The next few days were probably the hardest of Shane’s life.

Work was a rollercoaster of emotions. As if trying to juggle final exams and projects wasn’t enough, by Tuesday morning those who disagreed with the message of the article had started to organize their protests. An online petition started up to rival their own—with mostly the intention of getting Shane fired. It scared the shit out of him, but he just had to hope Zach’s petition continued to dwarf it for number of signatures. There was even a handful of angry parents who came to the school to protest in person, holding signs and shouting things that Shane wouldn’t ever want to repeat. Thankfully the Principal seemed to be coming around at last, and called the police on them. A surprisingly nice cop named Steve Marcus came to force them to leave before they could upset anyone else.

On the plus side, Jesse and Millie were continuing to take things pretty well. They told Shane they had started to report any threats they got to the police, but so far they hadn’t lost their fighting spirit. The camera idea was working—it seemed to dissuade most students from harassing them, and the few times they had dared to Jesse got it on film. With proof in front of their noses and the pressure the article had created, they finally had no choice but to punish the offenders properly.

Still, the constant stress of worrying about his students and wondering if each day at the school would be his last was getting to Shane. He hadn’t even had much energy to plan his confession of love to Zach, which he’d been hoping to do tonight before the Board of Education meeting.

Zach had been a godsend, though. He’d continued to check in on Shane throughout the day and in the evenings, making sure he was all right. He was a shoulder Shane had leaned on when he was upset and afraid, always offering advice and assurances. He’d helped Shane keep his head on straight, and he couldn’t thank him enough for it. Hopefully he’d be able to show his gratitude soon.

“Please let today be better,” he prayed to himself as he left his car in the parking lot, looking grimly upon the school building. At least there didn’t seem to be any protestors outside yet.

He made it to his classroom and got set up for the day without anything exploding. Perhaps today would be calmer.

Until he heard some sounds of cheering coming from down the hallway.

He sighed, then moved to the door to look out into the hall, expecting the worse. What he saw instead blew his mind.

Students were moving through the halls, coming in from the buses that must have just started to arrive. Some clustered together or went on their way, but every other student was wearing bright, rainbow colored clothing. He saw a few that even had pride flags tied around their shoulders like capes. Not only that, but he spotted many boys wearing skirts, and a lot of the girls were wearing suit jackets—though most of them looked a little big. They’d perhaps snatched them from their fathers.

And as he stood there gaping, more and more students were coming into the school, dressed similarly. It wasn’t just the LGBT Alliance, or even the choir—it had to be over half of the school. He even spotted the colors of the bisexual and transgender flags among the crowd as well. The students cheered and gave each other high fives in passing, congratulating each other for joining in on what was obviously a mass protest.

Had they really organized all of this on their own?

He tried to blink away tears, but it was hopeless. He couldn’t possibly be prouder.

Other teachers had been drawn out to watch the crowd of teenagers as well. They looked a mixture of amused and exasperated, others just looked unsure what to do. He looked over each he could see until, at the end of the hallway, he saw the Principal, Cecilia Lyons, looking around with disapproval.

He took a deep breath, prepared himself for the worst, and marched down the hall towards her.

She eyed him as he approached, her arms folding over her chest impatiently. “Is this your doing?”

“I wish,” he said with a determined lift of his chin. “But no. I had no idea they were going to do this.”

At first it looked like she didn’t believe him, but then she was going back to watching kids wander past. A boy wearing a brightly patterned floral skirt flashed a grin and gave a mock salute in passing, which seemed to sour her mood even more. But it looked like she was still processing everything.

“For what it’s worth,” he continued, in a more gentle tone. “I am sorry that the school has been in such chaos the past few days.”

“Are you?” she asked with a sharp look back to him. “I figured you knew exactly what you were doing by stirring the pot, Shane.”

“I knew it would start something, yeah. But it’s worth it, so long as something good comes from this.” He frowned. “Just look at these kids, Cecilia. They did all of this themselves. They came together and made a choice to support each other. How can we punish that?”

She continued to frown at him, but there was a little uncertainty in her eyes now. A bit of the coldness thawing.

“Do you want to teach them they can make a difference if they put the work in, or do you want to show them standing up for their fellow students will get them punished?” He spread his hands.

“Shane’s got a point, you know,” came a feminine voice from behind him. He glanced back to watch Tina, the English teacher, step up beside him, her hands on her hips. “I think it’s a wonderful thing these kids are doing, and you should be proud of them.”

“You do realize this is a school, right?” Cecilia asked, exasperated as she was suddenly outnumbered. “Not a Pride Parade. We can’t let students run around causing chaos when they should be learning.”

“Then give the ones detention that disrupt class, like we would anyway,” Tina said. “Otherwise, let them have their day. Besides, do you really want to deal with the work necessary to write up half of the school?”

The Principal pinched her brows, letting out a heavy sigh. “No.”

He blinked, looking between them in surprise. He had thought Tina was still pissed at him for calling her out on her stereotyping, as they hadn’t exactly talked much the past month. He hadn’t expected to hear such support from her now, but he certainly wasn’t complaining. He offered her a grateful smile, and she returned it with a little wink and grin.

“Fine,” Cecilia relented after a moment, throwing up her hands. “I won’t write up those protesting, so long as they don’t disrupt class. Though the boys aren’t excluded from the rules regarding skirts that are too short. I’ll let the other teachers know.”

Shane smiled, relieved. “Thank you. Seriously.”

“Just try to keep the kids from rioting,” she replied tiredly before turning to walk back towards her office. It sounded like she was trying to joke, at least. Maybe. It wasn’t like he could truly blame her for being exhausted, anyway. She likely had a lot of stress on her shoulders as well from the past week.

He looked over to the woman beside him, his smile softening. “Thanks for sticking up for them, Tina. I thought things were going to go to hell there for a moment.”

“You’re welcome.” She looked down embarrassedly, brushing some of her blonde hair behind her ear. “I should’ve been speaking up a lot sooner. Actually, Shane, I wanted to apologize. How I treated you… I didn’t realize I was being offensive. I just went and got excited, and assumed things I shouldn’t have. But I’ve been doing a lot of thinking the past few days since I read that article. And now I just feel silly for how I acted.”

Shane nodded faintly, expression sobering. “It’s okay, Tina. I knew you didn’t mean any harm, and I appreciate you apologizing. Just… you know, I’m not really any different? I’d like to just be friends, like we were before.”

She glanced upwards shyly, with a small hopeful smile. “Can we still gossip about men? So long as I don’t try to drag you into doing all my girly stuff?”

He laughed. “You know, I might even be into doing that stuff with you. I’m into trying new things. But I’d appreciate you just asking me if I’m interested in doing something, rather than just… assuming I’m suddenly some caricature.” He winked. “And we can totally gossip about men, so long as I can still talk about girls too. Still attracted to women, you know.”

“Right, right.” She bobbed her head quickly, her smile brightening. Her energy was bubbling up until she was nearly bouncing on her heeled shoes with excitement. “No stereotyping. I’ll work on it. And if I do slip into it, please just correct me.”

“I will,” he assured. “So long as you’re willing to give it an honest go, I’ll be patient.”

“Good… Oh, Shane!” She stepped closer and hugged him tightly, squeezing. “I’ve missed you so much. The school has been so lonely without you to talk to.”

He smiled and returned the hug, patting her shoulder gently. “I’ve missed you too. It’ll be nice to have someone here that I can actually talk to again. The students are great, but you just can’t tell them everything.”

“Well, then we need to catch up.” She pulled back and patted him on the chest with a grin. “Maybe over lunch?”

“Lunch it is. I’ve got… a lot to gossip about.” He grinned.

Finally he was seeing the Tina that she used to be—playful and funny, rather than the stereotype he’d been subjected to. It was a relief to see that someone was willing to change and grow, especially when they could admit they were wrong. Besides, it really would be nice to have more friends to talk with.

“Looking forward to it. I want to hear everything.” The first bell rang, Tina sighed and stepped back. “Guess we should get going. But, Shane…” She looked back up at him, sobering. “I also want to say that I’m proud of you, for everything you’ve done. I wish I had been brave enough to do what you’ve done… But I hope now I can be more supportive.”

He nodded slowly. “You don’t need to apologize, so long as you are here now. They need us.” He stepped back towards his room, lifting a hand for a wave. “Good luck with class.”

“You too,” she replied, relief bright in her eyes. She moved to stride off as well, her heels click clacking.

He watched her go, then looked around at the students filtering their way into their classrooms. The sea of pride colors nearly brought tears to his eyes again.

Today was definitely going to be a better day.