175 President 7
"Haah... Why the heck are we even— in fact, why am I even here?" Amy grumbled, her voice dripping with frustration.
"Fufu~ you promised you would support me, right?" Dorothy chimed in, her tone teasing as she cast a playful glance at Amy.
"Yes, support as in helping you politically! Becoming one of your lackeys wasn't part of the deal!" Amy retorted, her shoulders slumping as she begrudgingly carried a set of small boxes in her hands.
"Even though I'm finally free from the reign of your student council, why does it feel like I'm already back?" She sighed deeply, a defeated tone slipping into her voice as they walked along the almost-empty halls of Heavenly Hall.
Dorothy chuckled nervously at Amy's reaction. She had gotten used to Amy's constant complaining, but there was something about the seething hatred in Amy's gaze that still made her uneasy, especially with those dark, tired circles under her eyes, which only made her already menacing look even more intense.
"Now, now, don't get too heated up, Amy. Pres basically has no chance of winning this year, right? Hahaha, we're basically free from her grasp now!" Celine chimed in with a cheerful tone, walking alongside them.
In her hands were much larger boxes than the ones Dorothy and Amy carried, yet she held them with ease, as if they weighed nothing.
Amy glared at Celine, her lips curling in irritation. "This muscle-headed idiot is really slow on the uptake, isn't she? I wouldn't be reacting like this if that were the case."
Celine blinked in confusion. "What do you mean?" Nôv(el)B\\jnn
Amy rolled her eyes, her voice sharpening with every word. "Dorothy's chances of winning aren't exactly zero now, you know?"
"EHHH?!" Celine's eyes widened, glancing between Amy and Dorothy in shock.
"Did something happen?" Celine asked, curiosity piqued.
How could Dorothy possibly stage a comeback despite the overwhelming disadvantage?
Amy sighed, clearly frustrated. "Thanks to a certain first-year randomly supporting this tyrant of an ex-president, she's now basically on par with Princess Snow in the upcoming election."
Celine's disbelief deepened. "There's someone with that much influence among the first-years?"
"Yes, and you would know it by now if you weren't sleeping all the time, you lazy, muscle-headed idiot!"
Celine's jaw dropped slightly. "T-then you're telling me there's a chance we'll have to suffer through another semester of this?"
Amy nodded grimly. "Yes."
The two exchanged looks of despair, their shared anguish reflected in the glitter of unshed tears.
They both remembered all too well the weight of Dorothy's presidency, where they ended up doing most of the work under her rule.
The mere thought of going through it again filled them with dread.
If Alice were present, she'd probably be crying alongside them.
Maybe she had been too rigid, too obsessed with perfection, and that had caused more harm than good.
As they continued walking down the hall, Dorothy's mind wandered.
Her leadership style had been effective in some ways but flawed in others.
The arrival of Alice, Rose, and Riley had indeed made the council's workload lighter, but it was no excuse for how overwhelmed the previous members had been before them.
"We're here," Dorothy finally announced, cutting off any further complaints.
They arrived at the student council office, a place that had been the heart of their operations. Inside, the room was eerily quiet, almost too still compared to the buzzing energy it usually had during their peak semesters.
The large, empty tables that once held mountains of paperwork now felt bare and lifeless.
Dorothy, Amy, and Celine carefully laid down the boxes they had been carrying—supplies given to them by the academy heads.
They started sorting them, each of them working in silence for a moment.
The boxes contained a variety of items, ranging from official documents to some new equipment for the upcoming semester.
Dorothy absentmindedly shuffled through the paperwork, her mind still lingering on their earlier conversation.
She wasn't proud of how things had turned out before, but this time, she had a chance to make things different—if she could just win the presidency again.
Amy broke the silence first. "You know, Pres, this office feels a lot less chaotic without you barking orders every five minutes."
Celine chuckled, setting down a particularly heavy box with ease. "Yeah, it's kinda peaceful. Almost too peaceful, though. Guess we're not used to having free time in here."
Dorothy rolled her eyes but couldn't help a small smile. "I'm not that bad."
"Uh-huh," Amy quipped, raising an eyebrow. "Says the tyrant who made us pull all-nighters just to meet deadlines you set."
"You call them all-nighters. I call them 'team-building exercises.'"
Both Amy and Celine snorted at that, clearly unimpressed.
The three continued their lighthearted banter as they worked, reminiscing about their time in the student council office.
Though Amy and Celine often felt like they had been overworked and used by Dorothy back then, it didn't mean they didn't enjoy their time together.
In fact, the only reason they kept blaming Dorothy for everything now was to see her adorable, flustered reaction.
The way Dorothy's cheeks puffed up like a hamster whenever she got angry had always been amusing to the two. It was hard to resist teasing her when she made it so easy.