Those Kinds of Girls by Natalie Walton

Author:Natalie Walton [Walton, Natalie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780241493489
Publisher: Penguin Random House Children's UK
Published: 2021-03-18T00:00:00+00:00

I spent most of the night tossing and turning, and when my alarm went off, all I wanted to do was stay in bed. I didn’t want to deal with Yanick or Ms. Polaski or having to worry about revenge porn laws. I wanted Nudegate to disappear entirely.

But I also knew it wasn’t going anywhere, which was all the more reason to make sure I kept up my energy. I couldn’t give up now, both for the sake of the article and the girls.

When I met with Ronnie in the St. Joe’s corridor, she was chatty and ready to take on anything thrown at her. We decided to meet early so we’d have enough time to talk to Ms. Polaski before classes started. The hallways took on an eerie, echo-y tone when they were empty, and the school somehow felt smaller without students in it. The only cars in the parking lot belonged to faculty and staff and Warriors for Christ students who prayed together every morning in the chapel.

“I can’t wait to see Yanick’s face when the article comes out,” Ronnie said, forgoing a greeting to jump right into the drama.

There was no second thought on how we should walk into Ms. Polaski’s office for the second time. Ronnie saw the door was cracked open, so she walked in and I followed, hoping Ms. Polaski wouldn’t be upset we had entered without permission.

“Principal Yanick edited our article about the email and turned it into straight-up propaganda,” Ronnie said. “It’s ridiculous. It’s absolutely unpublishable.”

“Then don’t publish it,” Ms. Polaski said without missing a beat. “There’s no obligation to write about the email.”

“But there is,” I said, surprising even myself. “It goes beyond the girls who were affected by the email. This is an issue that affects an entire school. It might even be a Greenville issue or a state issue. Whatever it is, it’s a big deal that it happened.”

Ms. Polaski sighed. “What do you want to do instead?”

“I want to publish the original article as is,” Ronnie said. “No edits from Yanick, no St. Joe’s changes. Allow the girls to speak for themselves and for the full truth to be shared. I refuse to print a lie about how St. Joe’s has been so helpful when they haven’t done more than provide free counseling services. There have been no preventive measures, no new steps. They’re not keeping anyone updated on anything. They haven’t taken an anti-bullying stance of any kind. And did you know revenge porn isn’t even illegal here? The police haven’t done anything because they legally can’t.”

“I am going to be honest with you, girls. There is no way Principal Yanick is going to let that slide,” Ms. Polaski said. “She’s not going to agree to it.”

“We don’t need her to agree to it,” Ronnie said. “We’ll do it whether she gives us permission or not.”

“I can’t advise that.”

“Did you read the edits she made?” I asked and when Ms. Polaski shook her head, I continued. “You should read it.

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