Loving the enemy

Revolutionary day

        After Liam left, the principal tried to escape from that akward moment. She answered politely and gave a mediocre explanation on why they had decided to do it that way. Of course... She was never going to admit the burocracy of the institution and that action itself. She finished her speech by saying that things were going to be that way, and if anybody else was against it, he or she could stand up and leave. Of course, nobody had the courage to do it. She looked at me while she said those words, I am pretty sure she was expecting for me to vouch for Liam, because she knew I always agreed with his ideals. But I didn't go.
           Obviously, I supported Liam's action but I had taken the decision to not act on my thoughts this time, because I really wanted to participate in the activity this time. I knew that what he had done was the right thing to do, but I also knew the principal wasn't going to change, and she wouldn't give a shit about his revolutionary act, so I had decided not to join for the greater good... In the end, it was also for my ideals that I stayed, because, somebody had to feed this activity with liberal and progressive thoughts, and for what I saw, if left too nobody would. The only one who I knew as a bit revolutionary herself was Maggie but if I left her alone, the head-mistress would win and impose her traditional method of covering things and acting as a progressive teacher.
       The very first thing she proposed was diving into groups of two or three, so we could talk about the toppic and brainstorm some ideas for the workshop. Guess who was I paired with?
         She said she wanted groups which were co-ed (both men and women), and from different courses and ages. She then started to point fingers out and picking the couples, because nobody had the necessary confidence with people of other courses as to ask them to be with you. She paired me with Matt. How's that for a coincidence of life?
          I stayed where I was, seated on the floor. He came and just stood there without saying anything for about 30 seconds which seemed like an eternity. I acted as uninterested and didn't even look at him, but I was dying inside. He said Hi. I looked up high and there he was, with his hands in the pockets of his hoodie, steady looking at me. I placed my eyes back to where they were, and said, -So... Aren't you gonna sit? -
     He didn't answer, he just sat down.            -Well, this is akward.- He said
Those comments were so typical of him.
      -Well, let's not make it akward- I said with a big smile on. - How has your life been?
     -Meh, just life... -He never expressed what was going on with him, he acted as if he had no problems, no feelings, no bad days. -How bout' you? -He added after a few seconds of silence, realising there was no possible answer for me.
        -As well as it can be. - I replied. -Why don't we start with the activity?
        -Sure... Go ahead. - He said with a face that made me guess he didn't have a clue of what we had to do.
          I explained and we started with the ideas of possible activities and subjects that were important to talk about.
          -You are different, you know? There's something about you that makes me question...
          -How come? I'll take that as a compliment but I'm not sure what you mean. -I answered a bit shy which was unusual for me.
         -I don't know... I get the feeling that when I talk with you I see further. I feel like I am more with my feet on earth. I feel like I can worry less about the little stupid things that teenagers do, and worry about more important things of our reality. Eventhough I haven't talked much with you, I already feel that in the little conversations we had had.
         He made me feel as he had finally understood me, as nobody did. I felt like he was more than those things he showed, and I couldn't believe I was hearing that from him.
        -Well, I guess that's a good quality to have... But, trust me, you don't want to have conversations with me about some other important subjects, I'm really stubborn. - I answered laughing, to prevent this moment from getting too philosophically akward.
        -But we could. I could use a different opinion in my life about certain things. I promise I won't judge, but there are some things that I couldn't possibly talk about with my friends... - He said as he looked at his friends who were at the moment running stupidly like 5 year olds'.
        -Then maybe you don't have the right friends. You should trust them enough to talk about anything with them. But, sure, we could talk some day. - I answered to be polite, but in a hypothetical situation... Not thinking about was coming next.
       -What about friday? You could come to my place, there's nobody on Friday's afternoons.
       I was definitely not expecting that... I opened my eyer widely, and started to think like crazy how to decline that offer politely, for him to understand that I had still no interest in getting together with him in any kind of opportunity. Thankfully, I didn't have time to answer because the revolution came in the yard.

We started looking at eachother, nobody understood what was happening. All of my classmates were coming, in a chain of hands, protesting with signs that said "Hiding is not solving", "We fight for a school in which we can be ourselves", "We need to be listened", "The system keeps shuting us down, but we won't shut up."
      And the one that hit me: "We were 29, we are 28 now, we don't want to be 27." -Steph was holding this one. It was specific about Lena's case. The system that treats us as we had no problems, as if we were numbers, a system that judges us for our marks and not our personalities. The school, which we attend eight hours a day for six years of our lives, in which we spend more time than in our houses, fails to realize that we are human beings. Fails to teach us respect for eachother. Fails to teach us that we are different and we should stop judging.
        I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Liam had managed a way to convince all of our classmates that we had to do something. I can't believe I had missed this...
More was about to come.