“Eh, I brought up that I kinda met someone, wasn’t sure where it was going. You know, with Landon and all.” Leila shrugged. “I said we could be friends, I wanted to see where that would go, but he hasn’t messaged me back in days.”
“Damn. Well, you’re better off. Speaking of the board, though, I can’t get over Jessica having the nerve to go on there,” Sarika grumbled.
“Don’t worry about it,” Leila said, pulling Sarika in for a hug. “She’s just trolling. We’ll figure out how to ban her I.P. address or something.”
The members of B.E.A.C. slowly filtered into the room. Several looked worn out and tired, no doubt after a busy morning of summer enrichment and/or gossiping. A flash of red caught Leila’s eye, and she quickly waved to Britt, the red-headed runner she’d met on the recent field trip. She smiled and waved back, hurrying over to join them as Mikey trailed behind her. They took the two seats across from Leila and Sarika, filling their small lab table.
“Sarika, this is Britt and Mikey,” Leila said.
“Great to meet you!” Britt said, reaching out and shaking Sarika’s hand, a beaming smile on her face. “Sorry I missed you saying hi on the trip and all.”
“It’s okay,” Sarika said. She turned to Mikey and winked at him as she stuck out her hand. “And Mikey, is it?”
“You too!” Mikey said, reaching out and shaking her hand, before immediately closing his eyes and sighing loudly. “I mean, me too. Me too, sorry I missed you. Too. Ahem. I mean, hi, my name is Mikey, and I’d like the earth to open and swallow me whole right now.”
“Smooth,” Britt said, nudging her shoulder against Mikey.
“I like them,” Sarika said, smiling at Leila.
The door to the classroom swung open and hit the wall with a loud bang, rattling the nearby tables. Everyone jumped in their stools, the seats squeaking against the science lab’s hard linoleum floor. Shawn barreled in, his expression hard, his hands balled into fists. Trailing right behind him was an equally as angry looking Jessica.
“Don’t you dare walk away from me!” Jessica shouted, the two of them stopping at the desk in the front of the room. Shawn sat down on it, staring ahead at the members of B.E.A.C. The look in his eyes was pained and distant. Leila frowned. His eyes were red, and there were shadows under them, like he hadn’t slept in days.
“I’m fucking talking to you!” Jessica spat, and pushed a bunch of papers and books off the desk, sending them clattering against the floor. Leila moved her stool back, ready to get up, when Shawn locked eyes with her. He shook his head softly, and looked down at the floor.
He rubbed his hands together, and eventually clapped them and jumped to his feet.
“Alright!” he exclaimed. “Let’s get things started.” He beamed a bright, visibly forced smile at everyone, the awkwardness in the air thick enough to cut with an axe.
“The hell do you think you’re doing?” Jessica yelled, walking in front of him with her back to the rest of the club. “You do not get to ignore me. You don’t get to break up with me. You’re mine, Shawn Kennedy. You and your whole family are mine. If you don’t stop this—”
“As Leila was kind enough to point out via our email list,” Shawn continued, standing up and walking around Jessica to speak to the rest of the room. Sarika shook, and Leila turned to see her holding in a laugh. Leila smiled.
Go Shawn.
“There’s a protest scheduled for outside the Fairmount Horticulture Center later this week.” Shawn began pacing the room, and Jessica sat on the desk, staring daggers at him. “The plan is to meet at the center promptly at 4:00 p.m., when people there are still at work, and hang in there until after 5:00 p.m. in hopes that we’ll have generated enough buzz for the local news to come out and catch some of the workers there off guard as they leave the building.
“If we can call public attention to what’s happening,” Shawn continued, “it’ll be easier to shut them down. People know that there is an amphitheater being built, but no one is talking about the fact that it’s going to demolish an historic building and garden. The more outraged the public is, the harder it will be to mow down that structure and take out that grove.”
“Shut them down?” Jessica spat, standing back up.
“Yes, Jessica,” Shawn said coldy, turning to her. “Just because something is old and forgotten, doesn’t mean it has lost its value. And there are the mice! Some of the park service tipped us off to them. They are endangered and deserve our—”
“Mice?” Jessica scoffed. “Who the fuck cares about some mice? You sound like your damn father.” She crossed her arms.
“And you sound like yours.” Shawn glared at her.
“Fuck your trees,” Jessica said, storming away from the desk and shoving past Shawn, sending him stumbling against a lab table. “And your mice.” She turned to the whole classroom as she reached the door. “That old building and crappy garden will be gone in a week.”
“And you,” Jessica pointed at Shawn. “Tell your dad to pack up his office. I’m going to have a little talk with mine about all this.” She opened the classroom door with an angry swing and slammed it shut, rattling everything on the tables and sending a lone beaker shattering against the floor.
Leila winced. It was hard hearing someone talk about the grove so harshly, knowing what was actually in there. Sarika grabbed her hand, and she looked up at Shawn, who stared at the door, his shoulders sunk. He turned around and walked back over to the desk slowly, sitting on it with a sigh.
“As some of you know, as it isn’t exactly something secret, Jessica’s father funds my father’s nonprofit efforts,” Shawn said, wringing his hands. “I’m not super concerned by her threats, but . . . well, who can we count on being there?” Shawn asked, a forced smile on his face again.
Leila and Sarika raised their hands, as did Mikey and Britt. The rest of the room looked around uncomfortably, and Shawn crossed his arms, flashing them all a scowl.
“Right,” he said and leapt to his feet. “Then why are you even in here?”
Leila’s eyes went wide and she looked over at Sarika, who nodded approvingly.
“Is it for the summer credit? Is that the deal?” Shawn asked, as the students looked increasingly more awkward. “’Cause, newsflash, you’re not going to get it if you don’t participate in anything we’re doing. Instead of doing community service at the Japanese tea house the other day, a bunch of you walked around looking at birds. Which is fine, but I bet if I asked you to name more than two birds there, you wouldn’t have an answer. Saving the world takes work. You want to play along? Put the work in.”
A few of them muttered to one another. Leila glanced at Sarika, who winced. They were some of the people who had skipped out and wandered around.
“Look, I’m sorry for how I acted the other day on the field trip. Jessica’s family is in charge of the construction of that amphitheater. They’re handling the road construction and tearing down that Raptor Trust place, and I was . . . emotionally compromised.” Shawn continued, regret tinting his voice. “I know Dr. Rich isn’t in here supervising, but I’m the one who turns in the attendance. I tell him who has been going to what. I’m the one who signs off on those final papers of yours at the end of this summer. Me.” Shawn’s voice grew louder and more anxious. “This is something I’m in charge of. Now, you’ll go, or you won’t get the credit you want from this enrichment course.”
A few heads nodded.
“Am. I. Clear?” he said, angrily.
All the heads nodded.
“Good.” He crossed his arms and sat back on the desk, a smirk on his tired face. He looked over at Leila and winked.