American Girl: Can't I Just Be Chloe?

We arrived at the courthouse and asked to see the highest ranking government official. In order to fix all of this, we needed the highest ranking government official to realize what I had. No one noticed that in the past week and Victoria was counting that no one would. Joe, Kyra, Selena, and I were soon brought before one of the people working on the election. The man sitting before us looked to me. “So, Ms Fletcher, you say that there is something that people overlooked when counting the results,” he said. “What exactly is that then?”

I nodded and set the binders in front of the man, opening them to front page. I then pointed to the altered book. “As I’m sure you very well know, the California seal is supposed to be imprinted in faded gold ink on the binder holding the results to the Californian Senator race. Well, I’d like you to take a good look at what was imprinted on this binder, the very same binder that you’ve had in your possession for the past week,” I explained.

The man looked at the binder. “There is no seal.”

“Exactly my point,” I replied. “That binder and the results contained within it was created by Craig Roberts’s daughter, Victoria Roberts, and switched out for the real results, which I had a friend retrieve for me from Victoria. She has no clue what I did and it is probably best if it remains that way since she’s dating my best friend. Now I want you to take a look at the binder that I retrieved from Victoria’s house. It is that binder that has the seal and holds the real results. So, I think that it would be in everybody’s best interest for a recount to be held in order to determine the true results of the Senate race. And, I would prefer it if my name was left out of this. No one must know that I am trying to do this, specifically Victoria Roberts. If she knew that I did this, she would absolutely kill me.”

“How can I be sure that this crime was not perpetrated by you, Ms. Fletcher?” the man asked. I could tell that this guy was not in the mood to hear this; he thought that I was trying to alter the results. Of course, there was one thing that he really didn’t seem to understand.

I was about to mention that thing to the official when Selena spoke up. “Excuse me, sir, but I don’t think you realize just know wrong you are. Chloe would never willingly change the results so that Craig Roberts would win. Victoria Roberts is Chloe’s best friend’s girlfriend and she hates her; she’d never let Victoria’s father take her mother’s Senate seat. And, it may seem like this whole escapade is fueled by a vendetta against Victoria, but it’s not.” Selena looked over at Joe before turning back to the official. “We had a friend spy on Victoria and she learned that Ms. Roberts committed fraud in order to ruin Chloe’s life. If you would like us to prove it, we will. If I can trick Victoria into telling us what she did, you’ll have all the proof you need as to what Ms. Roberts did.”

The man eyed me and Selena. I nodded. It was true. Everything Selena mentioned was 100% true. What surprised me about all of this was the fact that Selena would mention that Amanda spied on Victoria. We couldn’t exactly tell anyone that Amanda did that since she was a ghost. No one in the world would believe us if we told them. I elbowed Selena. “Why would you tell him that?” I whispered. “You know we can’t exactly tell him who found out the truth. Amanda is no longer with us and our story can’t really be corroborated.”

Selena shrugged. “It seems to be the only way. I know that Amanda is no longer with us, but she is the only one who knows that Victoria is responsible. And, in a way, a ghost could communicate with the living. There would be a way for Amanda to talk to Betsy.”

“I guess,” I replied, quickly turning to the official. “So, will this recount take place or is the world stuck with Craig Roberts as the wrongfully sworn in Californian Senator?”

He nodded. “Unless you have proof.”

I rolled my eyes. “Do it anyway. You’ll have all the proof you need shortly. Plus, I can guarantee you having the perpetrator’s name by Thanksgiving,” I explained. Ultimately, that meant that someone would have to try Victoria into telling them what she did. And, I had a feeling that I knew who it had to be. Only Dean, Dana, Kyle, or Zoe could do this.

“Fine,” the man said. “But, you only have until Thanksgiving to prove what happened. If you can’t, the recount goes out the window and Mr. Roberts becomes the Senator in place of your mother.”

I nodded, not caring that I only had a week to deal with all of this. All that mattered was that I was given a chance to prove that Victoria Roberts had done all of this into order to ruin my life. She only cared about herself, the vain little witch. Victoria was trying to ruin my life so that she could have Frankie and the Jonas family all to herself. No one but us could understand that because no one really understood the rivalry that Vicky and I had between us; we were fighting for the affection of a certain Jonas, yet no one outside of the Jonas or Geiger family knew anything about anything that was going on.

We left and headed out to the doctor’s appointment Kyra had. Joe and Kyra went in while Selena and I waited outside in the car. As we waited, we contacted Betsy and the others to let them know what had to occur. They needed to know that we had to trick Victoria into telling us what she did and proving that she committed fraud in order to ruin my life. “Betsy,” Selena asked, “can you think of anyway for us to trick Victoria into telling us about the crime she committed? In order for anyone to believe us that Senator Fletcher is the one that truly belongs in the Senate, we need to get proof by Thanksgiving of what she did. We can’t exactly rely on Amanda’s word since she is nothing more than a ghost.”

“Completely understandable,” Betsy replied.

“What are we going to do then?” I asked.

Betsy sighed heavily and started talking to Nick and Kevin. I heard bits and pieces of the conversation between them before Betsy turned her attention back to us and told us what was going on. “It’s actually pretty obvious as to what must be done, guys, in order to fix all of this. We need someone that Victoria has never met before and has no clue that we know them. Obviously then, Zoe could never do it because she was here more the wedding and stayed up until October 20th, but Kyle, Dean, or Dana could. Victoria has no clue that they’re my cousin and Kyra’s half-siblings, meaning that they are the only ones who can help us with all of this. Kyle wasn’t at the wedding or spent anytime out here due to a karate tournament and Kyra’s half-siblings haven’t been out here in six years. We’ll have to ask one of them to do this for us; otherwise, your mom is out of a job.”

“Will it work?” I asked.

“It needs to,” Betsy explained.

“Obviously,” Joe said suddenly.

I turned around and saw that Joe and Kyra were standing there. They probably heard the entire conversation. “How much of our conversation did you hear?” I asked them. Since the phone was on speakerphone at the moment, I could only assume that it was all of it.

“Just what Betsy said,” Kyra explained.

“Then you obviously know that we need to talk to your half-siblings about tricking Victoria into telling us what’s going on. And, it would have to be recorded so that it can be played back for any government official that might want to hear it,” I told her.

“I’ll ask them when they come,” Kyra said.

“Good,” Betsy said through the phone. “Now, why don’t you guys come back over here? We’re going to need all the help we can get in order to make sure that everything goes according to plan. Victoria is not going to get away with doing all of this; she will come to realize that she is not allowed to do this. Committing fraud merely in order to ruin the life of her boyfriend’s best friend…well, ex-best friend now, that just isn’t right and Victoria knows that. She just doesn’t seem to care though. That girl is vain and I am not about to let her continue ruining your life, Chloe. She’s already been able to destroy the seven year friendship that you had with Frankie. I’d hate to see that friendship stay broken forever.”

So, we said goodbye to Betsy and headed back to Joe’s. As I did, I hoped that everything was going to work out our way. I refused to accept the fact that there was a chance that Victoria was going to get away with all of this. Victoria Roberts could not continue doing this. I wouldn’t let her; no one who knew me was ever going to let it happen.