The State of Us by Shaun David Hutchinson Page 0,3
first debate was being held at the University of Miami, which Jose had protested because he claimed it gave Governor Arnault the advantage, but my dad hadn’t minded, and it had allowed Jose to ensure the second debate would be held in Nevada. Of course, I bet none of this would’ve happened if we’d held the debate somewhere boring like North Dakota.
Dean was sitting on a couch with one leg crossed over the other like we were about to enjoy brandy and cigars and engage in casual sexism. He’d been trying to get a signal or log onto the building’s Wi-Fi but hadn’t had any luck. “How can you be so calm?” I asked.
“Because I trust that the Secret Service details guarding our parents have got everything under control.”
“Well, I don’t. I haven’t been this freaked out since the last time my school went on lockdown for an active shooter.” In search of something to eat, I crossed the room to the table where Dean had gotten me the water earlier. There were individual containers of Greek yogurt and bowls of fresh fruit and granola. “Where’re the actual snacks?”
“My mother prefers healthy foods.”
I ate a handful of granola, but as soon as it hit my stomach, I wished I hadn’t. “This isn’t food.”
“Then why are you stuffing so much of it in your mouth?”
Granola crumbs tumbled down the front of my suit as I rounded on Dean. “Because my parents are out there and I don’t know what’s happening to them! They could be in a room with a bomb that someone with no experience is going to have to disarm at the last second by cutting the red wire or the blue wire, or there might be a gun-toting psycho roaming the halls looking for someone to kill, and I want to do something—I have to do something!—but I can’t because I’m locked in this fucking room with you. And the only thing I can do that doesn’t involve digging a tunnel out of here is eating food I don’t even want! All right? Is that okay with you?”
Ugh. Talking to Dean was like trying to have a meaningful conversation with one of the Secret Service agents.
“I don’t actually like guns,” Dean said. “My uncle tried to take me hunting when I was eleven, but I couldn’t justify killing something I had no intention of eating. Also, when my uncle took down a deer, I cried until I vomited.”
“Right, you’re a vegetarian. I remember reading that about you.” I filled a bowl with strawberries, unsure whether I was going to eat them or throw them at Dean, and resumed pacing around the room while trying not to wonder whether my parents were being held in a room like this or if they were squeezed into a closet along with a dozen other people. “How does your mom feel about having a gun-hating animal lover for a son?”
Dean shrugged. “Just because I don’t like guns doesn’t mean I don’t support the right of others to own them.”
I rolled my eyes. Just when I thought we were getting somewhere. “Of course you do.”
“I suppose you believe we should collect all the guns in the world and shoot them into the sun?”
“It’s a lot harder to commit mass murder with a knife.” I stopped and flashed Dean a cold look. “Anyway, how can you sit and argue about this shit when our parents’ lives might be in danger?!”
Dean held my eyes for a moment before looking away. “Sorry,” he said. “I thought if you were fighting with me, you wouldn’t worry about your parents as much as I’m worrying about mine.”
I opened my mouth to fire the next insult but stopped short. Dean had been trying to help, albeit in a deeply strange way. Goading him into a fight wouldn’t have been my preferred method for distracting him, but he deserved some credit for the effort.
“Sorry for popping off like that. It’s just that I keep imagining all the things that could be happening and every scenario is worse than the next.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Dean said. “It was a bad idea anyway. It’s not as if it would have been a fair fight.”
I raised an eyebrow at him. “Didn’t we already establish this? I’d decimate you.”
“Historically, ‘decimate’ meant to kill one in ten of a group of people, and even in modern usage it doesn’t mean to defeat someone or something but rather to destroy a large portion of it.”