The Ribbon Campaign

four || of speeches and deals

"Ellie Reinhart?"

I turn quickly at the sound of my name being called. Mrs. Vries, our vice-principle is smiling warmly at me as she stands next to my locker. I step away, smiling politely back. "Hi, Mrs. Vries."

"Could I talk to you?" she asks, and I'll be lying if I say my whole body doesn't explode in nerves. Hearing the words 'could I talk to you' from your vice principle isn't something that usually comes with positive consequences. I nod hesitantly, closing my locker and shouldering my backpack.

"Uh, sure." Mrs. Vries smiles at my response and gestures for me to follow her. I feel the urge to explode in a tirade of why me? and did I do something wrong? but decide against it. If I really did do something wrong, the time for pleads will be later. We pass by Bryce in the hallway, who sees me with Mrs. Vries and instantly raises an eyebrow, mouthing a good luck. I roll my eyes at him.

Much to my dismay, Mrs. Vries walks us straight to the main office. I bite down on my lip, worrying it, but force myself to stop once I realize that it's beginning to hurt. Mrs. Vries gestures for me to follow her into her office. My body slumps with relief when I see Sadie already sitting on one of the chairs, knowing whatever this is, my best friend is going down with me.

"You're not in trouble," Mrs. Vries finally assures us with a chuckle, allowing both Sadie and I to let out a huge breath of relief. The three of us share a laugh, but then the nervousness coupled with curiosity sinks in again as my mind begins to wander to why she could have called us down. Mrs. Vries doesn't make us wait any longer, luckily, and gets right to it. "It's come not only to my attention, but it seems to the rest of the school's attention as well, that you two have started a ribbon campaign?" Her eyes flicker to the ribbons slightly poking out of our sweater sleeves.

Sadie nods. "Yeah, for LGBT support. Why?" Her eyes narrow in a challenging manner. "Is there something wrong with that?"

"Of course not," Mrs. Vries quickly assures. "In fact, it is the complete opposite of wrong. I'm very impressed with what you've started, and even more impressed with the student body of their reaction to this. It's only been a couple of weeks, and it's hard to pass by one student who isn't wearing a ribbon. It's remarkable. Two weeks isn't that long, not at all."

It may not be long, but these past two weeks have felt insanely long, and I know not just for me. It's been almost two weeks that Caiden has been staying with us, and although the whole family loves having him (especially Fiona) I can tell every day that passes, Caiden is becoming more and more upset.

I still remember just a couple of days ago, I was on my way to my room when I passed by Ryan's room and instantly stopped in my tracks. The sound of soft crying was just barely able to be heard, but right away I knew who it was: Caiden. The worst part was that Ryan wasn't home at the time. I tip-toed back to my room, knowing Caiden wouldn't like having someone see him like that, but texted Ryan to get home as soon as he can.

After explaining to Ryan what was wrong, he was home in fifteen minutes, going straight into his room. I focused in enough to hear Caiden tell Ryan how he was just missing home, and that he was okay, but we both knew- know- that he's not. My heart broke for him.

Ever since that day, although it wasn't too long ago, Caiden has seemed more down than usual. Ryan has to sometimes force food in his mouth, he's more shy than usual and he's been sleeping more and more. If he ever is doing something out of bed, it's usually studying until Ryan comes and closes his book, forcing Caiden up and outside.

I have to admit, I admire Ryan's determination. Despite the depression Caiden is obviously feeling right now, Ryan manages to put a sparkle back in his eyes every time they're together, no matter how much coaxing it takes to finally get Caiden up.