As Nathan and Anita left the meeting, Nathan pulled up short.
"Don't go."
"What?"
"Anita, please don't go to the protest. I mean, Chris even gave you an out."
Anita sighed and shook her head.
"You could get hurt. -I'll go, but I can't be sure that I can protect you," he continued.
"Nathan, I can't believe that you of all people are saying this to me. You've seen how bad it gets for us. I have to go. For better or worse, Bianca is one of us. Especially, now."
He held her cheek and kissed her, to stop her words.
Drawing back, his hand rested on her shoulders. "I've seen what they can do. -I can't risk seeing you get hurt again over this when there is a choice in preventing it,-when I can stop it," he said softly.
"But you can't either way. What happened last year proved this."
Nathan winced at this.
"Nathan, I'm colored. This is the reality of what it is for me. If you love me, you'll support me in this. If you care for our friends, you'll support them. I'm not any better than any of them. I go for all of us. And I don't just mean us here. I mean for all colored people who would face the indignities Bianca went through. I want to stand for all of us... Chris understands how important this is."
"-Chris? You barely even know him."
"-I know he's committed to our cause."
"Anita. I'm committed to you."
He reached out to her.
Anita stepped out of his reach.
"I know. ...And sometimes I wonder, -if you weren't... Would you still care about us?" she said, a simple flit of her eyes and tip of the head indicating the colored house just down the way.
"'Nita. I-" He reached for her again but she shrugged him away.
"-Leave me alone, Nathan." she said, walking away.
***
"...And so, I think it may reference one of the great pieces of art. When the words are arranged this way it very much resembles, Anita?"
"Anita? What do you think?" Chris asked.
"Hmm? Oh, yeah. I think you're right, Le Buisson, by Matisse."
He frowned at her but kept on talking about the poem with the others.
Anita sat in silence, only the barest surface of her mind focused on the project at hand.
***
"Okay, you two." Miss Estelle said, indicating the remaining two students in her classroom.
"I want you to work together on..."
Estelle dug through her bag, while Bianca and Bernard gave each other puzzled looks.
"Ahh. Found it." she said, allowing the heavy tome to fall to her desk with a loud thud. Dust flew up as it did.
"Come here, come here." she said, waving at them.
YOU ARE READING
ASHWOOD ACADEMY
Historical Fiction[EDITORS' CHOICE, June 2020][#1 History June 2020] -- Five black students make history as the first to integrate a prestigious school for gifted students in 1950's Vermont. One student, Anita Prescott, is a young girl whose strength and leadership...
