Chapter 4

Michelle Black, Monday September 6, 2010

I woke up early and got dressed. Since we would be meeting with the school board, I put on a conservative blouse. Mom drove me to city hall and we presented our paperwork to some bureaucratic flunky. She typed something in to her computer and then looked up at us.

"Alright, your hearing will be the 23rd."

"But the suspension ends the 17th."

"'The purpose of the hearing is not to remove the suspension but to strike it from your record."

"But that's..."

"Those are the rules, have a nice day."

I rolled my eyes and led my parents out of the building. At least I'd have a chance to come up with a good appeal.

When we got back, there was a message from Anna on our house phone. She wanted me to call her back, and I did so.

"How's it going?" she asked.

"Not too good. The school district won't reconsider my suspension until after it's over, so I've got a two week involuntary vacation."

"I'm sorry to hear that, but it does make things easier from our perspective. We've had a couple of calls that you might be interested in."

"Oh?"

"The House of Representatives is holding hearings on a bill that would increase reporting requirements for rape cases and they want you to testify."

"I don't know what I'd say."

"That's ok. They want you Friday so I'll have a week to coach you."

"Alright, what's the other thing?"

"Have you ever heard of Amy Abney?"

"Uhh ... no. Was she a rape victim?"

"Not quite. She was almost raped during her week in The Program and launched a very successful campaign to get New Mexico. She heard about what happened to you and now she wants to take the campaign national. We were going to do an official kickoff in DC."

"Ok, what would I have to do?"

"For now, you would just make a speech at the press conference. We might have some rallies later on that you could go to if you wanted."

"Ok, cool."

"Can you come to my office to start working on your testimony?"

"Sure."

School had let out by the time we finished, so I called Shane to tell him what was going on.

"Do you want me to go with you?" he asked.

I thought for a moment. "I'd love to, but what about school. You're still supposed to show up."

"I could boycott school in solidarity with you."

"Hmmm ... That's actually a good idea, let me run it by Anna."

I hung up and immediately dialed Anna's cell. I explained Shane's idea and suggested we could get other kids to participate.

"That sounds like a good idea, but it runs the risk of making it look like they're just using this as an excuse to ditch school. You need to find some teachers that are willing to participate in the boycott and maybe teach their classes elsewhere."