The Alliance Read Online Free

friend is gay. I’m the easiest target at school. How would you feel if people were calling me names?”
    And people
were
calling him names. And worse. But he never told me.
    I didn’t say a word to Maggie after that, and when we came to Southside, we hardly saw each other. Jamie had told me to apologize. I never did.
    â€œLook,” I said, “I’m really sorry about that. Really. I don’t do that anymore. I’m trying to start this GSA because of Jamie Ballard. He was being bullied and—”
    Shelly stood, and Maggie followed. “Come on, Maggie,” she said. “We’re not falling for any doglist.” And they walked off.
    Doglists. The football team was famous for the prank. Some guys would go around, trying to get girls to sign a petition that they claimed was to extend lunch hour or have shorter classes or some idea that was never gonna happen. Once a bunch of girls signed, they posted the list all over the school. But at the top, it said, “WE THE UNDERSIGNED ARE THE UGLIEST DOGS AT SOUTHSIDE.”
    I felt like crap. I didn’t think I’d ever done anything to Shelly. But she probably hated me just for how I’d treated Maggie. God, I was stupid.
    I took the clipboard and made the rounds to all the tables. The student council, the chess club, the Future Farmers of America. They all sat together and all refused to even look at the petition. I even hung out by the kitchen window, trying to snag people as they dropped off their trays. But nobody signed.
    I wasn’t going to give up. This was just one lunch period of three. I was sure Mr. Winston, the vice principal, would give me a pass to miss a couple classes and try to recruit from other periods. But I clearly needed to work on my pitch.
    â€œProblem, Scott?”
    I looked up and found Mrs. Carney, the media arts teacher, smiling at me. I’d had her for Media Studies last year. She was pretty cool.
    â€œHey, Mrs. Carney,” I said. “Yeah, big problem. I need to get thirty students to sign this, saying they think the school needs a GSA. But I’m not having much luck.”
    Mrs. Carney looked over the petition. “Is this about Jamie Ballard?”
    â€œYes, ma’am.”
    She nodded. “Well, you can start by signing it
yourself.
That might help. Someone needs to set a good example for the rest of the students.”
    I laughed. “You’re right.” And I threw my name down.
    â€œWhat about your teammates? Football? Baseball?”
    I thought about Ren. Even if I explained that signing the petition didn’t mean he had to join the GSA, I don’t think he’d get it. And I wasn’t sure about the rest of the teams either.
    â€œI could try,” I said. “To be honest, I thought I could get a ton of people to sign. I thought … people liked me. I mean, not sports people. But, I guess I used to be kind of a jerk.”
    Mrs. Carney folded her arms and smiled. “The good news, Scott, is that jerks can change. Everybody can change. But I don’t think you have time to wait for that. So maybe you should concentrate on your strengths for now.”
    â€œMy strengths?”
    â€œYou are liked, Scott. Think about it.” She tapped the clipboard and walked away. Mrs. Carney was always doing stuff like that. She had an answer, but she wanted me to come up with it on my own. It was kind of annoying.
    The bell rang, ending lunch. I joined everyone as they left the cafeteria and moved towards their next classes. I was almost to English when a pair of arms wrapped around my waist and pulled me aside. I turned to find Cory, grinning.
    â€œJust wanted to wish you luck on your English test today,” she said, kissing me on the cheek.
    â€œThanks,” I said. “But what I need is luck getting people to sign this.”
    She looked over the petition. She didn’t stop smiling, but her eyes narrowed. “Oh. You’re going