Chapter 15 - The School Board MeetingMia agreed to speak.
David asked three times if she was sure.
“Stop giving me exits.”
“I like exits.”
“I know.”
She stood before the school board wearing a simple blue sweater.
No makeup.
No dramatic preparation.
“My name is Mia Bennett. I’m fourteen.”
The room quieted.
“Mrs. Parker dumped food on my head.”
A few people shifted.
“But that wasn’t the worst part.”
Mia swallowed.
“The worst part was knowing she thought everybody watching would be enough to make me feel small.”
She looked at the board.
“For a while, it worked.”
David’s eyes filled.
“I stopped eating lunch in the cafeteria.”
Mia continued.
“I thought people were looking at me even when they weren’t.”
Then:
“I don’t want you to turn me into some inspirational story.”
That surprised everyone.
“I want you to fix why a teacher could keep targeting a student after complaints were already made.”
Principal Lawson lowered his eyes.
“And I want adults to stop calling silence ‘protecting the family.’”
Aaron Blake’s father began crying.
Mia finished:
“If truth destroys something, maybe ask what that thing was built on.”
Then she stepped away.
No applause for several seconds.
Then one person stood.
Aaron.
Then Ethan.
Then others.
Mia sat beside David.
Her hands were shaking.
He whispered:
“You okay?”
“No.”
May you like
She smiled.
“But I did it.”
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