Page 114 of Something Cheeky

Derek forced his legs to move. He needed to tell Th?o—and Zoe—that he was ready to stand up to Greg. Heather and Greg followed him into the lobby. A crowd had gathered outside in front of Prestige.

“How dare they protest in front of my theater!” Greg exclaimed. “I’m calling the police to disperse them.”

“Police? We can take care of things ourselves,” Derek said, trying to calm down the artistic director, but the man stomped off.

“I’ll go after him,” Heather offered. “You should go out there and talk to Zoe.”

She ran after Greg, leaving Derek alone in the lobby. He stared out the large glass windows until his eyes focused on purple hair. His heart leapt as he found Zoe standing on a riser or makeshift platform of some kind. She was speaking passionately into a—karaoke machine?

For a moment, he was transported back to senior year at CNY College. Zoe didn’t have a microphone back then, but the crowd had been so small, they’d had no problem hearing her.

Today, there had to be at least sixty people standing behind Zoe, with more joining them. They held protest signs that read:

asian stories are universal stories

not your model minority

proud to be asian

And his favorite:love our people like you love our food.

All his friends were out there, risking their jobs in order to stand up for his musical. But it wasn’t just his musical. It belonged to all of them. Goose bumps spread across his arms. He’d been unable to stand behind her in college, but she’d given him an opportunity for a do-over.

Derek rushed outside as news vans pulled up. The camera people and reporters scrambled for positions next to the people who were already live streaming from their phones.

“This could be the first musical on Broadway with an all-Asiancreative team and cast. Yet a white man wants us to strip all the Vietnamese from it because he claims they can’t sell tickets that way,” Zoe announced.

The crowd booed.

“The artistic director demanded that we dumb down this show for non-Asian audiences. He thinks you’re not smart enough to understand it,” Zoe continued.

“He’s the dumb one,” someone in front of Derek yelled.

“Why aren’t we allowed to tell our stories the way we want to and not how Greg A. Powers thinks they should be told?” Zoe had the crowd on edge. “Our voices matter. Our stories matter!”

The actors began chanting, “Love our people like you love our food.”

Wait, was that Zoe’s brother chanting with them? And there were faces he’d seen cleaning up at Eden Center. Even their elders had come out to protest. Derek’s heart swelled. He thought he’d have to face Greg alone this morning, but he had an entire community behind him. He needed to talk to Zoe. He needed to stand with her the way he hadn’t in college.

“Zoe!” he yelled through the crowd, but she didn’t hear him.

He gently pushed his way past people of all backgrounds who had joined them. Before he could get there, Greg appeared in front of Zoe.

“Look who’s here! Greg A. Powers, artistic director of Prestige Repertory!” Zoe waved at the man, whose face was beet red with anger.

Greg turned to Derek, who’d finally made it to the center of the crowd. “Did you put your girlfriend up to this?”

“No, but I wish I’d been a part of this.” Derek climbed the makeshift platform to stand next to Zoe.

“You don’t have to do this,” she whispered to him.

“I have to. I want to,” he responded and grabbed her hand.

She squeezed his hand and nodded. Relief flooded his body. At least for this moment, they were in it together. He would apologize later and hope that she’d give him another chance to be her boyfriend.

“I called the cops. You need to leave right now.” Greg waved his finger at Zoe and everyone behind her.

“The sidewalk is public property, so you can’t make us.” Zoe smirked.

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