Chapter 5

Break between 2nd and 3rd periods

Bob studied the stack of petitions that Victor had just handed to him.

"I'm down with this 100%," Bob said. "I don't approve of Li's lunchtime coercion."

"Same with us," Priscilla said. "And you can spread this around your friends? The punks, the goths, so forth?"

He frowned slightly. "I'm not a big fan of labels. But yes, I can."

"Great!" Victor said.

"Also, I'm really stoked that you're making this effort. A petition is an excellent example of popular democracy in action, one that takes a stance against the corporatist pseudo-democracy that rules the so-called 'Land of the Free'!" He slammed a fist into his open palm. "Every man has a voice, and it deserves to be heard!"

"I don't put much faith in the base works of man," Priscilla remarked.

Bob's eyes widened, and he raised his hands as if in surrender. "Sorry! I shouldn't have implied it was only for men. A true democratic society gives a voice to all individuals."

"That's not what I meant," Priscilla muttered.

"It's like Henry Rollins said—" Bob went on.

"Thank you!" Victor interrupted. "Unfortunately, we have to spread direct democracy to a lot of other people, and we don't have much time!"

"People power!" Bob shouted from behind Victor and Priscilla as they made their escape.

Quinn – Lunch period

"Oh, I'd love to sign this petition thingy," Quinn said, scanning the document. "What's it for again?"

"Letting people spend lunch wherever they want," Victor explained.

"Oh! Yeah, totally! It was hard enough getting space at the mirror before, and now it's almost impossible! Sure, I have my hand mirror, but it's best to balance between the focus of a small hand mirror and the wider perspective of a wall mirror. That lets you really get a good look and make sure there aren't any visible pores—not that I have to worry about that."

"Agreed," Sandi said. "Mirror access is like, a human right."

In moments, all four Fashion Club members had signed.

"Actually, Quinn," Victor said, thinking back to Kelly's note, "I was wondering if you could collect more signatures for us? My understanding is that you're quite the fashion icon, and I'm sure you could convince others."

Sandi's eyes suddenly looked very much as if they wanted to jump out of her sockets and beat Victor to death. "Given that Quinn is apparently such an icon," Sandi said, "I certainly wouldn't want to get in her way."

Victor suddenly understood what he'd done wrong. "Oh, well the more people the better—"

"Yeah, guys, we should all work together on this!" Quinn said, her voice faintly pleading.

"On the contrary. It's best that Quinn works alone. I'm sure that Tiffany, Stacy, and I will simply be distractions."

"Guys, can't we do it together? It's for mirror access!" Quinn begged.

Sandi crossed her arms and turned up her nose. Tiffany and Stacy followed suit, though Stacy looked guilty about it.

Quinn pouted and glared at Victor. "Thanks a lot! Now you made this… thing happen!"

With nothing left to do, Victor and Priscilla left the Fashion Club to its woes.

"This is more complicated than I thought it'd be," Victor said. "Is Sandi mad at Quinn or something? They seemed to be in agreement, at first."

"I don't know them personally but think about what Kelly had on her note. About how the rest of the Fashion Club didn't matter. Sandi probably didn't want to be reminded of that."

"I see. I'll try to be more thoughtful about this sort of thing. Do you think we can afford to write Quinn off as a loss? Kelly seemed to think she was important."

"Either way, we lost her. Anyway, I know these kinds of people—they only worship themselves."

"Speaking of worship," Victor said, "Rebecca's right there."

Rebecca – Lunch period

"We actually talked about this after Priscilla came by the other day," Rebecca said. "Though everyone being in one place does make ministry more convenient, it's also kind of uncomfortable. So, we'll sign!"

"Right, since following the Lord is all about avoiding uncomfortable situations," Priscilla grumbled.

"Great!" Victor said, giving her the petitions.

Rebecca took the top paper, signed, and then passed it around. "So, Victor: I'm sure Priscilla's told you the Good News by now." Rebecca's gaze met Victor's, her hazel eyes so boundlessly cheerful that he soon became dizzy.

Priscilla growled. This really seemed uncomfortable for her.

"Uh, yes, she was just telling me about it," Victor lied.

Rebecca clasped her hands together and sighed. "Oh, that's so wonderful! You and Priscilla are both always welcome to join us."

"Finding the Lord made my life way easier, dude," Ken said. "Like I'm so chill all the time—"

"That's great!" Priscilla interjected. "Once you get enough signatures, just hand them to me or Victor. Thanks!" She said the last word in a creepy falsetto and forced a ghastly rictus smile.

She fumed as they walked away.

"'Finding the Lord made my life way easier, dude!'" she mimicked. "'I'm so chill all the time.' Ugh!"

A question nagged at Victor. He was pretty sure he'd regret asking. Still…

"Not that I mind," he said, "but why haven't you tried to convert me?"

Priscilla made a huffing sound, and at that moment it wouldn't have looked out of place for steam to shoot out of her nostrils. "Let me ask you a question: when's the last time a door-to-door preacher made you want to do anything other than slam the door in his face?"

"I always want to slam the door in their faces."

"Exactly. Words are cheap. I want my actions to speak for me."

"Your actions? But until this week all you did was sit in the library."

She sniffed and defensively raised her shoulders. "I do what I can with what I have."

Josh – After school

As someone shunted to the farthest margins of the nerd clique, Victor admitted he didn't know much about what did or did not make a nerd. But Josh just didn't seem to fit.

Standing near the bike racks with a skateboard under his arm, his almost platinum blond hair cut sharp and a gleaming ring piercing his eyebrow, he seemed as far from nerdy as one could get.

"Hi!" Priscilla said. "Do you have a minute? We're getting signatures to reverse Li's new cafeteria rule."

"Sure."

"By any chance, would you be willing to give some petitions to your friends? I understand you have some influence," Victor said.

Josh's cool gray eyes scanned Victor as if in appraisal. "Uh, influence? Don't know what you're smoking, man."

Maybe Kelly had been mistaken.

"You don't use your influence to purge the heretic, the mutant, and the unclean?" he prompted.

A longshot, but he wanted to see if the classic 40K reference might trigger recognition in Josh. Meanwhile, Priscilla goggled at Victor as if he'd suddenly revealed himself to be an unclean mutant heretic.

Josh raised his eyebrows, and Victor suddenly became conscious of having done something stupid. He prepped himself for mockery as Victor opened his mouth to speak, and said:

"Okay, I get what you're laying down. Yeah, I know some people."

"Oh! If you don't mind my saying, you don't really look the part."

Josh shrugged. "I'm good at acting normal. Makes life easier if I do. But hey, I run .net. Kinda my public service, you know? A lot of the usual suspects there: Paul, Ted, Cindy. Some surprises, too—there's a jock who drops in sometimes, though I have to keep his name on the downlow."

"You've both lost me," Priscilla said.

"Just the secret life of geeks," Josh said, like it was no big deal. "Hey, Victor. Why don't you go to the chatroom?"

"I wasn't aware of it until just now."

"That's 'cause you're in the library all day. You gotta come out and represent, yo. 40K's not my thing, personally, but you're welcome to join up. I don't think Andrea actually plays, but she does have a… what are those elf-looking dudes who are evil?"

"Dark Eldar," Victor said.

"Yeah, she's got some of those."

Priscilla handed him a stack of petitions, which he took.

"Right on. I'll spread the word."

Victor smiled as they went on to the next and final target.

"That was so weird," Priscilla said.

"It was!" Victor answered.

Dawn – After school

"Ashley, enhance Photo #31 of the Oakwood game by 10%—no, 15%. Darren, audio log #4 from 10/15/01 needs to be trimmed down by three seconds at the end, make it four seconds if you still hear that weird buzz."

Dawn sat at the center of the darkened AV Club, the light of monitors reflected on her face as her fingers danced across the keyboard. A dozen or so students worked in silence around her.

"I'm relieved you started this petition. I was thinking about doing one myself, but with AV Club, Yearbook, my work with the Lawndale Lowdown, and the Drama Club, I just didn't have time. Great job Ashley, now get to work fixing up Photo #20 of the Swedesville game, that one's got great potential, but it needs your magic."

She never looked at them as she spoke, her eyes focused on her screen.

"That'd be great! I think." He wasn't sure if Dawn was still aware of his presence.

"Frankly," Dawn said, taking the papers, "the new rule's hurting us. Amir, why don't you tie together Spanish Club Clip #81 with Mrs. Bennett Clip #2, I think that'd be a good segue—oh, really? Hm, okay, well do what you think's best and then I'll take a look later. We're falling behind because we can't access this place at lunch anymore."

"So, you're going to get them signed?" Priscilla asked, looking a little confused.

"Hm, okay, Ashley enhance just a bit more. 16%...17%... there, perfect. Yes, I will!"

They walked out of the room as Dawn continued to give precise orders in her steady, mellifluous voice. Back out in the bright light of the hallway, Victor smiled and stretched his arms, feeling more satisfied than he'd felt in a while.

"Looks like we did it."

"The first part, anyway," Priscilla said. "Even if they all pull through, we still have to deal with Li."

"That's true," Victor agreed. "Any idea on how we should approach her?"

Priscilla glowered a bit more than she usually did. "Usually, it's best not to approach her at all. I've met her before, and she absolutely does not care about any of us."

Victor rubbed his chin. "I see. Should we appeal to her selfishness, then?"

"It's a start. But it might not be enough. Look, it's late and I have a lot of homework."

"As do I. Hopefully tomorrow will bring us the fruits of our labors."

"What you said."