The Petition

(Day 51: Monday Noon)

Aziz takes a spoon full of brown rice, "No offense to Chad, but we really are terrible without you."

"What about Jay?" Ben questions.

"Yeah," William laughs. "He's great, if the players actually pass him the ball and he trusts us enough not to hog it to himself."

Aziz remarks, "Seriously. You can come back any time."

Ben takes a sip of milk, "I'm sorry, but I simply have too much on my plate right now."

"Yeah," Aziz eyes the meat unsurely. "Is all of that really necessary?"

"I'm a carnivore," Ben half jokes. "It's great that your family promotes vegetarianism, but not everyone can be satisfied by a bowl of steamed vegetables."

"I'm not sure about that," he retorts. "A lot of vegetables are high in fiber, and in general all anyone needs to feel full is fiber."

Ben partly smiles as he narrows his eyes at him, "Stop talking like a rabbit."

"I'm not talking like a rabbit," Aziz slowly denies.

Ben turns to the others, "Am I the only one who thinks he's talking like a rabbit?"

"Uh, yeah," Brendan smiles, "because rabbits don't talk."

"So. Just me, then." Ben's smile widens as he shakes his head, "Great."

"Ben," Doug worriedly says from behind him, before Ben turns around. "There's something you're going to want to see."

"Can't it wait?"

"No," Doug insists. "You're going to want to see this."

"See what?" Ben frustratedly questions.

"Over there," Doug points to the other end of the cafeteria.

"What?"

"Would you just stand up already?" he urges, and with a sigh Ben does, a few others following behind in interest.

"What is it?" Ben questions, but then his mouth drops at the large print. Make hybrids known. He steps closer and whispers the description, "Are you tired of feeling helpless and weak? Are you sick of being deceived? Sign this petition to make hybrids known by marking them with a necklace badge to identify them in school hallways and classrooms. By signing this petition we also encourage the administration to suspend any hybrids that refuse to wear their ID badges and to expel any repeating offenders of this act. Humans have a right to a stress-free school environment. Make our school safe again, and sign this petition." Ben sees the typed name on the first line and shakes his head, "This is ridiculous. Some hybrids don't even know they're hybrids. They could be expelled simply for not being told they were."

"It gets worse," Doug softly warns before turning a couple pages. "These names aren't just made up jokes. These are all real people who really want this petition to pass."

Ben takes the petition off of the clipboard, "No. I'm not letting this happen."

"You can't just throw it away," Brendan interrupts, before Ben turns towards him. "She has a right to petition. You're king. You can't do this."

Ben widens his eyes as he takes a step forward, "When I became king I promised to have justice and mercy." He scrunches the papers in his hand, as he holds them up, "This is nothing but a cruel idea that would result in the discrimination of a quarter of the country."

"What?" he asks in shock.

"That's the statistic. A quarter of the country's general population are hybrids."

"Wait. That can't be right," William debates. "If it were, then at least one of us would have to be a hybrid ourselves."

When Ben silences with a frown Aziz quickly responds, "Not necessarily." and then they look at him. "There's demographics. Not all hybrids would be evenly distributed throughout the country."

"Plus," Brendan reminds Ben, "the petition is only for the school."

Ben furrows his eyebrows, "And you think that if it passes here, then it won't pass elsewhere?" He doesn't respond, and then Ben waves the papers in his face. "Hasn't history taught you anything? It starts out small like this, but things always escalate."

"Ben," Aziz turns his attention to him. "Aren't you taking this just a little personally?" Ben glares at him. "You know, with your girlfriend and everything?"

"They're my citizens," Ben loudly responds. "Of course, I'm going to take it personally." He looks back in front of him, "Get out of my way."

Brendan shakes his head, "No."

"Why?" Ben firmly responds.

"You're mad," William answers. "If we let you go now, you could do something stupid."

Ben lets out a long breath through his nose, but his expression doesn't change. He grits his teeth, "Move or I will move you myself."

When William snickers Ben presses on their shoulders, making a gap large enough for him to escape through. He hears Doug call after him, but he doesn't listen. After a quick glance over the cafeteria, he strides down the hallway. Then he hears it: her voice. He turns and looks up, seeing the bathroom sign and standing for a full minute, before he scans up and down the mostly empty hallway and then enters inside. The girl taps Audrey's shoulder, before Audrey turns and her mouth cracks open. She angers, "What are you doing in here?"

He takes a step towards her, the petition high in the air, "You tell me." before he tosses it into the sink next to her. "What the hell is this?"

Audrey gives him a look, "It's a petition to make the school safer."

"It's a petition to ruin people's lives," he counters before taking another step forward. "You'd better stop it or—"

"Or what?" Audrey loudly interrupts.

All Ben can do is glare at her, before the other girl comments, "I'm going to find Fairy Godmother." and then heads out of the bathroom.

"You can't just mark these people like animals for slaughter," Ben rejects.

"You're being dramatic," Audrey takes a step back, but then he takes another step towards her. "We deserve to know when our safety is at risk."

"Hybrids deserve not to have a target on their backs," Ben counters. "They deserve to walk through these halls without being bullied."

Audrey takes a calming breath, "Ben. There's a zero tolerance policy in place for that."

"Then why are you doing this?" he yells.

"Because," Audrey sternly responds, "hybrids don't follow rules." and then Ben quiets. "They need extra incentive to reject their true natures."

It takes Ben a moment to comment, "You're not going to be able to convert them into humans."

Audrey looks down for a second, "I know that." before looking into his eyes. "But when they're in public they should at least act human."

He looks away, but it only results in him seeing their reflections in the mirror, "Everyone is going to hate them." He looks back at her, "You're going to turn good people into monsters, make humans distrust their friends and family."

"If they were to be trusted in the first place," Audrey calmly responds, "then they would have told them about being a hybrid in the first place."

"And jeopardize their safety and reputation?" Ben angers. "Humans don't exactly have the best history with them. Of course they're going to be reluctant to tell them."

"Trust works both ways," Audrey simply says. "If hybrids can't trust us, then why should we have any reason to trust them?"

"They're people," Ben insists. "You can't do this to them."

"I'm sorry," Audrey calmly responds, "but I've already made up my mind."

Ben takes deep, short breaths as he watches Audrey walk past him, before he turns around and announces, "I'm one."

Audrey halts in her stance before spinning back around, "What?"

He sees her disbelief, as though she's sure she heard him wrong. He takes another breath, frowning, "My hospital papers document me as a hybrid."

She grins, "Uh, no." before she tensely laughs and walks towards him, placing her hands on his shoulders. "I dated you. I would know if you were."

Ben's expression doesn't change, "No. You wouldn't." and then she slowly lets go in unsureness. "Hybrids can appear very human. They're just people, which also means that their behavior wouldn't be much different from humans either." He slightly shakes his head, "And it doesn't matter if I've shown any signs of being one or not, because I'm still documented as one. If you let this petition go through, then you would be condemning me to the same fate as well." She stays silent for a moment, before he urges, "Please, Audrey. I can't have my country hate me. If our time together meant anything at all to you, then you won't do this to me."

She softly responds, "I'm sorry, but I don't know if I can do that."

Ben lets out a stressed breath before grinning and gritting his teeth, "Come on." and then Audrey takes a couple steps back.

He furrows his eyebrows at her, "You're not honestly afraid of me, are you? Just because of what some stupid piece of paper says?" She stays silent, and when he takes a step forward she takes a step back. "I'm the same guy you've always known. Nothing's changed. You have to know that."

"I need time to think," she quietly bypasses.

He glares at her, "You can't do this. What am I supposed to do if this passes? Just walk around with a tag around my neck? Have everyone hate me?"

She shrugs, "Turn it into a publicity stunt. Say you're just an ally of the hybrid community."

"Audrey!" She freezes. "I'm not being a target for bigotry. No one is going to believe me if I tell them that, not with what they already conspire about my parents." She stays silent. "And it's not just going to be me. There's bound to be other hybrids at this school, and if you do this you will be hurting them all."

"They hurt me first," she yells.

"One." Ben puts up a finger, "One hybrid hurt you, the only one you knew of at the time. That doesn't give you grounds to go after the entire population." She quiets, insecurely holding onto her arm as she keeps her firm stance. "Most of them have done nothing wrong. They're just people. Like me." He gestures, "Like you." and he watches as she eyes her arm, before he lets it fall back to his side. "You would have the administration force the hybrids to out themselves and become a target for discrimination." He puts his hands up close to his chest, hands balled into fists with the forefingers and thumbs squeezing tightly together, as he sternly says, "They deserve to come out when they're ready. Not when they're told to. Not when it may not be safe for them to do so."

Audrey firmly replies, "I told you. I need time to think."

"There isn't any time," Ben yells, before he takes a step forward. "Your stupid petition already has fifty signatures. And that's only been half a day."

"Ben." His mouth drops, as he looks over Audrey's head and sees Fairy Godmother frowning at him. "Come with me, please." Ben glares back down at Audrey. "Now!"

When Audrey moves back towards one of the stalls Ben turns his head, eyeing her for a moment, before he looks back at the headmistress and steps forward. "We were just talking."

She looks at him in surprise, "Invading the girls' bathroom to yell at her. That's talking?"

"Yes."

The headmistress steps forward with a look mixed of concern and disbelief, "You were staring her down like some kind of prey."

"Well, obviously she's not," Ben evenly responds.

"Well, obviously," Fairy Godmother responds in return, "we will be discussing this further in my office." He keeps his eyes narrowed through his silence. "Now, follow me or else I'll just have to bippity boppity boo you all the way back to your castle with a note of suspension for your parents."

"You don't have your wand," he catches her bluff.

"No, but I do have a phone," she counters. "So, do you still want to play games with me or are you going to follow me to my office?"

He stands there for a moment, "Waiting."

She shakes her head at him, "What's gotten into you?"

"I don't know." He partly smirks, "Why don't you take a couple hundred guesses. At least a few of them ought to be right."

"Will do," she replies before stepping out of the bathroom. "Coming?" He follows her out. "For your sake, I hope you have a mighty good excuse. Because, you're going to need one."

- I'm really starting to regret not having character profiles for this fanfiction. I swear, it's like the more scenes I write William and Brendan into the more alike they get each time. Now I know why and how so many movies have generic secondary characters or sidekicks. But then again, as a rule I list fears, secrets, and insecurities for each character I do a profile for, which I would imagine would only further increase the length and complexity of this fic... so, maybe it's a good thing I didn't do character profiles?

- Note to future self: when you get back here for the final edit and read me, remember to start including anxious behaviors in character profiles (neck rubbing, nail clicking, taking watch off only to put it back on and then off again). I swear, you are just so inconsistent with the characters' anxious behaviors, to the point where it seems like every single character is displaying/reacting to their anxiety in the exact same ways! Don't feel too bad for the exclamations there. You just need to remember how important this is so that you don't mess up so horribly in the future. Or would it be the future's future, because you're future me and I am referencing your future? Wow. Inception. Remember that movie? I can't remember if it was horrible or good. We need to watch it again... You should watch it for me. I'm too busy right now.

- Back to Audience: so, there's something I forgot to ask you a little while ago. The guard that's in charge of watching Mal's jail cell block, what do you imagine he looks like? I know I haven't put in a description for him yet. Should I, or should I just leave it to the imagination? I know there's going to be at least one more scene that shows Mal in jail, but if it turns out to be her last scene in jail then maybe it's too late to give the guard a description? Let me know. Also, this chapter had a page count of five and a half. The chapter after this is only three pages, and if I remember correctly the most amount of pages I've had in this fic was nine? It probably won't change how long a chapter is unless I have a point that would be equally suited by a break or by moving onto the next chapter, but I'd still like to know whether you prefer the shorter three page chapters or if you like the longer ones that typically includes breaks instead. It's probably a good thing to know for the future. Personally, I'm starting to like the longer chapters, but sometimes shorter ones are more suitable, I think. There's no reason to add length to the chapter just for the sake of adding length. That's not even good filler. That's very bad filler.