Chapter 41

After deliberation with his best bud and compadre, Hector; he delivered their proposal to the rest of the school band. Eddie and Hector had derived that the most overt demonstration at their disposal was for the band to boycott the upcoming Roosevelt High School Winter Concert. They figured that if this event was cancelled, then Principal Davis would more than likely demand an explanation for why this was happening; and the locker incident would surely be divulged at that time. And once the band was presented with the intended plan, they needed to decide if they were on board or not. There's an unspoken, yet understood, prerequisite for anyone who signs up with the school band; and that is, once you're in it, you're opening yourself up for some type of teasing from Christy, Frankie and the rest of the ‘Cool Crew'. Every member in the band has been victim to a degrading ridiculing or two from them at one time or another; and they see Eddie's plan as a perfect way to settle the score. It was unanimous; there would be no Roosevelt High School Winter Concert this year. But the decision to boycott the concert wasn't solely a case of some sort of ‘nerd solidarity'; where the un-cool kids take on the popular kids in an adolescent, social-caste standoff. Since the beginning of the school year, when Nadine started to expose Adele to the rest of the class, several members have gotten to know Adele Wilson for the charmingly sweet person that she really is and have honestly come to like her; quirks and all. They hate what Frankie and the rest of those bullies did, and want to see them severely punished for it. The next day, Eddie and Hector went to the office and informed Principal Davis that the entire band had agreed not to participate in the upcoming winter concert. As expected, Principal Davis inquired as to why they weren't going to perform; at which time he was made aware of what had been done to Adele. The principal was instantly appalled upon hearing about this, and assured Eddie and Hector that those involved would be reprimanded for their actions; and then told them he understood their reasoning behind their intended abstention from the event, but asked if they would please reconsider from following through on it. Eddie apologized to Principal Davis for any inconvenience this might create for the school, but affirmed that the band was totally resolved to uphold their decision to boycott. Eddie was right about one thing, the boycott revealed the locker incident to the principal; which in turn began the process of punishing the guilty party. But his plan had evoked punitive ramifications on an even larger scope than he and the rest of the band had even foreseen coming. In these hard economic times, with the constant trimming of school budgets nationwide, Roosevelt High School, like many other schools in the state, has been forced to rely on other means for acquiring subsidiary revenue for its programs. The winter concert had proven itself over the years to be a fiscally sound method for drawing in needed funds. Taking into account the amount of money refunded for the tickets already sold, and then calculating what the school might have made after reviewing the gross net profits from the past few winter concert ticket sales, Principal Davis made the radical decision to take the projected loss from this year's boycotted concert from funds that had been allocated to the Physical Education Department…being how it was several members of the school's football team that had carried out the despicable deed, orchestrated under the guidance of the head cheerleader, upon poor Adele…and redistribute said funds to several other school programs. And although they understood and agreed with the principal's decision to ratify this year's budget, this made the Physical Education staff very angry…and Frankie and his accomplices very tired; considering all the extra laps they'll be required to run during gym class for the remainder of the school year. Corrine's passing by Nadine's bedroom, and as she looks in to check on her, she notices that Nadine's sitting up in bed weeping. She rushes to her sister's side. "What's the matter, Na; are you in pain?" Nadine unexpectedly lets out a soft laugh and begins to wipe away the tears slowly dripping down her face. "No. It's just…" She stops speaking and sniffles. She remains quiet. "It's just what, Na?" "Tonight…" Again, she becomes quiet.