Am I the only kid who gets his best ideas in the shower?
I am soaping my pits when it comes to me. What if, for one day, every single kid at Lajoie High School wore leggings—even the boys? Germinato couldn’t suspend everyone! The more I think about it, the more genius my idea sounds.
I want to run it by Rowena, but I don’t see her on my way to school.
Germinato is not at school either. I know because there is no car in the Reserved for Principal parking spot. The other clue is that Miss Aubin is humming to herself. She never hums.
Mr. Farrell is wearing a tie. “What’s up with the formal wear?” Rory asks him when we walk into Life Sciences.
“I’m filling in for Mr. Germinato today,” Mr. Farrell says.
“Did Mr. Germinato get suspended?” Maude asks.
I can tell Mr. Farrell is trying not to smile. “Mr. Germinato needed the day off to deal with some personal issues,” is all he says.
Mr. Farrell makes us work in pairs. I partner up with Maude. Mr. Farrell hands each pair a section from a map of the world. We get China. We are supposed to add drawings of the animals that are native to our country. Maude is trying to draw a panda bear. I decide not to point out that the animal she is drawing looks more like a cat than a bear.
Maude is the first one I tell about my plan. “I like it,” she says. “A lot. You’ll need to go viral—spread the word on Facebook and Twitter. Rowena can help with that.”
“Too bad she isn’t here today,” I say.
Maude shakes her head. “I hope everything’s okay at her house.”
“Maybe she’s got the flu.”
“Yeah, but her dad’s away too.” Maude puts her hand over her mouth.
“Her dad?”
“Yeah. I probably shouldn’t have said anything. You’ve got to promise not to tell anyone else, okay? The Germinator—he’s Rowena’s dad.”
I slap my thigh. “No way.”
“Yes way,” Maude says. “Rowena doesn’t like people knowing. That’s why she uses her mom’s last name—Johnston.”
No wonder Rowena didn’t want to run for the Student Life Committee!
“We used to live around the corner from the Germinatos,” Maude says. “My mom thinks Germinato’s so strict because of all the problems they’ve had with Luanne, Rowena’s older sister.”
“Problems?” I ask.
“She dropped out of college,” Maude says as she puts a black spot on the catbear’s belly. “And now she’s pregnant.”
“Pregnant?” For the first time, I find myself actually feeling sorry for Germinato. Maybe he thinks that if he had been stricter with Luanne, she might have stayed in school and not gotten pregnant.
Mr. Farrell announces that he needs to leave the classroom for ten minutes. “I’m counting on you people to continue working together quietly,” he tells us before he goes.
Maude gives him time to get to the other end of the hallway. Then she puts two fingers in her mouth and whistles to get the class’s attention. “Eric and I need to ask you guys something. Are you ready to join the Leggings Revolt?”
I explain my plan, and every single kid in Life Sciences wants in. Even Rory is willing to come to school in leggings. “I’ll borrow a pair from my sister,” he says.
“When are we going to do it?” someone else asks.
Maude thinks we should give ourselves a few days to get organized, and to make sure Germinato will be in the building. We settle on Friday. That will give us time to put the word out on social media.
One student is standing guard by the classroom door. “Mr. Farrell’s on his way,” he tells us.
When Mr. Farrell walks into the classroom, we are working on our illustrated maps. He surveys the room. “It’s nice to see such focus in here,” he says. “If I didn’t know better, I’d think you guys were up to something.”