Chapter Twenty-One
That night when Ru left, Adam fell apart. They texted each other right up until Ru had to turn his phone off for the flight.Call when you land,Adam texted him.
Promisewas Ru’s reply.
The school day on Friday was no better than the day before. When he opened his new locker, there were a half-dozen notes that had been stuck in the slots. Adam knew he should bring them to the principal but didn’t want to play victim anymore. If he could tell who wrote it, he’d confront them. But he didn’t try to open any of them until lunch. Since he’d been eating alone, or with Bas, he figured it didn’t matter where he ate. He often called Ru on lunch, but when Adam dialed him today, he was met with Ru’s voice mail. He was probably in an interview or something.
Adam sucked in a deep breath and opened the first note. The first few were so badly spelled and filled with hate that Adam was positive they came from Hank or Jonah. Neither of whom he wanted to start a brawl with, so he’d give those to the principal. A few others had long rants with biblical quotes.
Did they know Adam had excelled in biblical studies? He knew all the quotes, including the ones they didn’t think to mention about not shaving or eating certain things on Sundays, all which were as damning as “laying with another man as he would a woman.”
Did it even count if they hadn’t done that? Adam shook his head and cast the note aside, wondering who the idiot was. He yanked out his laptop and blogged for a couple of minutes, clearing his head by writing from memory the whole section of Deuteronomy, which laid out hygiene rules for people a couple thousand years ago. Once he’d gotten most of his ranting out on the computer, he returned to the pile of notes. One was actually encouraging.
Adam,
I wanted to tell you how inspiring you are to me. I’ve been hiding who I am for years, afraid of what others would do, watching the things they do to Sebastian Axelrod, and he’s really not all that different. The fact that you’re unwilling to hide any longer gives me strength. See, I was born a girl, but I’ve never felt like one. I hope to one day find the courage to show people the person I’m supposed to be, not the one that gender demands I be. So no matter what people say or do to you, know you’re not alone. We are all afraid. We are all different. That’s easy to forget. And these last days of school are just a drop in the bucket of our lives.
Don’t change yourself to suit them. Maybe someday soon I’ll have the strength to do that as well.
It was signed “Mike.” Adam wondered who Mike might be. But it wasn’t the only encouraging note. There were two others, both from people who claimed to be bullied often, but were inspired by Adam standing up to them. Odd since other than pushing back or turning to face those who shoved him, he hadn’t done much to stand up to the bullies.
Bas finally appeared when lunch was almost over, and Adam raised a brow in question to him. What had taken him so long?
“So,” Bas said as he sat down. “I’ve found something to help keep you from being wishy-washy and that will look good on your college applications.”
“What?”
He took a piece of paper out of his book bag and set it in front of Adam with a flourish. The paper was actually the school newspaper.
Adam pushed it away. “I’ve thought about that. But it’s always sports. And I don’t want to write about sports.”
Bas took the paper and folded it to the inside of the last page, which read:
Looking for writers to talk about real-world issues, raise awareness, and connect with readers on a personal level. Like controversy? Want to help others? Section will be part informational, part advice column. Serious thinkers only. Come write for Northern News. See Michelle Young.
“An advice column?”
“I asked Michelle about it. She said that there will be one whole page each issue dedicated to raising awareness for a cause and another page devoted to answering questions from readers. There is going to be a locked drop box so people can write letters to the column seeking advice. The faculty is actually going to be scanning the stuff put in the box before passing it on. She said she already has a ton, and while a few people have applied for the position, she hasn’t found anyone whose writing is up to par.” Bas tapped Adam’s laptop, which was still open to his ranting of the day. “And I just happened to show her the paper you wrote about how marriage equality was won for interracial couples. I loved how you used a real-life couple to talk about the troubles they fought through until they could finally marry and do something most people take for granted, like joint taxes.”
“How’d you get a copy of that?”
“I helped grade it, of course. You don’t really think Mrs. Sanders actually reads all three hundred of those papers, right? I mean, they had to be at least five pages long. Yours was almost double that. And since she knows you have no problem with structure, she handed it off to me.”
“Thanks for the A.”
“You’re welcome. It was well deserved. Do you think you can do this newspaper thing?”
Adam flipped through the pages. It was done in more of a magazine style. He read it all the time, usually skipping the sports, which were front-page news, to find out more about the other clubs in the school. The format was a little dull, but maybe he could have some input on that. “How much time is it going to take? Principal O’Brien asked me this morning if I would think about changing to some AP classes next semester. I gotta ask my mom and dad, but I think I will.” Adam was done with coasting. If was going to be out, he’d be everything he really was and no longer hiding behind any mask.
“One meeting a week for an hour. The print paper comes out every two weeks, but the online version is updated weekly. You’ll probably spend a lot of time writing outside of school, but I’m pretty sure you do that already.” Bas got up from the table, since everyone was leaving. It was almost time for class. “How about I take you to meet her during study hall today? You can hash out any details. And it will give you some time to think.”
Adam nodded. Time to think was good. He headed to his next class in an odd fog of indecision. While he liked the idea of writing, putting things out there for other students to raise awareness, he worried about the advice part of it. Who was he to give anyone advice?
