Read Online Second Helpings by Megan McCafferty - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Megan McCafferty
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more fluids all over this poor boy.
Well, Taryn never mentioned that she liked my editorials.
She really looks up to you.
I had no idea, I said, strangely proud to be admired by Paul Parlipianos semi-sister. She never mentioned that you were her sorta brother.
His face dropped slightly. Well, she got into some trouble when she was a freshman. He was intentionally vague, but I knew all too well what Incident he was alluding to. And it made her lose her sense of self. She has no confidence.
Yeah, I replied.
She doesnt have a problem with my sexual orientation, but she knows that PHS isnt the most enlightened place on earth.
Now, I wasnt exactly sure how to handle this moment of semi-disclosure. I mean, I already knew that he was gay. Should I just wink to let him know he didnt have to say more?
Thats why she loved your editorials. They made her feel like she wasnt alone, he continued. Its tough to be different at Pineville. Whether its her type of different, or my type of different, or yours.
Tell me about it, I muttered.
Coming here has been so great. Its the first place where I felt like I could finally be myself, and find others who are just like me. Or people who werent like me at all, but would accept me as I was, anyway.
Could such a place exist?
I got involved with PACO, People Against Conformity and Oppression.
Is that, uh, a gay and lesbian organization?
Well, there are gays in the group, but thats not what were about. Were an organized resistance to a world of greedy narcissism and complacency.
Like Key Club on steroids?
Not exactly.
Are you socialists?
Some of us are, but were really a true democracy. There are no elected leaders; theres no hierarchy.
I couldnt really think of anything legitimately cool to say, so I just said, Cool.
It is cool, he said, smiling. Unlike other, more notable anarchist groups, we believe firmly in nonviolent protest. We work within the system to try to effect change, and work outside of the system to put the heat on those who can make change. Just like you did with your articles.
Wow. Wow. Wow. Holy shit. Wow.
We dont think that your beliefs should be one thing and your actions another, Paul Parlipiano continued. They should be one and the same.
I do, too. I really do. Yet I still manage to have an easier time thinking about things instead of doing things. Maybe an organization like this is what I need. There was something I needed to know, though.
Do you feel like I grasped for the right word, couldnt find it, then just went with the first one. Like a moron at Columbia?
Duh. Duh. Duh. I felt moronic as soon as I said it.
Not that youre a moron! I mean, its just that it was a huge deal when you got into Columbia, because its a huge deal whenever anyone from Pineville gets into an Ivy League school, because its only had about three students get accepted to Ivy League schools in a bizillion years, and I think two of them dropped out before the end of freshman year to go to Rutgersnot that Rutgers is a bad school or anything, but its not Columbia, you know
He sipped his coffee while I babbled on.
And I know Im not a moron, either. But I worry that Im only Pineville smart. And if I went to an Ivy League school with real students from real high schools
I realized that my get-into-the-Ivy-League intensity hadnt faded after all. It had just transformed itself into dont-get-into-the-Ivy-League inadequacy.
I know what you mean, he said when I had finally faded out. It was a little intimidating at first. I felt really ignorant about cultural things that were embedded in my classmates DNA. But thats no reason to go to another, less-intimidating school. Do you want to live in your ignorance forever? I think you could use a challenge, dont you?
I nodded my head. Yes, I did.
Everyone could benefit from a challenge. His voice grew stronger, with
Well, Taryn never mentioned that she liked my editorials.
She really looks up to you.
I had no idea, I said, strangely proud to be admired by Paul Parlipianos semi-sister. She never mentioned that you were her sorta brother.
His face dropped slightly. Well, she got into some trouble when she was a freshman. He was intentionally vague, but I knew all too well what Incident he was alluding to. And it made her lose her sense of self. She has no confidence.
Yeah, I replied.
She doesnt have a problem with my sexual orientation, but she knows that PHS isnt the most enlightened place on earth.
Now, I wasnt exactly sure how to handle this moment of semi-disclosure. I mean, I already knew that he was gay. Should I just wink to let him know he didnt have to say more?
Thats why she loved your editorials. They made her feel like she wasnt alone, he continued. Its tough to be different at Pineville. Whether its her type of different, or my type of different, or yours.
Tell me about it, I muttered.
Coming here has been so great. Its the first place where I felt like I could finally be myself, and find others who are just like me. Or people who werent like me at all, but would accept me as I was, anyway.
Could such a place exist?
I got involved with PACO, People Against Conformity and Oppression.
Is that, uh, a gay and lesbian organization?
Well, there are gays in the group, but thats not what were about. Were an organized resistance to a world of greedy narcissism and complacency.
Like Key Club on steroids?
Not exactly.
Are you socialists?
Some of us are, but were really a true democracy. There are no elected leaders; theres no hierarchy.
I couldnt really think of anything legitimately cool to say, so I just said, Cool.
It is cool, he said, smiling. Unlike other, more notable anarchist groups, we believe firmly in nonviolent protest. We work within the system to try to effect change, and work outside of the system to put the heat on those who can make change. Just like you did with your articles.
Wow. Wow. Wow. Holy shit. Wow.
We dont think that your beliefs should be one thing and your actions another, Paul Parlipiano continued. They should be one and the same.
I do, too. I really do. Yet I still manage to have an easier time thinking about things instead of doing things. Maybe an organization like this is what I need. There was something I needed to know, though.
Do you feel like I grasped for the right word, couldnt find it, then just went with the first one. Like a moron at Columbia?
Duh. Duh. Duh. I felt moronic as soon as I said it.
Not that youre a moron! I mean, its just that it was a huge deal when you got into Columbia, because its a huge deal whenever anyone from Pineville gets into an Ivy League school, because its only had about three students get accepted to Ivy League schools in a bizillion years, and I think two of them dropped out before the end of freshman year to go to Rutgersnot that Rutgers is a bad school or anything, but its not Columbia, you know
He sipped his coffee while I babbled on.
And I know Im not a moron, either. But I worry that Im only Pineville smart. And if I went to an Ivy League school with real students from real high schools
I realized that my get-into-the-Ivy-League intensity hadnt faded after all. It had just transformed itself into dont-get-into-the-Ivy-League inadequacy.
I know what you mean, he said when I had finally faded out. It was a little intimidating at first. I felt really ignorant about cultural things that were embedded in my classmates DNA. But thats no reason to go to another, less-intimidating school. Do you want to live in your ignorance forever? I think you could use a challenge, dont you?
I nodded my head. Yes, I did.
Everyone could benefit from a challenge. His voice grew stronger, with
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