The Ribbon Campaign

five || of thoughts and writing

"You're kidding me, right?"

I bite down on my lip, looking up at Bryce, who is looking at me with a dumbfounded expression. "No...?"

"Please tell me this isn't really how you were planning to start your speech." When I don't answer, Bryce sighs exasperatedly and sits back down in his chair, putting the piece of paper back on the library table. "Oh, sweet Jesus."

"What's so bad about it?" I demand.

Bryce blinks at me before picking back up the piece of paper and reading, "Good evening. Today I will be talking to you about the Ribbon Campaign."

"Yeah," I say slowly. "So?"

"We're not in grade three anymore!" Bryce announces, then drops his head in his hands. "You're a lost cause."

I scoff at him, cowering a bit when I see a librarian nearby holding a finger to her lips.  Bryce has agreed to meet with me after school and told me to bring what I have so far. Which I've come to realize was a mistake, because all that lead to was him yelling at me.

Bryce wastes no time ripping up what I have and tossing it in the recycling. I go to yell at him, but Bryce holds his hand up. "No. You listen while I talk. What you wrote there sounded like it came from the guideline from a teacher. You even started your second paragraph with 'Secondly.' Ellie, this isn't an opinion piece! If you're going to write something to these people, it needs to be real and it's needs to come from you." I stare at Bryce, slightly dumbfounded he could tell me off like that, but don't interrupt him when he continues, "Let's begin with this. We're going to put away the paper and pencil, and you're going to tell me the whole story of how and why you came up with this campaign. Go."

I rub my hands together. "Okay. Um, so the story?"

Bryce nods. "Don't think, just talk."

"Okay. Well, I guess it started- well, I mean- Ryan's gay," I blurt out eloquently, making Bryce throw his head back and laugh, uncaring of the annoyed and sharp looks it earns him from around him.

"I'm aware," he says.

"And his boyfriend, Caiden," I look up to see if Bryce knows who I'm taking about, and he just nods, "Came out to his parents a couple of weeks ago, right? His parents didn't take it well, though, and they kicked him out. He's staying at our place, but it just got me... angry, you know? Like, Caiden is literally the sweetest kid I've ever met and those people treated him like garbage for something he had no control over."

"So Caiden comes, and you get this onrush of feelings," Bryce summarizes, and I nod. "You're angry, right? Why were you angry?"

"Well it's not fair," I begin, but Bryce cuts me off.

"That's the main thing, isn't it?" Bryce continues, and I can tell by the passion gleaming in his green eyes. "You felt it was unfair, uncivilized, uncalled for. It wasn't humane. It riled you up, it home for you because you're so close to your brother. It pushed you over the edge enough to want to do something about it. A flame sparked within you, so to speak."

My mouth drops open at Bryce's words, because my God, my thoughts that were all over the place are finally being spoken in the words I needed them to be. Bryce is on a roll, though, so he continues with, "You're a person that runs on instinct, and that instinct is to protect the ones you love. You created this campaign because the people close to you were hurt, and you weren't going to stand by. Something needed to be done. What made you realize you could make a change?"

I bite down on my lip, feeling a little bit insecure speaking my thoughts to Bryce since it'll never come out in the same way his do, but I either way I say, "At first, I thought it'd be impossible to make the change. I was one person, just a speck compared to the whole world. But I did anyway, because even if Sadie and I were the only ones to participate in this little campaign, it would still be my little change and my little hope that we can be a better place."