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

have to wait your turn.”
    Jayden had just handed her the gun, so he tried to take it back.
    Veronica didn’t let it go. “Do you really want to make me wait?”
    Now it was my turn to rip my mask off. If she wanted to go toe to toe, we’d do it face to face. “Of course not,” I replied. I hoped I sounded braver than I felt. “We want you to take your turns and go.”
    Veronica cocked an eyebrow. It looked like she was smiling, sort of, but it was probably an illusion. “Don’t you want to put your mask back on?”
    I wasn’t sure if it was bravery or just plain, old stupidity, but if I put that mask back on, I knew I wouldn’t win a single vote. So instead of doing the right thing, I drew myself up to my full height. “No, Veronica, I don’t.”
    A shudder rippled through the crowd, but Veronica just shrugged.
    â€œSuit yourself,” was all she said as she raised the paintball gun.
    She was far enough away that I couldn’t tell where she was aiming, but the one thing I did know was that it was going to hurt. I clenched my teeth and stared her down, and for a second, maybe less, I thought she smiled again.
    The smile caught me off guard, and I almost relaxed. Maybe I’d been wrong. Maybe “La Vie en rose” had changed her as much as it had changed me. Maybe we were almost friends. But before I could decide, Veronica drew a bracing breath and calmly squeezed the trigger.
    The paintballs hit me in the chest, one right after the other. I lost track of the number as they burst against the tape, exploding against my chest like blood bursting from a wound. I stepped back to catch myself, but I didn’t find my balance. I found Spencer’s rock instead. It caught my heel and tipped me over, and as I staggered back against Renfro’s, the paint—red paint, I noticed—dribbled down into the dirt and collected into gleaming beads.
    Esther dropped to her knees beside me, cushioning my fall. She put a hand behind my head, which would have made an awesome death scene if I’d actually been dying.
    I guess Spencer didn’t get the memo, because he launched himself at Veronica. “Holy Faraday, you killed him!”
    Before Spencer could make contact, Hector caught him by the wrist, taking him down in one smooth move. “Don’t be an idiot, muchacho .”
    Spencer fell flat on his face, but he didn’t let that stop him. He looked like a dying worm as he writhed and squirmed in place, pinned down by Hector’s claw-like grip. He definitely wasn’t giving up, but he wasn’t gaining any traction, either.
    His back glistened with wet paint, and his front must have been a mess, but Samantha didn’t seem to mind. After planting herself on his back, she growled, “Stop that, or we’ll kill you next.”
    Spencer finally stopped, but whether he’d taken her threat seriously or he could no longer move, I honestly couldn’t have said.
    â€œSay something,” Esther croaked, brushing the hair out of my eyes.
    I looked down at my chest, which was still dripping with red paint, then slowly, very slowly, tugged at a corner of the tape. A bead of paint bled down the front. YOUR PAINT, YOUR VOTE, it said, and now that paint was Veronica’s.
    I managed a weak smile. “That’s gonna look amazing when it dries.”
    Esther’s gaze darted back and forth between my face and the T-shirt. Finally, she grinned. “Yeah, I guess it will,” she said as she held out her hand. “Way to sacrifice yourself.”
    I took hold of her hand, and she towed me to my feet. As I surveyed the scene, the other kids hollered and catcalled—but not the populars. Hector sneered, Samantha spat, and Brady made a face. Veronica, on the other hand, just returned the gun to Jayden, then slowly turned around.
    The crowd gave her a wide berth as she strutted off into the sunset (or, in this case,