Page 83 of Pride High 2: Orange
“I haven’t gotten any complaints,” Ms. Deville retorted. “In fact, that’s exactly why I chased after you.” She turned and raised a hand. “Mr. and Mrs. Beaumont? Over here!”
Diego watched a pair of adults approach, Mindy between them. The man was mostly bald, but what hair remained matched his daughter’s ginger locks. Mindy got her looks from her mom, who was a total fox.
“There he is!” Mr. Beaumont said, extending a hand to Diego. “You were amazing! I was just telling Kathy that I never imagined we’d have fun at a school play.”
“Steve,” his wife said warningly.
“Sorry. What I mean to say is that we’ve never been so entertained. You were fantastic!”
“Thanks,” Diego replied while shaking the man’s hand.
“We’re pleased you enjoyed yourself,” Ms. Deville said, “but here at Pride High, we always strive to improve ourselves. Do you have any critical feedback?”
“Do you mean complaints?” Mr. Beaumont asked, looking puzzled before shaking his head. “None at all!”
Principal Preckwinkle’s expression hardened. “You didn’t feel that any of the language was a bit too mature?”
Mindy’s parents shook their heads in unison.
Preckwinkle couldn’t let it go. “Perhaps you were in the restroom when Diego said—” she cleared her throat. Then she spelled the stupid word out. “D-A-M-N.”
Mindy scoffed. “How many times is that word used in the Bible? It can’t bethatbad.”
“That’s true,” Mr. Beaumont said to his wife. “Remember that church your parents used to go to? All the pastor talked about was damnation and hellfire.”
“Which is why they no longer go there,” Mrs. Beaumont said. “Anyway, please congratulate everyone involved in the play. We plan on bringing friends of ours to the next one. Their children will be going to Pride High soon, and they have a daughter who is trying to choose between theater and soccer.”
“We do have many notable athletic programs,” Principal Preckwinkle said in interest.
“And many artistic programs as well, despite the disproportionate lack of funding they receive,” Ms. Deville added. “Mindy can introduce you to someone who participates in both. If you don’t mind?”
Mindy nodded, and after shooting him a look of sympathy, walked away with her family.
“Crisis averted,” Ms. Deville said. “Tell you what, if there are anyactualcomplaints from parents, please direct them to me. I’ll be happy to explain that we can’t punish a student for using the same words that a priest might say in front of his flock. If you don’t mind, Diego, there are other people who are eager to meet you.”
“That would be great,” he said, even though it was the sort of thing he would normally hate. But that purple color was returning to Principal Preckwinkle’s face again, and anything that made her angry put a spring in his step.
* * * * *
Silvia watched flurries swirl through the school parking lot. Most of the audience had left, snow already filling the tire tracks. With temperatures below freezing, it was likely to be a white Christmas. That would’ve made her happy under normal circumstances, but not now, while she was gripping the handlebars of her ten-speed bike. How was she going to get home in this weather?
If she was smart, she would have left immediately after the play. Or accepted a ride from Mindy’s parents when they offered, but she hadn’t wanted to leave her bike behind, and it wouldn’t fit in their car. Even after her best friend had gone, Silvia remained, wanting to socialize. Although she had avoided Ricky for the usual reason and mostly just made polite conversation with Cameron while watching Keisha, who was constantly occupied by people from her theater group. But she had been nice enough to walk her outside before leaving.
“I’m parked around the corner,” Silvia had said when asked where her car was.
Keisha had glanced in that direction. “In the teachers’ parking lot?”
“Err… Yeah. Remember that dress I mentioned earlier? The one that belongs to my mom and makes me look old? I wear it to school each morning so I can park there. Then I throw it in the trunk until it’s time to leave again, so if you’ll excuse me, I need to get changed.”
After they said goodbye, Silvia had walked around the corner and stood there counting under her breath before circling back around to unlock her bike. Which was ridiculous, because the only reason was that she wanted Keisha to think she was cool. Silvia didn’t usually worry about such things. Or stand around in the snow while slowly freezing to death.
“Okay,” she said to herself. “Time to get going. Even if you have to walk. The exertion will warm you up again.”
She would be dealing with this more often in the future, although her dad had already offered to drop her off at school in the morning and pick her up from work. She would take him up on it too, whenever the weather was bad enough. And at least she didn’t have to worry ifhethought she was cool.
Silvia was laughing at herself when a red Ford Bronco with white side panels pulled over. She hadn’t made it out of the school parking lot yet, so it could have been anyone inside. But when the passenger-side window rolled down and a voice with a country twang said, “Need a lift?” she suddenly felt a lot warmer.
“Keisha! What are you still doing here?”
