Saving prom, p.18
Saving Prom, page 18
I reached out and put my hand on hers. It was meant to be a soothing and calming sort of gesture, but it only seemed to encourage her. She stared at Helen with daggers in her eyes.
Helen sighed. Shook her head. But for a wonder she was smiling. That was a surprise.
"Oh how I remember what it was like to be young and full of fire like the two of you," she said. "There are times when I miss those days, and there are times when I need a reminder that even though I'm old it’s not like the old fire is gone. Not completely. Even if I did end up moving back home."
"What’s that supposed to mean?" I asked. "It's all well and good that you're taking a trip down memory lane, but this is our life. And unless you really are going to help us instead of remember at us…"
There was a time when I would’ve never dreamed of talking to an adult like this, but a lot had changed. We’d been through a lot. And I was a lot more willing to fight for me, to fight for us, now than I'd ever been before.
"If you would allow me to actually speak without interrupting me then maybe I could get around to telling you what I came here to say. Or do you have more irritation from your principal that you want to take out on me? Not that I blame you."
I blushed. She had a point. We had interrupted her at every turn.
"Sorry," I said.
“Never apologize for standing up for yourself," she said. "That's a lesson everyone should learn early in their lives. But you should also try to remain civil with someone who says they're trying to help you rather than assuming they’re out to get you right away. That's another lesson that it took me a long time to learn. Maybe it won't be as hard for you as it was for me."
"So what did you come here to say?" I asked, not wanting another awkward trip down memory lane.
"I came to apologize on behalf of the school board and the school system," she said. “I came here several times, but it was difficult to apologize while the two of you were off in New York enjoying the city.”
My blush only deepened. Duh. Of course she wouldn’t be able to apologize to us in person if we were halfway across the country in the big city. Oops.
“The way you were treated was terrible, and not at all in line with the kind of educational environment we want to provide for our students. The kind of inclusive educational environment, I might add."
"Maybe you should have thought of that before you hired a Bible thumper for the high school principal job,” Felicity said. “He thumped that Bible good and hard right over our heads. It’s not fun.”
I snorted. I couldn't help it. She had a point.
"Something you might learn as you get older is you can't ask someone about their religious affiliation for a job,” Helen said. “And it’s not supposed to go into your hiring decision if you don’t want to get your pants sued off. Though with the way this decision has worked out it would seem we might be getting sued either way.”
That seemed kind of silly to me. What if a place was hiring a priest or something? Religious affiliation seemed like it would be pretty damn important in that case, but I decided to leave it be.
"So what happens now?" I asked. “That apology doesn’t magically make everything better.”
"The school board will be making an official announcement that says the same thing that I just said to you, but I wanted to deliver the message to you in person. We truly regret the unfortunate experience you've had."
"So what? You're hoping we aren’t going to sue you now?" Felicity asked.
Helen turned and smiled a thin smile at Felicity. "You're going to be allowed to go to prom. There's going to be no discrimination, so I seriously doubt the attorneys who were foaming at the mouth to sue the small-town school system that wanted to keep you from going to your prom are going to be as up in arms over this issue now that it isn't an issue any longer, but we’ll see. Your principal didn’t represent the official policy of this school system when he made that decision, after all.”
"So you're trying to outmaneuver us," I said. "That's what this is all about."
"What this is all about is justice," Helen said. "And treating people right regardless of who they are or what they believe or who they love. I believe that very strongly, and I was horrified when I found out what was being done in the name of the school system that I've tried so hard to build into something good."
"Why should we believe you?" Felicity asked.
She turned her sharp stare on Felicity.
"You know I haven't always lived around here," she said. "Oh I was born and raised in this town, to be sure, but I decided early on that I wanted to see the wider world. To get a taste or what life was like in the big city. I had stars in my eyes and dreams back then.”
The sharpness had gone from her stare. It was clear that she was very far from my kitchen as she reminisced about the good old days.
“My path took me to a little place called the Village right around the time Stonewall happened. I was very active back then working on behalf of my friends, and I'm not going to see that kind of bigotry showing up in my town. At least not where I can do something about it."
"Stonewall?" Felicity asked. "What’s that?"
Helen's grin split her face this time. No more thin knowing smiles. No, this time around she seemed genuinely amused by Felicity's ignorance.
"Look it up sometime," she said. "You might find it quite educational. You might even see me in some of those pictures. Assuming you can figure out what I looked like back then. My face was quite different than what I see in the mirror today."
My mom chose that moment to step into the kitchen. She looked between the three of us with obvious suspicion.
“You weren't talking to her, were you?" she asked.
"We were," I said. "And I think we've gone over everything we need to. What do you think Felicity?"
"I think so too," she said.
"What?” my mom asked.
“We’ll fill you in later," I said. "For now it looks like things might be getting back to normal."
I smiled at Felicity. It was a nice homecoming present to feel like things might be okay at long last.
I had no idea just how wrong I was.
32
Cancelled
I should've known something was up the moment we pulled up to school the next day. There was never a crowd of people out in front of the school that early in the morning.
Unless you're talking the very first day of school or the very last day. Other than that people went inside for morning classes. Everyone was too exhausted from getting up at the crack of dawn.
It was a beautiful day. I remember thinking how the nice day fit my mood perfectly. It was one of those days where everything seemed to be going right.
Why shouldn't I think everything was going right? I'd just gotten off of a one-week suspension where my parents told me I could do whatever I wanted, I got to hang out with my girlfriend, and on top of that I’d gone on a whirlwind trip to New York where I found out there were a lot more people on my side than I thought.
Why wouldn't I feel pretty good after all that? Especially since the president of the school board had been waiting for us when we got home to tell us the people in charge were on our side too.
I didn't think anything bad could possibly happen when we got to school the next day, but I guess that just shows how young and naïve I was.
"Why the hell is there a crowd out there?" Felicity asked.
"I don't know," I said. "But I don't like it."
“And why are there so many news vans out there?" she asked.
"I really don't know," I said.
As we watched everybody gathered out in front of those news vans it was as though there was a wave directed at us. People turned and saw Felicity's car. Everybody knew everyone else around here so it's not like it was difficult for them to figure out when we showed up.
That they'd been waiting for us to show up there was no doubt. The news people also turned and went after us, and that's when I noticed the cops who'd shown up to do crowd control.
Shit. This was looking bad.
"Why the hell are there cops here?" Felicity asked.
"Come on," I said, moving to address the panic that was clearly rising in her voice. "It's not like they're going to arrest us or anything. It's not like us being with each other is still illegal around here."
I paused. Thought about some of the things I’d learned when I went down the rabbit hole the night before to learn more about Helen and this Stonewall place. Talk about one hell of a history lesson.
If that crazy old bat really had been there then she’d seen some shit, is all I’m saying, and she didn’t even have to. That more than anything convinced me she was on our side.
"At least it's not illegal anymore."
I said that a little quieter. I figured it was good to remember there was a time not all that long ago when somebody could've thrown us into jail for who we loved.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Felicity asked.
"Nothing," I said. "Just keep driving."
"What? Like don't go to school? We'd only get in more trouble if we don’t go after we’ve been suspended for a week."
"That's not what I'm talking about," I said. "Keep driving and park in the student parking lot. We can avoid all of this if we go in there."
"Oh," Felicity said.
I noticed the way her eyes lingered on the crowd. Like she was itching to go out there and confront whatever was happening. Even if it obviously couldn’t mean anything good for us.
I sighed. "New York really changed us, didn't it?"
"What do you mean?" Felicity asked.
"I can tell you want to go out there and get in a fight," I said.
"And you don't?" she asked.
I stared at the crowd. Thought about how easy it would be to go around to student parking and avoid this whole big mess. Maybe they just wanted to talk to us after our trip to New York where we'd made so many headlines, but I couldn't shake the feeling that there was something more going on here.
"Even if we ignore them they're still going to come after us, aren't they?" I asked.
"I think so," Felicity said. "I thought it was over, but I guess we were wrong."
I sighed. "Go ahead and park on the street then."
"You don't think those cops will ticket me?" she asked.
"I think we're the ones everyone is waiting on," I replied. “And I think they’re too busy holding back the crowds to worry about ticketing you for parking in front of the school.”
I guess the logic of what I said made sense, because she pulled into a spot on the street. Normally students weren’t allowed to park there during the day, but the cops were too busy holding back the crowd to worry too much about us.
We got out and the reporters shouted questions at us. It was a confusing mess. I couldn't imagine being the kind of celebrity that had to deal with this kind of bullshit on the regular.
"What do you think about the announcement today?" one reporter shouted.
"Are you going to continue your lawsuit now that the school board and the principal are disagreeing with each other?” someone else asked.
That was good for a chill. The principal and the school board were fighting. Which meant all those guarantees Helen had given us were probably about to evaporate. Suddenly this massive crowd being out here made a hell of a lot more sense.
"Damn," I whispered.
"Yeah," Felicity said. "Looks like we aren't out of the fire yet after all."
"You don't know that," I said. "It could just be that…"
I wasn't sure what it could be. All I knew was something was about to go down. A podium had been set up on the steps leading into the front entrance. I hadn’t been able to see it from the street because of the crowd in the way, but now that we were closer and that crowd was parting around us it was difficult to miss.
And standing there on those steps was none other than our good friend principal Jackass. Damn.
"What do you think he wants?" Felicity asked.
"Nothing good," I said.
He stepped up to the podium and looked at the two of us. Clearly he’d been waiting for us to show up. He paused in front of the microphones and seemed to relish looking at all the reporters gathered out there. As though they were there to report on how wonderful he was and not on what a jackass he was.
Then again if there was ever an era in America where the jackass who thought negative attention was a good thing to be celebrated then it was now.
What I'm trying to get at is the guy was the kind of person who seemed to love being in the limelight. Which I guess makes sense considering what he's done since going on a whirlwind hater tour where he talks to churches and other groups about the mean liberal gay girls who ruined his life. As though he wasn't the architect of his own undoing.
Yeah, our principal was a bit of a drama queen.
"Good morning to you all," he said. "I'm glad that you all come out for this important announcement."
Some of the reporters tried to shout, but he held up a hand and waited until they’d quieted down. He was playing them like they were an unruly classroom, and for a surprise it actually seemed to work.
I was going to have to remember how to do that considering how much I'd been dealing with reporters lately.
"I've called everyone here today for an announcement," he said. "And that is that we have been unable to secure enough ticket sales for prom to move forward.”
There was a collective intake of breath from everyone. He looked down at us specifically.
"And I can assure you those low ticket sales are due to the difficulties we've had surrounding the prom. In the interest of defusing that controversy and shielding the school system from potential lawsuits I have come to the decision that we are not going to hold a prom at all this year. It's been canceled. Thank you."
And with that he wheeled around and walked inside. Though that didn't stop him from fixing me and Felicity with one last self-satisfied smirk. A smile that said he clearly thought he'd won the day.
“What an asshole,” I said.
"You're not going to get any disagreement from me,” Felicity replied.
As I looked around the crowd I could see that what he was trying to do was working. Everybody was staring at us as though we’d turned into ogres or something.
Was it rational to blame us for our asshole principal cancelling prom? No, but that's not the way high school kids think.
If you're looking for rational then high school isn’t the place to go looking for it.
I put my hand on Felicity's arm. We were vulnerable and right in the middle of a crowd of students who'd just been turned against us by a master manipulator.
"I think it might be a good idea for us to get the hell out of here," I said.
Felicity looked around at the crowd and seemed to realize that yeah. We were totally in some potentially serious trouble here.
"Yeah," she said. "I think you might be right. Let's get out of here."
That crowd was angry. It was the first time in my life I'd felt like I was being physically threatened, but none of them tried to stop us as we moved up to the school doors and stepped inside. I finally breathed a sigh of relief when we got inside, but even that was short-lived.
Because none other than principal Asshole was standing just inside staring at us with such a look of supreme self-satisfaction that I wanted to launch myself at him and claw his eyes out.
I didn't. One of the things we’d covered with the nice attorneys from the ACLU in New York was that no matter how we got baited we needed to be above the fray. The last thing we needed to do was get into a fight unless we absolutely had to defend ourselves.
So I resisted the urge to give him one hell of a black eye, but the urge was there.
And now I get to give him that black eye in this book. Socially speaking. Not literally. But it still feels pretty good.
The man is an asshole, and he deserves a lifetime of going from church to church speaking with ever smaller groups of people who are willing to listen to the hate he spews into the world. That seems like a more fitting punishment than a right hook.
33
Misused Funds
Prom cancelled: Moral crusade or scam?
The high school newspaper has obtained documents from the prom committee indicating that the cancellation of the upcoming prom might have been prompted not by the moral scandal our principal is manufacturing that has made our school a national embarrassment, but rather because they failed to reach the minimum number of tickets required by contract to keep the venue.
Sources on the prom committee have provided the school paper with documentation proving that a large nonrefundable deposit of fifteen thousand dollars was paid to the University Ballroom. The contract additionally had a rider requiring a minimum number of ticket sales in order for the event to move forward.
Note that the number of ticket sales required in this rider were close to the total number of tickets that have been sold for each prom held over the past ten years according to prom committee records. Meaning the rider was a difficult number to clear even before the principal began manufacturing a controversy.
When asked for comment, the principal declined. He released a written statement that said they had no way of knowing that ticket sales would be so low, and repeated his claim that difficulties surrounding two girls who wanted to attend prom together were responsible for causing ticket sales to be depressed.
It's notable, however, that ticket sales were already much lower year to year compared to previous years even before the controversy. Students have been complaining about high prices. Ticket prices went up by an astounding 200% over previous years when prom was held in the gym and costs were kept under control by reusing old decorations and handcrafting new decorations.
While it is impossible to truly understand our principal’s motivations for canceling the prom, the timing is questionable. The cancellation came right after the principal and head of the prom committee learned that ticket sales had not reached an acceptable volume to use of the University Ballroom, and it would appear that the girls being scapegoated are a convenient excuse for mismanagement of the prom this year rather than being the true cause of prom being canceled.
