Yellow Bello (Ezzy's Education: Part 13), By Garrett Murch
Wrapped in tangled blankets and wearing evergreen pajamas while sitting in bed Tuesday morning, Ezzy opened InstaTok on her laptop and saw no new posts from Lucinda, Trunk, or Loose Lipps. There were, however, over four hundred reactions to last night’s bombshell story about Lucinda Barron’s intention to end football at Ebbing High; the vast majority were negative.
Tommy T: What say you now, you whiny little Trunk Style Haters!!
Jessie T: See, this is why I keep saying we need Trunk. He may be an asshole, but he’s OUR asshole and he’ll save us from Lucinda!
Trendon B: Told you Lucinda Barron was evil INKARNATE. TAKE HER DOWN!!
Madison H: In the long run, this Patriot love affair with Trunk endangers football because it makes football haters seem like an acceptable alternative to him.
Makayla G: @Madison H You Trunk Style Hater!
Madison H: @MakaylaG thanks for sharing your genius with us. If we were smart, we would have recruited someone like Kayla Jennings, Sheila Bernhart, or my personal favorite, Ezzy Bello, to run. Too late now.
Ezzy smiled. She assumed @MadisonH was Madison Hendrickson, a modest boy who was her junior year chemistry lab partner. She thought Madison was the smartest student at Ebbing High School, so to receive his praise was a true high honor. He’s not afraid to take them on, and he’s not even a jock or a bully! Maybe I’ll vote for Madison.
Ezzy moved her fluffy, fish-patterned pillows so they supported her bent legs. Her feet nestled within her sheets and brook trout duvet cover. I should have run. Excited, motivated even, by Madison’s comment, Ezzy kept scrolling through the InstaTok comments. There were many comments about Lucinda being “toast,” a few about Luci Lipps supposedly favoring Trunk, and several about not voting at all. Oh, someone else just responded to Madison!
WhateverItTakes22: @Madison H Ezzy Bello? Are you serious? You know that girl has a serious case of wishing she was white. She doesn’t like her fellow Latinxs.
That’s why you never see her hanging out with any of them.
Seriously?! She read the comment again. That is untrue and insane! I’ll—Another comment popped up.
Gunstling22: @WhateverItTakes22 I have noticed that about Ezzy Bello, too. No solidarity with Latinxs. It is shameful. I don’t know how she looks herself in the mirror or sleeps at night. Ezzy Bello is a coward.
Those bitches! New posts kept popping up.
Julia C: Maybe we should call her “Yellow Bello” for being such a coward. Yellow Bello never attends our Justice events.
Who is Julia C? Who are all these people? Ezzy could not keep up with the comments as the initial sprinkle turned into a downpour.
Gunstling22: @Julia C “Yellow Bello.” I think that is fitting. From now on, Ezzy is Yellow Bello.
Who the hell is Gunstling22? Ezzy felt a lump in her throat. I never should have made an anonymous comment: now that was cowardly. These people are so wrong. Or are they though? I’m a coward if I don’t stand up for myself.
WhateverItTakes22: Yellow Bello likes to fly fish with her daddy. Freak.
#YellowBelloDaddyIssues
Trendon B: EZZY, Trunk won’t call you Yellow Bello if you jump on the Trunk Train! He loves the Latins who support him.
I might get sick. Ezzy placed one hand on her stomach and with the other she slammed her laptop shut. I feel that anger some Trunk supporters have. Lucinda and a few of her supporters are vicious: they’re unfit to have any power over anyone, regardless of what their cause is.
But Trunk is sick. In her head she could still hear Trunk saying, “the Latins,” “the Blacks,” “the gays.”
“For crying out loud,” she said. “A longnose gar is going to be our president.”
“Honey, are you okay?” Ezzy’s mother was outside her bedroom. “Who has a long nose? I think you were having a bad dream. Was it about Pinocchio?”
Ezzy laughed. Thanks, Mom. I needed that right now. “I wish, Mom,” she replied.
Is the whole school on this evil website right now? Why didn’t Madison come back? Where’s Link? I’m teaching him how to fly fish today!
“Oh,” Ezzy said. They’re probably getting ready for school, unlike these fools—and unlike me. I could use some help right now. She forced herself out of bed and got dressed after hanging up the yellow blouse she’d laid out the night before and opting for a midnight-blue one. She loaded her backpack and carried the fishing gear to her Jeep.
Ezzy’s mother followed her outside. “I know you haven’t wanted to help my campaign,” she said to Ezzy, who was halfway in the vehicle.
“Correct.”
“But tonight,” her mother said, adjusting her glasses, “there is a very important event.”
“I’m going fishing after school, probably until after dark.”
Her mother tossed her head back as if she still had a long hair to get away from her eyes.
“Well don’t you need to be studying tonight? Fishing on a weeknight? Late?”
“So I’m allowed to campaign with you tonight but I can’t go fishing?”
“You’re making it sound like—”
“I guarantee I’ll get my studying done, Mom. I’m going fishing. It’s an important time for me.”
“Do you need time to think about that boy, Merit?” Ezzy laughed.
“There isn’t a boy named Merit, Mom.”
“If you say so, dear. I’ll tell everyone you wished you were there. Including Lucinda Barron’s mother, Professor Barron. She’s the special guest.”
For the love of—You go ahead and do that, Mom. Ezzy turned her keys in the ignition and her Jeep’s V6 engine purred. “I love you, Mom.” She closed her door and backed out of the driveway.