Don't Vote for Me by Krista Van Dolzer Page A

second volley missed our shirts, but somehow, it found our legs. As more welts bloomed on my calves, I cursed myself for wearing shorts.
    While Jayden helped the next group, I blinked back nervous tears. A sudden breeze blew through the empty lot, stirring the leg hairs that weren’t already plastered with paint. The breeze smelled like ice cream sundaes, and for a second, maybe more, I actually felt kind of good. So when the next wave of ammo hit and one of Esther’s paint balloons exploded on my head, I did something unexpected:
    I actually laughed out loud.
    The sound bubbled up my throat before I could tell what it was. It started as a snicker, then morphed into an all-out belly laugh, knocking me onto my knees. By the time I got back up, Spencer was belly-laughing, too, and even Riley had stopped whimpering. We must have looked insane.
    Esther, who’d been grinning like an idiot from the moment we’d arrived, slapped me on my paint-streaked back. “See, it’s not so bad,” she said.
    I was laughing too hard to reply.
    She slapped me on the back again. “I think it’s time to turn around!”
    Hysterical tears clouded my vision, so even after I turned around, I couldn’t tell what was going on. When a nervous hush descended, I rubbed the tears out of my eyes. The crowd was parting around something like a school of fish around a shark, and even though the something—or, more precisely, the some one —was still a long way from the front, I could tell who the shark was.
    Apparently, Veronica had come to play with her food.

Twelve
    By the time Veronica reached the yellow line, the crowd had gone perfectly still. They were probably too afraid to speak, or maybe they just wanted to hear our bones break when she snapped us in half.
    â€œDavid,” Veronica said as she dipped her head at me.
    I was still wearing the mask, so how she knew which one was me, I honestly had no idea. “Hi,” was all I said. My voice echoed in my ears, sounding small and insignificant.
    As her entourage fanned out behind her, I couldn’t help but notice there was one of them for one of us. Brady had lined up across from Esther, and Hector and Samantha were trying to out-glare Riley and Spencer.
    Hector exposed his teeth in a rough approximation of a grin. “Looks like you’re having a fiesta.”
    Esther’s hands clenched into fists. “Well, no one invited you .”
    â€œReally?” Hector replied, pulling a flyer from his pocket. “Then how did we end up with this?”
    Esther ripped her mask off. “Where in Shepherd’s Vale did you get that?”
    â€œWouldn’t you like to know?” he asked.
    I squinted at the flyer. It was smudged with pencil lead (and what looked like carrot juice).
    I set my sights on Riley. “Why’d you give them one?” I asked.
    Riley held his hands up. “I didn’t!” he insisted. But then he ducked his head. “But I did throw some away.”
    Esther’s face flushed purple. “You were supposed to pass them out!”
    â€œI had extras,” Riley said.
    â€œYou weren’t supposed to have extras,” I replied.
    Veronica motioned toward the flyer. “So anyone can take a shot?”
    I snuck a peek at Esther (who was sneaking a peek at me). “That was the idea,” I said slowly.
    Veronica stuck out her chin. “Then we want to take ours.”
    Our eyes met, and somehow, an unspoken agreement passed between us. I knew that she was baiting me, waiting to see if I would blink. Owen and Radcliff had been fond of playing chicken with the beaters that had always accumulated behind Classics by Jesse (though they’d sworn me to secrecy, since Mom would have freaked out if she’d known), but these stakes seemed so much higher.
    I swallowed, hard. “All right.” I wouldn’t be the first to blink.
    Spencer pointed at the back. “But you’ll