Jessie McMillion and a Small Town Revolution

When Jessie walked to his creative writing class on that fateful Friday, he was shocked to see a crowd around the sign on the door.
Assembly in the gymnasium - Mrs.Appleman
That wasn't unusual, except they usually got warning before these kinds of things. A last minute assembly was unlike the administrators.

Jessie located Syd on the bleachers; She was sitting with Caeson. Could this morning get any weirder? Jessie had wondered. And the answer was yes, it could.
He sat with Syd and Caeson, and flagged down Roland when he made his way there. Roland's odd first hour was Chemistry, so he'd most likely walked pretty gingerly considering how close it was to the gym.
"So, anyone know the meaning of this bullshit?" Roland asked upon sitting next to Jessie. They shook their heads. It looked like the entire school had gotten the memo. Freshmen were sitting cross legged in the floor, the 10th graders like Jessie and his friends were on one set of bleachers with the 11th graders, and the opposite wall had the senior class.

When the administrators had finally calmed everyone down, and the gym had reached a hush, Principal Wallace and his wife walked to the center of the room.
Gag.
Jessie hated the Wallaces, and so did his mother. Principal Wallace was a short man with a thick grey head of hair that he kept extremely greasy. His wife, Jessica Wallace, was the stereotypical blonde trophy wife- and she had the attitude of one. Rumor has it she could make balloon pop without even touching it, just with her scorn alone.
Jessica Wallace was a head administrator at their school, because that's the kind of stuff that happens when you're Jessica Wallace. She also ran a bookstore, except it wasn't a normal book store. It sold the weight loss and relationship advice books that just depressed regular women who didn't have the body of Jessica at their age.

"Settle down, pupils," Principal Wallace shouted through his megaphone, in to the sea of teenagers. "I bet you're all wondering why Mrs.Wallace and I have called this last minute assembly."
"You bet your greasy ass we are," Caeson mumbled. "Keep it in your pants," Roland whispered at Caeson. One of the honors society students from the first row of bleachers shushed them.

"We have some news to share with y'all about scheduling," Mrs.Wallace said in one of those uber chipper voices that would put the 'it's a small world' ride at Disney to shame. Jessie wanted to blow his brains out already.
"As you all may know, our country is trying to catch up in academics, and schools all over the country have been pushing STEM, or Science Technology Engineering and Math for those of you who don't know. So, in order for us to keep our heads above water in this race, and ensure everyone in this school, no matter which town you may come from and wherever you may go from there, has a very bright future, we are adding a whole bunch of new courses."
The crowds of students started to clap. Jessie exchanged a glance with Syd. Something told him this wasn't as good of news as she was making it out to be.

"Instead of just having one computer tech class, we're adding coding, robotics, and many more. For those of you who are gamers we're adding game development. Not only that, instead of basic biology, chemistry, and earth science, we're adding marine biology and sciences, geology, and expanding the environmental education course." Mrs.Wallace started to walk around with the microphone a little, her pencil skirt and suit jacket made her tiny figure look strong and powerful.
"Now of course, even with the funding we get from Alumni, we couldn't pull this off and leave everything else intact. The county isn't paying for any of this since we are a private academy. So.. Some classes had to go. Only the under filled electives. I assure you this is for your best interest because they will be replaced with actual career building courses. Your current teacher will give you the your new individual schedules when you arrive back at class. The guidance counselors have been working really hard to pull this together for you before homecoming so it's not an end of the year shock, so be sure to give them all a big thank you when you see them around! Have a lovely rest of the day."
And with that, Principal Wallace and Mrs.Wallace let the students get released back to class.

"What the fuck just happened?" Caeson asked the group. Her curly red hair was down that day, and she had butterfly pins in it. "I believe," Roland answered, "our schedules just got their asses grouped by the Wallaces." Jessie pushed out a laugh, although he felt as if he'd just been punched in the gut. Syd said nothing.

Their schedules were on their desks before they could talk to Mrs.Appleman about what was going on. When everyone's papers were passed out, they could see her full face, complete with tear filled eyes. Mrs.Appleman was a great creative writing coach and loved her craft. She was sweet and kind, and had pictures of her son Benny all over her desk and backboard.
"Well, as some of you can see," Her voice caught, "Our program is getting cut. I'm getting moved to be a regular English teacher, and I'm sure you all have some awful course to fill this one, like god damn robotic programming or something."
"This is bullshit!"
Syd was standing up, and looked almost as put out as Mrs.Appleman. She wasn't wearing her usual expression.. It was replaced by a set face that was foreign to Jessie.
"I don't want to take STEM. Why isn't this optional? Why didn't anyone get a fucking say in this?" Jessie was shouting now.
Mrs.Appleman had her head in her hands and mumbled something about profanity, but she obviously didn't care.
The two were too worked up to discuss any of what they felt, but somehow they didn't need to use words.
They knew what each other had to say.

The rest of the class period was free time, considering the new schedules were effective immediately. From Jessie's schedule, creative writing and art were cut. He still had his other two electives, but it didn't matter one bit.
If he didn't have his 90 minutes of art during the day he had nothing to stabilize him.
Nobody understood how much it meant, except for maybe Syd.

As Jessie was walking to his locker before his next class, a rain drop fell beside him in the open hall way. And then another, and another, until it escalated in to a full downpour.
Me fucking too, Jessie thought.
Jessie opened the locker door to put back his creative writing journal and saw Syd down the outdoor corridor.
Suddenly he found himself running to her.

"Sydnie," Jessie breathed. She was walking fast, and the intermission between classes was coming to a close. Syd was still crying from last period. "We're doing something about the schedules." He said affirmatively.
"We are?" She sniffled slightly.
"You bet your greasy ass we are." He promised, loosely quoting Caeson from the assembly.
"My mom works tomorrow, so the house is empty. Clear your schedule; we're talking game plans."
Jessie then ripped a page from the journal he was still carrying and scribbled his address down with a pen from his shorts pocket.

He left Syd in the hall, still red faces and quiet. He had a feeling, though, that she was smiling internally.
A smile crept onto his face as well, despite the anger and sadness in the pit of his gut.