Leggings Revolt by Monique Polak Read Free Book Online

even if Martie beats the crap out
of me, I’m glad I’m standing up to him. I’ve had enough.
    I think of how Germinato and the other students on the Student Life Committee ignored
me and how I’d had to turn Daisy in. I did not stand up either of those times, but
I am standing up now. Even if it’s gonna hurt.
    “Daisy isn’t my girlfriend,” I tell Martie. “And you know what else she isn’t?” The
strength in my own voice takes me by surprise and gives me the courage to go on.
“She isn’t an object. And that’s what you guys are doing. You’re treating them like
objects. Girls weren’t made for us to ogle. They’re people. And in case you haven’t
noticed, Daisy is a really interesting person.”
    Theo wags his finger in the air. “I’m a little confused,” he says. “Weren’t you rating
girls’ butts in the cafeteria too?”
    I feel my ears heating up. “I did,” I say. “But I didn’t feel good about it. And
I apologized to Daisy and Rowena afterward.”
    Theo rolls his eyes. “Poor baby didn’t feel good about it.” Then he sticks his thumb
in his mouth and wails like a baby.
    “I didn’t feel good about it either,” Phil says softly. Then, in a louder voice,
he adds, “Eric’s right. We need to stop objectifying girls.” Phil looks into Theo’s
eyes. “D’you have a sister?”
    “So what if I do?” Theo asks.
    “A younger sister?” Phil asks.
    “She’s in fifth grade.”
    “How would you feel if you heard guys talking about her the way we’ve been talking
about girls?”
    Theo doesn’t answer right away.
    “You wouldn’t like it, would you?” Phil says.
    “Okay, okay, we’re getting it,” Martie says. “What do we have to do to show you guys
we see your point?”
    That’s when the lightbulb goes off inside my head. “You can join the Leggings Revolt,”
I tell him. “It’ll be a way for us to help Daisy and every other girl at Lajoie.
And our participating will show we don’t believe in treating girls like objects.”
    “Did you say Leggings Revolt ?” Phil asks.
    “That’s exactly what I said.”
    Rory and Theo are laughing again, but they stop when Martie extends his palm in front
of them. “Leggings Revolt,” Martie says. “I like the sound of that. We’re in, right,
guys?”
    “I guess,” Rory says.
    Theo nods. “We’re in.”
    After our workout, Theo wants to stop at the store for a carton of milk.
    “Milk?” I put my thumb in my mouth the way Theo did before. “Now who’s being a baby?”
    As we walk toward the store, Theo tells Phil and me that drinking milk helps build
lean body mass. Rory and Martie are discussing the Leggings Revolt.
    I hold the door for someone leaving the store with a brown bag.
    “Hey, did I hear someone say Leggings Revolt ?” the person asks. That bossy voice
can only belong to one person—Rowena.
    The others have recognized her too. “You heard right,” Rory tells her. “Eric came
up with the name Leggings Revolt. All we need now is a plan of action.”
    Rowena sets her brown bag down on the sidewalk. Something tells me she is about to
boss us around. “We should start a petition,” she says.

Chapter Fifteen
    By the next morning, Rowena has come up with the wording for the petition. We, the
undersigned, object to the Lajoie High School dress code on the grounds that it is
sexist and targets female students. We believe the new leggings rule is totally arbitrary
and therefore unfair. We insist the leggings rule be abolished, and we also insist the entire dress code be rewritten, with input from every student at the school.
Furthermore, we want Daisy Fung’s suspension to be struck from her record.
    Rowena has made a dozen copies so we can start collecting signatures. She hands me
her pen and points to the first blank line on the sheet.
    “Shouldn’t you be the first to sign?” I ask her. “It was your idea. And you did all
the work.”
    “I’d rather not be the very first one.” When I ask why,