“Oh, shit. Please, tell me you called him out on that.”
“I did one better.” She giggled as she finished her meal and moved the plate to the side. The waitress arrived, and she asked if they had any lemon pie, and they didn’t talk until it was brought to her. They ended up sharing it.
“What did you do?”
“There was this huge, and I mean huge public meeting about the fate of the music and arts program at the school. It was held in the high school gym, all the bleachers were full. See, they wanted to redirect the money from the music and arts programs to the sports teams.”
“Favoritism.”
“Exactly. I was on the crew that was supposed to man the projector where the slides were to be presented. I had permission from the team leader to do what I wanted to. There in front of about five hundred parents, the entire faculty, and the entire school board, I played the clip where the coach said that women belonged in the home, and all the comments from the boys that said it was my duty to help them out, by doing the work for them, because receiving a sports scholarship was more important for males, than anything a female could ever accomplish. According to them, females were only capable of lying on their backs, waiting on the males hand and foot, and keeping to the background. Basically to be seen and never, ever heard.”
“Oh shit,” Tony said with a laugh, covered hismouth, and shook his head. “I feel a train wreck coming.”
“Oh, it did. This assembly happened on the Thursday before the Easter break. We had Good Friday off, then the next two weeks. The final vote to dismantle the music and arts programs would be on the Tuesday after school reconvened. This would be during the regular monthly board meeting. See, this assembly for everyone was so that coaches, parents, and students could talk about why it was important to keep their particular program, whether it be sports or arts. The district wanted to get a feel of what people wanted.”
“Shit, what happened?”
“My family nor I was ever interesting in these meetings, and we never went, however, we were sent a formal invitation in the mail, and both my parents received phone calls to make sure that I was present. Fast forward to the meeting, oh, I told my parents everything these boys said and did from the first one. It was my father that told me to start recording them for my safety.” She grinned at him. “He’s a lawyer. Before you ask, he didn’t represent me in my first case because we are family, and he had retired by then. He did advise me and my team of lawyers if they needed help.”
Tony laughed and shook his head. “How did it go?”
“When we first arrived, the president of theboard, who happened to be the principal said that because of my stunt, that’s what he called it, a stunt, then I would be suspended indefinitely. He was shot down when my father argued on what charges, because I think I failed to mention that I had also recorded the principal telling me that the boys education was more important than mine, that too was put on that montage reel.”
“Oh, shit.”
“Yeah. During the argument between Dad and the principal, someone walked in, cleared their throat, and everyone froze, except for my parents. Dad walked over and shook this guy’s hand. It turned out the newcomer was the guy that had donated the money for the sports program to begin with, or his family did, generations before him, and had even donated enough money to build an entire new wing of the school. I know that’s unheard of on the high school level, more on the college level, but he had lost his son to a tragic accident and wanted to help the school. He was mega rich too. Oh, and he also gave out five full-ride scholarships a year to upcoming stellar athletes. It wasn’t until the dust settled that five of the seven boys that approached me, demanding I do their work, that they were in line to receive one of those full-ride scholarships. My quote, unquote stunt, derailed those plans.”
“Ah, the man with the money.”
“Yes, after Dad argued with the principal, this guyspoke. He said that if they suspended or expelled me, then he would withdraw all of his money and support. Then he went on to say that if they wanted to continue to receive his money, then the principal, and the head coach had to be fired, not to cut any of the arts or music programs, and he switched his full ride scholarships from sports to the arts.”
“Did that happen?”
“Yes, and two years ago, one of the people that won a music scholarship to Julliard in New York, just won on one of those major TV singing competition shows. Oh, and the boys sports were reduced to wrestling, and track. All the ball sports were done away with.” At his frown, she grinned. “Baseball, football, basketball, even boys soccer.”
“How much longer did you stay at the school, people must have hated you.”
“It was bad for the rest of that year, but I had turned seventeen over the summer, and I worked with the school board, with Dad’s help, and instead of returning for my senior year, I enrolled in college. The people that left death threats against me were handled by the police, and every threat was taken as a serious matter.” She shook her head and sighed. “This isn’t funny, but one of the police officers who responded to the threats had a child in my school. They were into the arts, not sports, and received one of those scholarships. Last I heard, that cop’s daughter opened an art studio in San Franscico andis extremely successful in running it and selling her own art in it. He admitted to me at one point that if she hadn’t received that scholarship, she never would have been able to go to college, he was a single father living on a cop’s salary. He told me he would do everything in his power to keep me safe from these entitled people making threats. He worked with Dad, and I can’t tell you how many arrests were made. What I did caused a gigantic ripple effect in people being arrested and going to jail because they couldn’t get their way, but on the other side of the coin, my actions helped people who would never have a chance in hell to succeed outside our small town to go to college and follow their dreams.”
“Damn, did this happen in Seattle?”
“No, it was in Northern California. I only moved to Seattle after I got my degree. I went there to work with Professor Denike, but we know how that worked out.”
“Yeah.” They sat there in silence and by the time they paid their bill, it was time to go up to their room.
CHAPTER 20
In the room,Tony set the bag down on the luggage rack, and turned to her, unsure what to do next. He shook his head and sighed. “We don’t have to do anything, if you don’t want to.”
“You don’t want to have sex with me?” she asked in shock.
“No, it’s not that. I do, I really, really do, but I don’t want to put any pressure on you.”
“Tony,” Staci said softly as she walked up to him and laid a hand on the side of his face. “We have been sleeping together every night for the last few weeks. We’ve made it to third base on more than one occasion. The only reason we haven’t hit it home yet is because neither one of us has any protection. Last week when you purchased the condoms, I was able to get in to see a female doctor. That day, I started on birth control.”
“What kind?”
“The shot. I just have to set a reminder in my phone to go get it when it’s due again.”
