After spending second period crying in the bathroom, Polly's day was actually looking up. After school, Tom drove her, Minny, and Kenzie all to Lennard's place so they could talk out the game plan for the upcoming speech that was going to take place this coming weekend.

Polly felt a little nauseous at the thought of speaking in front of crowds, but she reminded herself that Gryphon would also be there for her to help out with her nerves. And everything else that came with backing her up.

But, Gryphon wasn't there when they first arrived.

Lennard took his seat at the head of the table, per usual, with her girl seated beside him on the floor. Typical for those two, and Polly desperately wanted answers concerning how the two of them even met. Or why they were bound together.

"So, we're over the primary votes, and Tanner passed. But, so did our father. The gubernatorial election takes place in a few weeks on November 7th. So, we have major pushing to do to get Tanner where he needs to be to win."

Lennard took out a chart, one section red, one blue. "Tanner is blue, since he's running Democratic. Our father is red. As you can see, our father has more support, but we're catching up to him. I think by November, we'll be in the lead, as long as we continue to do what we're doing. Pushing and pulling at heartstrings, all that."

"The seventh... that's only like, two weeks away. I'm not sure we'll make it." Polly was certainly concerned about the timeline, as November was fastly approaching, but there was nothing she could do. It was on Tanner, mostly.

Tanner entered the room. "Oh, we'll make it. My father has nothing going for him, and his fans are racist assholes. We'll take back this state, don't worry Polly."

If not, I'll be thrown into gay conversion camps. Again. The fear plagued her thoughts more often than she'd like to admit. There was nowhere for her to hide, now that she was out in the open. Gryphon as well.

She sent a look to Kenzie, knowing that she too was in the red. The school was quick to pick up on their relationship. A little too quick, and a little too loudly. There would be no hiding for Kenzie if they lost.

The front door opened, and in came Gryphon, decked out in his uniform. For a moment, Tanner just watched him as he entered, entranced in the way that the uniform hugged Gryphon's strong shoulders, and framed his long and lean body.

He ran a hand over his crazy hair, then smiled at the group. "What did I miss?"

When he made eye contact with Minny, he noticed the lack of uniform and realized that Minny's absence had everything to do with switching schools, like he had suspected. Which was a shame, but Gryphon wasn't about to bring it up.

"No smoking in the house," Lennard barked towards Gryphon. Not only did he hate the smell, his girl did as well. And where she wouldn't vocalize it, Lennard had no problem doing so, watching with pointed eyes as Gryphon took the cigarette from his lips.

"My bad," he said, squeezing it between his fingers, not flinching from the pain.

Polly turned back to Lennard. "So, two weeks to get Tanner into shape? When do Gryphon and I have to know our speeches by?" Of course, the two had been present so far in the election, but speaking out wasn't her forte.

"This weekend. Tanner has a huge publicized speech happening up north a little. We'll drive there together, and Polly, you'll be with Gryphon and Tanner for the entire time. I hope you two have been working on those speeches."

Guilt made her stomach turn. She'd been busy, not only with school, but with everything that came with running a campaign. She had little time to be writing speeches and practicing them. She didn't voice this to Lennard, though.

"Of course we have. In fact, Polly and I should head upstairs now." Gryphon smiled at Polly, approaching her with ease, as though he wasn't worried in the slightest that he had to speak in front of a crowd.

Lennard waved his hand at them. "Go on ahead."

The two took the stairs quickly, and ducked into Tanner's room, which was currently empty as he was downstairs. When Polly entered, she was hesitant. She didn't enter the room, out of courtesy, but she would be lying if she said she'd never been intrigued.

Gryphon felt right at home as he flopped down on Tanner's bed. "Alright, have you done anything?"

The tone of his voice made Polly relax. "No. I've been swamped."

Gryphon nodded, sliding a pen out from behind his ear. "Same. But, if we want to do this, we have to crack down. Here are some talking points I thought we could touch upon. They're sort of vague, though. They definitely need some digging into."

Polly nodded, reading over the list. Out of the corner of her eye, something caught her attention. It was Gryphon's messenger bag for school, slouched against Tanner's desk. He hadn't brought it with him today, so Polly assumed it'd been there from a previous time.

She looked up at Gryphon. "You like Tanner."

Gryphon's eyes met hers, shocked. He knew he wasn't being as careful as he should when it came to his feelings, but still. He was surprised she'd figured it out so soon, as though she'd been paying attention to them.

He shrugged. "I don't know."

Polly readjusted her seating on the bed so that she was giving Gryphon her full attention. "No, you do know. And you like him. Wow."

Gryphon didn't want to meet her eyes, but he did. Polly wasn't giving him a strange look though, or even that judging face that he often met in school. Her's was open, confused but willing to understand.

And, she did understand, in a way no one else could.

"It's just that he's changing, Polly. I know how he treated us, and I'll never forget it. But, I'm gay Polly, and he's attractive. Can you blame me? Not that I'm immediately falling for every attractive guy, but Tanner's different. He's broken, manipulated, confused. He comes across as so strong, but he's not. He's so weak. And he's afraid, because deep down, he knows he isn't as straight as he pretends to be."

Polly tried to cram down memories of being hurt and tortured by Tanner, but she pushed it away for a moment. Of course, she would never forgive Tanner. Working for him didn't change that. But, her grudges weren't Gryphon's.

"Gryphon, he's been sickly in love with me for so long. What if chasing him is a dead end?" She didn't even mean for it to sound like everything was about her, but it did. Gryphon heard it as well, but knew her intentions didn't lie there, and so it didn't make him feel upset.

"Polly, I've seen the way he looks at me. And, even if he doesn't want to kiss me like I want to kiss him, it doesn't matter. I like him a lot, just like how you like Kenzie. Only, Kenzie never hurt you like he hurt us."

That was something Polly understood, and she grabbed Gryphon's hand and squeezed it tightly. "If you like him Gryphon, you should go for it. You're more abrasive and outgoing than anyone I know. Though, maybe save it for after he's elected?"

She didn't even want to think about the possibility that he wouldn't be elected.

"Sometimes, I think I make it up. The way he looks at me. But other times, it feels like there's something between us. Like strong chemistry. And what I would kill to just kiss him and see how it would feel."

Polly laughed, despite the serious conversation. Her dimpled smile made Gryphon smile as well, feeling for a moment like he was included in such a friendship that was consuming and welcoming. A friendship he'd always wanted.

"That's how I felt about Kenzie, before I knew she was gay. Every day I wanted to kiss her so badly, just to see how it would feel, and to see if she would kiss me back. It was killing me slowly, but then she kissed me. Sometimes, you have to take that leap, because Tanner will probably never admit to himself that he likes you. If he likes you."

Gryphon grabbed the notebook and smiled, a real genuine smile. "You're right. Maybe I'll do just that." Then, he looked down at the notebook. "Now, what do you think about these talking points. Are they good? Too much?"

Polly was about to answer, but her phone rang, cutting through the moment and her thoughts. She smiled sheepishly at Gryphon as she dug around for her phone in her bag, and then answered it.

"Hey, uncle. I'll be home in a little bit. I'm at a friend's house-"

"Polly, you need to get home, right now. The police are here, and so are your parents. They're claiming legal guardianship, and want to bring you home."

* * *

Double upload in one day? Wow!!

Also... yikes... what will happen to Polly? Do you think her parents will really get away with legal guardianship, after all they've put her through?

What do you think about Gryphon and his feelings?

Love you all! XOXO