Summer Letters

Chapter 12

After a grueling and frustrating math class Lena felt relieved to walk into history class. The teacher immediately went into a lecture about gender roles in society and the household. Lena made her usual arguments about stereotypes, which led to Jensen arguing with her. She was not surprised about Jensen arguing because he always found a reason to argue with her in class. What she did not expect was another student arguing against both of them. Ben argued for traditional roles in the household, which immediately made Lena go into another rant.

"Personally, I just want to marry a woman that prefers to stay at home. She could do all the work at home and raise the children. What's wrong with that?"

"That's not what you said," Lena argued. "You said that all women should stay at home."

"So?" He asked.

"So, that's wrong!" Lena exclaimed. "If women prefer to stay at home then great, but we deserve a choice. If a woman wants to be president then we should encourage her. If a woman wants to be paid the same as a man she should be paid the same as a man. We deserve equal opportunity, equal pay, and equal rights overall to let us decide what we want to do with our lives. Your view of society can hurt a lot of women that have big dreams about their careers."

"I agree with Lena," Jensen said.

The teacher smiled, "Well this is a surprise."

Jensen chuckled, "I know! But Lena makes a point. Gender roles will change over time because the world is changing so the laws and roles within a family should change too. Women should have equal rights. We've come a long way, but there's still a long way to go."

"This debate has inspired a new assignment for all of you."

"Good going," I muttered to Jensen.

"I will put you into pairs and you will find reliable sources, both primary and secondary, to argue your opinion about this topic. Since Lena and Jensen actually agree on this topic they will be partners."

"Are you kidding me?" Lena asked Jensen as the teacher began pairing off the rest of the class. "You did that on purpose!"

He laughed, "I didn't, but it worked out great! Time is on my side this year."

"Whatever," Lena smiled. "Meet me at the library tonight."

"Whatever you say boss."

"Don't call me boss!"

"Fine, Enders."

"Fine, Porter."

Alfonso and Sebastian insisted on meeting with Jensen for something during lunch period so Marlene, Lena, and Luna sat by themselves. Marlene told Lena during their last class together that she should apologize to Luna and explain what's been happening. While Lena tried to argue, she realized Marlene was right. She has not been acting like herself this semester, and it wasn't Luna's fault.

"Luna, I'm sorry for avoiding some of you the last few weeks," Lena said. "You didn't do anything wrong. I had a lot on my mind, and I've been trying to sort something out."

"Is everything alright?" Luna asked.

"Well," Lena chuckled, "You were not entirely wrong by asking the others about Jensen and I."

"I was right?!" Luna exclaimed.

"Shh!" Lena told her. "Jensen and I are friends. We started talking over the summer. We've also been secretly hanging out since classes started this year. That's what you've been sensing."