papers, even fiddling with his own hands, eager to get this stupid vote out of the way.
Eventually, Mr. Scott cleared his throat and approached Phil, mumbling under his breath, “I’ll be doing the talking, if that’s okay. I’ll need you to only speak if I address you.” Phil nodded, understanding the gravity of the situation, and let Mr. Scott take center stage.
“Good afternoon, students.” he began. “Now, as many of you know, this council has had its fair share of disagreements and difficulties in the last few days. And as is customary in these sorts of situations, we like to leave it up to the people to decide these sorts of things once administration has done what it can. Now does anyone here not know about the situation involving this council’s president?”
A silence hung in the air. Phil wasn’t surprised. It was the council’s job to take the pulse of the student body, of course none of them would even have questions about the situation.
“Okay.” Scott continued diplomatically. “So, in the past, the council has voted on whether they want to keep or dismiss the acting presi-”
“How can we be expected to have an honest vote if you won’t even release the findings of the police investigation?” Jeff angrily interrupted, jumping out of his seat. “If Phil is still here, that means he’s innocent. It sure would be cool if you guys would at least fucking say it!”
Phil knew that ‘dismissed due to lack of evidence’ meant jack squat, and even then, releasing the findings wouldn’t do anything but invade everyone’s privacy further. Those who believed he was innocent would say, “See? Lack of evidence, no evidence.” Those who believed he did do it would be disgusted the law didn’t do enough.
“Jeff, your dedication to transparency is appreciated, it really is.” Mr. Scott replied. “However, police investigations like this one can’t be fully disclosed to the public. It’s just how it works. If there was another way, we’d be taking that option, but since there isn’t, a vote like this is the best thing we’ve got.”
“So are we voting on whether or not Phil did it? I’m confused.” Megan, the freshman, asked.
“Thank you for asking, Megan.” Mr. Scott replied as he turned to her. “Given the events that have transpired, you all will be voting today on whether you want PHil to continue acting as your Student Council president.”
“Even though there’s less than a month left in the school year, and changing the chain of command would make things worse for everyone at this point.” Nicole added flatly, never looking up from her camera. As usual, she was hard to read. She showed no real emotion on her face, though Phil could bet something was happening below the surface.
“Nicole, that’s enough out of you.” Mr. Scott replied swiftly. Phil couldn’t help but smile – Nicole and Mr. Scott never got along. Ever.
“Why? Because I’m right?” Nicole flatly replied.
“Another comment from you and I’m going to ask you to leave.” he insisted. Nicole shrugged, still no emotion on her face. “Whether or not it’ll make things easier isn’t the question. You all have the right to voice your opinions on this.”
Nicole immediately raised her hand. Mr. Scott sighed and began, “Nicole, ple-”
“Isn’t there supposed to be another teacher here for these kinds of things?” Nicole asked anyway. “If we leave it up to you, and knowing you this’ll be a blind vote, how can we trust that you’re telling the truth? Not saying you won’t.”
Mr. Scott was unmoved. “Phil will be here. He’ll be able to see the results as clearly as myself.”
“So you mean Phil will get to see which of his friends are backstabbers firsthand?” Nicole replied dryly, still looking at her camera.
Scott had enough. “Nicole, please exit the room. You’re not welcome in this vote.”
Nicole huffed as she picked up her belongings. “Systematically getting rid of the pro-Phil votes, huh? I’m sure this was the kind of democracy the Founding Fathers died for.” She quickly got out of the room, then Scott continued.
“Does anyone else take issue with the way this is set up?”
“I do like the idea of Phil not seeing the individual votes.” Eli began. “I think we all trust you to be honest, Mr. Scott, but perhaps it would be best if Phil didn’t witness this.”
Mr. Scott nodded. “Does anyone have any objections?” Once he didn’t hear any, he turned to Phil. “Phil?” he asked.
That seemed like permission to speak. “Yeah, it’s cool. I’ll go outside.”
“And…” Scott began. Phil turned around to face him, already near the door. “…If Nicole is out there, no arguing, keep it civil, okay?”
“Yeah, yeah, I got you.” Phil replied dismissively, leaving the room.
When Phil closed the door, he found Nicole nearby, leaning against the wall with one foot on the ground, the other positioned on the wall below her back. She was looking down at the floor in an uncharacteristically solemn show of emotion.
“Hey.” he threw out, walking to the other side of the hallway and sitting down on the floor against the wall. It took a few more seconds for Nicole to respond.
“Hey.”
Her voice was clearly sad. Phil couldn’t help but chuckle. “Why are you the sad one here? Shouldn’t I be the nervous one?”
“You’re not nervous because you think the council is going to come through for you.” Nicole softly added.
Phil nodded. “I may have a broken spirit, but a good number of those people in there are loyal to me. Even if they don’t like me, they don’t have to. I don’t think they’re gonna throw me off of the council.”
Nicole looked up at him, her eyes misty. “Phil… I’m sorry.”
“What for?”
Nicole sighed. “The higher-ups in the council had a meeting… a secret meeting. A few resisted, but… they’re not going to keep you on.”
Phil’s heart stopped. “What?!” was all he could think to say initially. “A secret fucking meeting? What is… what even is that?”
Nicole could only shrug. “Even if I were there, you’d need both of the freshmen voting for you to save your position. And that’s if I was in there. I don’t think they’re going to vote for you. I failed you. I’m sorry.”
Phil did his best to digest all the information he was being given. “So what, you believe me now? You finally accept I didn’t fucking do this?”
“I don’t know what to fucking believe!” Nicole shouted in a panic. “I don’t know, Phil. I don’t fucking know. I want to trust you but I can’t not believe the victim.”
Phil stared at her for a few seconds before hopping to his feet and grabbing her by the shoulders. “Nicole.” he began in a voice that he wanted to remain calm, but was quivering with emotion. “If she’s lying, and I’m telling the truth, then she’s not the fucking victim. I am. I don’t know how much you know about that girl, but remember what you know about me. I apologized to you because after our first time I felt I was too rough when I asked for consent. If it’s between me and that fucking bruja, why can’t you trust me?”