Our New Normal

  Timothy drew in a deep breath. “Yes,” he responded. “My receptionist just showed it to me.”

  Anthony read the article out loud for the televised board members. A few gasps erupted from the screens, and the faces in the boardroom were grim as they all stared at Timothy.

  “Are the allegations in this article true?” Anthony asked.

  Timothy stared ahead. “Yes, they are,” he replied, his voice apathetic but his eyes daring the board members to challenge him.

  “This is going to turn into a media circus!” one of the televised board members declared. “We need to do damage control before this goes national!”

  “Can’t we get the record expunged?” Timothy asked, his heart beginning to thump nervously.

  Anthony shook his head. “It’s public record, so it’s too late for that,” he stated. “And even if we would try to cover it up, it will only make the company look worse.”

  “This is a personal matter, and I do not feel it should in any way affect the company—”

  “Tim, you’re the founder and CEO of Hyperspeed!” Anthony interrupted. “Everything you say and do, both in the office and at home, affects this business. You of all people should know this by now.”

  “For God’s sake, Tim, she’s just a kid!” another board member exclaimed. “She had no legal rights as a minor, so you essentially threw her out on the streets! Do you have any idea how that makes us look?”

  “But she wouldn’t accept our help!” Timothy argued. “The whole story isn’t in that article! We offered to take her to a treatment center for conversion therapy, but she refused! She also refuses to repent for her sins!”

  “Mr. Reynolds, regardless of how you may feel about homosexuality, many people feel that being gay is not a sin nor a disease,” one of the televised board members said impatiently.

  Timothy sighed. “But the Bible says—”

  “Are you aware of how many diversity awards this company has won?” one of the members interrupted.

  “Yes, of course.”

  “Are you aware that we have won three already this year?” the same person inquired.

  “Of course,” Timothy replied. “This is my company, after all.”

  “Are you also aware of how quickly they are going to strip them from us?”

  Timothy’s eyes widened. “Take them away? They can’t do that!”

  “They can now, thanks to you!” one of the in-office board members argued. “You’ve made it abundantly clear how you feel about the gay community. If our CEO hates gays, everyone is going to assume that the entire company does!”

  “But, Anthony, I know that you’re a Christian, and I know you feel the same way!”

  Anthony shook his head. “I’d never let my personal beliefs get in the way of my better judgment, especially as leader of a major corporation! These organizations aren’t going to give awards to businesses with diversity-based controversies. We’ve already lost two major, local clients since the article was released, and that was just this morning. It’s going to get worse once the story goes national.”

  Timothy shook his head. “You’re overreacting,” he insisted. “Even if the article goes national, losing a few clients isn’t going to do major damage.”

  One of the board members shifted in his chair and rested his elbows on the table as he glared impatiently at Timothy. “Mr. Reynolds, most businesses don’t want to be associated with companies that have the potential to tarnish their reputation, especially when it comes to diversity issues!”

  “You said your receptionist quit after reading the article, correct?” Anthony asked.

  Timothy nodded, frowning. He knew where this was going.

  “And for how long was she employed by you, Mr. Reynolds?” another board member inquired.

  Timothy sighed. “Ten years,” he muttered.

  “Why did she resign?”

  Timothy hesitated to answer, but he knew that they wouldn’t let him get away without replying. “She has two fathers, two gay fathers.”

  “This is exactly what we’re trying to tell you,” one of the televised members declared. “Do you think anyone who is part of or supports the gay community would want to be employed by someone who hates everything they believe in?”

  Timothy wanted to respond by defending himself further, but he knew that additional attempts to make them understand would be fruitless; their stance on the subject had already been decided. He shook his head, sitting in silence as he cooled his temper. Once his heart stopped racing, he sat up in his seat, shoulders back as he erased any feeling from his face. “So what’s our next step?”

  The in-office board members glanced at each other, the same impatient expression on their faces. Anthony sighed. “Well, we know this is going to go national. With as big as our company is, it’s too big a story for it not to. I think the first step we should take is to have you file a formal apology to the gay community—”

  Timothy shook his head fervently. “I will do no such thing! To apologize is to lie about my faith, and I won’t sacrifice my immortal soul!”

  The board members shook their heads. “Well, how about you just keep your mouth shut, then?” a televised member demanded through gritted teeth. “Are you able to just say nothing, to offer no comments to the press, while the board issues a formal apology?”

  Though he was dissatisfied with the resolution—he didn’t believe that the board should lie on his behalf—the last thing that he needed was a rift between the board and him. “Fine,” he muttered. “I’ll stay as far away from the press as possible.”

  “Excellent,” a board member said. “With that said, I think we should implement a diversity task force and start reaching out to impacted employees, charities, and clients. We need to contain the damage before it cuts into our profits.”

  After the board members discussed their options, the meeting was adjourned. The board members left the room without a word to the CEO, and Timothy quietly made his way back to his office. He was sure that the board was exaggerating the article’s consequences and that everything would be fine in a few days. After all, the majority of Americans were Christian, so more people than not would understand and agree with his actions.

  Chapter 41

  School on Monday was the first calm day that Tori had had in a while. Sabrina and the rest of the Frosted Flakes had been blissfully silent all day, her classes had been fairly uneventful, and Tori was confident enough with her personal life that she was able to let her guard down. Knowing that she had friends who genuinely cared about her and that she finally had control of her own life, Tori was calmer than she’d been in months.

  Because of this, when Mr. Thompson poked his head into her classroom and his eyes darted to her, she didn’t think much of it, at least not at first. Once she noticed his furrowed brows and troubled expression, though, her stomach lurched with worry.

  “Ms. Juarez?” he whispered as he stepped into the classroom.

  “Yes, Mr. Thompson?” she asked amicably. Her brow furrowed as she noticed his expression. “Is everything okay?”

  He nodded. “Everything’s fine,” he replied. “Would it be possible to steal Victoria from your class for a couple of minutes?”

  Ms. Juarez looked over at Tori, nodding. “Sure,” she answered, motioning at Tori to follow him.

  Tori got up, keeping her eyes forward as she exited the class. She heard the whispers start right away, but she chose to ignore them.

  Randy led her to the hallway and closed the door behind him. “Victoria, has anyone said anything to you about the news today?”

  Tori frowned, Cynthia’s face immediately popping in her head. “No, no one’s mentioned anything. Is everyone okay?”

  “Yes, everyone’s safe,” he answered, wringing his hands as they walked down the hall.

  “Well, then what’s wrong?” Tori inquired, her pulse increasing as she watched Randy. He was usually even-keeled,
so his nervousness was especially unsettling.

  He opened the door to his classroom without saying a word. She followed him in and closed the door behind her. The room was vacant except for Chloe, and she looked just as confused as Tori did. Seeing Chloe’s face made Tori feel a little better; as long as Chloe was okay, it couldn’t be that bad.

  “Come up to my desk, please, ladies,” he instructed, sitting in his chair. They stood across the desk from him as he shuffled some papers in his desk. Though she was worried due to Randy’s behavior, Tori couldn’t help but remember how standing in that very spot while being assigned as Chloe’s partner for the debate would change her life forever.

  “So what’s going on?” Chloe asked. “You mentioned something about the news?”

  He nodded and pulled a newspaper out of his desk drawer. He slid the paper across the so they could read it.

  Tori immediately noticed her father’s face under the front-page headline. She and Chloe read the title, their eyes widening simultaneously. Tori snatched the paper and quickly read the article. “Oh, god,” she groaned, continuing silently as she screamed on the inside. She handed the article to Chloe, and her face grew redder with each sentence.

  “Someone put this in the news?” Chloe asked angrily. “How can they do that?”

  “The case is public record,” he replied. “I imagine it wouldn’t have been printed had your father not been the head of a major corporation—or if he would’ve been more diplomatic about how he felt.”

  Tori walked over to a desk, sitting down as her head spun. “This is going to get worse before it gets better, isn’t it? It’s not so much my dad or his company that I care about—I don’t give a crap about that bastard—but now everyone’s going to know about me and what happened.”

  Randy sighed, folding his hands. “I think it’s going to get worse, unfortunately. HyperSpeed Technologies is a global corporation, one of the top in the industry, and they’ve won a lot of awards over the years for diversity. I know the Center and other local LGBTQ organizations listed HyperSpeed as one of the best places for LGBTQ persons to work. I think this might go to the national press.”

  Tori’s eyes widened, her heart pounding as Chloe sat next to her and touched her knee. “So are we going to have press knocking down our door for a comment or something?”

  Randy shrugged. “I’m hoping that they’ll concentrate on your father and leave you be; you’ve been through enough,” he replied. “It’s not so much about you as it is about the gay community as a whole. If he really said those things about homosexuality, he’s going to have a lot of pissed off people banging on his door.”

  “He definitely said all of those things in court,” Chloe confirmed. “He’s said some pretty awful things to me, too, the one time I saw him in person.”

  “I’m sure,” Randy muttered sadly. “The good thing about this, Tori, is that everyone around here—your family, your friends, your old church, and your peers—knows about you already. I’m not sure if all the teachers know, but even if they did, it’s very unlikely that they’d say anything to you about it—especially with me on the faculty.”

  “Well, I guess I shouldn’t be all that worried about it affecting me too much when it goes national,” Tori thought aloud. “They didn’t release my full name or mention anything else about where I live or work. No one in California is going to care about a girl across the country. I’m just worried that the entire neighborhood and everyone at work is going to start looking at me funny. I don’t need any other Bible thumpers telling me I’m going to hell while I’m trying to work.”

  Chloe shook her head. “I doubt that’ll happen,” she said. “There was no picture of you; anyone who knows the article is about your father already knows, anyway.”

  “That’s true,” Tori agreed.

  “Well, okay, so you’re up to speed,” Randy said as he stood up. “Be prepared for students around here asking you about getting kicked out of your house, but you should be okay besides that.”

  Tori sighed, her face darkening. “They just started getting off my case. I’m not looking forward to more attention from them, but hopefully it won’t affect me too much.”

  * * *

  “So what are they going to do to you?” Gwendolyn asked once Timothy got home that evening.

  “Nothing, at the moment,” Timothy responded. “And I don’t think they will. They can’t discriminate against me for my religious beliefs.”

  “That newspaper article makes you look really bad, though,” she argued. “If they lose clients and employees and awards because of what you said, don’t you think there may be some repercussions? Can’t they fire you?”

  Timothy shook his head. “There’s no way they can fire me!” he exclaimed. “I built that company from the ground up. I am that company!”

  “I think that’s what they’re afraid of,” Gwendolyn muttered.

  * * *

  As predicted, those who read the article put two and two together, realizing that the article was about Tori’s dad. Her friends at work mentioned the article, but nothing more was said about it once Tori acknowledged seeing it; they’d already known the details from talking to Tori, anyway. No customers said anything to her—not even ones who were reading the article close by—so she was thankful that the article’s impact was limited to people who knew her personally.

  In school the next morning, the students bombarded her with questions and comments.

  “So they really kicked you out?”

  “Where did you go?”

  “So are you just crashing with your girlfriend, then?”

  “So you being gay—that’s really true?”

  “I thought this whole thing was an act.”

  “You’re a bitch and all, but that still sucks.”

  “So you’re on your own, right? How are you going to pay for college?”

  “I can’t believe they did that to you!”

  “Do you think your dad will get fired?”

  “So you’re really considered an adult, then? Can you, like, buy beer and cigarettes and stuff now?”

  Tori provided short and simple answers to most of the questions; she didn’t want people knowing where she was living or working. Not many people tried to pry that deeply, though; many used to the opportunity to cheerfully remind her that being kicked out of her home was karma for years of being a horrible person. Others used the news to start treating her like an equal—after all, she was now on the bottom rung of the social ladder along with everyone else.

  Most of the time, the students just said what they needed to say and went on with their business. One of the students wouldn’t back down so easily, though. She didn’t recognize him, but she’d barely acknowledged the existence of anyone outside her circle of friends before she started hanging out with Chloe.

  “I guess karma’s a bitch, huh? You made fun of us for all those years because we weren’t as good as you, and now you’re homeless.”

  Tori sighed. “I’m not homeless,” she corrected. “I have a home.”

  “But not your mansion in the good part of town,” he said bitterly. “You don’t have daddy’s credit card or a free pass in life anymore. You’re worse off than we are. It serves you right for being such an evil fucking bitch to everyone else! We should be looking down at you now!” The boy scowled at her, his fists clenched as he waited for one of her usual derogatory comments.

  Tori shuffled nervously as she worried about her safety. This guy was more intimidating than those who had already berated her, and she wasn’t sure what she could say to calm him down or make him leave. Her eyes darted to the hallway, hoping there’d be someone to help her in the event things escalated. Seeing no one, she frowned and looked away from his intense glare. “What’s your name?”

  Anguish drenched his face. After all of the horrible things she’d said to him over the years—as recently as a few months ago—he thought that she’d at lea
st know his name. As far as he was concerned, tormenting people without even knowing who they were proved that she was a horrible excuse for a human being. “It’s Eddie,” he responded through gritted teeth.

  Tori sighed. “Okay. Look, Eddie, I’m sorry if I made your life a living hell, but I’m not that person anymore. I had to grow up fast. I like who I am now, and I hate who I was then. This whole thing’s changed who I am. It had to, considering how my life was torn to shreds.”

  Eddie’s eyes became slits of frustration. He wanted nothing more than for her to cry, to wail in recognition of the awful things that she’d said to him. The more she wouldn’t repent for her actions, the angrier he became. “You deserve every terrible thing that’s happened to you, you know that? You’re a pitiful excuse for a human being.”

  Tori nodded impatiently. “I know, and you’re not the first one to bring this up to me today—and I’m sure you won’t be the last. I know karma’s biting me in the ass. I know I’m getting payback for all of the nasty things I’ve said and done over the years. I made my choices, and I have to live with them. If that means that everyone in this school gets to hate me and relish in my suffering, then so be it; I probably deserve it. At this point, though, I just want to move on. I’m sorry for whatever I said or did to you.”

  Eddie stood in place for a moment, unsure of what else to do or say. He’d finally said everything that he’d ever wanted to say to her, but his long-awaited moment of justice was less victorious than he’d imagined. He’d wanted Tori to sob and plead for forgiveness, but she looked completely calm and confident. It almost seemed like she was genuinely sorry.

  He sighed with defeat, adjusting his backpack as he looked away. “Fine,” he muttered. “Good luck with your life, then.” He walked away without another word.

  Tori was frozen in place as she watched him leave. She could tell by the way he dressed that she probably got on his case a lot; there were so many comments she could’ve made about his lack of style and apparent low social standing. Tori pushed those urges aside, though, reminding herself that she wasn’t that person anymore. While she couldn’t prevent the thoughts from forming, she could stop herself from vocalizing them.