A candidate for good works

Courtnay L. W. Douglas

Kim and Julia were best friends. They liked going to movies together and sleeping over at each other's house. Sometimes on Saturdays they would ride the bus downtown to go to the mall just for fun! They shared many friends at school, too.

One morning during homeroom, the principal announced that elections for student-body officers were being held and now was the time for interested students to sign up. The candidates came up with slogans for their campaigns, made buttons that everyone liked to wear, and wrote speeches. Kim decided she wanted to run for treasurer, even though the thought of giving a speech in front of the whole student body made her a little nervous.

When she got on the bus after school, she told Julia the exciting news. Julia was very quiet. Kim was hoping she would be her campaign manager, but Julia was clearly ignoring her. Kim wondered what could be wrong. The next day she found out—Julia was running for treasurer, too. And she was saying a lot of mean things about Kim behind her back. Kim felt terrible, and she was embarrassed about the rumors that were circulating. She tried talking to Julia about it, but Julia kept her silent front. Kim tried being extra nice at lunch. When that ... ... didn't work, she asked another friend if she would try talking to Julia. That made things even worse.

Send a comment to the editors

We'd love to hear from you!

Easily submit your testimonies, articles, and poems online.

Submit

A candidate for good works

We'd love to hear from you!

Sign up for unlimited access