Free Winner Takes All by Jenny Santana Page A

in her crisp handwriting. She handed over the pad alongwith a pencil. In printing the speech, she’d skipped every other line to make it easier for Mari to read on the fly.
    “I can’t believe you still wrote it,” Mari said.
    “I couldn’t let you get into trouble either. Besides, you needed to spend Sunday working on your lines for the play.”
    Mari nodded, grateful for a quality speech. She’d decided to be short and brief in whatever she’d say, but even with only six minutes to go now, she still hadn’t written anything out.
    Celia tapped the pencil and added, “This is for anything you want to add or change. You’re the one who has to read it, so you should have a say in it.”
    Mari gave Celia her toothiest smile and said, “Thank you so much for that. But you know what? I totally trust you, and I know I can’t improve on your masterpiece.”
    “That’s probably true,” Celia joked.
    The girls laughed together just as Ms. Perdomo charged into the room, a steaming cup of coffee in her hands.
    “Mariela! Yes! So we’re ready to go. That is, as soon as the bell rings, of course. And where are those two ‘cool’ guys? They better be gettingback here soon, ‘cause this show don’t stop for no one.”
    Mari looked at Celia and rolled her eyes, but Celia laughed.
    Crazy , Mari mouthed silently. Celia shook her head no, smiling. Mari started to smile back, but suddenly, the smile turned on itself and her cheeks turned bright red. Celia almost asked her what was wrong, but then she heard someone clear his throat behind her and when she turned around, there was Laz, equally red, with Raul behind him, arms crossed against his chest. Celia noticed then that Raul’s smile was brighter than Laz’s, and more real, and that he seemed to be smiling only at her. Had she accidentally bonded with him over his failure at the basketball tournament? She wasn’t sure, but if he was working with Laz, he, too, was the enemy, and she had to think of him as such.
    “Good morning, ladies,” Raul said from just behind Laz.
    “Such manners!” Ms. Perdomo said. “I love it! Let’s go warm up the PA system, shall we?”
    “Let’s shall,” Laz said awkwardly. Raul elbowed him hard in the ribs. Celia wanted to laugh but held it in, thinking she was already lucky to haveher friend back—and with that friend about to give a speech she’d never read before, Celia saw no need to tempt fate.
    After the regular morning announcements, including another exceptionally boring installment of Principal’s Proclamations, Ms. Perdomo clicked the buttons on the PA board that meant the speeches were only getting piped into the seventh grade homerooms and took the microphone in her hands.
    “My darling seventh graders,” she began. “It is with great pride and enormous excitement that I present to you the candidates for YOUR grade-level representative!”
    At this point, Ms. Perdomo imitated the sound of a huge crowd cheering by holding the mike close to her mouth and making a noise that sounded to Celia like when you hold a conch shell up to your ear. Celia laughed even though no one else did.
    “Calm down, my eager peoples, calm down. Today you’ll hear from the candidates themselves. All two of them.”
    She raised her eyebrows at them and again, Celia laughed. She was a little upset that none ofthe other three really “got” Ms. Perdomo the way she did. She figured that it was their loss.
    “Up first, thanks to alphabetical order—but only by a slim margin—is Mr. Lazaro Crespi.”
    Ms. Perdomo held the mike out for Laz as he approached the PA system. He held a sheet with his speech typed out on it. As he began reading, Celia saw that his hands shook ever so slightly.
    “Yo yo yo, Coral Grove! This is Lazaro—better known as Laz—Crespi coming to you LIVE from the main office. Now, I KNOW you’re gonna vote for me for seventh grade rep, but just in case you STILL have doubts, here are some of my biggest supporters