Leggings Revolt by Monique Polak Read Free Book Online Page A

Rowena folds her arms across
her chest and says, “It’s complicated.”
    Collecting signatures is more fun than I expect. Because there are still fifteen
minutes before homeroom, I start in the hallway, tapping kids’ elbows and telling
them about the petition. Soon there is a thick crowd of students pressing in on me.
Everyone wants to sign.
    “Great idea!” a girl says as she adds her name. “It’s about time we stood up to the
Germinator.”
    “Do you really think this’ll work?” Dandelion-Hair asks as he scribbles his signature.
    “It’s worth a try,” I tell him.
    The girl from Life Sciences class tugs on my sleeve. “I can’t believe Daisy Fung
got a three-day suspension for wearing leggings,” she says. “I want to sign.” When
she signs, I learn her name is Maude.
    An older boy claps my back as if we are good friends. “Hey, do you think you could
add something about getting our baseball caps back? The Germinator confiscated my
Expos cap two years ago. That thing is worth big bucks on eBay.”
    “You’re Eric, aren’t you?” another kid asks.
    “Sure am,” I tell him. For the first time since I started coming to Lajoie High School,
I feel like I belong. Had I known political activism could make a guy popular, I’d
have stood up sooner! Even older students who usually treat seventh-graders as if
we’re air are treating me with respect.
    My sheet already has thirty-five signatures. It’s a good thing Rowena printed lines
on both sides.
    I tap the elbow of the person next to me. “Would you like to sign this petition
to make changes to the school dress code? I’ve got a pen if you nee—”
    The elbow I tapped belongs to Ivan from the Student Life Committee. Vicky is with
him. They have the same sour expression on their faces.
    “What are you thinking, Eric?” Ivan grabs the petition from my hand. “ We, the undersigned ,”
he begins reading in a high-pitched nasal voice.
    “Give him back the petition,” the guy who lost his Expos cap tells Ivan. Ivan holds
the petition up in the air for a second, and then he throws it back at me.
    The final bell rings. We have three minutes to get to class. The crowd around me
disperses as quickly as it formed. Only Ivan and Vicky are left. “When Germinato
finds out you’re involved in this, he’ll kick you off the Student Life Committee,”
Ivan says. “Don’t you realize how this will affect your résumé?”
    “There’s more to life than résumés,” I tell Ivan. “And in case you haven’t noticed,
your Student Life Committee is a joke. All we do is carry out Germinato’s orders.
Doesn’t it bother you that the dress code is sexist?”
    Vicky has not said a word, but now she points to the petition. “Let me see that.”
    “You’re not going to tear it up, are you?” I ask her.
    “Of course not.” Vicky’s eyes move across the top of the page. I expect her to scowl
or say something sarcastic, but instead she plucks the pen from my fingers and adds
her signature to the list.
    Ivan shakes his head. “That petition isn’t going to do any good.”
    “How do you know?” Vicky asks him.
    “My older brother graduated from Lajoie six years ago. He and his friends put together
a petition. They wanted Germinato to let them use the gym one Friday a month for
school dances. They were even going to give the money they raised to a homeless shelter.”
    “What happened with the petition?” I ask Ivan.
    “He read it, and then he put it in a folder at the very back of his filing cabinet.
He didn’t even have the good manners to say he’d think about it,” Ivan says.
    I look down at the petition. It has forty-six signatures. Phil, Rory, Theo and Martie
have been collecting signatures too. But even if we get every student at Lajoie
to sign our petition, it may not be enough to get Germinato to rethink the dress
code.
    It’s time for more radical action.

Chapter Sixteen
    Am I the only kid who gets his best ideas in the shower?
    I am