The BSC Legacy - Book 3: When Numbers Really Count
By: CNJ
PG-13
13: Coming To A Head
Anna:
Thanksgiving weekend was fairly quiet. The week that we came back from Thanksgiving break was cold and cloudy. A lot of the new kids that had come in November told us that they'd sent in letters too. A lot of other kids thanked us in the BSC for starting OTGY.
"I think it was this campaign that gave my friends and me the courage to stand up to the In clique," Susan Perry told me on Thursday after school. "We're very grateful to you."
"A lot of other kids say the same thing," Hannah Toce added.
"Thanks," I closed my locker.
Friday morning, Abby and I were getting ready to leave for school when I happened to glance at the newspaper and gasped. There were many MORE letters from a LOT more kids from even MORE schools! "Wow! Abby! Look at this!" I crowed. Abby raced over and saw them.
"Oh, God!" Abby whooped. We hi-fived. "Wait till the rest of the BSC hears about this!" Abby howled as we headed out the door and to school.
Mary Anne:
Kristy, Dawn, Stacey, Claudia, Mona, and I were walking toward the school grounds when we saw Ms. Silverbein talking to a few adults by the parking let. There was a van that looked like a news van. It was a news van, we realized once we got on campus.
"Hey, I wonder if SHS is famous yet?" Kristy pointed. We slowed as we got closer to the van.
Then Ms. Silverbein saw us and waved us over. "...and here are three of the kids who contributed to this wonderful cause..." she introduced us. It was several news reporters, a photographer, a Stoneybrook council member, and two members of the Connecticut delegate!
The reporters asked us a million questions. Mostly the other chatted with them, but I felt myself blush a deep red at all the attention and had to duck my head.
"Actually...Abby Stevenson st-started this in September," I managed to say softly when I battled with my shyness some.
"Right," Kristy put in. She told them about September's career day and how it all started. "It was Abby who pointed out what was wrong with the way today's kids are portrayed."
"You girls go ahead and see if you can find Abby," Ms. Silverbein instructed. "That young lady's a hero! And see if you can find the other students who contributed." We dashed into the school and caught up with Anna, then Abby. Once we'd gathered up the rest of the BSC, we raced through the halls rounding up the kids who'd been involved in OTGY and got them outside.
Abby seemed a bit nervous again like she had been at the beginning of OTGY, but once we got back outside, she seemed to relax, especially when Tim Hune whooped, "Heyyy, forget fifteen minutes of fame; this is gonna be an hour of fame!" as he booked outside.
A light early December snow was falling and it was freezing, but everyone was bouncing around with excitement. I had managed to grab a pad and pen on the way out to take notes for an article in the next SHS Beacon.
"Wow..." some of the reporters gasped.
"Almost the whole school," another reporter murmured, her eyes wide.
Kristy:
The whole school, except the In clique was out here. Wow. God. This was incredible. I felt a surge of pride as I looked around. And to think that the BSC spearheaded this.
Reporters milled around asking kids questions and the photographer snapped some pictures. Finally, the photographer asked all of us to stand in a group along with Ms. Silverbein and stand on the steps to have a group picture taken.
"Say letters!" the photographer boomed.
"LETTERRRRSSS!" Everyone shouted as the camera snapped several times. Mary Anne then wrote some things in her pad, I guess for her article, then dropped the pad and burst into tears and threw her arms around me.
"Oh, we did it, we DID IT!" Claudia squealed as she threw her arms around us. That got the whole BSC in hugs. I noticed Abby's eyes were teary too. She managed a shaky laugh as Mary Anne handed her tissues. Mary Anne then sobbed into her own tissue as she put an arm around Abby.
The snow came down harder, but kids still talked and some others hugged. "Heeey, Mona!" someone called. Mona turned and it was Kim Baxter approaching us. "There're a lot more letters from Burkeview, did you see it yet?"
"I haven't." Mona's face broke into a huge smile. "I have to look at it first thing when I get home."
"I guess a lot of Burkeview kids wised up after all," Kim called.
"Hey, that's fantastic," Mona added. She and Kim hi-fived. Kim used to go to Burkeview like Mona.
"Yeah, I saw that," Anna put in. "I wonder what happened there to change so many of their minds so fast." Mona and Kim shrugged, then grinned.
"Well...we did it." Mary Anne wiped her eyes and retrieved her pad, then took out more tissue, and cried some more. A lot more kids thanked the BSC. We did it, I thought over and over again as I looked around. We DID IT! We changed the way our generation is viewed at least in the Northeast.
Today's kids had been heard all over the area for their true selves, not some distorted media image. And as an added benefit, the BSC led the other kids in taking back our school from the In clique and making it EVERYONE'S school again. What a feat!
"One...two...three..." I called. "WE DID IT!" I hollered. "WE DID IT!" we all hollered and the BSC hi-fived. It's great that we changed something about this world for the better. I saw Ms. Silverbein smile at us from where she was standing with the news crew. It was the first time I'd seen her smile like that in a long, long time.
Well, their Operation Today's Good Youth was a championship! More soon as the BSC prepare for the holidays and the turn of the millennium, which happens in their junior year!