Dawn's Acapella

by Libby Robare

  “Okay! Okay, what happened? The villains broke in, and what?”

  “Left a mess and stole some stuff. The principal wants to see you right away.”

  “Now?”

  “Yeah.”

  “I’ve got class now!”

  “Rose. Calm down. Just go, it’ll probably be quick.”

  “Yeah. You said that to Nick before you killed him in your story.”

  “I can come with you if you want.”

  Rose sighed, shaking her head. “No, it’s okay, I’ll be fine. See you at lunch.”

  She went to the office to discover her fate. The principal was waiting for her.

  “What happened last night wasn’t our fault,” she said, before she could stop herself.

  “I’m sorry,” the principal said. “I know the Everyday Heroes club is wonderful, but there’s only one way we can foresee stopping these ‘villains.’”

  “Shutting down my club? I’ve got another idea.”

  “What?”

  “You could address the actual problem and punish the people who actually deserve it.”

  “Rose, I’m sorry, this is just getting out of hand. We’re going to have to cancel your club meetings. The Everyday Heroes Club can’t be a part of this school anymore.”

  No more random bursts of song. No more kind notes dropped in lockers. No more fundraising for charity. No more superhero names spoken or costumes worn to school. At lunch, the four oddities sat in silence. Even Dawn had no words. Every now and then, Rose thought of some encouraging speech, but it always flickered out before she could say it. We can keep the club going in secret... No, that won’t last... We can move it outside of school! No, how could be maintain that? We could...

  “Maybe we could start a new club, and just call it something else,” Dawn said. “I don’t know how we’d disguise it, but we could come up with something.”

  “I don’t think they’ll let us start a new one,” Nick said.

  “We just have to face it, freshman,” Rose said. “It’s over.”

  CHAPTER six

  anonymous

  “Rose! Rose!”

  She was slumped at a table, head bent over her homework, and the sound of that excited little voice and scampering footsteps was infuriating. “I’m really not in the mood, freshman, go away.”

  Dawn slammed something down on the table in front of her. The school newspaper. “Just read it!” She left the paper, and hurried away.

  Rose scanned the headlines, uncaring, until the one Dawn was so excited about caught her eye:

  A Letter to the Everyday Heroes

  By Anonymous

  I came to this school in hope of a new beginning. I’d been viciously bullied at my old school for being gay, and I hoped things would be different here. In the beginning, I thought things actually were different. But while the bullying here isn’t nearly as bad, it still exists. I have been taunted, teased, threatened, and made to feel like nothing. Like I shouldn’t be alive.

  At my old school, I was depressed. When I admitted to my parents that I was contemplating suicide, they tried to take action. I started seeing a therapist, which helped my mental state, but no one could completely protect me from other students. Finally, we had to move. I never want to be in that place again, imagining what it would be like to close my eyes and never wake... I want to be happy. I want to live.

  But there are times when I falter. Enemies on the outside are hard enough to deal with, but on top of that, I have enemies inside my own head. When I have a difficult few days or weeks, it’s hard to see past that. It seems like the feeling will never go away, that I’ll never be happy again. And one day, I was slumped in a dark hallway, feeling like I should be dead. No one would miss me. And there was nothing I could do to change how I felt.

  Then these girls walked toward me, one looking like a miniature version of the other. One of them wore black and gray stripes. They were talking, laughing... a happy, normal pair of friends. What could possibly matter to them in that moment outside their own little bubble of gossip? But to my surprise, they stopped for a moment.

  “Here,” one of them said. “Have a cookie.” I was too surprised to thank them properly, and they walked away before I could gather myself. I remembered their faces ever since then. They gave me the strength to stand up, and go talk to a counselor.

  They reminded me that yes, there are kind people in the world, and there are things worth sticking around for. Because of them, I started to get the help I need again. What would I have done if they hadn’t been there? I don’t want to think about it.

  You all know them. Rose and Dawn, two of the people who started the Everyday Heroes club. I just wanted to tell you both that you saved my life, and people at this school deserve to know that. What else have the people of this school done, in trying to be heroes? How many other strangers’ lives have been saved? How many smiles have we created? How much happiness?

  I am an extreme case. I was thinking of taking my own life. But I’ve heard many stories of simpler things. Stressed out students who were able to breathe for a moment because someone did something nice for them. People with low self-esteem who now feel better about themselves because of what they’ve done for others.

  Sure, you might think it was just a cookie. But tiny, simple gestures like that should never be overlooked. Even the smallest spark of light matters in deep darkness. Even the smallest spark can be seen, and that’s all it takes…

  None of this should end because of a few silly pranks by a few so-called “villains.” In my mind, these villains were heroes too, because all they wanted to do was motivate us. They didn’t lower my faith in humanity—even the ones who didn’t care at all for our club. Why? Because they might have been the “darkness,” but it was darkness through fun. Which is odd. But odd started all this, right? Aren’t Rose and Dawn proud, self-proclaimed weirdos?

  The bottom line is, we shouldn’t stop what we have started. We may not be able to gather anymore, or to call ourselves superhero names or dress up in costumes at school, but none of that matters. I’ve seen everyone at this school become a hero, and true heroes don’t just give up. There will always be lives to save, even if it’s not obvious. People like me often are invisible. All we need is something small, to remind us that goodness still exists. Like a cookie. The club may be gone, but I know that all of you are still heroes.

  final note

  So, only halfway through the school year, the new club started and came to an end. But another club was born out of it. Dawn started her own choir with several of her singer friends. Dawn’s Acapella keeps the message of the Everyday Heroes Club alive, and they continue to partake in random acts of kindness every day, as well as fundraising for various charities.

  Other school clubs have followed suit in ways the school can do nothing about. The cheerleaders wanted to have a car wash, to raise money for new uniforms, they said. At the last minute, they kept their old uniforms, and donated all the money they raised.

  The Everyday Heroes Club lives on as Dawn’s Acapella. To the school, they are nothing more than an amateur acapella group. To the world, they’re a light in the dark.

  All it takes to join is a song and a little kindness.

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Libby Robare is just another hopeless dreamer, from the magical land of Oregon. She earned a degree in psychology, and has so far only put it to use by studying the minds of fictional people. On a typical day, she will go to work at a grocery store, and make pretty fruit bowls and such, and return home to unwind by dancing to acapella music and drinking lots of tea. By night, she inhabits the Crossworlds realm, plotting and scheming the lives of people like Rose and Dawn. All, of course, while wearing her own black and gray dress.

 

 

 
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