Watch Us Rise(36)



“Get these two out of here,” Principal Hayes says. “We’ll be dealing with both of you on Monday.”

“Wait, no, it’s not his fault,” I say, pushing through the crowd and stepping all over Rapunzel’s now sticky wig.

“Excuse me?” he says, looking right at me.

“They’re the ones who instigated it. I mean, just look.” I gesture at Angie, who is nursing Corey’s bloody lip.

“They what?” Principal Hayes asks.

“They came dressed as the stereotypes. There’s Mammy and Sapphire,” I say.

“It’s called a joke,” Meg says, taking a step forward. “Can’t you get that? Get over it,” Meg says back, so calm, but at the same time, she kicks her wig in my direction. As if I’m an afterthought, as if I don’t matter at all. All of a sudden, I move toward Meg. I don’t know if I’m gonna try to hit her or launch into a speech, but I’m mad in a way I’ve never been before.

“Enough,” Principal Hayes shouts. “This dance is officially over. Please see yourselves out. Done. This. Is. Over.” Everyone groans, and a few people kick the balloons around the space. Some of the seniors start to clean things up.

Just then, James walks into the cafeteria and looks in my direction. He sees the lights on and the punch spilled all over the floor. “What happened?” he mouths in my direction. I point my finger at Meg and her group, who are gathering their wigs and sashes, and shrug my shoulders. He holds his hand up to his ear and mouths, “Call me.” I don’t know if I will, or even want to, after this.

Principal Hayes tells me he’d like to see me in his office. Nadine and Isaac wait for me outside, and as soon as I finish getting a ridiculous talking-to, I meet up with them and call Jasmine.

It only rings once. “Jazz? We might be in trouble,” I say. “Um, so, yeah. I mean, well, I might be in trouble.”

“What did you do?” Jasmine asks.

“Well, Principal Hayes ended the dance—which I didn’t think was fair because, I mean, it wasn’t like everyone showed up like that, and it was only halfway over anyway. It wasn’t fair, and he also didn’t understand what a big deal those costumes were.”

“So what got us in trouble?” she asks.

“Well, I was pissed. I told Principal Hayes how I didn’t think it was fair.”

“That’s it?”

“I may have said a little too much.”

“What else did you say?” Jasmine asks.

“After Principal Hayes told me I needed to act in a more mature way to get my point across, he said something about how he couldn’t believe something like this would happen at this school. And so I told him that there’s a lot of messed-up stuff that happens at our school. He actually looked surprised, and said, ‘Like what?’ so I told him.”

“You told him what?”

“That he needed to fire any racist teachers—like Mr. Morrison, who clearly should not be teaching at a school like this. And I may or may not have said that you were going to send your blog post to the New York Times and every other major newspaper in the city if he didn’t do something.”

“Chelsea!”

“I know, I know. I said too much,” I admit. I can see Isaac and Nadine giggling beside me. I know Isaac is relieved that Principal Hayes dropped any punishment due to the sensitivity of the situation. “He wants to talk to us about our blog. He thinks we’ve been writing things just to be instigating these kinds of situations.”

“Where is all this coming from? We haven’t instigated anything. Has anyone posted anything negative in our comments section?” Jasmine asks.

“I don’t know, I haven’t checked in a couple of days. I was too busy getting my costume right, which totally didn’t work, by the way.”

“Well, can you check?” Jasmine asks. “Do you think there might be something under my first post?”

“I’ll check as soon as I get home,” I say. “I’ll call you back.” I hang up without even mentioning James or asking about her dad.

daisymae commented: one question?? who cares!!??

purplelipstick commented: lies. lies. lies! these people are always trying to start something . . .

vagabond commented: maybe if they all didn’t act like jezebels, sapphires and whatever else, then Hollywood wouldn’t cast them all in those same ole parts.

chrometilt commented: ths pst actlly fls RACST to me!

lenabee commented: how about you learn how to spell racist? also, this blog is NOT RACIST. it is simply commenting on how RACIST the movie industry actually is. how about get educated first before you start commenting on intellectual blog posts. thank you.

chrometilt commented: BITCH. Did I spell that right???

vagabond liked this

lenabee commented: What does the academy value in a black performance? The NY Times actually posted a video about THIS SUBJECT! Of the 10 black women up for best actress Oscars, all played characters in poverty. 9 were homeless or nearly so.

harlemchick commented: #TRUTH

chrometilt commented: #CRAP

wahibaby commented: Learn how to ACT!?? Then maybe you’ll get other parts?

harlemchick commented: shocked at how ignorant people can be websteravenue liked this

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