What Is Your Name?

Chapter 17: Harsher Than Your Enemy (Sky)

"Sir, you can't expel them! They did nothing wrong!" Tempest pleaded. The show had ended about half an hour before, and Tempest was begging Grantham to let us stay. Grey wasn't there. He said he had a plan.

"Nothing wrong?!" Grantham was fuming. "They publicly humiliated the entire school!"

"Except they didn't!" Tempest argued. "All Sky did was perform a song for his niece, and you were the one who encouraged Lillian to do a debate act. They were arguing for change. Change isn't a bad thing. As for dissing the entire school, they were only fighting against the type of people who are too stubborn to recognize the beauty that was Promises, which was not the entire school. You're just mad because they don't like you, when you've given them no reason to!"

"I am literally giving them free room and board," Grantham muttered.

"Except you weren't," Lillian cut in. "We were paying you with valuable information, and you let people walk all over us!"

"You gave no information besides your pathetic sob story!"

"Because no one was listening!" I sighed. "I hate repeating this information! I hate it! I'm not going to say it over and over for the people who weren't listening the first time. I'm not going to give any information at all until I'm sure the people in front of me are listening and will take it seriously! And if that's not gonna happen here, expel me. I don't care. There's nothing here for me."

"You're expelled anyway!" Grantham was probably about to explode, and he hadn't even used a match or magic. I wondered if I could get Eli to handle Grantham. Never mind. That was a little much. Eli deserved better.

It didn't take long to get our stuff from our dorm. It's not like we had much. We didn't even have a place to go from here.

"We'll figure something out," I reassured Lillian.

"I love you."

"Love you, too."

We walked out to the front gate, where we had first dissed Grantham. I couldn't even say we'd come a long way since then. We were hated more than ever.

"I hope you find a good life and settle down somewhere," Grantham said.

"Yeah, and pigs fly," I replied.

The gate was blocked. Not locked, at least I assumed not. Blocked. By a wall of people.

"Change is happening," Grey stated, "but that's not a bad thing. If you want to get rid of everyone who causes change, you're gonna have a lot of people to go through. That person who held the door open for you made a change. That one kid in kindergarten who helped you clean up your spilled chocolate milk made a change. Those two students who were let in here for free who have caused phenomenal change, and you are trying to get rid of them. If you want to expel Sky and Lillian, you're going to have to go through me."

"And me," added the wall. Yes, the wall. The wall of people. Pay attention, please.

"What do we need from them?" Grantham sneered. He was trying to get the students back on his side.

"In ancient myths," Lillian replied, "people believed that the world was flat, and the sky was a dome that held us down. We now know the world is round, but it has been proven we need the sky. It's kind of a buffer between us and the harsh galaxy."

"Your point, please?" Grantham huffed.

"I see what Lillian's getting at!" Tempest exclaimed. "There are some things humanity just needs. We need the sky. We need Sky. And Sky needs Lillian. And we need Lillian. The school needs them, the world needs them, but they're being turned away. How would you feel if they died on the streets, hm? You might not care, but I would. I'm sure plenty of people would. Part of me thinks the Shadow would. Do you really want to be harsher than your enemy?"

The great Lord Grantham himself was on the ground crying. I turned to Tempest. "I think maybe I was wrong about you."

"Oh, you think?" Tempest laughed.

"I really hope you do let them stay," a voice interrupted. "It's very interesting, really, seeing how they've grown."

Lillian took a stuttering breath and turned around to face the voice. "Hi, Dad."