Love from a to Z

ZAYNEB
MONDAY, MARCH 25
MARVEL:
THE WORLD
I 
WALKED INTO
F
ENCER’S CLASS
on my own, as I’d come straight over from
Communication Technology, not from stopping by Kavi’s locker.
She and Ayaan would still be busy. They both had had a prior spare
period and had used it wisely. At the principal’s office.
Fencer was writing something on the board and didn’t see Noemi stand
up when she saw me enter the class, walk over to the seat I’d just taken, and
give me a high five.
“All hail the queen,” she whispered before sitting back down.
Everyone else drifted in, and I studiously avoided their gazes, choosing
not to see their curiosity or, worse, their animosity.
Fencer turned around. How does oppression begin? What are the roots?
was written on the board behind him.
I turned my eyes down, drawing a goose on my notebook paper.
“Welcome to the beginning of session two.” He cleared his throat. “You
people in the back, it shouldn’t take this long to settle down.”
I’d read that Canada geese couple for life. Is that why Adam gave me the
present, now in my jean jacket pocket?
“This term we’re looking at the most repressive regimes in modern
history. And, when I mean modern history, I mean happening at this
moment.”
Last night, Adam and I had texted each other. Our long train of news had
ended with a wave emoji from him and an onion pic from me.
“Can anyone give the class examples of repressive governments?” Fencer
walked by my desk and then came back again, slowing down as he got near.
Then he stopped right beside me. “Places where to speak up freely will get

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you in trouble. Where to be a woman is to be condemned. Where religious
laws, like sharia law, result in stonings and honor killings.”
I drew an eye on my goose, a beautiful, long-lashed one, and raised my
hand.
“Welcome back, Zee-naab. Yes? Are you going to give us the name of a
repressive regime?”
“Why did you have to refer to sharia law specifically?”
“It’s an example. I like to use real-world examples.”
“Can you give European real-world examples of repressive laws?”
“I don’t remember anyone appointing you as the principal, Zee-naab.”
“I see your use of the word ‘sharia’ as an addition to the long list of ways
you try to negatively portray people of my faith.” I stood up. “And I’m not
taking it. I exercise my right to speak up freely. And my right to leave a
place where I am subjected to discrimination and hatred.”
My voice shook at that last part, but I carried it out with me, with my
books and my backpack. And my goose in my pocket.
In the hall I looked to my left, then right, and saw the windows of the
library.
I’ll go to the Situation Room.
Ms. Margolis was on our team, according to Kavi.
Where is Kavi anyway?
“Where you go, I follow.” It was Noemi’s voice. Behind me.
I turned to see her, with her books and backpack.
“My speech wasn’t as eloquent as yours. I said something like, Suck it,
Fencer. I’m done with your Islamophobia.” She laughed, and I caught her
laugh, because it was the most contagious laugh I’d ever heard.
The door opened behind her, and two others came out. One was Darren,
from the school newspaper, and the other was a girl named Violet.
“We’d been whispering in the back, and Fencer lost it on us, so we
walked out too,” Violet said. “We’re sick of his dumb-ass comments.”
A few more people spilled out. Noemi high-fived them. “These are my
girls from lacrosse.”
“He was about to call the office when the phone rang. He’s talking now,”
one of the lacrosse girls said. She glanced around. “Maybe the office can
see all of us in the hall from the cameras. So they’re checking what’s going
on.”

---

I leaned against the wall across from Fencer’s classroom and looked at
everyone.
The door opened, and Mike stood in the doorway with his iPad. “Are you
guys doing a protest?”
“We’re simulating the effects of a repressive regime in the classroom,”
Noemi said. “It’s part of the lesson.”
Through the doorway, I could see Fencer on the phone.
The reddening of his face told me something amazing: Kavi and Ayaan
must have advanced on the battlefield.
• • •
Just as Ms. Margolis came over to us assembled in the hall, Fencer stormed
out of the classroom.
He was headed to the office.
“Okay, let’s gather everyone up, and we’ll go to the library,” Ms.
Margolis said, giving me a gentle glance.
I waited until everyone went ahead, and then I fell back with Noemi.
“Thank you.”
“Please! Without you, this would not be. This exodus to freedom. So
thank you.” She put her arm around me, and I let her.
• • •
Kavi and Ayaan joined us in the library, and all four of us—Kavi, Ayaan,
Noemi, and me—went to the Situation Room, where they told us that
Fencer was under investigation by the school for his online activities.
That the school board was involved.
That he most likely would be fired.
Noemi gave a hoot so loud that Ms. Margolis knocked on the Situation
Room door.
I let her in.
Because, now, this was what it was all about.
I was ready to let people in.
I’d still keep some people out.
But I saw—in this room, out through the window into the library, even in
my pocket, with the small goose—that there were so many more that
wanted in than out.

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And that was one of the most marvelous things in the world.

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