HAPPY HALLOWEEN
Btw Julie and the Phantoms is my new obsession and everyone needs to watch it.
Hope you enjoy.
The day after the protest, I got a call from Phillip. I'm at the salon with Dani, Carla, and my mom, and they immediately perk up when they see who the contact is.
"Dia! Put it on speaker!"
I answer it, kind of nervous about it.
"Hey, Phillip. You're on speaker."
"Hey, Dia."
Carla muffles her laughter when I start blushing. My mom quickly shushes her as Phillip continues talking.
"My mom got an email from the school board this morning. They want us, Jack, and Crutchie at a school board meeting Monday night. Something about investigating Pulitzer's disciplinary practices."
"Wait, they actually paid attention to us?"
"Paid attention? Dia, we were skipping school and blasting Les Mis loud enough to be heard for two blocks. I don't know how anyone could miss us. Plus, the video footage Davey got of the speeches is all over the internet!"
I think I'm in shock. We're all over the internet? And we get to speak at a school board meeting. Wow. My mom is beaming, and Carla is doing a little happy dance in the back of the salon. Phillip keeps talking, so I turn my attention back to the phone in my hand.
"It starts at six. My mom told me to tell you that she would be happy to come pick you up. We're picking up Jack and Crutchie too."
I look at my mom in question. She nods in agreement, then slaps Dani in the arm when she starts making kissing faces. I'm trying to compose myself before I respond.
"Yeah, that'd be great. I'll text you my address."
"Awesome. See ya, Dia."
Phillip hangs up, and the four of us immediately start celebrating. I can't believe we actually did it. We got the attention, and now we're going to do something about it.
Two days later
The school board meeting starts in an hour. Ms. Hamilton should be here any minute to pick me up. Since it's a school board meeting, I'm a little more dressed up than I normally am. Jeans with no holes, a red sweater (red, yes I know. I have a problem.), and black ballet flats. My hair is down, mostly because I'm too lazy to fix it. Soon enough, I see a familiar grey suburban pull up outside the bodega.
"Dia! Come on!"
I lean through the doorway of the bodega and call out to my mom.
"Mom, Ms. Hamilton is here!"
"Alright, good luck!"
I walk down the sidewalk and slide into the backseat of Ms. Hamilton's car. Phillip's in the front seat, and Crutchie's sitting next to me. Jack's in the third row. None of them have ever seen where I live, so they all explode with questions as soon as I get in the car.
"This place is so cool!"
"How come you've never had us over?"
"That is a VERY large Pride flag."
That last comment was Jack.
"Yeah, uh, most people don't see it as cool. And uh, I've never had any of you guys over cause I didn't know if you guys would judge. Oh and, the Pride flag is my uncles' apartment. They're very proud of it."
The conversation changes from there, and soon enough we reach the school. The meeting is being held in the cafeteria, which seems odd, but at least there is going to BE a meeting. Ms. Hamilton drops us off with a smile and a "Good Luck", and soon enough the four of us are standing in front of the cafeteria doors. Phillip looks at all of us before opening the doors.
"Ready?"
"As ready as we'll ever be."
"Let's do this."
"Alright."
Phillip opens the door, and we walk in. There are seats for us on one side of the table where the school board representatives are. Davey, Darcy, and Bill are sitting in the row behind us with cameras and notepads. They give us a thumbs up. A few minutes later, Pulitzer walks in with Katherine trailing behind him. He takes a seat on the other side of the room, but Katherine heads to the left and takes a seat next to Davey. Now that Pulitzer has arrived, the meeting can start.
"Welcome. We are here today to discuss accusations of prejudiced discipline against Principal Joseph Pulitzer. Could Mr. Pulitzer stand and address the board?"
Pulitzer walks up to the table and stands at the podium.
"Esteemed board members. We are here today due to accusations by some students from my school that I punished them unfairly. Now, if you look into my school's history of disciplinary issues, you will find that there are very few examples to look at. Is that not proof enough that my disciplinary practices are not only fair, but effective? To further my point, one of the students, Mr. Hamilton, claims that I punished him on an "assumption". Mr. Hamilton was involved in a fight earlier this semester in which he punched another student and broke the student's nose. Obviously he is the type who doesn't care about anyone but himself. So my "assumption" was not so ungrounded, was it? Thank you."
I looked over at Phillip, who I expected to be angry. Instead, there are tears running silently down his face. Without thinking, I reached over and grabbed his hand. He gave me a small smile before turning his attention back to the meeting. One of the board members shuffled their papers and began to question Pulitzer.
"The student mentioned, that would be Phillip Hamilton, a sixteen year old junior at your school who you suspended on accounts of skipping class and disrespecting authority when you attempted to punish him?"
"Yes."
"Would Mr. Hamilton please come to the podium?"
Phillip composes himself, wiping his eyes, and walks up to the podium. The board member who's asking questions, a forty-something year old woman who looks like your stereotypical PTC mom, softens when she sees how upset he looks. She starts asking questions, but in a kinder tone than she used with Pulitzer.
"You're Phillip Hamilton?"
"Yes ma'am."
"Could you tell me the situation that led up to your suspension?"
"Um, I was in the hallway before class, with Jack, Crutch-Charlie, and Dia. The bell hadn't rung yet. Mr. Pulitzer pulled us into his office and said that we were skipping class, and that Jack and Charlie were being inappropriate because they were holding hands. I argued with him, which wasn't the smartest thing to do. I got angry, and I probably didn't handle the situation as well as I could have. But the only one who was yelling was Mr. Pulitzer, and Jack, Charlie, and Dia were all calm about it. We were all suspended for a week."
The school board lady (I really should learn her name) nodded in agreement as Phillip finished his story. She looked at her papers again, then continued talking to him.
"Mr. Hamilton, did you really break another student's nose during a fight earlier this semester?"
Phillip looked upset at this question. I knew that the questions were making him uncomfortable, as he really didn't like talking about the fight. But he answered them anyway.
"Yeah, um. There was this kid, George Eacker. He was making all these racist comments about me and Dia in the hall before lunch, so I went over to confront him. It was just words originally, but I made a comment and George shoved me into the lockers. It got physical after that. Yes, I did punch him. I did it out of self-defense, after he punched me in the face multiple times. He-"
Phillip took a deep breath. The school board lady gave him a sympathetic smile.
"You don't have to finish if you don't want to. Go ahead and sit down. I think we've got plenty of information."
"Yeah. Thank you, ma'am."
Phillip came back to his seat. As Jack was called up to the podium, I leaned over to make sure he was alright.
"Are you ok?"
"Yeah, I will be. Thanks, Dia."
He gave me a shaky smile, then set his hand palm up in question. I grabbed his hand, and he turned back to the meeting. I realize that I'm holding hands with Phillip, and I'll probably freak out later, but right now he's upset and that's more important than my crush. Jack finishes talking, then Crutchie is called up, then it's my turn. That's the only time I let go of Phillip's hand. As soon as I sit back down, he grabs my hand again.
"Sorry. I can let go if you want."
"No, don't. You don't need to be sorry for having emotions."
He smiles at that. Katherine gets up next, as the board has some questions about her essay. After she finishes, the board steps aside to make a decision. It takes about fifteen minutes before they come back. We're all waiting nervously as they take their seats. Well, Pulitzer doesn't look nervous. He just looks smug, like he knows this battle is over and he came out on top.
"Can we have everyone's attention, please. The board has come to a decision."
Everyone seems to hold their breath as the same lady from before steps up to the podium.
"The board has decided that Mr. Joseph Pulitzer will be removed from his position immediately on accounts of biased disciplinary actions. The position will be temporarily filled by Vice Principal Mr. George Washington until a replacement is found. Thank you all."
I'm in shock. We won. Pulitzer's gone. We stay in our seats until the board members leave, but when they're gone, Jack immediately shoots out of his seat.
"HA! Take THAT Joe. WE WON!"
We're all celebrating after that. Jack's yelling, Crutchie's doing a little happy dance, the entire newspaper staff is celebrating. Phillip throws his arms around me.
"We did it, Dia! We did it!"
We actually did it. I think I'm crying, but it's happy tears. We did it. We won.
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