"It's alright." I said back awkwardly.
He rubbed his hand over his mouth as if he was trying to stop himself from saying anything.
"What's your name?" He asked, the rest of the class looked at me and I could see Harry smiling in the corner of my eye.
"Heidi." I said choking on the dryness in my throat.
"Alright, welcome." He said and everyone looked back away.
"So today we're going to continue our discussion on 'Animal Farm'. You familiar with the book?" Mr. Kane asked me.
I nodded my head. Read it in my first years of college work, when I was 7, I thought snobbishly.
Realx Hiedi, you're just being snappy because you're uncomfortable and this makes you feel better.
"Can anyone give me, a modern day example of what Orwell was experiencing and explaining through the book?" He asked.
"Power." A boy shouted out.
"Rebellion!" A girl shouted.
"Good, good. Anyone else?"
They all shouted and took turns discussing and arguing with each other. This went on for about 45 minutes, until one ignorant male spoke up.
"None of this is relevant now, at least not for us. This is America, we're the greatest country in the world!" He boasted.
I stifled a laugh and shook my head at the arrogance. I heard the wind wisp past my face as all heads turned to me.
"Care to debate?" Mr. Kane offered. Oh no, what did I just do. I felt the color leave my face as the arrogant boy spoke up, "Yeah. Care to debate?"
I didn't dare say anything, and I knew Newt couldn't dig me out of this hole.
"Not a peep. The only thing wrong with this country is the snowflakes of this generation!"
Okay, now you've offended me, time to teach him a little something.
"There is no statistical proof that America is the greatest country in the world." I spoke out of turn, cutting him off before he said anything else offensive.
"We have freedom! We can say whatever we want and practice whatever we want!"
"Yet you call free American muslims terrorist. And you mock Jewish and Budist for their practices and culture. You turn Natuve and Asian cultures into Halloween costumes. Bark at Atheist for not believing in anything at all!" I rebutted.
"They're still free to chant and practice, and we're free to criticize." He said, seemingly satisfied with his comeback.
I scoffed.
"Freedom? Freedom makes America so fantastic? Italy have freedom, Canada has freedom, Belgium, Australia, Japan has freedom! 207 sovereign states like 180 of the have freedom." I said rolling my eyes.
"We don't come first in one academic section. We're 7th in literacy, 27th in math, 108 in infant mortality, 22nd in science, 49th in life expectancy, 4th in exports." I said in one breath.
"The United States leads the world in three categories. Number of citizens incarcerated per capita, number of adults who believe angels are real, and defensive spending. Where we spend more than the next 26 countries, 25 of whom are allies."
So I continued, embarrassing him further for the hell of it, "So when you sit here and say that America is the greatest country in the world I don't know what the fuck you're talking about. Yosemite?!"
The room was silent. The arrogant boy shifted uncomfortably and he of course his response was, "Well if you hate America so much why don't you just leave?"
"Because I don't hate America. We used to be great. We used to stand up for what's right and cure diseases, we cared about our neighbors, we made technological advances, we explored the universe, we built great big things and the worlds best economy, we reached for the stars. The first step to solving a problem is recognizing there is one. America is not the greatest country in the world anymore."
Crickets.
Newt slapped his hands on my shoulders and shook them playfully, letting me know that he was impressed and pleased with my response.
Stilies gave me a thumbs up and whispering littered the room. Mr. Kane stood there against his desk, mouth wide open, speechless. Harry held his fist out for me to bump and I bumped him back, returning his smirk.
