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5 10 15 20 25 30 35 12 “But nobody in your class has ever said anything to him?” Mimmo asked while he was sitting on the ledge. “No,” Mariella responded. “They are all afraid. The teacher gives out bad grades easily, and we don’t understand how he always knows if you studied or not, and bam, he catches you just in the moment when you didn’t study.” “I wouldn’t care about that,” Gaetano said. “Even at the risk of getting a bad grade and holding me back, I would defend Jensika by telling him in person that he’s racist…” “Eh, what exaggeration,” Rahma said, throwing her hand in the air. “But Gaetano is right,” Mariella intervened. “Someone has to make him understand that he can’t speak this way.” “But why don’t you go to the principal and tell her everything?” Mimmo asked. “But how would we do that?” Mariella said. “She would never believe us! He is a teacher that is respected by everyone at school, he’s powerful, and we are not very good students. It would be our word against his! And his is certainly worth more!” “This is why we have to deal with him in person,” Gaetano said. “This is not the right way to solve things,” Jensica intervened. “We need to trust those who have authority, and in our case, that’s either our teachers or our principal. We must take a risk by going to speak with the principal.” Gaetano threw his hands up, “Come on, what? I don’t trust anyone who has authority, I only trust myself.” “… and your convincing methods” Rahma said, winking at Jensica. Mariella seemed disappointed by Gaetano’s comment. How could it be possible that he didn’t trust anyone? What about his friends? Didn’t he trust them? She thought they were friends. “This has nothing to do with it.” Gaetano replied. “You’re something else- you belong to my world! Your problems are mine… your happiness is mine. If one of you were in danger, I would always protect you unless you did me wrong. In that case, things would be different…”