"…preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of Weilam."
"…preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of Weilam," I repeated.
"Congratulations, Mr. President," said the Chief Justice. I nodded, raising my hand above my head to take the taller man's hand. As we were released from the handshake, I took my other hand and waved at the crowd, who burst into cheers.
Standing off to the side, my parents tearfully clutched each other tightly, their faces smiling but white.
My friends from school had gathered on the sidewalk. I thought I heard them cheering the loudest.
"Mr. President, on your first day in office, I would recommend starting off with enacting the first item on your agenda: allowances for every citizen."
"Okay! You can do that, right? Can I go visit my friends now?" Honestly, all these fancy people wanted to talk to me, and it was getting annoying. There were people congratulating me, people asking me for leadership, people asking me for help—a twelve-year-old only has so much time, you know—I just wanted a day off.
"Sir, you promised the people you would enact change, so by not doing anything productive, you're going to make everyone doubt you." My advisor knew well, of course, but the people had elected me. No matter that he was nearly four times my age, I was the one in charge.
"Absolutely not, George. A man," I noticed gleefully that my advisor flushed at the emphasis of that word, "needs to manage and balance his time wisely. And I haven't been doing that lately. We can work on changing the world tomorrow."
"I'll call your mother and tell her that you haven't been doing your job properly," he threatened.
My face paled. "No! Not mom! I'll do anything! I'll sign everything! I'll fill out all the forms! I would write law stuff but I don't know how to do that! I'll even draw you a butt!"
He smiled. "That is appreciated, but not at all necessary. Now, son, why don't we get you over to the Chamber of Representatives…"