Win Together

Xalix was disappointed to find out that Sal was shocked at the results. They had won the election and Xalix was expecting a parting mood, instead, he met a stunned Vice president-elect, who showed no sign of happiness. “Have you not heard the results?” Xalix asked.

Sal was certain they were not going to win the election. He had decided to be Xalix’s vice since he was Xalix's only friend. He thought it would be unfriendly for him to reject his friend’s request of being his vice.

Xalix was a shy and quiet lad who barely knew anyone apart from Sal. He often spent most of his leisure time at the library, not necessarily to read, but to avoid noise. His roommates saw him as a weird boy and wondered how Sal even managed to be a close friend of Xalix.

Xalix had made known to his neighbourhood friend Sal, when they went to high school, his intention of becoming the Students’ Representative Council president. Sal was certain Xalix will change his mind if he found out that it was a battle of popularity.

“You do not talk to people to even be known, but you are dreaming of becoming a president,” Sal debated. “Famous? Who said you must be famous to win the election?” Xalix rebated. The longest debate, every day, these two friends tried to convince each other. To Sal, the election was a competition for the well-known, and Xalix stood no chance of winning. “Except you and I, who else are you certain that he or she will vote for you?” Sal questioned Xalix. “Everybody” Xalix replied. Sal laughed and said smiling, “Look Xalix, life is not a cartoon, just like their characters, their stories are also not real. Stop watching them.”

Confused, Xalix went to the library that day contemplating if should change his mind. That had been his thought the whole day, and Sal's strong rebates kept echoing in his head. It was in this state of dilemma, Xalix stumbled over a library book and collapsed an entire lane of bookshelves. It would not have been so worse had the shelves fell backwards, but they fell forward emptying the books in them.

All eyes were fixed on Xalix until the librarian shouted that the library had closed, then each started packing to leave. “Who’s job?” the librarian questioned Xalix, “You or I? Looking at the librarian's rage, Xalix avoided replying. He slowly bent over to lift up a shelf and arrange the books, but the librarian instructed him to leave.

It had become news across campus. All knew the library had been closed for the day because a young man had collapsed an entire lane of bookshelves. Xalix returned to his room expecting to be mocked, but to his relief, nobody actually knew who had brought down the bookshelves.

The next day, he revealed to Sal that he had caused the library to close down yesterday, but nobody knew, so he should also keep it a secret. “You are obviously going to be revealed and publically shammed today and you think this is a secret?” Sal asked. “How?” Xalix asked back. “Really! You went to the library and caused a disaster, and you think you will go free? Obviously no.” “Alright, but how will the principal know my name? He does not even know who did that,” Xalix boldly defended himself. “You write your name on the library attendees' book when you go to the library, and obviously, being the last person, the librarian is going to give your name to the principal,” Sal elaborated. “As a presidential aspirant, you should be able to analyze such petty stuff,” Sal added.

Sal’s prophecy came to pass, and everyone in the school knew Xalix was the guy who caused the disaster at the library. His name had even been converted into a verb; ‘to xalix', which at Spintex High School, meant, to bring down.

Later that day, Xalix made known to Sal how his words had caused all that was happening. “I thought you would encourage me to stand as the Students’ Representative Council president, and even run with me since I knew nobody, but you used your words ‘to xalix’ my hopes,” Xalix told Sal softly and left him,

Sal pondered over what Xalix said and quickly ran to Xalix to apologize. “You were right Sal, you did not want me to be defeated,” Xalix replied to Sal’s apology. “I am no more going to run as the Students’ Representative Council president,” Xalix added. Sal kept quiet for a few seconds and replied to his friend saying, “If you say I was right, then pursue the Students’ Representative Council president dream. I said it was a battle of the well-known, and now, you are popular, so go for it.” Sal looked with teary eyes into Xalix’s wet cheeks and hugged him saying, “I will be your vice, if we win, we win together, and if we lose, we lose together.”

Sal’s classmates kept telling him that he was wasting his time following someone who barely talked to anyone, and that he either quits or runs as the Students’ Representative Council president if that is what he really wanted. Sal’s classmates kept showing their displeasure with Sal being Xalix’s vice. “Yes, it is undebatable that Xalix is popular in this school, but do you think, that his popularity is for a good reason?” Sal’s classmates kept advising him.

These daily comments made Sal pessimistic and hence was shocked at the hearing of the election results. After Sal had explained why he was shocked at the results, Xalix hugged his vice and said, ”Your words made me stumble on the library book that day and changed the course of my life for the better. But, it did not change my behaviour, I was still a quiet boy. But you, being very friendly to all, including people like me, did the talking aspect. So we did not win only for my popularity, but majorly for your friendliness. Like you said when we were in the first year, if we win, we win together, rejoice, Sal, for we have won together.”