Watch Us Rise(35)

We walk in, and the gym is totally transformed. The lights are low, and there are strobes in the corners and a makeshift disco ball above us. There are fake skeletons, pumpkins, and black and orange streamers all over the bleachers. The back table is loaded with cookies, popcorn, and soda, and the music is already playing, with most of the seniors out on the dance floor, since they’ve been here setting everything up.

“This looks soooo good,” Nadine says. “I love it. We could stage a whole creepy photo shoot in here. Chelsea, look at me. Be a cat, and now pretend you’re calling someone.” I make my best cat impersonation and hold my phone up.

“Make sure you hashtag it with #catcalling. The internet will understand.”

Nadine keeps her phone open and goes to Instagram to post it. “Whoa,” she says as soon as she opens her app.

“What?”

“This.” She holds her phone up so Isaac and I can see it. It’s Meg and two of her best friends. They’re all dressed up like princesses. Meg is Rapunzel, with a long wrap of blond braid trailing down her back. Her friends are Snow White and Cinderella. They’re clearly the sexy versions of these princesses, dressed in short skirts, with tiaras and sheer tops on. Underneath the photo it says: #princesslife #princessesrock #goodlife #princesslikeagirl #squadgoals #whysoserious #jokesonthem “What the . . .” and before I can finish, Nadine holds up her phone again.

“Is that?” I ask, and look closer. It’s another photo that Meg posted of some kids from the acting ensemble. One is dressed like Mammy, with a long dress and scarf and holding a box of Aunt Jemima pancake mix in front of her, and one is holding a movie poster of Pam Grier from Coffy. She has an Afro wig on and is wearing a red tube top. Both of the girls are white. Underneath them it says: #mammyrocks #mammyspancakesarebest #sweetsapphire #jokelikeagirl #jokes #soserious.

I take my phone out and start texting Jasmine.

Just checking on you. Hope your dad is doing better.

I’m here with Isaac and Nadine. They both look awesome. Black Panther and Katana.

I’m dressed as catcalling. I’m sure you’re laughing your head off right now, since I KNOW you get those kinds of jokes.

Guess who else is on their way?



I send the screen shot of Meg and her punk princess power.

James isn’t here yet. Where is he?

Just when I’m in the middle of sending texts, I look up and see them all walk in. Angie Marshall is dressed like a princess too, with a fluffy dress on and a tiara. I can’t believe she’s with them. She’s actually one of the cooler members of the group, and one of the only ones who reached out to Jasmine when she quit to tell her how messed up Meg’s comments were—she’s also one of the only other black girls in the group. Her boyfriend, Corey Finn, another guy from the ensemble, walks in with her.

OMG. Angie Marshall is dressed like a princess too!

Not cool!!!!

Okay, something weird is happening. This dance is taking a turn.



“What are they wearing?” Isaac asks.

“Oh, they’re just wearing your basic sexist and racist costumes,” I say.

“And it looks like they’re targeting you all,” Nadine adds.

I pull out my phone to go on Instagram too. I look up the photo they must have posted when they were getting ready. It says #jokesonyou #partylikeagirl #PrincessAllDay #PrincessPower.

“Oh no, no,” I say when I see them walking toward us. I can see Isaac clenching his fists.

“You okay?” I ask.

“No,” he answers, and I can see he’s pissed, not just because of their insanely racist costume choices, but because they’ve also taken Jasmine’s and my work and made a big joke out of it.

“Yo, Angie, what’s with your costume?” Isaac asks as they make their way over to us.

“Back off, man. It’s really not that serious. It’s a joke,” Corey says, starting to smile.

“Yeah, it is serious. You all need to take those costumes off. They’re offensive for a whole bunch of reasons,” Isaac says, moving closer.

“Come on. We’re just messing around. It’s just a costume, and we wanted to play around with stereotypes by becoming some of the unique characters written about on the very serious Write Like a Girl blog,” Angie says, laughing.

“The work there IS serious, and it’s changing a lot of people’s attitudes, and thoughts, and—”

“Dude, take it easy. What’s the big deal? What’s up?”

“Don’t worry about him. He’s just got a crush on Jasmine,” Meg says.

“What?” Corey asks, really laughing now. “I didn’t know you were into fat girls.”

And that’s all it takes—all it takes for me to see that Isaac really is in love with Jasmine, and all it takes to confirm that he’s not about any of this trash. He pulls his arm back and punches Corey right in the face.

“Isaac,” I shout. A group has gathered around both of them. Corey stands up and pushes Isaac back into a pile of balloons with skeleton faces all over them. Isaac lunges for Corey again and grabs him by the shoulders. They wrestle, knocking over the entire bowl of fruit punch. Fizzy pink liquid sloshes to the ground, and two of the princesses slide while trying to stop the fight. Meg’s wig gets caught on the leg of the overturned table, and it pulls her long blond hair to the ground. I can see a few of the other guys move in to stop the fight, when suddenly the lights turn on, and Principal Hayes is standing between them with one of the chaperones.