She Bleeds for Us: The Galactic Consortium 3

Chapter 35

"Can you imagine? A valedictorian in the family!" Jake's mom was saying as she fussed over Cynthia's robes.

"Yeah, Cynthia was always the brains," he said, trying to keep the sheepishness us out of his voice. Truth be told, Jake hadn't done so well in high school.

His mom must've said something in his voice. She patted his cheek. "You did your best. That's all that matters. And look at you now. A good job. A responsible young man."

Jake blushed, feeling better. Then he things the subject. "Mom's right, sis. It's pretty amazing. I'm really proud."

"Shucks," Cynthia said. "Now it will be my turn to blush. And mom, you forgot — ladies man."

"I am not," Jake muttered blushing even harder. Last night Cynthia had taken him to a party at John Milton's house to celebrate her graduating class. Lacy, the girl he had a crush on in high school had confessed that she had feelings for him now. Just my luck, a couple of years too late. He put her off as gently as he could, telling her that he was so busy in Africa now. Which was true, this was the first full week he taken off since the crisis in Sierra Leone had started.

And then this morning Åse had messaged him from the base. They had talked for a while about what was going on back there. Now Cynthia had it in her head that he had not one but two girls.

"My speech, my speech," Cynthia said suddenly turning and looking at the mirror.

"Just breathe," mom told her. "You'll do fine."

This was the fourth or fifth time that this had happened today. Out of nowhere, Cynthia would start panicking about her speech. Whenever Jake started to get annoyed by her teasing, something would remind him that it was really just her way of dealing with her own anxiety. And he certainly would not want to give a valedictorian speech in front of the whole class.

"Yeah, you'll do fine," he said, echoing his mother.

As soon as they had her calmed down they ushered her out of their trailer. The sun was out and the weather was in the mid-70s. Mom said it was the first day so far that really felt like summer was coming. Jake had joked, "it's still cooler than Africa."

It had rained in the night and the ground was muddy. Cynthia lifted her robes and made her way carefully to mom's car. Jake hurried ahead and open the door for her, so she wouldn't have to get her robe dirty climbing in.

His younger sister, Jamie came next. "He's a gentleman, too." She added as she climbed in beside her sister. She gave a pointed look at Mike, Jake's baby brother. Mike muttered something under his breath as he climbed in the car after her.

"I can drive," he said to his mother.

She waved him away. "You drive for a living. Don't worry about it on your time off."

Jake loved driving, but he let it go. He climbed in the front seat next to his mother and they headed towards the high school.

It hasn't changed much, he thought as they entered the high school. Except that it seemed even dirtier and more backwards to him now. He shoved the thought away.

Cynthia disappeared with some of her friends as soon as they arrived and Jake helped mom herd the younger kids into the gymnasium. They climbed the bleachers and found a seat to wait for the graduation ceremony. Mike quickly began to fidget. It wasn't long before Jamie was fidgeting as well and even Jake had to fight the impulse.

The stands slowly filled with people. The doors were shut, the principal made a few remarks and the students began to file in and sit. Time dragged as the band played several songs and the students walked across the stage to receive their diploma.

It wasn't until Cynthia took the stage for her commencement speech that Jake was able to muster much of any interest in the proceedings.

And she did a very good job, he thought. Of course, he was a little biased in her favor. She spoke vaguely hopeful terms about the future. "It was Martin Luther King who said, the arc of history is long but it bends towards justice. And it was the wise Atulyan who reminded us, to undo the mistakes of the past is our constant challenge." She paused, ending her speech.

They were both good quotes to end a speech on, Jake thought. But out of the corner of his eyes, he caught an angry look. A man to his right and a few aisles down mutter and something.

Cynthia's two best friends were on their feet applauding loudly. Mom started clapping as well. Jake clapped as well and then for good measure shouted out, "good job, sis."

Here and there others started clapping as well and it soon grew into a swell. As Cynthia exited the stage, most of the crowd was clapping. But there were still pockets here and there where people were looking angry or uncomfortable.

The reaction mystified Jake. Sure, he knew there were people around town that muttered things under their breath about immigrants or dark-skinned people. But he couldn't imagine that the racism had grown so bold that they were angry about a Martin Luther King quote

They waited and let the crowd thin before making their way down to go find Cynthia. They found her in the parking lot with a group of students and it was immediately clear that a conflict was brewing.

A boy with shaggy blonde hair and a heavy gut was glaring at Cynthia. Jake recognize the boy from Cynthia's class, but couldn't place his name. "Why did you do it, Cynthia?" He spat out. "Why'd you have to go and quote one of those godless monkey people from space?"

That's when it hit Jake. It hadn't been about the Martin Luther King quote. It had been the reference to Atulyan.

Before Jake could react Mike was rushing into the mix. "You shut up Adam!" He shouted. "I know one. They're people too."

"Get your sister," mom said, her mouth tight.

Jake ran forward, wondering just how he was going to do that. Cynthia looked madder than he'd ever seen her. "You don't know anything Adam."

"I know you all want to go up and live with them. Maybe get yourself a monkey boyfriend."

Cynthia let out a low growl and started towards him. Jake reached her in time, holding her back physically. He grabbed Mike by the back of the T-shirt to and tried vainly to drag the two of them away from the conflict while fighting the impulse to join them in going after Adam.

"You might as well go find a boyfriend up there," Adam was sneering. "Because I got news for you. No one down here likes you."

Cynthia tore out of Jake's grasp. "Screw you! I got news for you too. Being right is more important than being popular."

She turned and stomped off toward the car with mom hot on her heels. Jake lifted Mike over his shoulders and carried him after them.

"They are all just a bunch of bigots," Cynthia was raging at mom when they arrived at the car.

Mom sighed in exasperation. "They are not all bigots. And you're not going to change their minds by yelling at them in a parking lot. Or by pulling a stunt like that at your own commencement speech."

" I don't care," Cynthia said loftily. "It was the right thing to do."

"And what did you win by being right?" Mom asked.

"It's not always about winning," she replied. "It's about doing what's right even when it's hard."

Jake was smiling suddenly.

"What?" Cynthia asked him.

"Nothing." He lied. The question that had loomed over this whole trip, the one he would have to answer when he got back to Africa, seemed suddenly so clear. I just have to do the right thing.