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had to fight myself from becoming totally charmed by his friendly voice, his sense of humor, and his enthusiasm.
    After he outlined his plan, I asked him a couple of questions about his background, including about his family.
    John was ready for this, too. “Well, I’m from a very small, tight-knit family: just me, my parents, and my older brother. We spend a lot of time together, and my brother and I are kind of our parents’ life: They never miss a game or a debate; they quiz us at the table on current events; they drive us to all our lessons and stuff. We get along very well,” he said proudly. “Also, I don’t know if you’ve heard this story, but it’s something I’m very proud of. I saved a little girl from drowning at the town lake two summers ago . . .”
    â€œSo, that was you!”
    He nodded proudly. “Yup.” He filled me in on the details, which were exciting but basically amounted to him yanking her out of the water before anything really bad happened and calling911 on his brother’s phone. Still, he did think fast. He finished the story by patting his heart. “Anna and I are still very close.”
    â€œWow. What a wonderful story!” I said. “And your qualifications?”
    John nodded, like he had practiced for this question. “I’ve written a great deal to the Voice about my positions on things in the news here. If you scroll through the back issues, you’ll see I’ve basically gone on record on all of the major things facing this school. I’m on the debate team, so I know how to stand up for what I believe in and I’m good at public speaking, which is an important part of being school president. I’m very engaged in politics in the larger world and always follow elections closely.” He held his hands out to me like he was offering me something and grinned. “I’m an open book! No secrets!” he said.
    I chuckled. “I wasn’t worried you’d have secrets,” I said. “This all pretty much lines up with what I already knew about you,” I said.
    â€œOho! What did you already know?” he asked teasingly.
    â€œJust good stuff, I swear,” I said, smiling down into my notebook. He was very charming.
    â€œI sure hope so!” He laughed. “Otherwise I’ll have to work hard for your vote!”
    â€œOh, I wouldn’t worry too much about that,” I said, but then I stopped, remembering I was supposed to be objective.
    â€œMaybe you’d like to be my running mate, then,” he said, a twinkle in his eye.
    â€œWait, what?”
    â€œDo you want to?”
    I was confused. “Do I want to be your running mate ?”
    He nodded.
    I was flustered, like he’d suddenly asked me out on a date. I didn’t know what to say. Me? Vice president of the school? It was a thrill to even consider it. Especially because John would probably win. I was flustered. “Uh, well . . . I’ve never really considered running for anything before. This is a little, uh, spontaneous. Are you serious?” I really didn’t know what to say. I was confused, surprised, caught off guard. Like, hadhe seriously just asked me to be his running mate? It was a little weird but also a little flattering. More than a little flattering.
    â€œI am very serious. Look, just consider it, okay?” he said generously. “I just know I need a female running mate, someone with a good name, a good reputation, cute, you know, to help me win. The whole package. And you’re it!”
    I scrunched up my eyebrows, confused. “Thanks?” I said, unsure but still flattered (he called me cute, after all!).
    He looked at his watch. “I’d better let you go,” he said, standing. We still had ten minutes before our next class, which was kind of a lot. I didn’t really have anywhere to go, since my next class was literally two doors from