September 17
“It surprised me, I have to admit,” he continued, “but in the end I suppose I did say that it was completely private. The secrecy of the ballot is a strength of the democratic process, that allows the people to convey their will directly to their government, without fear of being thrown in jail for it. I guess all of you took this just a little bit too literally.”
Wait, Jeanne thought. All of us?
“I want you all to know one important thing. No matter what happens in this school,” he said, “you should always feel like you have the ability to come to any teacher with any problem you might have. Even if it seems like maybe none of them ever listen, we do. Since it came to this, however, we need to talk about Deacon Flay.”
Instantly the students burst into a clamor. Deacon was a bully, they said, Deacon hurt Andy, Deacon rigged the election. Mr. Walsh put his hands up, calling for quiet. Jeanne sighed and glanced around her; Nick and Tegan were both slowly exhaling. Maybe we hadn’t been caught after all, she thought.
Mr. Walsh stood up. “Deacon’s dad is an important person in the city, and because of this he had asked many teachers to let some of the things that Deacon did slide without getting him in trouble. This was wrong, on everyone’s part… but there’s something that Deacon and his dad didn’t know.” He grinned widely. “We were asked not to get Deacon into trouble. We weren’t asked to forget what he did. And as it turns out, Deacon’s dad is no longer able to ask us to overlook what’s going on.”
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