Read Online Reanimated Readz by Rusty Fischer - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Rusty Fischer
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workout by smiling from ear to ear. “Actually, Tanner, I have your application right here…” —she pulls it off the cafeteria table she’s sitting at for dramatic effect— “and it’s dated the same day as the deadline for applications. Would you care to explain that?”
I sneak a peek at Brody in the wings, and he’s shaking his head in the universal expression for PLEASE don’t go off on her! Please, PLEASE, please don’t go off on her !
So I don’t. I don’t tell her it’s a stupid question. I don’t tell her I don’t see the point. I don’t tell her her breath stinks and everyone knows it. Instead I say, “I fail to see what that question has to do with my candidacy, Mrs. Halston. A deadline is a deadline, right? Why have them if they don’t count?”
She smiles sweetly. “I think voters need to know whether or not their class president will do things ahead of time, or simply by the deadline, don’t you, Tanner?”
Hoots and whistles greet Mrs. Halston’s statement. I try to find out where they’re coming from, but the lights are bright and by the time I think I’ve found the culprits, they’re silent again.
I’m about to ask something clever like, “Is there a question in there somewhere?” when the buzzer to her right rings. She smiles and turns to Calvin, who gets the next question. “Calvin, how do you feel about running against your…ex-girlfriend?”
I gasp, standing too close to the microphone. It echoes through the auditorium as the crowd waits anxiously to hear Calvin’s reply—and waits and waits. Like I said, zombies never do things quickly.
As my heart beats double-time beneath my silk blouse, the crowd grows still and silent. You can hear a pin drop by the time Calvin speaks.
“I love it,” he replies, turning to me and not Mrs. Halston. “This way, I still get to spend time with her.”
Before the applause starts, there is a smattering of “aaaahhhsss,” some of them coming from the middle of the jock-block. I try to keep my smile plastered on, but it’s hard, especially when I sneak a peek at Calvin, who is looking at me with those gray eyes of his.
He’s wearing the same hurt but understanding expression as he did when I broke up with him a few months back, and my heart does the same flip-flop then as it did now.
He still can’t get it. He still hasn’t moved on. He still doesn’t understand that there’s no way, honestly no way, I could ever date a zombie.
Then the buzzer rings and I turn to Mrs. Halston. She smiles back at me. “Tanner, I’ll ask you the same question: how does it feel to be running against your ex-boyfriend?”
“It’s not easy,” I say, facing the audience again. “But I felt it was necessary to run against Calvin in…the best interest of our school.”
There is no applause this time. They’re not even trying to pretend to like me anymore.
Mrs. Halston cocks her head to one side. “Could you elaborate, Tanner?”
“Sure.” I smile, happy for the chance to finally speak my mind freely. “It’s clear that this school is in the grips of some type of…fad…where zombies are suddenly cool and that’s why Calvin is so popular. I’m here to remind students that when the dust settles, when the fad is over, there will still be a president—a human president—who can get things done quickly and decisively.”
There is a smattering of applause this time, but a few “boos” as well. Okay, well…more than a few. A lot more. Mrs. Halston reminds me, “You know, Tanner, that since the third addendum to the Reanimation Reform Act, zombies are technically considered ‘human.’ Would you care to rephrase your answer?”
I shrug and face the wall of silence that is the Hillcrest High auditorium. “Not really. I said I was a ‘human,’ and that’s still correct, right?”
Mrs. Halston purses her lips, waits for the buzzer, and then turns to Calvin. “Calvin, do you have anything to say to the zombies in the
I sneak a peek at Brody in the wings, and he’s shaking his head in the universal expression for PLEASE don’t go off on her! Please, PLEASE, please don’t go off on her !
So I don’t. I don’t tell her it’s a stupid question. I don’t tell her I don’t see the point. I don’t tell her her breath stinks and everyone knows it. Instead I say, “I fail to see what that question has to do with my candidacy, Mrs. Halston. A deadline is a deadline, right? Why have them if they don’t count?”
She smiles sweetly. “I think voters need to know whether or not their class president will do things ahead of time, or simply by the deadline, don’t you, Tanner?”
Hoots and whistles greet Mrs. Halston’s statement. I try to find out where they’re coming from, but the lights are bright and by the time I think I’ve found the culprits, they’re silent again.
I’m about to ask something clever like, “Is there a question in there somewhere?” when the buzzer to her right rings. She smiles and turns to Calvin, who gets the next question. “Calvin, how do you feel about running against your…ex-girlfriend?”
I gasp, standing too close to the microphone. It echoes through the auditorium as the crowd waits anxiously to hear Calvin’s reply—and waits and waits. Like I said, zombies never do things quickly.
As my heart beats double-time beneath my silk blouse, the crowd grows still and silent. You can hear a pin drop by the time Calvin speaks.
“I love it,” he replies, turning to me and not Mrs. Halston. “This way, I still get to spend time with her.”
Before the applause starts, there is a smattering of “aaaahhhsss,” some of them coming from the middle of the jock-block. I try to keep my smile plastered on, but it’s hard, especially when I sneak a peek at Calvin, who is looking at me with those gray eyes of his.
He’s wearing the same hurt but understanding expression as he did when I broke up with him a few months back, and my heart does the same flip-flop then as it did now.
He still can’t get it. He still hasn’t moved on. He still doesn’t understand that there’s no way, honestly no way, I could ever date a zombie.
Then the buzzer rings and I turn to Mrs. Halston. She smiles back at me. “Tanner, I’ll ask you the same question: how does it feel to be running against your ex-boyfriend?”
“It’s not easy,” I say, facing the audience again. “But I felt it was necessary to run against Calvin in…the best interest of our school.”
There is no applause this time. They’re not even trying to pretend to like me anymore.
Mrs. Halston cocks her head to one side. “Could you elaborate, Tanner?”
“Sure.” I smile, happy for the chance to finally speak my mind freely. “It’s clear that this school is in the grips of some type of…fad…where zombies are suddenly cool and that’s why Calvin is so popular. I’m here to remind students that when the dust settles, when the fad is over, there will still be a president—a human president—who can get things done quickly and decisively.”
There is a smattering of applause this time, but a few “boos” as well. Okay, well…more than a few. A lot more. Mrs. Halston reminds me, “You know, Tanner, that since the third addendum to the Reanimation Reform Act, zombies are technically considered ‘human.’ Would you care to rephrase your answer?”
I shrug and face the wall of silence that is the Hillcrest High auditorium. “Not really. I said I was a ‘human,’ and that’s still correct, right?”
Mrs. Halston purses her lips, waits for the buzzer, and then turns to Calvin. “Calvin, do you have anything to say to the zombies in the
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