Hod

David jumped a little at the voice, but turned around smiling. "Hod, why are you always sitting in the dark?" He flicked the lights on and set his backpack next to his chair. His best friend Hod was revealed in the dark, his peculiar blank-screen computer humming quietly in front of him.

"No point in turning on the lights when I can't see anyways." Hod answered softly.

"But when you sit in the dark like that, you startle people."

Hod smiled slightly but kept working.

Nobody quite understood how David, the most popular, handsome, and well-liked guy in school could be best friends with a scrawny blind kid whose name the teachers could never remember, with pasty white skin and ice-blue, milky eyes that seemed to see everything and nothing at once. Hod was wearing a black hoodie with a huge fluffy cap even though it was barely the beginning of September, still warm enough for some kids to be wearing shorts. He was always like that, always cold and wrapped up, always sitting quietly in the background while everybody constantly paid attention to David. He never seemed to mind.

That's part of why David liked Hod, why they were best friends. He was literally blind to David's charm, but it wasn't just that- Hod was smart. Really smart. Plus, their was the fact that Hod had saved David's life once.

He'd wanted to get a little work done before everyone else arrived. Allot of kids thought that student body president was more of a title than anything, but to David it was a real job. He loved working with the other students, loved persuading the staff, balancing the budget, providing extra opportunities and services the school otherwise wouldn't have. Somehow even the principal would come to him for ideas, and the school board had been persuaded more than once by his impassioned speeches. This was something he thrived on. Hod and David usually met up a little earlier than the rest of the council, going over last minute ideas and changes, just to make sure.

"I think the 9-school gymnasium proposal is going well," Hod said, "but you're going to have to really watch the budget on that one. Some of the board members are starting to have second thoughts on it, David."

"I think I can handle that," David said easily.

Hod shook his head, "Don't just charm them into working for you again. I've told you before, you need to listen to opposing views, not just assume that you're always right."

"That you are always right. All my best ideas came from you, Hod." David pointed out.

"David, we're just kids. Even getting the school board to consider the idea is incredible. But getting it built? That's a big deal. And you might like to think so, but I don't know everything. I've probably overlooked something, and I want to know about any problems we could face, so we can be absolutely prepared."

"Okay, I'll listen." David glanced around. "Where's Claire?"

Hod paused for a second. "She... well, I don't think she was comfortable with just me here." David could hear the hurt in his buddy's voice.

"Sorry bro. She can be really stuck up sometimes." David shook his head sadly.

"Love is not love, which alters when alteration finds," Hod quoted. "A little melodramatic I guess," He laughed bitterly, a short bark without humor, "but it seems to fit."

David put an arm around Hod's shoulder, "I wish I could help, you know that. I could set you up with Monica, Yue, Felicia, two different Sarahs... I'm sure any of them would go out with you if I asked them to."

"Shove off," Hod pushed his friend away, grinning. "I'm not cutting your grass."

"Whatever," David settled back in his own chair at the head of the table as the rest of the student council and some of the teachers filed in: Alex Snowater the secretary, Tonya Cottle the historian, Mr. Shumaker, and others. David smiled and greeted each one while Hod quietly gathered his things and went to the library, keeping the door open a crack. He wasn't technically part of the student council.