Snark and Circumstance (Novella) - By Stephanie Wardrop Page 0,13
assures us. I don’t know Maggie well, but she strikes me as someone a little too eager to pass along information about someone she couldn’t possibly know. She counts off the rumors on her fingers as she relays them. “I heard he got caught dealing drugs, or violating some kind of honor code, and/or sexting the Pemberley headmaster’s daughter.”
Shondra’s eyes grow big with skepticism at the last conjecture and I have to agree.
“No way,” I say. “Michael Endicott might be creepy enough to want to ‘sext’ somebody, but he’s too uptight to actually do it. I doubt he’s been naked since the day he was born.”
Maggie smiles slyly. “Wow, you really don’t like him, do you, Georgia?” she asks me.
“It was loathe at first sight,” I tell her.
“Well, you know what they say! Think of all the books and movies where a girl meets a guy and hates him—and then they realize they are perfect for each other and fall madly in love,” Maggie rhapsodizes.
I know these movies. And they never explain how the obnoxious guy magically turns into such a great person—we’re just supposed to assume it happens while we watch him go about his business as the soundtrack plays a bouncy pop song. But it’s insulting, really, to expect people to believe this can actually happen. Screenwriters obviously spend very little time in the real world.
“Well, whoever ‘they’ are, ‘they’ don’t know what ‘they’re’ talking about,” I tell her. “Besides, this is real life.”
Still, as we walk out of the cafeteria to our next classes, I see Michael at the recycling bins where a group of girls seem to find his disposal of an empty water bottle to be the most fascinating thing they’ve seen in years. Maggie slows down and I practically bump into her, then I plow past her and out the door.
After school, I take Shondra to Mr. Mullin’s room for the Alt meeting. Dave’s excited to see us and Gary immediately scavenges my lunch bag for leftover peanut butter cookies since he missed the chance at lunch today. I tell them about my tentative plans for the Ethics of Eating articles and how to get people interested in eating vegan. I mention issues like sustainable agriculture and how much farmland is wasted feeding cattle that could be used for growing soybeans and other vegetables and their eyes sort of glaze over.
Gary nods impatiently, saying through the crumbs in his mouth, “Isn’t that chick from Black Swan a vegan?”
“Yeah,” Shondra says. “If you mention vegan celebrities, you’ll get more people around here interested.”
Dave looks for another cookie and says, “There’s your angle. Start with the stars thing but then say something about how vegan eating is not just some fad Hollywood diet, or something. You know, it’s . . . whatever it is.”
“A responsible ethical choice—better for the animals and the planet,” I tell him.
“So go with that, but if you want to really bring people along with you . . . I mean, you’ll get more people to listen to your ideas if you, you know . . . dialed it down a bit? I mean, I was with you on the dissection argument in this issue, but comparing the experiments on animals to the Nazis in concentrations camps . . .? It was a little extreme for some people.”
I look up from a draft of the article to see that he’s got a worried look on his face. Shondra and Gary are watching him, too, as if I might leap across the table to strangle him and they may need to restrain me. So I smile and nod, and Dave smiles with relief.
“You can be really funny, Georgia,” he says. “Maybe you can bring some of that into the article.”
I nod again, feeling really embarrassed. I mean, I’m not trying to beat everyone over the head with a blunt instrument. I just really believe in the cause.
After the meeting, I’m walking out the doors to the sidewalk when Willow scurries up behind me and grabs my arm playfully, as if we’d agreed to run off to the mall together or something after school.
“Soooo, your sister, Tori, and Trey are, like a couple now? Adorbs! Really.”
I just look at her and start walking down the stairs.
“And what do you think about Michael Endicott?”
I stop then, because I have no idea why she would ask me this question. I’m sure I stare at her like I left my brain in my locker.
“You should be careful