Difficulty at Differentiating

[ViolentMedic]

The student council meeting had come to an end, but Marshall had stayed back to show Chloe the draft of the fund-raising plan for the art department. Then there’d been some back and forth about what was doable, how much help they could rely on, refining the plan to fit… but they were both seasoned at fundraising. It hadn’t taken long to sort out a realistic plan.

“That looks good. I’m sure Ms. Prince will be happy to have the monetary help!” Marshall said brightly. She was a good teacher—macabre tastes aside—and deserved to have more help in her department than the principal was giving her. “Thank you for staying back to work on this. I’m sure you’re very busy!”

Marshall was very busy, too. He was already overdue for getting to the library and starting on his Math, and track season was coming up and lacrosse season was still going and both of them needed attention, needed refining the training regimens to cover everyone’s weaknesses on the lacrosse field. But he still had time to do everything if he cut short his sleep by another hour. Not ideal, but it was doable.

Still, Marshall wasn’t student council president. That came with so many other duties. Chloe always seemed to be busy doing something. Never wasting time, though drinking more caffeine than Marshall would approve of. Still, highly admirable.

[midnight_twelve]

“You’re welcome! Happy to help.” Chloé scanned the draft one more time, then handed it back. The Marshall Plan had already been pretty great when he first showed it to her, but together they’d whipped it into even better shape. It was almost a shame the student council couldn’t have had co-presidents; the two former candidates made a great team. If nothing else, Chloé was glad their friendship had survived the competition.

“Besides, I’m not so busy now that homecoming’s mostly sorted.” Mostly sorted, since she still hadn’t figured out some minor details like who she would actually be going with, but the important stuff like food and music and decorations? Done and dusted.

[ViolentMedic]

“Oh, yes! That must be a relief to have completed!” Marshall said as he shuffled the pages of the draft before locating his folder to put it away. “I don’t envy you on that duty. Recreational events are not one of my strengths.”

Homecoming was another one of those events where Marshall had considered not going. But similarly to when he’d tried to avoid Dani’s party… his father got odd and uppity about Marshall skipping out on social events, as if it was a greater duty than studying. Perhaps Marshall should consider sinking to a white lie the next time one came up, but the words were always out of his mouth before he could consider it.

“I am sure you will enjoy it! I heard you were placed in the Homecoming Court!” Marshall paused, then rubbed his chin as he added, “I also heard Richard was. Hopefully no-one suspects you two of rigging the votes!”

He didn’t know Richard well enough to say if that was in his character to do, but he certainly hoped not. Chloe, though? Not a chance.

[midnight_twelve]

“It is a relief, for sure.” A short lived one, since she’d filled the gaps in her schedule as soon as they opened up, but the reward of completing a task was more than just free time.

Marshall and recreation not being the most compatible concepts wasn’t news to Chloé- she’d clocked him policing the alcohol reserves at Halloween- but she hoped he’d at least attend homecoming, and try and enjoy himself. They’d never spent much time together outside of academic contexts, so she had a hard time picturing what Marshall would look like having fun, but an alcohol-free, history-themed and heavily chaperoned school dance seemed like a realistic environment for such a thing to happen.

Chloé’s eyes widened at the mock-accusation of electoral fraud. “Oh, I hadn’t even thought about that! Do you think it looks suspicious?”

Did it? Her and Richard both making homecoming court? Maybe those weird conspiracy kids would think something was up, but it made sense to her that there’d be a student council/homecoming court overlap. They were both basically just popularity contests, after all. Slightly different kinds of popularity, so Chloé didn’t think she would win the homecoming crown too- her money was on Dani there- but the Student President seemed like an obvious match up for the Cheer Captain in the ultimate battle to determine, once and for all, the Most Popular Girl in School TM. So long as the cheer team’s camaraderie survived the contest she’d be proud to have just got this far.

[ViolentMedic]

“I’m sure it’s fine! You are an upstanding student in many ways!” Marshall said, nodding enthusiastically and gesticulating with his hands. “There is no reason people wouldn’t vote for you.”

His general admiration for Chloe was quite high. He’d voted for her as student president, and had yet to regret that choice despite being in the running himself. The volunteer work, her general drive… really, he couldn’t think of a girl more deserving of the title.

“I assume you are going to homecoming, given that you are part of the court?”

Marshall would have to either go, stay home and disappoint his father (if his father turned up at home early enough to notice), or – god forbid – lie and pretend he went, and find somewhere discreet to continue studying. No… he was guaranteed to slip up if he tried that. Of course, if he went, his father would bounce right from ‘why aren’t you going to the dance’ to ‘who are you going to the dance with?’

He knew his father had been something of a womanizer in his younger days – it was why Marshall existed at all. Perhaps that’s why he couldn’t perceive the fact that Marshall genuinely didn’t have interest. Though, were he to consider the idea…

Well, he admired Chloe. She would be the obvious choice, wouldn’t she?

“Are you going with anyone to homecoming?” Marshall asked, the literal moment this half-formed thought drifted into his head.

[midnight_twelve]

Marshall put her mind at ease, waving his hands with typical Marshall flair. Apparently there was no reason people wouldn’t vote for her, which suggested she could rely on his vote; Chloé felt a wave of appreciation for his friendship. To be fair she’d been quite sentimental about all her peers recently, this being their last year at JEM. Their last homecoming, too, so of course she’d be going!

“Yeah, I’ll be there!”

She didn’t even have time to ask if he was going too, before his next question.

“Hmm?” That was her first response, as her mind raced to see where the conversation was going. Marshall, smart as he was, didn’t always do the thinking before the speaking, so perhaps he didn’t know either- but it sounded like he was about to ask her out. Would he do that? She’d never picked up on any feelings Marshall might have had for her. He could be difficult to read, though, since he had exactly one tone of speech. She’d certainly never felt about him like that. Maybe he just wanted to go as friends? That seemed more likely, right? It would be easier that way, that was for sure.

So what should her answer be? The truth? She had no choice, really, since he’d ask who she was going with if she lied. Besides, it would be a shame to go alone to her last homecoming.

“Uh, no, actually! Are you?"

[ViolentMedic]

“Not currently! I was thinking you would be a good person to go with!”

Wait. Marshall didn’t have a crush on Chloe, did he? It was difficult to tell. Admiration wasn’t the only component, was it? He admired a great many people.

“I should clarify that I am not looking for a relationship!” he blurted out. “I don’t have interest in that and we are both exceedingly busy! But if I did, I am sure I would be interested in you! Obviously you are a smart, wonderful person who works hard, and I admire you greatly!” Marshall rubbed his chin, frowning. “I do not think that admiration is romantic in nature?”

This was one time where Marshall wished his mouth was slower than his brain. He was now staring at the table, bright pink in the face. How embarrassing. He should have written this down and rehearsed it, whatever it was.

[midnight_twelve]

Sure enough, Marshall popped the question.

“I’d-”

Yet again he didn’t give Chloé much time to respond before blurting out an attempted clarification. Marshall was someone who always seemed very confident in social situations, even if that confidence maybe wasn’t always completely deserved, blissfully unaware every time he put his foot in his mouth. This was probably the first time she had ever seen him embarrassed. Chloé felt terrible. That wave of appreciation resurfaced; she was touched by his stream of compliments, in spite of, or maybe because of, how obviously unrehearsed they were. It was clear to Chloé- clearer that it was to him, it seemed- that Marshall didn’t have feelings for her.

“Of course it’s not! Hey, I admire you platonically. A lot!” She really did. Any of her earlier doubts dissipated, she reached out and gave his hand a reassuring squeeze.

“I’d love to go to homecoming with you.”