The Alliance Read Online Free Page A

through with this.”
    â€œYeah, I told you I was. I gotta get thirty students to sign it, and so far I’ve got one. Me.”
    Cory handed me the clipboard. “Jesus started with five loaves of bread and two fish, and He fed the multitudes. I’m sure you can do it.”
    The headache I’d started to get during lunch faded. I loved it when Cory believed in me. “Hey, since I got you here, would you sign …?”
    The next bell rang and she ran off. “Gonna be late for lunch!” she said. “Catch me later.”
    I waved as she disappeared around the corner. I wished we had the same lunch period. With her at my side, I bet I could have gotten more than thirty signatures.
    I took my seat in English and waited for Mr. Olson to pass out the exam. But my head wasn’t there. I needed twenty-nine more signatures. Mrs. Carney thought there was a way to do it. I just needed to figure it out.

Y
    ou’d think that with all the time I spent in the vice principal’s office, I was some kind of public menace. At least, that’s what most of the faculty thought. I never got why the stuff I did to end up in the office was considered “making trouble.” I had opinions, and sometimes I expressed them. Very loudly.
    I was never disrespectful. But if Mr. Olson said we couldn’t read
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
because it contained the N-word, I would explain that the book was a product of its time and was antislavery in many ways. I expressed lots of opinions like that about the books we could and couldn’t read. And sometimes, instead of having an intelligent conversation about it, the teacher would get upset at the girl with the pierced lip and send her to the vice principal.
    So, it was really weird to be in Mr. Winston’s office without having done a thing. I just got a note when I went to homeroom: PLEASE REPORT TO MR. WINSTON’S OFFICE. I thought maybe it was because I’d laughed in Olson’s class. But as much as Olson hated me, I knew he wouldn’t send me here for something like that.
    â€œAm I in trouble?” I asked.
    Winston had invited me to sit across from him at the desk but then hadn’t said anything. He just sat there.
    â€œMs. Mendoza,” he said, “I’m told you recently asked for paperwork to start a Gay–Straight Alliance in school. Is that true?”
    Oh.
That.
    â€œYes, Mr. Winston. It’s my understanding that any student can petition to have a special-interest group started at school, provided they follow procedure. And that’s what I’m doing.”
    Winston nodded. “And you really think there’s enough interest here? I mean, I don’t know any other gay students apart from you.”
    I bit my tongue. He was baiting me. Practically challenging me to lose my temper. No way would I give him the satisfaction.
    â€œI’m out and proud, Mr. Winston. Sure, everyone knows I’m queer. Just like everybody knew Jamie Ballard was queer. And look what happened to him.”
    Suddenly, the baiter became the baitee. Winston’s face flushed, and he shook his finger at me. “Nothing has proven that Jamie Ballard was bullied. I won’t have you spreading rumors …”
    â€œI’m not spreading anything, Mr. Winston,” I interrupted him gently. “But kids are being bullied, and it’s happening whether they’re gay or not. You can get bullied in this school if people even
think
you’re gay. A GSA would send the message that being queer is okay. It would tell queer students that they’re accepted. And it would tell straight students who are accused of being gay that they shouldn’t be ashamed.”
    Winston stewed. He couldn’t do much more. I wasn’t speaking loudly, just firmly. I looked him right in the eye and was careful not to look angry. He couldn’t do anything to me, and he knew it.
    He leaned back in his chair.