The Rise

It was the start of lunchtime and Leon and Jessica were meeting on the roof. Jessica was going through her social media feed reading the student body's reaction to George's disqualification.

"People aren't happy." she said summing up the reactions and looking up at Leon

"He had extremely loyal voters." said Leon

Even though Jessica didn't know the true polls, Leon was well aware that the exact same amount of students voted for George after two separate polls. These were students that seemed to vote for George no matter what. They weren't going to take George's disqualification easily.

"We'll have to wait until tomorrow's presidential debate to get a new set of polls. Then we'll get a feel for how the student body will direct their votes." said Jessica

"They may choose to mass abstain as a form of protest." postulated Leon rubbing his chin

"That will only happen effectively if George himself demands it." said Jessica

"Perhaps, but they may also abstain because they're no longer interested. Like when your favorite character is a television show dies, you just stop watching." said Leon

"What are the countermeasures?" asked Jessica

"I don't know, but if the non-George votes stay the same, it means I'll win. And that doesn't seem to faze you at all, knowing that you have to win for my grandmother." said Leon

"Didn't you say that all she wanted was for Sinclair to lose?" said Jessica

"Yeah, but, I didn't expect you'd take it this easily. The girl who puts up a fight for everything." said Leon probing.

"There's three-hundred plus votes in circulation now that George is out, there are three more days and a debate. Don't get c.o.c.ky Leon, this is far from over." said Jessica turning away and making her way towards the roof exit.

"Wait, Jess." said Leon stopping Jessica. "I told Veronica. About us." he continued

Jessica turns her head around and doesn't reply.

"What you said earlier, I never noticed. I promise, I never meant it to be like that." said Leon apologetically

"That's the whole point, you don't know what you really are. Raised by a family of wolves who only care about winning, I wonder if you've ever really cared about someone."

"I care about Veronica, I'm risking everything just to-"

"You still don't get it! You get off that kind of stuff, where everything is at stake. You don't love Veronica, you just love the thrill that comes with being with her. If you play too close to the edge, sooner or later, you'll fall off." she said ending the conversation and storming out.

Leon stared at the roof door motionless. Jessica had always told Leon what was on her mind, she never filtered, she never held back. Which is why her words affected him even more.

He rubbed his face and then left the roof making his way downstairs towards Justin and Taylor. They meet in the school hallways, and decide for the first time in the election week, to go to the cafeteria. The three mostly spent their lunches eating on the roof, but Leon finally wants to make an appearance. Upon reaching the cafeteria, there was a table saved for them by the seven boys who were helping Leon.

The three walked into the cafeteria purposefully slow, attracting all eyes to them. They looked straight ahead at their table without paying any attention to anyone around them. Leon had a strong posture with determined eyes - the eyes of someone who has everything under control. There were strong whispers as the students murmured at Leon's presence. They reached their table and sat with the boys.

"You've got this in the bag Leon" said one of the boys with brown hair smiling mischievously.

"We've made progress, and I thank you all for your help, but this isn't over yet. I may still need to call on you if you're still willing to help." said Leon

"Of course! But when you become a big shot Prime Minister one day, don't forget about us" said another boy smiling confidently

"May I ask something?" asked Leon suddenly

They all nodded.

"How did you guys know I was in my mother's house the first time we met." said Leon

"We just got lucky I guess, one of us knew where your mom's house was cause of the news, so we checked there first." said the brown haired boy.

"I see." said Leon leaving it at that

Justin suddenly grabs Leon's shirt and pulls him closer, then whispers into his ears.

"I forgot to tell you, but you should know, you messed up with the polls. Apparently Layla's vote was changed to you and Tasha saw it." said Justin

Leon quickly snaps his head towards Justin with his eyes wide open.

"Crap." he said distraught

He quickly remembers Justin telling him about his luck with girls and worries that there may be a link. He quickly looks around the cafeteria trying to find Layla but is unable to find her.

"What is it?" asked Taylor

"You guys stay here, I need to find Layla" he said getting up and leaving the cafeteria.

Meanwhile Layla was in the auditorium, sitting on the stage's edge with her legs hanging down. She started to reminisce last year's election during this same time of the year. She had shorter hair back then and was sitting next to George in this exact same place looking at the buzzing of students as they lined up to vote in the auditorium. There were six different stations with members of the student council at each station facilitating the voting process. Students separated at each station and lined up. They would pick a voting paper from a stash of papers and walk into a curtained booth to vote. They fold up their paper, walk out, place it in a box at the station and leave.

"I thought there would be more people here, we have more students than this." said Layla to George who's hairline was slightly more forward.

"Well since voting is after school, students who don't want to vote or abstain, just don't show up. The school will know the names of the students who didn't vote since their papers aren't in the boxes and so will count them as abstained. There's no reason for them to show up." said George

"Well it's been a long ride, but it was one the most thrilling weeks of my life. Thanks for letting me be a part of it George." said Layla

"I wouldn't be here without your help." said George smiling, but his smile seemed reserved.

Layla punches him on his shoulder as soon as she notices his reserved smile.

"Stop being so stressed out, you're gonna win this for sure." she said in a commanding tone.

"Ow..." said George as he rubs his shoulder in pain.

The two kept looking ahead at the students voting, maintaining a calming silence between them.

"This is your legacy story, George. In ten, fifteen years time, they'll talk about where it all started. This is just the beginning." she said looking at George

George smiled back and held her hand.

"No, it's our legacy story." he said

"Layla?" said Leon suddenly, breaking Layla out of her daydream.

Layla quickly turns away and rubs her tears and sniffs heavily.

"Leon? What are you doing here?" she said hiding her face.

Leon walked up towards her realizing that she was crying.

"Layla, have you heard from George? Did he talk to you? Is everything okay?" said Leon bombarding her with questions.

"George? No I haven't heard from him. He hasn't been answering my calls or replying to my messages." she said holding her frown back "And I'm sure it's because he's blaming me for what happened..." she continued.

"Why would he do that?" said Leon digging deeper

"How would I know!?" she lashed out

Leon paused giving her time to cool down.

"Layla, everything's going to be okay. I'll talk to George and see what I can do." said Leon

Layla squints her eyes and shakes her head

"And who are you to George to suddenly talk to him, trying to 'sort things out'?" she said harshly

Leon knew she was right. He and George aren't even remotely friends, why does he think he can just talk to George - especially when it comes to his relationsh.i.p.s.

"Because... I may be the reason why he's blaming you." he said hesitantly

"What? What does that even mean? What did you do?" she said hectically.

"It doesn't matter right now, but I need you to trust me, I'll do everything I can to sort things out." said Leon ending the conversation.

"Wait!" she shouted at Leon as he left the auditorium without turning back.

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Author's Note:

If I had asked myself at the beginning of the story what is Leon's moral compass - what does he believe to be right or wrong. I would probably not have an answer - and that's most likely because he doesn't seem to have one. He was raised, probably not on purpose, by his parents to see everything and everyone as part of a cost benefit analysis sheet. That dehumanizes people to Leon, so he only really cares about winning and himself. But suddenly, he's jeopardizing himself with the Layla situation trying to solve an issue he believes he may be responsible for - it's completely out of his character - and it's most likely because of what Jessica keeps trying to tell him. Let's see what he decides to do from here on out. It may also be too late for him to decide to have a moral compass as he may have to face the consequences of his exploits and manipulations.