Jameer leveled his gaze on me. “Where to now?”

“We should leave this building. Eventually people will start coming out and we don’t want to run into Sister Vanessa th—”

“Del!”

I closed my eyes—shit!—cold fear icing every part of my body. Turning like a brave man facing a firing squad, I said, “Cressie?”

My sister approached, giving us a slow up and down. She lingered on Kiera, smirking. Then, to me, “About time you got woke.”

Cressie took us to an adjacent building, the campus gym. Sparse groups of students wandered in and out with towels, and basketballs, and weight-lifting belts while we settled in the near-empty foyer. I texted our location to Qwan, got the Pledgers settled in the bleachers, then prepared to deal with what I knew was coming.

“Why have you been dodging my texts?” she asked.

“I haven’t. I’ve been busy.”

She punched me in the arm. Playful and excited. “The Taylor Burkin episode of my show has been blowing up. I’m at like nine thousand subscribers now. It’s wild! My viewers are Green Creek crazy.”

“Why? It’s Green Creek.”

“Tell me about it. My professor says people are seeing us like an Everytown. We’re the poster child for female oppression, and puritanical values.”

“That’s . . . something.”

“Think about it. There are some teen pregnancies, the town treats it like a curse. Yet, the sex ed class that’s teaching students about ways to be safe and avoid unwanted pregnancy gets canceled because of pressure from some religious zealots.”

I glanced over my shoulder at the chatty Pledgers. “How do you know that’s what happened?”

“My anonymous source. Since you won’t help me, I’ve been leaning on her information. It’s a gold mine. Whoever she is has documents, meeting minutes. Did you know the school lets clergy have a say in what goes into the sex ed curriculum? Whatever happened to separation of church and state?”

“You sound like Mom and Dad.”

“I talked to them. They said you were taking that class, but they had no clue it had been canceled. Why didn’t you say anything?”

“Because it was dumb.” I felt defensive, needed to distance myself from ever caring about Healthy Living. “Stuff we already know.”

“Apparently not.” Cressie shook her head, not like she didn’t believe me, but in apparent awe. “It’s amazing we’re this far into a new millennium and we’re fighting battles that should’ve been won before we were born.”

I said, “You working on a show about what happened with Green Creek’s sex ed class?”

“Not just Green Creek, all across the state. The problem is systemic. Different standards, different texts from school district to school district. I’m shining a light on all of it.”

“Awesome.”

Cressie leaned and looked past me. “What’s up with your ragtag group of rebels?”

Mya huffed. “Another Star Wars fan? It runs in the family, huh?”

Cressie, full attitude, said, “So?”

Mya backed down, none of the Harvest Fest sass I’d gotten. “Nothing. I don’t want any problems.”