The iCongressman by Mikael Carlson

ensure
representatives have plenty of time in their districts. He scheduled
‘constituent work weeks’ so members can conduct business out of offices in
their home states.”
    “Yeah, do they really do that?” Xavier asks with a
suspicious look.
    “Probably not. The congressman does
though. What about you guys?” I ask, trying to get off the subject. “You make
it back to Millfield much?”
    “We’re in college, Chels,” Peyton replies. “We avoid coming
home at all costs unless our parents force us to.” The others laugh and nod in
agreement.
    “There is way too much going on at NYU to ever want to come
home,” Emilee, once the shyest and most introverted among our group says. “I am
sort of tired of living in a dorm though. It’s a twenty-five-minute walk to
class.” Yeah, tell me again why I didn’t go to Yale, Harvard, or Marist?
Twenty-five minutes. If she thinks that’s long, she should try my commute sometime.
    “Where do you stay down in D.C.?” Brian asks.
    “Vince, Vanessa, six other young government types, and I all
rent a house in the city.”
    “That sounds really cool,” Peyton says, almost in admiration
that I’m doing something else other than college and managing to survive.
    “Yeah, it’s okay I guess.”
    “All right, do the rest of you hear it too?” Amanda says to
the others and getting agreements.
    “Hear what?” I ask, perplexed. I probably shouldn’t be,
though. This group of friends knows me better than almost anyone.
    “You sound defeated and the campaign hasn’t even started
yet,” Brian observes. Maybe because I think losing is a foregone conclusion.
    “I’m fine.”
    “No, you’re acting the same way you did right after the
campaign announcement was a bust,” Emilee adds.
    “And after we lost the election. So, are you gonna tell us what’s up or force us to drag it out of you?”
Amanda directly challenges.
    All the emotions I have spent the last year suppressing well
up inside me. I have tried so hard to be strong, but the walls I built up are
crumbling. I can’t tell the congressman how I feel because he relies on me.
Vince and Vanessa really don’t understand the pressure of my job, even though
they work in the same office. My father can’t know I made a mistake by taking
this on. With those thoughts, I lose it.
    “I can’t do this job,” I sob, letting my frustration and
insecurities spill out. “It’s too big for me. We have had a horrible year and
it’s all my fault!”
    Emile gives me a hug, but it does little to stem the tears
pouring from my eyes. After a minute or so, my bawling lets up enough for Brian
to try to console me.
    “I’m sure that’s not the case, Chels.”
    “You don’t understand, Brian! You can’t. You haven’t been
with us and seen me fail time and again.”
    Brian started it. He tried to hide his smile, first by
squeezing his lips together, then by turning away. One by one, Amanda, Peyton,
and Xavier followed suit until they couldn’t hold it anymore and started
laughing. Emilee releases her hug and starts doing the same.
    How dare they laugh at me over something like this? I feel
betrayed by my friends. My insecurity gives way to remorse, and now I feel
something else—anger.
    “What the hell’s so damn funny?” I scream, only prompting
them to chuckle even harder. This is beginning to feel like a bad dream I am
hoping to wake up from.
    “We’re laughing because of you,” Brian says, pointing out
the obvious. “This has been your M.O. since we’ve known you. You’re not
failing, Chels, you’re just not living up to the incredibly high expectations
you set for yourself.”
    “That’s not true! This is different.”
    “No it’s not,” Emilee consoles. “Hon, you didn’t think you
could handle running the first campaign, either. So what happened? You came
within a hundred votes of winning against a tough incumbent while not taking a
stand on a single issue.”
    “And then you followed it with the