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Rowena stands, her
hands are trembling. She is holding a stack of papers. It must be the petition. If
she presents the petition to Germinato now, there’s no way he can hide it at the
back of his filing cabinet.
    Rowena walks to the podium, holding the petition to her chest like a shield.
    “Go, Rowena!” Rory calls out.
    “You rock, Rowena!” Phil adds.
    Again that sets the others off, and now there is a chorus of “Rowena!”
    Rowena pumps one fist in the air.
    “What are you doing, Rowena?” Germinato asks as she approaches.
    Rowena steps closer to the microphone, so we all hear her answer. “Da—” She stops
herself. “Mr. Germinato, I hereby present you with a petition signed by 549 students
at this school. It reads, We, the undersigned …”
    I don’t know who is first to stand up when she has finished reading it to him. Maybe
it’s Maude, maybe Phil, but now every student is clamoring to his or her feet. And
they are all shouting, “Down with the dress code!”
    “Fine!” Germinato shouts into the microphone. “I said, fine !”
    Rowena spins around, her face inches from her dad’s. “What do you mean by fine ?”
she asks. Am I the only one who sees the resemblance between the two of them?
    Germinato speaks into the microphone. “By fine , I mean I will consider your objections
to the dress code. And I have decided not to impose a punishment on any of you—at
least, not today.” He smiles as if everything is settled.
    When I look over at the benches where the staff is sitting, I realize Miss Aubin
is watching me. Is she trying to send me a message?
    I shrug my shoulders and raise my palms. It’s my way of asking, What’s the message?
    Miss Aubin looks at me—hard.
    I know what that means.
    She is not going to tell me what to do.
    I have to figure things out for myself. It is up to me—and the other students—to
affect change. The way Marie Gérin-Lajoie did.
    I bring a chair from the side of the room and stand up on it so everyone will see
me. I’m not even shaking. I feel like a tree planted firmly in the earth.
    “Hey, that’s Eric!” someone calls out. “He’s the brains behind the Leggings Revolt!”
    “Mr. Germinato,” I yell, “your offer is not good enough. We don’t want you to consider
our objections to the dress code. We want the leggings rule dropped now . And we want
your assurance now that the dress code will be revised with our input.” I turn to
look at Daisy. “And we want Daisy Fung’s suspension wiped from her record now .”
    Germinato throws his hands up into the air. “Fine!” he says.
    And with that, the whole gym erupts into cheering and clapping. The walls vibrate
from the noise.

Chapter Twenty
    There have been many changes on the Student Life Committee.
    Lunch is no longer catered by the school cafeteria. Instead, we get to order in.
Today we’re having Indian from Monsoon Moon. They make the best samosas and butter
chicken in Montreal.
    Another change is that everyone has a say—even me, the seventh-grade rep.
    Today I am reporting on the dress-code negotiations. “There’s been more progress,”
I tell the others. “Mr. Germinato has agreed to drop the rule prohibiting visible
bra straps.”
    “Did you speak to him about my idea of auctioning off his collection of confiscated
baseball caps?” Ivan asks.
    I open my binder to the notes I took during my last meeting with Germinato. “He was
open to the idea,” I say. “As long as the proceeds go to charity.”
    “ Open to the idea ,” Sandy, the ninth-grade rep, says. “I never thought I’d hear those
words spoken by Germinato.”
    I don’t tell the others what I know. That Germinato’s new attitude may not be the
result of the Leggings Revolt. Ever since I told Rowena that I know Germinato is
her dad, she has been filling me in about her home life.
    It turns out that Germinato and his wife are going to help raise Luanne’s baby. The
whole family has been attending weekly counseling