Half an hour later, the news of Nina Bell's temporary suspension and her withdrawal from the Student Council Presidential race was broadcast to the entire school. Betty, her voice thick with suppressed excitement, made the announcement from the campus radio station.
Accompanying the suspension notice was a detailed leak regarding Nina Bell's conspiracy to frame Locke for "racial discrimination."
Inside the Principal's office, Nina Bell's face was a sickly shade of livid green. She glared at Locke, who stood there in his sharp suit with his hands in his pockets, looking effortlessly composed. She turned to the Principal, her voice trembling with rage. "This is slander! I never said those things. That recording is a forgery! And even if it were real, so what? I was just joking with him. He was eavesdropping; this won't hold up in court!"
Locke chuckled softly.
Lawyer Laun remained expressionless, like a mechanical legal engine. "Let me correct you. Wiretapping is inadmissible. However, 'overhearing' or surreptitiously recording—especially when it involves protecting my client's legal rights and interests—is perfectly valid as evidence. Furthermore, the court has already accepted and processed this recording as primary evidence."
Locke added tonelessly, "I don't make jokes with strangers behind their backs, and I certainly don't like strangers making jokes at my expense. Especially not you."
Nina Bell breathed heavily, her chest heaving.
Locke looked at Laun. "I'll leave the rest to you, Lawyer Laun."
Laun nodded. "Of course, Mr. Broughton. If Nina Bell does not appear in court promptly this afternoon, I will immediately petition for a bench warrant to prevent her from fleeing the jurisdiction."
Nina's eyes bulged. "This is a civil case, not a criminal one!"
Laun's expression remained devoid of emotion. "Whether it is or isn't is for the court to decide, not you."
Others might not have been able to manipulate the legal system this way, but Lawson Laun was a top-tier shark.
Locke gave the Principal a respectful nod and walked out of the office with Gwen.
Inside, Nina Bell clenched her fists and hissed at the Principal, "Mr. Principal, isn't what Broughton just said a form of discrimination?"
"Was it?" the Principal asked, adjusting his glasses. He looked at her with a face that screamed I have no idea what you're talking about. "Ms. Bell, you have been temporarily suspended. Midtown High has zero tolerance for criminal conspiracies. You have thirty minutes to pack your things and leave the premises."
Good students vs. bad students. It was never a difficult choice for the administration to decide whose side to take.
...
"See?" Locke smiled at Gwen as they headed down the stairs. "The problem is solved."
Clean. Perfect.
If you can't solve the problem, solve the person who raised the problem. Mathematically speaking, it was a flawless resolution.
Gwen looked thoughtful. "You planned this the moment you made that 'alliance' with Sam Malik, didn't you?"
Locke smiled. "I just adapted to the situation, Gwen."
Don't panic when things happen; as the ancestors said, there are always more solutions than problems.
Gwen rolled her eyes. "You could have told me."
Locke raised an eyebrow, looking genuinely surprised. "I thought you had already figured it out?"
Gwen stared at the faint, teasing smile behind his mask of surprise. "...What's that supposed to mean? Are you calling me slow?"
Seeing Locke's mouth start to twitch upward, Gwen's hand moved instinctively—her fingers forming a "tiger claw" aimed right for his waist.
Locke twisted away. "Whoa! Stand still!"
"No."
"Fine! Have it your way," Gwen huffed. "But I'm 'busy' this weekend. Don't expect me to come over to your place."
Locke stopped dead in his tracks. He turned to look at Gwen, who stood there with her arms crossed and a face that said actions have consequences.
Gwen smiled and walked toward him. Locke sighed. It was a targeted ultimate move—no way to dodge that one.
...
When they returned to the classroom, they were greeted by a wave of applause.
Flash Thompson took it a step further, rolling up a textbook like a megaphone and standing on a desk. "Ladies and gentlemen! Entering the room now is the President of the Midtown High Student Council—LOCKE! BROUGHTON!!!"
"Amazing, Locke!"
"Congratulations!"
"I love you, Locke!"
Gwen shot a sharp glare at a few of the girls who were cheering a bit too enthusiastically, silently asserting her territory.
With Nina Bell suspended and out of the race, Locke's transition to President in June was a foregone conclusion. All that was left was the formality: an inauguration speech. He needed to meet his fellow students and outline his policies.
Locke had already thought about his "platform."
If being an official doesn't benefit your... ahem! If being President doesn't benefit the students, one might as well go back to farming and plant potatoes.
In a word: Exams. More exams. Frequent exams. This would be Locke's primary reform.
In a language he actually cared about: Achievement Points and Potential Points. He needed to figure out how to use the Student Council position to farm as much XP as possible.
After realizing what Nina Bell had planned to do with the position, Locke realized the Presidency wasn't just a title, useless but a waste to discard. If operated correctly, he could create a task chain that would allow him to farm points repeatedly for the next two years.
For example, he could coordinate with student councils across New York—and even across the river in rural New Jersey—to create a "High School Student Council League Knowledge Competition."
Monthly matches. Quarterly matches. League championships.
If he pulled it off, he'd be looking at a guaranteed baseline of over 100,000 points a year for doing almost nothing. As for how to convince the other schools? He already had a preliminary plan.
...
After the morning classes, Locke was putting his books in his locker when Sam Malik caught up to him. Sam's expression was complicated.
"Nina Bell was escorted out by two campus security guards," Sam noted.
"I know."
Nina had planned to refuse to leave, but she'd underestimated one thing: before, the board ignored her antics because they viewed her as a harmless clown. But Locke cared. And Locke brought a high-powered legal team. Faced with solid evidence of a conspiracy, the school had no reason to be polite.
Locke smiled at Sam. "Don't worry, I'll keep my promise to you. But you'd better bring home that League Championship trophy, otherwise, it'll be hard for me to pull the strings later."
Sam laughed. "It's called the High School Super Bowl, not the League Super Bowl."
"Whatever." Locke shrugged. He had no interest in basketball or football. He was a cowboy from the Lone Star State. The youngest cowboy—that was enough.
Sam shook his head. "I'm starting to wonder if I surrendered too early."
"Surrendered? Surrendering and losing half your points is still surrendering."
"Fine, whatever. My point is, whether I came to you or not, you would have dealt with that pig the same way, wouldn't you?"
"Pretty much."
"So I lost out?"
"No," Locke said, looking Sam in the eye. "You would have lost anyway, and you would have been branded a racist on your way out. I would have been the one watching the show, not you."
Back then, Locke had been busy leading the Midtown team. If Nina had tried to play her discrimination card against him first, the school board—who usually ignored her—would have stepped in and crushed her themselves to protect their star student.
Sam froze for a moment, then laughed. "True. Why didn't I think of that?"
"Because you felt like you were losing?"
Sam laughed heartily. "Locke, if you ever go into politics, I think we'd make a great team."
"I'm Republican."
"And you think I'm a Democrat?"
The two shared a look and a smile.
Democracy? That was just a toy used to fool the "happy masses."
That afternoon, Locke stood on the stage of the Grand Auditorium once again. With a near-unanimous support rating, he delivered his first address as the President-elect.
***
Aw man we were so close at 450+ stones.
Here's a bonus even though goal haven't reached again. One I'll see those 500 stones for sure.
Thanks for the support y'all 💕
***
Read 40 Chapters early on P-atreon.com/Redestro666