Ruin // Danger Days (Book 3)

19.

"Elizabeth O'Reilly to the front office, Elizabeth O'Reilly to the front office."

It was the beginning of the school day, about a month since Alien first arrived. She wasn't sure what she'd done wrong, if anything. Maybe her dad was just picking her up early...

"Are you in trouble?" Sara asked.

"I hope not," Alien sighed.

"Come back alive, okay?" Frank said, laughing. "Well, I'm already dead, so that's kinda hypocritical."

"Nah, you're just dead on the inside," Alien laughed. "Anyways, I'd better hit the red line." Then, she picked up her backpack and made her way to the office.

When she got there, her dad was waiting, as well as a government official (they were easy to recognize, they all had to wear navy blue suits with red ties) and the school's principal. The official gestured for Alien to sit down, so she did.

"Elizabeth," the official started, "We told you that we would give you a one-month grace period for speech and appearance violations, and that time is now up. So you're going to have to go home and get rid of the purple in your hair."

"Why?" Alien had to ask. "I'm not hurting anyone."

"It's distracting to other students," the principal said, clearly annoyed. "It's just not natural."

"Since when do people care about what's natural?" Alien raised her voice. "Oh, is gay marriage banned too? That's not 'natural'!"

The official scoffed. "That's different." She was probably done with Alien's shit by now; she'd checked in on her almost every day, and Alien still didn't know her name, but she still annoyed the hell out of her. What can she say, it's fun!

"How? How is that different at all? I want to express myself, and I'm not able to do that anymore! Because you assholes can't stand anything even slightly different than your fucking black-and-white standards! You know what? There's no difference between you and BLI! You're doing the exact same thing, except you're making people realize that they're being shoved into a one-size-fits-all hole! You—"

"SHUT UP!" the official yelled, slamming her hands on the principal's desk. She took a breath, then shot a venomous look at my dad. "Take her home, now."

"I hate how you think you own me," Alien continued, in a much calmer tone. She was an expert at being passive-aggressive. "I am an adult, and I also have free will. If I was hurting someone, I'd understand why you're mad, but I'm not."

David took Alien's hand. "El, let's go. Yelling at them isn't going to do anything."

She shot the official a dirty look. "You're right, Dad. They wouldn't know human rights if it punched them in the face."

And then, she walked out. She didn't even look back, she didn't care. She was going to go back to her dad's house and play angry music on the guitar, and then, she would get a bunch of students together and start a riot. Then they couldn't be ignored.

~

Alien didn't dye her hair back. She told her dad "If they don't want my purple hair at school, then I won't go to school." David knew that she was an adult and wanted respect, so he accepted that he couldn't stop her.

She called Frank and Sara after school ended. If she wanted to start a rebellion, she had to start with them. Both of them agreed to come over, but she didn't tell them anything else, because the government might be listening in.

They came together; they usually carpooled anyway. She brought them down to the basement before telling them her plan.

"So basically, I want to spark a rebellion. Kinda like... do y'all know what happened in the Protestant Reformation?"

"I think I learned that in school before the war," Frank said. "That was before things got boring. But I don't remember much."

Sara laughed. "I was born in 2009. I don't think I would have gotten that information, especially with the religion ban."

"Well, I'll tell you. The Catholic Church was doing some bad things, so this guy named Martin Luther says 'that's bullshit' and writes down a bunch of reasons that it's bullshit called the Ninety-five Theses. Then he publishes it, word gets around, and he starts a full-on rebellion. He didn't mean to do that, but whatever. Anyways, that's what I wanna do. We're gonna write down a bunch of reasons that the government is unfair, and then we're gonna post it all over the school. Then, if we're lucky, word will get around, and a rebellion will start!"

"Oh man, that sounds so cool!" Sara gushed. "Let's get writing!"

By the end of their spree, they had 10 "theses" written down:

1. If one wants to be creative, there is no logical reason that they should get permission from the government to do it.

2. Tradition is not more important than the will and freedom of an individual.

3. Freedom of speech was one of the foundational principles that America was built on; by abolishing it, this country ceased to be America.

4. If the only people in possession of firearms are criminals, then every other person in this country is completely defenseless and has no way to protect themselves from these criminals.

5. Self-expression should not be a crime; without it, everyone is the same against their nature, and all human development will cease because of it. Without it, we are stripped of what makes us human.

6. When it comes down to it, curse words are only words used to add emphasis. Censoring them equals censoring basic speech, which is unfair (see No. 3).

7. Better Living Industries is seen by this government as unfair. However, BLI's main principles are: uniformity equals peace, creativity sparks rebellion, and differences will be punished and eliminated. Sounds familiar, right? It's because this government is doing the exact same thing.

8. If we want peace, then tolerance is key. This includes emotional tolerance, creative tolerance, opinion tolerance, and religious tolerance, as long as any of those aren't physically hurting anyone.

9. If someone's feelings get hurt, deal with it! There's no logical reason to abolish self-expression because a few people don't like it.

10. It makes absolutely no sense that most music was banned. Music tastes are different for everyone, and what is "disturbing" to one may be beautiful to another. Also, if someone's feelings are hurt because of it, see No. 9.

When they were finished drafting the list, they typed it up (anonymously, of course) and used Alien's dad's printer to make about twenty-five copies of it. Then, they all snuck into the school (Frank was apparently very skilled at lock-picking) and hung them up all over the halls.

And then, they waited. They all wanted to have a sleepover together, but David wouldn't let Frank stay. So they just video chatted all night.

And the next day, all hell broke loose.