The Petition Nobody Sabotaged
The petition is Simone's idea, and when Simone has an idea Simone does not talk about it for three days, and then she shows up at my locker with a flash drive and a face like she has been running very small calculations in her head for seventy-two hours straight.
"Greta."
"Hi."
"I have a thing."
"Okay."
"It's a big thing. I want you to just listen and not talk for five minutes."
I close my locker. The hallway is the post-sixth-period chaos, a river of backpacks, and a boy named Cruz is arguing with Mrs. Dell about whether his t-shirt is a violation of dress code. It is. It says a word.
"Okay," I say. "Five minutes."
"Okay. So. The council vote passed. Boyer sent the email. We sent the rebuttal. Mr. Hawes has not said a single thing to us in the hallway, which is how I know Mr. Hawes approves. The thirty-day window is — as of today — nineteen days from expiring. If we make it nineteen days, the amendment is in effect, and Boyer has to enforce it, or not enforce it and be out of compliance with the handbook. Right?"
"Right."
"You are not supposed to be talking."
"Sorry."
"What Boyer is going to do — what I *think* Boyer is going to do — is try to get the school board to override. He needs two-thirds of the board. That's five members. He probably has two already — remember, the lady with the purple glasses, she called somebody, and Tessa's coach has a sister on the