Private Following Up

Since Andrasta had her heart-to-heart with Orsick, she had noticed a couple of things that were starting to make her vaguely uncomfortable. Things that gave her a bad vibe - and she couldn't tell if it was because there was something wrong with Orsick, or if someone was trying to make everyone think that. Either way, it was bad news.

First, when she spoke to Lizzie, Lizzie brought Orsick up with disdain in her voice. She mentioned how voting for Andrasta had to be better than voting for Orsick at least, since that would be terrible. And this was the first Andrasta had ever heard anything like that. A part of her had wanted to ask - what's wrong with Orsick? What did he do? But before she could ask, Lizzie had left to go to class or something.

Since then, Andrasta had been hearing some extremely vague rumors. Something like how Orsick wasn't really interested in helping new people. Pressing people for details didn't get her anything except more questions. Why were people saying this? Did Orsick actually do something? Or was Bel or someone starting this rumor to mess with people? Andrasta didn't even know why Bel would start that rumor - she was Bel's opponent in the student council elections, not Orsick.

One day, Andrasta was having lunch and she noticed Lizzie sitting in the cafeteria with some open spots next to her. So she took the opportunity. "Hey, Lizzie. Is it cool if I sit with you?" She seemed to know more about this.

"I'm ready for this whole election thing to end," she said with a chuckle. "That's what's up. It's a lot of work." It was really taking a toll on her, wearing her out. This wasn't what she wanted to talk about, of course, but it would help sell the idea that she wasn't -just- here to ask about Orsick.

She took a bite of the spaghetti on her plate, then followed it up with a nibble of breadstick. She was totally just here for the companionship of a new acquaintance.

"You hear that weird rumor about Orsick? Something about him being shitty to new kids?"

Andrasta smiled at that - she was already calling her the president. But did she have more important things to worry about? "Eh, I guess. But I'm getting a little burned out on the campaigning. It's nice to take a break and talk about other things for a little while," she said. "Then I can get back to it."

She took a couple more bites of breadstick, then spoke again. "Also, last time we talked it seemed kinda like you hated him. Which seemed kinda weird, considering how most people feel about him." She shrugged. "Like, he won president last time."

She was sure that would get her to go off about him.

Andrasta smelled bullshit.

She didn't want to call Lizzy on it, because she didn't want Lizzy to be upset with her. But this sounded like bullshit. If Orsick was starting shit with her, he probably had a good reason to.

She munched on her spaghetti to keep herself from blurting anything out. Eventually, she managed to say: "Wow. What was he arguing with you about?" She'd try to hear her out without making it too clear that she didn't believe her.

So, first she made it sound like Orsick had started arguing with her while she was helping out her friend. And then she changed the story so that she was the one starting the argument. On top of that, it sounded like she had started the argument for an unfair reason - not going out of his way to help someone.

Like, yes, helping people was good. But it probably wasn't his job.

"Dang," she said, hiding her skepticism behind her drink. "Is your friend ok, at least?"