Legally Black [COMPLETE]

5: the school of what's happening

The problem with Phoenix was it was easy to want to hate them yet difficult to actually do it. Phoenix was the only child of their town's popular out mayor. Phoenix was top of the class, and unafraid to wear a sweater vest in the Deep South despite suffocating humidity and outdated, borderline transphobic Steve Urkel jokes. Phoenix was brave and dating Yves' ex, kissing Yves' ex, and kicking Yves' ass in this election. Yves had heard nothing but how much better than her Phoenix was; she knew all the talking points, could recite them in her sleep. She still couldn't make the leap from rapidly cooling jealousy to hatred, because Phoenix was also taking one for the team.

Yves was pacing outside the school gym where the administration had agreed to hold the town hall some of the students had claimed to want. She personally thought they wanted a get-out-jail-free holiday from third period, but she wasn't knocking their dedication. She didn't want to go back to French either. It was Loren's turn to address the potential voters with her canned speech and Yves had opted to remain outside lest her nerves get the best of her. Loren was the public speaker and Yves was the trash talker, their skills weren't exactly interchangeable.

Yves' phone had just lit up with a text summoning her into the gym when she heard Phoenix's husky voice echoing down the hallways and nosy as she was, she decided to investigate.

Phoenix was addressing one of the many underclassman volunteers Loren's campaign had picked up since she declared her intention to run for student body president. A group of basketball players, good ones that Yves and her friends had played pick-up b-ball against back when Loren's friends were still hers, too. They had cardstock signs and magic markers, tape and stickers, the works. They must have been hanging campaign signs. Phoenix was blocking Yves' view of the only one pinned up in the adjoining corridor.

Yves squinted from her hiding spot in the doorway of the gender-neutral locker room. No joy. Still blurry and maybe ugly.

Phoenix wasn't done with them yet. If anything, they sounded pissed. "Take it down. Don't play that game. When they go low, we go high."

"Didn't that cost Hillary the election?" one of the b-boys asked, a laugh in his voice.

"We don't have time for all the stuff that cost Hillary the election. Take it down."

"Loren said it was cool. We asked her," said another player, JJ. Xe played on the boys' team, was not a boy and didn't care who knew it.

"Well, I'm Loren's campaign manager and I say it's not cool. She got a problem with that, she can talk to me. Tell her I said that. We don't promote misogynoir, not while I'm around, and sure as hell not like that."

"Babe—" Loren. She must have come out the other gym exit when she was done taking questions from the students.

"No! It's ugly and maybe you don't care about that, but you used to like that girl, and you don't talk about somebody you used to like, like that."

"It's not that serious." Yves remembered Loren talking to her like that. Like what Yves thought wasn't half as important as what Loren thought. It hadn't bothered her much till now.

"It's serious to me, Lo. Cool it with the black girl hate. I'm not about it, and I didn't think you were about it either."

Loren sighed in annoyance when Phoenix refused to budge and yanked down the sign with an audible grunt. Yves tiptoed back to the gym where a Suzanne had been allowed to take her turn because she'd missed her cue. Suzanne was better anyway. Yves enjoyed listening to her speech, she was an electrifying speaker.

JJ ooh'd at Loren as she tore the sign into strips to throw away. Not acknowledging Phoenix who stayed and watched xer do it. Yves tiptoed back to the gym where a Suzanne had been allowed to take her turn because she'd missed her cue. Suzanne was better anyway; Yves enjoyed listening to her speech, she was an electrifying speaker.

Yves never saw the sign—she was grateful for that, didn't want to know what Loren thought was acceptable that Phoenix considered a step too far—but she saw the light. Maybe Loren wasn't the solution to Yves' problems anyway. Maybe leaving had been the kindest thing Loren knew how to do.