Realm Keepers 01 - Realm Keepers

hear you say those words. Miles is a fine athlete and is hardly ever in trouble. It would be a nasty shock to find out he was cheating.”
    “He wasn’t,” I said with total certainty. “I guarantee it.”
    “Well, he’s been assigned detention today,” said Principal Jones. “I’d remove it, but his teacher seems fairly convinced of Miles’ guilt. I’m going to leave the detention, but you may do your tutoring with him there if you wish.”
    “Thank you,” I said gratefully. Miles really couldn’t afford to miss a session right now. We were getting into Middle Eastern Geography and he was having a lot of trouble with the city names. “And, if it’s not too much of a favor to ask, could Miles re-take the test? With random answers? Whatever you want. I swear, he knows biology like nobody’s business.”
    “I’ll consider it,” said Principal Jones, “but I don’t think it should be a problem. Especially since he has you vouching for him. You know, you’re one of the brightest students I’ve ever seen pass through these halls.”
    I ducked my head. I don’t mean to sound stuck up, but I’d gotten used to adults praising me when I was very young. After a while, I learned to just acknowledge it rather than try to downplay it. I got up to go.
    “Oh, and Sarah,” Principal Jones said just as I started to step through the door. I turned to look at him. “We have to finish counting the votes before it’s official, but…congratulations.” His smile was as wide as I’d ever seen it. My own face split in a grin and I thanked him before leaving the office.
    I was walking on clouds the rest of the day. I didn’t even mind that after school I’d have to go to detention to work with Miles. My friends all asked me what I kept grinning about, but I didn’t tell them—I didn’t want to jinx it.
    Finally, the last bell rang, and as soon as it was done Principal Jones’ voice boomed over the loudspeaker again. “It is my great pleasure to congratulate your new student body president, with a landslide victory, Miss Sarah Preston!”
    The class I was in erupted in cheers. Other students swarmed over to my desk to give me congratulations and hugs. I couldn’t stop grinning. Out in the hall, it was the same thing: everyone swarming around me and saying how they knew I was going to win. Even the guy I was running against, a really nice guy named Steve, shook my hand.
    “I don’t even know why I ran against you, Sarah,” he said, smiling. “Congratulations.”
    Kurt found me in the hall, and before I knew it he swept me into a big bear hug. He actually lifted me off the ground a couple of inches before setting me down. I’m sure I was blushing like an idiot, and grinning like one, too.
    “Congratulations!” he said. “What did I tell you?”
    I think of that moment every now and then. It might have been the happiest moment of my life up to that point. It was certainly the last simple moment of my life for a long, long time.
    When the buzz had died down I went to the detention room. Right outside the door I almost bumped headfirst into Raven.
    “Oh, sorry,” I said. “I wasn’t looking where I was going.”
    “Me neither,” she said, smirking. “But at least you have an excuse. Congratulations.”
    “Thanks,” I said, grinning. “I didn’t know you even cared about school elections.”
    “I don’t,” she snickered. “But I’m still happy for you.”
    “Well then, thank you,” I said. “Are you in detention?”
    “Yeah,” she said ruefully. “I didn’t get out of that tree fast enough. Butch caught me smoking.” Butch was the school janitor.
    “Sorry,” I said, though I didn’t know why.
    “Not your fault,” she told me. “I appreciate you warning us.”
    “No problem.” I hesitated before continuing. “Hey, listen…maybe we should hang out some time. We could go to the mall or something. You could take me to Hot Topic, I could take you to Old Navy.”
    She rolled her eyes but didn’t look offended. “Maybe sometime. That would be nice.”
    She smiled again and entered the detention room. I didn’t feel like she was too enthusiastic about the idea. Most likely it would never happen. I sighed and entered after her.
    There was Miles. He looked up as I entered, and as soon as he saw me he shook his head, giving me an exasperated look.
    “Can you believe this?” he asked. “They won’t listen to me, Sarah. They think I cheated.”
    “I know you didn’t,