Chapter 39: Chapter 39
The next morning, before classes began, plenty of students were gathered by the front gate. "What do you think this is all about?" Emma asks.
"You think it's something important?" Jackson asks.
"If it has that many people's attention, then it's gotta be" Wyatt says. The three of them walk from the dorm building, closer to the front gates of the school. When they got close to the crowd of students, Wyatt asks "What's going on?".
"Looks like our school must be in a lot of trouble" one of the students say.
As the student points towards the walls on the outside of the gates, the three of them walk around the gate and see posters all over the outer walls of the school. All over, were posters reading things like "Laibah trash", "Get Out", "Not in our city!", and even things like "Die" were glued to the outer walls of the school. "Who do you think did something like this?" A female student asks.
"Who would even want to do something like this to a SCHOOL?" Another student asks.
"Who even has the time to do something like this?" Jackson asks. A bunch of students look at Jackson as he continues to says "They seem deprived. Honestly, it's one thing to hate a specific group of people, but it's another to attack a school like that out of sheer hate for only some of the students".
"Aren't you one of the laibah they're targeting?" A student asks Jackson.
"Yeah... I guess that's true" Jackson replies.
"Oh, they have that patch!" Another student points out. "Aren't you guys The Rejects? Don't you guys have a plan to deal with this? I mean, you guys are representing like... the whole community of the school now, aren't you?".
"I... we... don't have much of a plan yet" Jackson says. "W-we're working on it, I swear". Jackson then leans close to Wyatt and whispers "You have something for this, right?".
"Wait a minute..." Wyatt asks, "the community of the whole school?".
"Well... Yeah" a student says. "Isn't your club like... everywhere now? We see that club symbol like everywhere in school now. Aren't you guys supposed to do something?".
"The whole school..." Wyatt says to himself. "Hang on a minute" Wyatt says as he looks back up at the students.
Wyatt starts walking towards the school, and Jackson and Emma panic as they try to keep up. "W-where are you going?" Emma asks.
"To the principal's office, where else?" Wyatt says.
"Asking for advice now?" Jackson asks. "So then you ARE out of ideas?".
"For the moment..." Wyatt says. "Give me some time".
The three of them enter Ryan's office and begin to ask him about the posters. "I think I can guess why you're here" Ryan says with a sigh. "The vandalism, right?".
"Any ideas on what to do?" Wyatt asks.
"Good to see you three have at least thought a little bit about this situation" Ryan says. "If you're out of ideas, I'm assuming that means you've already known that the obvious solution will not work".
"The obvious solution?" Jackson asks.
"Simply ripping down each individual poster" Ryan says. "You know why it won't work, right?".
"Because" Emma says, "they may be out of sight, but it won't be out of the minds of the student body until we find a way to take hold of the situation". Ryan stares at Emma in surprise. "Yeah, I have thought about it" she says.
"Well, unfortunately, I don't have anything particular in mind that'll solve this case" Ryan says. "I'm busy trying to handle other matters... I'm sorry. You know I'd like to help whenever I can. However, I do know where you guys can help".
"You do?" Wyatt asks.
"It's not a solution for your current problem" Ryan says, "but you may want to look into the matter. One of your club mates ran into me earlier this morning. She was speed walking through the halls, looking rather distraught. Last I saw, she was heading towards your club room. She looks like she could use someone to help comfort her".
"And the posters?" Jackson asks.
"Give me time to think of something" Ryan says. "In exchange, if you find a solution, let me know. Oh, and make sure you check in with your homeroom teacher before classes start, if you think you're going to be late. The students aren't the only ones stressed about this matter".
"R-right" Wyatt says.
The three of them leave the office and Jackson asks "So... what now?".
"That was rather counterproductive" Emma says.
"I guess to the club?" Wyatt asks. "Someone needs help, and maybe they can help us brainstorm?".
"Your grasping at straws here" Jackson says. "So who is even up there, so early in the morning?".
"Dunno" Emma says. "He never mentioned a name".
When the three of them make it to the rooftop, they see Tina sitting alone at one of the tables. When they get closer, they could see she was painting something on a small canvas. When Tina finally notices the three of them, she jumps in surprise. "Oh, it's you guys. You scared me" She says.
"Tina, are you alright?" Emma asks.
"I... will be fine" Tina replies. "I just like to be alone when I'm worried about something".
"I didn't know you could paint" Jackson says. "That's actually kinda impressive. Do you usually paint when you're stressed?".
"Y-Yeah... it's a weird hobby of mine" Tina says.
"That's not weird!" Emma says. "That's amazing!".
"I-is it?" Tina asks. "Thanks... I don't really paint in front of other people. It always distracts me and makes me feel... nervous".
"Really?" Jackson asks. "That sounds weird to me".
"Jackson, don't be so rude about it" Emma says.
"Speaking of weird" Jackson says, "Wyatt, you alright? You suddenly went quiet".
"Tina" Wyatt says, without acknowledging Jackson. "Are you any good at painting things like graffiti? Maybe just like hands or anything like... anarchic?".
"I can do stuff like fists" Tina says. "Why? Do you have a commission?".
"Better..." Wyatt says. "I think I have a solution. Can you help us with something important? It's for the school".
"What do you have in mind?" Tina asks.
"Those posters outside of the school is what's bothering you, right?" Wyatt asks.
"Yeah... it makes me nervous to think that so many people would hate laibah so much" Tina says.
"Do you think you could paint over them?" Wyatt asks.
"Paint over them?" Tina asks. "Like how?".
"Well, the messages they send are hateful" Wyatt says, "but they're also vague. If we can change the appearance of the posters, maybe even paint our club symbol over it, it'd be like changing their message of hate, to a message of our own! A message of courage for the school! Think you could do that?".
"I-I think I could... try" Tina says.
"Alright, thanks a ton, Tina!" Wyatt says.
"Y-you're welcome, I guess" Tina says, still confused.
The four of them go to tell Ryan about their idea. "Painting over the vandalism, I like it!" Ryan says. "Use any of the equipment you may need from the art rooms or storage centers! We can supply however much paint and tools you may need! Oh, also, let me get ahold of a teacher here at this school. He has an artistic talent, and can help you with the painting. You guys go on ahead, and I'll send him your way to help with all of the work. Painting over all of that would take a while, so the more the merrier".
"Thanks, Principal Schafold!" Tina says. "My paint set is expensive, so I'd hate to run out in a single day".
"No, problem" Ryan says. "Take whatever tools you need and I'll make sure your teachers don't mark you absent in exchange".
"Wait, we can skip class for this?" Jackson asks.
"You're doing a favor for the school..." Ryan says. "Why would I hold that against you?".
"Thanks, Principal Schafold" Wyatt says.
"No, thank you" Ryan says.
When Tina, Wyatt, Emma, and Jackson get to the outside of the gate and face the posters, Tina stares at one of the posters that says "Not in our city!". "Any ideas?" Tina asks while refusing to take her glare off of the poster.
"I have one idea" Wyatt says. "Not sure what you'll think of it". Wyatt grabs a brush and uses red paint to outline the word "our" in "Not in our city". He outline the word in red letters, putting an emphasis on the word. "I'm not very good at holding a brush" Wyatt says, "but I think if we put something like the club symbol below that, it'll look like a new message".
"You mean..." Tina says as she paints a circle with a backwards letter R, "like this?". When the group stepped back to have a better view of the newly painted poster, it said "Not in OUR city" with the club symbol below it. "Yeah, now it looks like support for the club" Tina says. "Looks like it's adding emphasis on 'our' to show we think of it as both a human and laibah city. However-". Tina then paints white paint over the "Not in" at the beginning of the poster, so now it reads "OUR city!". Tina smiles and says "Now it's better! Less aggressive!".
"What about this one?" Jackson asks as he looks at a poster that simply says "Die" on it.
Tina stares at it for a while, then paints over the word "Die" with white paint, erasing the word completely. She then paints the outline of a fist with the club symbol on the back of the hand, then paints the word "Rise" above it. "How about that?" Tina asks.
"Clever" Jackson says. "I like it".
"Sorry we took so long" Jeff says as he comes out to meet the group of Rejects. "Had to gather more supplies for everybody". When Jeff comes out, he also brought three other students with him to help paint over the posters.
"Mr. Hendricks, you can paint too?" Wyatt asks.
"Yeah, I'm the sponsor of the art club" Jeff says. "Let's see what we have here so far". Jeff looks over the newly painted posters and nods. "Looks very anarchic" Jeff says, "and kind of retro. Is that the direction you want to take this?".
"Whatever works" Wyatt says with a shrug.
As all of them continued to paint, while Jackson, Emma and Wyatt continuously carried around the supplies for the ones painting, the posters all changed one by one. The ones that's said "Get out" now said "Get out of your shell" with the club symbol below it, and "Don't be afraid" written below the symbol. "Laibah trash" changed to "Laibah and Humans Together" with a fist below it. The longer they spent painting, the more students came out of the school and began painting with them. Eventually, then entire art club came out to help, as well as some other students who weren't in the art club, but still wanted to paint. A couple hours passed before they knew it. The group of painters seemed to be having fun, as Jackson, Emma and Wyatt enjoyed seeing the view of all these people coming together for a solution.
"I can't believe we've done it" Jackson says.
"But we didn't paint anything" Emma says.
"No, I mean..." Jackson says, "we've managed to find a way for all of these people to overlook laibah for a common solution. All these people together, helping us and stuff... maybe we're not so far from achieving our own goals".
"I sure hope so" Wyatt says. "I really hope this works, and keeps the school from falling apart. If this doesn't raise the school's morale, those students would probably turn on us".
"Turn on us?" Jackson asks.
"They're depending on us to find a solution for them" Wyatt says. "If we don't manage to actually find the solution they were looking for, then they'll probably assume we're all just failures".
"Don't say that" Emma says. "They asked us to help and we did. They asked us for a solution, and we did the very best we could. I understand being worried about results, but try not to stress too much, please? If Plan A doesn't work, we'll move onto Plan B, and I'll be here for you every step of the way". While Emma was talking, she reached out and grabbed Wyatt's hand, and held on tightly.
"Right..." Wyatt says as he looks down at her hand. "Thank you, Emma".
Emma looks up and smiles at Wyatt. "Happy to help" she says.
"Where the hell were you guys?" Aeris asks during lunch, when the rest of The Rejects finally finished with the posters.
"We were busy taking care of something" Wyatt says.
"Like what?" Aeris asks.
"Did you see those posters?" Jackson asks.
"Yeah" Aeris replies.
"We fixed them" Jackson says, then pauses. "W-Well... Tina fixed them, actually".
"I-I had help" Tina says. "I couldn't have done all of that by myself".
"Fixed them?" Aeris asks.
"Fixed them how?" Jessica asks.
"Do you want to see?" Emma asks. "There's a lot of students who went down there to see why there was a group of people painting just outside of the school. A lot of students are gathered there right now, so you wouldn't get in trouble for going".
The entire club gathers by the outer walls of the school to look at the new posters. There, they met a large group of other students who were also looking at the new posters. Most of the students were talking to each other about how the new posters "makes it looks like we're standing up against those people" and "it's like showing that we're not gonna back down!". The news of how well the students approve of the new posters came as a relief to Wyatt. "It... worked" Wyatt says. "Not only are the posters no longer putting fear into the hearts of the students, but they're actually getting... courage from it! They're seeing it as like a response to a declaration of war! They like it! Great job, Tina!".
"B-but I didn't do all of-" Tina says.
"You did this?" Darren interrupts. "That's amazing, Tina!".
"I-it is?" Tina asks. "T-thank you...".
"This is a good sign" Jackson says.
"Yeah" Aeris says, "it really seems like it".
"Maybe things will get easier" Emily says, "if you take into account the amount of people we have in the club now... as well as the support".
"But it's not over yet" Aeris says. "Whoever did this likely won't take it sitting down".
"You mean, they're going to do it again?" Emma asks.
"Maybe" Aeris says. "I don't know".
"I-I have a thought" Tina says. "This doesn't look like the work of one person. I think we can all assume there was a group of people behind this. After all, it did take several hours for us to try and fix it".
"So?" Jackson asks.
"So, that means" Tina says, "it's likely a large group of people who oppose that bill. In order to construct a proper campaign against the new bill, trying to redo something that has so small of an effect wouldn't be as beneficial. Speaking from an artistic point of view, they'd likely want to move onto something bigger to grab the attention of the people who are on neither side. Meaning they likely won't have the time for something like doing this all over again".
"Then again" Jackson says, "if it's really a large group of people, someone within that group likely does have the time for something like this".
"T-that's true" Tina says.
"So then... back to the waiting game?" Aeris asks.
"I think that's all we really can do" Wyatt says.
Later that night, after Wyatt came back from work at Savvy Threads, he, Emma and Jackson were laying in bed, preparing to sleep. "You alright, Wyatt?" Emma asks. "You still seem kinda stressed".
"Y-Yeah..." Wyatt says. "I'm just worried".
"That's understandable" Jackson says. "Who knows what'll happen next with this bill?".
"It's not just that" Wyatt says. "I just hope that everything will be fine in the end. I'm worried about what's next, what comes after that... and so on".
"Wyatt?" Emma asks.
"I just... can't imagine them..." Wyatt says as he thinks. "I just... can't let them stop this bill! It's not even about the school for me anymore, I'm more worried about you! I won't let them kick you out of the city, Emma!".
"Wyatt!" Emma shouts to get Wyatt to stop talking. "It's okay! I'm not going anywhere! If they want to try to separate us, they can go ahead and try! Whatever happens, I'll still be right by your side".
Wyatt holds onto Emma tightly and says "I love you, Emma".
"Mhm" Emma says as she holds onto Wyatt. "I love you too. Just, don't try to worry yourself so much".
"I'll try" Wyatt says with a laugh, "but I make no promises".
"Well" Emma says, "you remember that one time I was very stressed, so you took me on a date to try and help me relax?".
"Yeah?" Wyatt replies.
"Well, you want to go somewhere this weekend?" Emma asks. "Try to do something to take it all off of your mind?".
Wyatt smiles and says "I'd love to".
"Hey, I have an idea!" Jackson says. "Can I please sleep?".
"Oh... sorry Jackson" Wyatt says.
"Seriously..." Jackson says with a groan.
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