Scarlet gave me a look. “Okay, okay, okay. He’s a keeper.”
Felix blushed.
The front door slammed open and shut, startling all of us. “Dad! Oh my God! The craziest thing happened at school today!” Alan shouted as he ran into the kitchen. He paused and pointed at Scarlet. “Who’s this?”
“Alan, this is my best friend, Scarlet Robinson. Scarlet, Felix’s son, Alan.”
“Hey, dude,” Scarlet said, turned in her chair enough to wave lazily.
“Hi,” Alan said. He was totally starstruck with Scarlet and her Pastel Queen meets Punk Goddess meets I’ll Cut You I Don’t Even Give a Fuck sort of appearance.
“Alan,” I said, watching him sort of snap out of it. “Remember when you said it’d be weird to date an eighteen-year-old?”
“Yeah?”
“She’s way older than eighteen.”
Felix leaned his hip against the island and crossed his arms. “What’d you come running in here to tell us?”
“Huh? Oh! Yeah! At school there was ahugeprotest!” Alan said, using his hands to explain. He was more excited than how I imagined he’d be when an expansion forDragon Chaoscame out. “Somehow, people found out about Bowen being fired, right?”
“They did?” I asked suddenly. “How?”
“I don’t know,” Alan replied quickly, grinning from ear to ear. “But I think Mr. Kelly may have been dropping some gossip into the right ears. By lunchtime the place was a shitstorm!”
“Language,” Felix and I both said.
Scarlet laughed.
Alan didn’t stop. “Everyone protested Bowen being gone. The band, the drama kids—the yearbook kids are super pissed because that’s a second advisor to drop them. Even the jocks protested!”
“Why them?” I asked.
“They probably just wanted to skip class,” Alan said, waving a hand.
“Hold on,” Felix interrupted. “Didyouskip?”
“Yeah, of course! Almost everyone protested last period by standing outside. It was amazing! We all got detentions!”
“Alan!” Felix exclaimed.
“Whoa, look at this guy, standing up to The Man,” Scarlet said. “All right.”
“There’s more,” Alan said, barely stopping to breathe. “Bowen, remember Stacy, the first chair you moved?”
“Er, yes,” I said, almost afraid to hear what would come next.
“I was talking to her after the protest, right? She drove me home, but on the way, we went to her house. Her dad is friends with one of the town councilmembers, so she asked if he’d request a favor of them. And hedidand it’sso cool!”
Scarlet glanced from me and Felix and back at Alan. “What’scool?”
“The councilmember gave her dad the keys to the town hall.”
I held my hands up, requesting a timeout. “I think we’re missing some pertinent information, Alan. Why’s this a good thing?”
“The Christmas concert was canceled,” he stated.
“Right,” I answered.
