“We can’t waste any time,” I say, addressing the gang at our usual place in the library. “Governor Schneider will be our next target. The livelihoods of a few of us may depend on it. It has to be now.”
“Isn’t it too late?” Ashley questions. “The law has already passed. And even if we take out this guy’s palace, they’ll just replace him with some new dipshit.”
“No- it’s not that simple,” I argue. “Schneider is uniquely dangerous. Some generic politician taking his place will at least be a reversion to the status quo.”
“If nothing else, we gotta do it for Anja’s mom,” Nova adds.
“Oh, I’m not saying we shouldn’t do it,” Ashley clarifies. “I’ll smite his wretched ass out of spite. I just don’t know how much it will change. If it’s really gonna save Charlotte and I.”
“It has to!” Charlotte pleads.
“Even merely slowing down the process is worthwhile,” Ruth says in agreement. “And, if we give the defeated Schneider the correct stipulations, we may be able to totally prevent the worst of the damage.”
“Yeah, tell him that he has to stay in power and just not enforce the law against anyone innocent,” Kevin suggests.
“But that’d be up to the Attorney General,” Ashley retorts.
“Even then, if there is infighting within the executive branch, it would slow the process,” Ruth continues. “There’s only potential upside.”
“But… how are we going to get up there?” Zoe wonders aloud.
“Up where?” Nova asks.
“Onto that ship,” Zoe elaborates.
“Huh?” Charlotte asks.
“We saw what we think is Schneider’s palace while rescuing Zoe,” I explain. “It was sort of an airship being propelled by these huge fans. Gave off steampunk vibes.”
“Well, I can fly,” Nova offers. “I’ll just ferry you guys up there one by one.”
“And get shot down?” Ashley argues.
“Do they have anti-air guns?” Charlotte wonders.
“I… didn’t see any?” Zoe says uncertainly.
“So we’ll just hope they don’t have any, and then if they we do, we’re fucked. Got it,” Ashley concludes sarcastically.
“We’ll… have to think that one over,” I say. “We probably won’t be able to do anything today anyway, since it’s a school night, and we’ll have to go out of town for this.”
“And what if they come for us today?” Ashley asks coldly. Charlotte gasps.
“They won’t,” Kevin says assuringly. “Laws don’t take effect until the start of the next year.”
“Depends on the law,” Ruth points out. “I’m sure if they’re willing to rush this through Congress, they wouldn’t have written in a delay to its effect.”
“For what it’s worth, my dad thinks it’s going to be blocked by the courts,” I say.
“It probably will be,” Ruth agrees. “This is a pretty flagrant violation of multiple rights. It’ll be easy to contest.”
“Yeah, but how long is that gonna take?” Ashley questions.
“Nothing we can do about that, I suppose,” I say, sighing.
The bell rings. I reluctantly go to class, wishing that I could’ve given everyone more assurances.
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Time has come for my speech. The timing of this was… either lucky or unlucky, depending on how you want to evaluate it. I had to make some last minute changes last night.
As a boy in his senior year is awkwardly fumbling through his own speech as I look it over one last time off stage. I think I’ve managed to say what I want to say while establishing a bulletproof connection to the prompt at hand, that being the importance of education in our adult lives. Reading between the lines, this is clearly meant to be a promotion of the NHS itself, with the student body held as a captive audience by the assembly. It’s supposed practice for public speaking, but isn’t that what speech class is for? Anyway, I digress. It seems as if it’s my turn, so I walk to the mic, setting my paper down on the podium, and begin.
“Good afternoon, fellow students of Enchantment City High School. If you don’t know me, my name is Ruth Antunez. I am a tenth grade student in the National Honor Society. I’m in the National Honor Society because I believe that education for its own sake is worthwhile. I believe that all subjects we learn in school, whether it be mathematics, reading and writing, social studies, science, and even the fine arts, help us build invaluable skills that will be useful in our lives and careers. I would like to use social studies as an example. We are often told as students that we are tomorrow’s leaders. Yet, often I have heard a peer complain, ‘Why do we need to do any of this? Why does it matter who the founding fathers are, or what dates that wars happened on, or who was president at what time?’ My belief is that the learning of social studies is valuable because nothing that happened in the past, nothing that exists in our history books, exists in isolation. Stories of both American and world history are not merely tales to be told. These events have ripple effects that can affect us even to today. Furthermore, many historic events were caused by factors that in some ways can be similar to things happening in the world today. Therefore, similar events could happen again in our future. It is often said that ‘history repeats.’
“One pattern that reoccurs across history is the occurrence of ‘moral panics.’ A moral panic is a widespread and often irrational fear of an evil person, group or idea that threatens the well being of society. The Salem Witch Trials from early in American history are an example. In Salem, Massachusetts, over two hundred people were accused of witchcraft during the 1690s, which led to thirty people being found guilty, and nineteen being hanged, most of whom were women. This was not the last moral panic in American history. More recent examples include the Red Scare and the Satanic Panic. Both of these were events that our parents lived through. Moral panics frequently lead to people being unfairly accused and mistreated, so as the future leaders of America, it is our responsibility to learn about these historic events in hopes that this part of history does not repeat.
“While the Salem Witch Trials only affected a small number of people, the outcomes of moral panics such as these could potentially become far worse if continued over a long stretch of time and in the right circumstances. For example, moral panics were part of the causality behind the Holocaust, an event that happened in Germany in the 1940s in which an estimated seventeen million people, of which about six million were Jews, were killed. Part of the justification for the Holocaust were beliefs that Jewish people controlled the banking system and used this power to subvert society. Other groups killed in the Holocaust included political enemies of the Nazi party, people with disabilities, some ethnic groups such as the Romani, and homosexuals. What often gets neglected when teaching about this history is that LGBT people were one of the first groups to come under fire.” I begin to hear muttering in the crowd of students, but I push on. “The archives of the at-time-time ground-breaking research done by the Institut für Sexualwissenschaft were among the first to be destroyed by Nazi book-burnings. As the Texas state government and many municipal governments spread moral panic around LGBT people and attempt to ban all literature discussing LGBT topics from public libraries, I urge us all to be mindful of the potential outcomes of-”
I notice that my microphone isn’t working and stop. The auditorium is in near-uproar. Many students in the crowd are talking to each other, some looking worried, others laughing.
“Thank you, Ruth,” Mrs. Gibbs tells me through her own microphone. “You may be seated. Students, as principal of Enchant-”
“YOU CUT HER OFF!” a voice yells from the crowd. “LET HER FINISH!”
I look to the crowd to see that the shout came from Anja, who has risen to her feet. For a fleeting moment, I feel the infatuation I once felt three years ago flush through me once again. Nova is by her side, grabbing her hand and saying something into her ear.
“Sit down!” Mrs. Gibbs snaps at her. “This is unacceptable behavior for an assembly! Everyone be quiet at once!”
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“Why should we? You interrupted her!” Anja snaps back. Some of the other students laugh.
“You are both suspended!” Mrs. Gibbs says coldly.
“WHAT? WHAT DID I DO?” Nova protests. The auditorium erupts once again.
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We’re chaperoned into the hallway by the assistant principal. Mrs. Gibbs strides out soon after, looking livid, her high heels clicking against the floor like the march of an army.
“You know you’re proving Ruth correct right now, right?” I snark at her.
“Not another word from you, Beulen,” Mrs. Gibbs commands.
“I’m just saying, this is a bunch of bullshit,” Nova explains defensively. “I was literally just trying to calm her down-”
“Don’t you dare use such foul language in these halls, you good-for-nothing cretin!” Mrs. Gibbs reprimands.
“Wooow,” Nova says incredulously. “Okay, Mom.”
I’m about to unload onto her for daring to speak to Nova that way, when a girl’s voice interrupts with, “Mrs. Gibbs, you can’t suspend them. They only wanted to stick up for their friend.”
“Don’t get involved, Hannah,” Mrs. Gibbs says exhaustedly.
Sure enough, none other than Kevin’s new girlfriend Hannah strides out into the hallway.
“Mrs. Gibbs, we can’t treat our gay or bisexual students any differently than our straight ones,” Hannah pleads.
“Our school… must comply with state law. We have no choice,” she says. “And what these two did was disrespectful, disruptive, and uncouth.”
“I didn’t do anything,” Nova retorts.
“Go ahead and suspend me. I don’t give a fuck,” I tell her bluntly.
“What did you just say?” Mrs. Gibbs questions, temper visibly rising.
“I’m not coming back here anyway, if you’re going to start picking on all the queer kids. It’s not safe!” I challenge.
“I’m with you, Anja,” Hannah says confidently.
Mrs. Gibbs sighs. “Don’t you get yourself into trouble too, Hannah.”
“We’ll do a walkout, with anyone else who wants to join,” Hannah suggests. “I’ll tell everyone.”
“Like the ones they do after school shootings?” I say, smiling. “That’s a great idea, Hannah!”
“I guess I’m already suspended, so whatever,” Nova agrees.
Looking defeated, Mrs. Gibbs merely shakes her head, and returns to the auditorium, beginning a desperate and doomed attempt to keep the peace by demanding the babbling student body be quiet. Hannah and I exchange a look. I didn’t expect to gain her as a comrade in arms here, but I’m grateful. I think people will listen to her- she’s tall and pretty.
“Guess we’re doing it together, huh?” I say.
She nods seriously.
The school has seemingly given up on the assembly, and students begin pouring out of the auditorium to go back to class. Nova and I part ways with Hannah soon after, and I start pondering how I’m going to explain what happened to Dad…
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Geez, what a bunch of drama. As soon as my row is dismissed, I look around for Ruth, but I don’t see her.
“Whoa. That was crazy!” Mason says from behind me. Diana and Yonca, who must have been sitting nearby, are right behind him.
“I’ll say! I can’t believe they cut her mic!” I exclaim. “That was rude.”
“Someone must have gotten really offended,” Yonca says. “Nobody likes being compared to the Nazis.”
“Yeah, I guess not,” I say. “Still, I see where she was coming from, with all that stuff about, uh, when people panic too much.”
“Kevin, I know that Ruth’s your friend, but… she was being a little absurd,” Diana says indignantly. “I mean, isn’t that kind of an extreme example? Does she think that the Texas government is going to put gay people in camps?”
“They can’t get away with that!” Mason assures. “The federal government would be like, ‘uh, no. That’s not cool.’”
“But, nobody’s even talking about that!” Diana continues. “I mean, some books being banned from a library is bad, I get how it violates free speech and all, but… it’s not The Holocaust.”
Her words seem sensible, but… something nags at me when she says this. Like it brought back a memory, but I can’t quite see it yet. Oh well.
“I’m sure Ruth wasn’t expecting a warm reception to her points,” Yonca says enigmatically.
“Kevin!” Hannah says, cutting her way through the crowd to get to me.
“Hannah! Were you rowing with the principal?” Diana asks, sounding both horrified and impressed.
“Anja and I were talking,” Hannah explains. “Tomorrow, we’re going to hold a walkout to protest the law that was passed yesterday, since Gibbs just told me that they’re going along with it.”
“A walkout?” Yonca asks nervously. “Aren’t you gonna get in trouble?”
“I can’t stand to see the voices of women who speak up being silenced,” Hannah states seriously.
Diana rolls her eyes. “I don’t think this is about women. Nova was being suspended too, remember?”
“Yeah, they punished the autistic kid who was just standing next to her and not doing anything,” Mason points out. “That doesn’t make them look bad at all.”
“Ah. Fair point,” Diana concedes, looking embarrassed.
“So. Are you guys in?” Hannah asks.
“Well, I’m kinda obligated to, am I?” I joke.
“I…” Yonca starts to say, before frowning and cutting herself off.
“Wait, what law?” Diana asks.
“They passed a law yesterday, about, well, uh, wait a second,” I say, realizing something mid-explanation. “I thought that law was about parents being arrested or something. What does that have to do with school?”
“That’s only part of the law,” Hannah explains. “Another provision is that schools are required to perform their own investigations into students they think have been groomed. And since the law says that being bisexual or gay is a sign of that…”
“Hey! That’s like, half my friend group!” I protest.
“Exactly,” Hannah says. “I could be targeted as well, given some of my past relationships with girls. Best to get ahead of the curve.”
“Whoah, she’s bisexual? I didn’t know that!” Mason comments.
“By the way, I’m bisexual,” Hannah states. “Understand why I feel so invested in this now?”
“Yeah…” Diana says. “It’s just… I dunno, this seems kinda crazy…”
“WALK AND TALK! WALK AND TALK EVERYONE! YOU SHOULD BE BACK IN CLASS!” A burly teacher with a southern drawl shouts near us.
“We’ll discuss later, okay?” Hannah says.
“Yeah,” I say.
We share a brief hug, and then get to class before we become the next casualties of Principal Gibbs’s wrath.
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As if I weren’t on edge enough already. Now Anja and Nova have been suspended for some bullshit reason. I mean, come on, Taryn didn’t even get a write-up when she shoved Zoe to the floor. I fucking hate this shitty school. Ruth’s right, these fuckers are a bunch of nazis.
And guess what. You’ll never believe this. I’m completely right to be paranoid. I always have been. Because everyone is out to get me.
And I know this because a police car just pulled in front of our house.
“Mom... Dad... there’s a police car outside.”
“Hmm?” Dad grunts, looking up from his newspaper.
“They're here because of that new law. I’ll bet anything,” I say.
“Ashley…” Mom starts to say, sighing.
“We need to do something!” I interrupt. “Hide, run away. Get some of Mom's guns and…”
“Ashley, we are not getting into a shootout with the police!” Mom whispers furiously.
“Then... the Metaverse! We can escape from there!” I say quickly.
“Now, get a grip on yourself, please,” Dad says in his usual infuriatingly calm tone. “Your mom and I have contingencies planned for any worst case scenario that plays out.”
“What?” I ask.
Before I have any more time to wonder what the fuck he’s talking about…
Knock knock knock.
“I will answer,” Dad says, getting to his feet. He gives Mom a look. “Alyssa.” Mom nods. Great, they’re doing that telepathic communication thing again.
Zoe emerges from her room, looking scared. “Wh-who’s at the door?” she asks.
“We need to go. Now,” I say, grabbing her by the wrist.
However, Mom one-ups me and grabs my wrist. “Ashley! You need to listen to me. We're going to be okay. Running away or fighting is going to make things worse. We can fight this legally.”
“Are you insane?” I question, yanking my hand away. “They're coming for us, right now! This place has become fascist!”
“Not yet,” Mom says coolly.
I scoff at her. “Mom! How don't you understand what's going on here?”
“I do!” she whispers, getting close to my face. “Your dad and I prepared for this. You are to calm yourself right now.”
“Dear? Kids?” Dad calls from the front doorway.
Mom steps back. “Come with me, both of you. Stay calm and don't say a word.”
I shake my head, and step back myself towards the back door. “Fuck that.”
I see Mom’s fists clench. For a moment, I think she may scream. But then, she exhales deeply.
“Then go somewhere else, the house of one of your friends,” she says in a low voice. “Your father and I will talk to the police.”
I stare into her eyes. She’s serious about this.
I suppose she wouldn't want to leave without Dad anyway. Whatever thing they've planned, I suppose they're committed to it.
“Come on, Zoe,” I say, reaching for my phone.
“We’re… leaving?” Zoe asks, sounding close to tears.
“Go with her. We're going to be okay,” Mom says reassuringly. “You'll be contacted soon. I love you both.”
Zoe sniffles. “I love you too,” she says.
I can’t bear to say anything at the moment, so I simply take Zoe and I into the Metaverse.