Chapter 19

Nolan Pierce

Once the campaign season started, I was busier than ever. Asher set up a ‘brain trust’ to advise all the freshman candidates, so I spent a lot of time in his room strategizing, on top of interviewing candidates for the profiles being published in the Chronicle and being given ‘scoops’ by Delvecchio. He he’d noticed my unfashionable clothes and accent, and probably clocked that I was gay, and decided that I must be a pleb who would be sympathetic to his reform agenda. The problem was that there were plenty of plebs that knew I was actually in the Crimson Circle, including Jas, who was running for Conduct Council, the other plebs on my hall, and everyone who had PE at the same time as me. If any of them said anything, Delvecchio would probably lose his shit and accuse us of rigging the election coverage, which could well swing votes from Wilson Together to Students for a Fair Wilson.

As it was, Wilson Together had a decent lead, but we were still within the margin of error for the two freshman class positions. Fortunately, we had access to more detailed information than was being published in the official paper. Students had to put in their student ID number to take the online poll. We told them the poll was anonymous and the ID numbers weren’t recorded, but in reality, we could link the responses to individual students. We also kept track of comments on our articles and the unofficial web forums. Our weak point was with the theater and arts kids. They hated Renew Wilson with a passion, but thought that Wilson Together was embarrassingly preppy.

I decided that Asher needed a makeover, so Saturday after we finished our nude cleaning sessions, we went to the thrift store in town. Wilson students often donated clothes there that they had outgrown or didn’t want to keep when summer break started, so it was a gold mine for last year’s fashions. I was newly flush with cash, having been paid $500 by a start-up literary magazine for a story about a boy who realizes he’s an atheist mid-baptism, and I don’t think money was ever a problem for Asher. Asher picked out some band t-shirts to supplement his Lands End-supplied casual wardrobe. I went in the other direction, buying a couple of pairs of madras shorts and chinos, a pair of boat shoes, and a pair of Rainbow-brand flip-flops that I hoped would make me seem less nerdy.

When we got back to the dorm, Jude Whitman was waiting in Asher’s dorm with his tattoo kit. Asher took off his shirt and shoes and lay down on the bed, smoking a joint with his left hand to dull the pain as Jude tattooed his right bicep with the words “and so it goes,” a quote from Vonnegut. When Jude was finished, Asher put one of his new t-shirts on and looked at himself in the mirror. The tattoo poked out under the shirt, just enough to be noticeable without it being obvious that he was trying to be noticed.