“With all due respect, that’s a bit rich coming from the mate of one of the councilmen after what Hanson did,” someone called out.
Mrs. Reid didn’t shrink back from the criticism. “This is what I can do to help the situation. My question is what didyou do?” She raised an eyebrow when the witch didn’t respond. “Nothing? So you never saw someone break rules when it came to Bevin? Laws were broken. You saw none of that?”
“No,” the woman confirmed. “I’m a master’s student and she’s a freshman.”
“Ahhh, fair, but there are rules aboutbullying.” She focused out at everyone there instead of singling out that woman. “How many of you did anything when people said things to her or whispered behind her back?” She shook her head. “Why didn’t you? Why didn’t any of you help her? Protest what was going on? Argue that it was wrong?”
“She did,” someone called out and stood, trying to pull up another woman.
“Leave it,” that woman hissed.
“No, I didn’t help, but you did, and the point is to make it clear—I’m not sure yet, but I wish I had stood up now. You did and it helped so let her see that,” the first argued, sighing when the second witch shook her head. “She told people to cut it out when they were laughing at Bevin getting reamed by Dunham and his lackeys.”
“I don’t know of this,” Mrs. Reid hedged, glancing between us.
“She asked to be unnamed if I’m guessing right,” I hedged.
The woman we were talking about sighed and caved, standing and looking at me. “Yes, I’m the witch who went to the headmaster and told him what happened. I’m sorry I didn’t want to be public about that or—”
“Thank you,” I whispered, relieved I finally got to say it. I nodded when she paused. “I’ve wanted to thank you for a while for helping me. I wasn’t socialized like other people. This is my first schooling and it’s all really rough sometimes. I didn’t understand what they were saying and it was scary to be in the room with all of them after what happened with Gregg.”
Pity filled her face. “Yeah, I didn’t think of that. I judged you that day for just standing there and taking it, but now I get it. I’m sorry I thought you were weak.”
I shrugged. “I can be. I fall apart too often, but I’m starting to see it’s valid. I mean, most people don’t have the media always talking about their sex lives, and—it’sincrediblydisconcerting to constantly be on one broadcast or another when I came here using Millen to not have the spotlight on me like a Shaw would.”
She bobbed her head and looked at Mrs. Reid. “The school board investigation was crap. Maybe you can help the headmaster with that. I wasn’t the only one who overheard whatwas going on. There were like twenty students who were outside laughing and jeering that Bevin was getting reamed by Coach and his lackeys.
“I told them to cut it out because even if they hated her, none of us deserved that. That it might be her today with a ‘reason’ in their eyes, but that was bold and over the line, so what would they do next? Who would they call in next, and would it just be for atalkif unchecked? I gave names of who was outside that door and the school board didn’t question them.
“They just said us two witches couldn’t be accurate against the men in that room. It was ridiculously dismissive and there were other witnesses if they’d done their jobs instead of always sweeping things under the rug like we don’t matter. So yeah, I don’t know Bevin, we even got off on the wrong foot, but—”
“We did?” I asked, genuinely shocked at that.
The other woman next to her sighed. “You were rude to us when she tried to talk to you at orientation.”
I winced, not able to tell the truth and that all the familiars around made it impossible for me to hear people and focus. So I went with the next best thing. “I’m so sorry. I get really bad migraines and everything was so overwhelming—I was scared to go to the healer and admit I needed to be healed because I didn’t know if they’d report it to my parents.”
“Thanks for explaining,” the witch who defended me said easily. “But my point is sometimes we have to stand up for what’s right and not just who it happens to, whether we like them or not, or our position as witches will never get better. It pisses me off that more don’t. I was able to do it anonymously, and even if it didn’t do more, it didsomething. And Coach is gone.”
I flinched when people cheered. Glad I wasn’t the only one who hated him.
“‘Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere,’” Mrs. Reid said firmly. “A wonderful man—a human man—that you all should have heard of said that. Dr. Martian Luthor King, Jr. was a civil rights pioneer and advocate for equality.” She focused on the witch who had helped me. “And someone we should learn from because we are in a fight for our rights as well.
“Clearly, you have taken the message to heart and good on you for it. I only heard of Bevin’s friends andaftershe saved one of them in the attack. Even after she saved eight witches in the werewolf attack on the school, some of you still giggled at her misfortune and spread rumors about her. Now you know more of the truth.”
Mrs. Oliveria walked out from offstage with Mrs. Moon and Mrs. Cook. She glanced around the auditorium. “And our question for you is—why did you not want to prevent this injustice? Why did you not do something small like this youngfreshmanwitch did?”
“Be honest with yourselves if you won’t be here or you will learn nothing and never better yourselves which is the point of school and education,” Mrs. Moon added. “And before you think this is us looking down at you or lecturing you on your behavior—it’s not.”
Mrs. Cook snorted. “You would be the last one to lecture about gossiping. You always know the juicy details of everything.”
Mrs. Moon nodded and stared out at us. “And I have hurt people as you did. We could debate all day why I am like that, but part of it is information—staying ahead of information protects my family. But sometimes I get caught up in the petty. We all do. We like juicy gossip.” She let out a slow breath. “But we have to start being better than that or all we do is hurt each other.”
Mrs. Oliveria gestured to me. “How many of you weren’t there for her when she needed the women of this campus tostand up? Yes, I know several of you came to her administration hearing and stood with her. Good. But did you still whisper that she slept with a professor? Did you care it could have lost him his job? You’re not children anymore and your words carryweight.
“They can carry joy or pain.” She glanced around at all of us. “You didn’t do something tohelpor step in because you didn’t see it as your problem. It didn’t affect you, right?” She gave us a moment with that. “Except it does and you simply haven’t been seeing the big picture.” She pointed out at the crowd. “Each time you don’t help, you add to the problem.
“Each time you tear down a witch, you add fuel to the fire raging against us instead of throwing buckets of water on it as this young witch did. The choice of inaction is achoice, and most of you didn’t choose that. You chose to laugh at her. Throw fuel on the fire of the lies hurting her—exclude her and ridicule her.”
