My Know-It-All Nemesis - Maggie Dallen Page 0,2

it.

“Kate, Miller,” Mr. Gentry’s voice behind me cut me off before I could even begin. He shifted me to the side so he could walk past me as he eyed us both. “So glad you could both make it.” Mr. Gentry flashed me a warm smile. “Have a seat, Kate. Join the party.”

I let my anger drain out of me as I returned his smile. “How’s your day going, Mr. Gentry?”

“How’s your day going, Mr. Gentry?” Miller repeated my words quietly, using a high-pitched, breathy voice that made me sound like Marilyn Monroe.

I glared over at him as a seemingly oblivious Mr. Gentry shuffled some papers on top of the filing cabinet in the corner, chatting away about something one of his daughters did over breakfast that morning.

“I’m guessing you’re both wondering why I’ve called you in here,” he said as he turned. The moment he did, Miller and I both faced forward, looks of polite curiosity replacing our mutual sneers.

Mr. Gentry sank into the seat on the opposite side of the desk and leaned across on his elbows. “I’m sorry to say that Sarah Parks will be moving at the end of this month.”

My heart leapt into action, and I held my breath, trying not to let my excitement show. Sarah Parks was the current student council president.

She shouldn’t be. I should have been voted in last spring except that Miller had decided to run against me and...well...it hadn’t ended well.

Mr. Gentry seemed to be waiting for some sort of response so I murmured, “Oh, no.”

I felt Miller’s derisive stare on the side of my face.

Okay, fine. I’d admit it. I wasn’t exactly sorry to see Sarah go. It wasn’t like I didn’t like her—I barely knew the girl. All I knew was that she was a military kid, and she’d only enrolled in Sweet Mountain High at the beginning of junior year. She seemed nice enough—but I would have beaten her handily in the elections if Miller’s antics hadn’t gotten us both disqualified.

But now Sarah was leaving, which meant...what, exactly?

I shot Miller a quick look out of the side of my eye and caught him doing the same.

Mr. Gentry was watching us both closely so I forced my shoulders to relax as I sat back in my seat. Clasping his hands together on top of the desk, Mr. Gentry fixed us with a serious look. “I have two options when an elected representative leaves office,” he said. “I could give the position to Tim Pfeiffer, the vice president—”

“Tim didn’t even run for president,” I interrupted. “He didn’t want it.”

“He doesn’t even know what the position entails,” Miller said over me. “He told me himself he only ran for VP for his college applications.”

Mr. Gentry arched his brows when we finally grew silent. “May I finish?”

I bit my lip to hold back any more protests, and I heard Miller shifting with impatience beside me.

“The other option is to hold a special election—” he started.

“Yes! Oh, please, give me another chance—” I said.

“That seems like the fairer option to me—” Miller said.

Mr. Gentry held up a hand to silence us. We’d once again started talking over each other in our excitement.

I looked over to Miller with a glare. He couldn’t possibly be planning to run again. Not after what happened last time.

“After what happened last time, I have my concerns,” Mr. Gentry said slowly. “As you can imagine.”

I shifted in my seat, tugging the hem of my pleated skirt as I shot Miller a sidelong look of resentment.

“Now,” Mr. Gentry said. “I’d like to give you two a second chance, but I need to know that this won’t be a repeat of last spring with the negative campaigns and the dirty—”

“That wasn’t my fault—” I interrupted.

“You say negative, I say factual,” Miller said at the same time.

“Enough!” Mr. Gentry rarely raised his voice, and the shock of it had Miller and me freezing mid-protest, my mouth hanging open in surprise. “This…” He wagged a finger between us. “This is exactly what I’m talking about.”

I clamped my mouth shut and risked a peek at Miller, who looked uncharacteristically meek. It would have been funny if I wasn’t feeling the same sting of being chastened.

“If you two can’t get along…” Mr. Gentry said slowly, his tone a warning.

“We can,” I said quickly.

“We will,” Miller added.

Mr. Gentry sat back with a sigh of resignation. “Very well. We’ll try this one more time.” He held his finger up again. “But this time there will