The Silence that Binds Us by Joanna Ho

Author:Joanna Ho
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2022-04-06T00:00:00+00:00

47

We start by telling Ms. Daniels and swearing her to secrecy. That afternoon, she leaves a Post-it on my desk that says, Hearts and minds are changed through stories. I fold up the note and put it in my coat pocket.

We don’t have anything planned, but we just want to feel out who—if anyone—would want to help out. When I mention the idea separately to Celeste and Ava, both jump (literally) at the idea. Celeste says her friends would definitely want to get involved, and Ava promises to talk to the student council about it.

Celeste stops by the hugging oak with three of her friends during lunch the week before Thanksgiving break. Olivia Kim, a girl in my first-period class, hooks her right foot around her left ankle and squeezes her hands together. “Celeste told us you were planning some kind of event or something to push back against Nate McIntyre.”

“Or something,” Tiya and I say at the same time. Tiya adjusts her slouchy sweatshirt. My mouth turns up as I watch; she looks—and sounds, of course—like her name should be in glowing letters on Broadway one day. She waves me away with her hand because she’s a mind reader.

“We’re not really sure what we’re doing yet,” I explain.

“Well, whatever it is, we want to help.”

Another girl—I think her name is Yumi—laces her fingers through Olivia’s and adds, “I missed the Junior Jam but heard what Mr. McIntyre said. I read what he wrote. We want to speak up too.”

A girl wearing black tights and a chunky pink sweater says softly, “When I moved here from China in second grade, kids made fun of my English, but my parents told me to ignore them and study harder. I studied until my English was better than my classmates’, but I cried every night. When I read your letters, I told myself I couldn’t stay quiet this time.”

“People sometimes tell me to go back to China and my family’s not even from there. I’m Japanese, obviously,” says Yumi, rolling her eyes. “And I was born in Fresno.”

We all shake our heads because it’s a familiar experience for all of us. Right up there with Where are you from?, What are you?, Your English is so good!, Do you eat dogs?, and I’m into Asian girls.

I flick my own ear to see if this is really happening. They’re still standing here in the flesh. “We’ve just been trying to see if we can get enough stories—”

Celeste snaps her fingers like she just remembered something. “I talked to the girls about bringing it up at AASA. I think a lot of people would be on board.”

“Just being real,” says Tiya, “we’ve got no clue what to do with the stories yet, but having them would give us more options.”

“Do the stories have to be written?” asks pink-sweater girl. “I’m in the video journalism class and I was thinking I could make a video. Or even put together a bunch of videos if people want to send those in.

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