Better Brighter Whiter Part 10 (Patreon)

Emmie brushed a long, blonde lock back behind her ear, soft brown fingertips offsetting the golden strands. With one last look in the rear view mirror, she primped and preened in a desperate attempt to get herself looking as good as possible for her presentation. She sat in the car for as long as she could, reciting lines and ideas even as Sophia’s white Corolla drove up next to her and parked. Her eyes glanced back to the mirror at her sunny, honey brown eyes. She chided herself for doing it. Emmie knew full well that what she had to say mattered lifetimes more than how she looked, but for whatever reason, she couldn’t keep but fussing about some tiny imperfection she always seemed to find in the mirror. Sometimes it was a stray hair. Other times it was a clump in her mascara or a tiny bit of smudged lipstick that she would try to wipe away only to take too much off and have to reapply. Even so, her perfectionism began pulling her in a different direction the moment she saw Sophia climb out of her car.

“Oh my fucking god Sophia, what the HELL are you wearing” Emmie almost snarled in anxious outrage.
“What?” Her friend asked almost-sarcastically as she threw up her hands and shook her head, clearly trying to skirt around the obvious problem.

(1)

“What do you MEAN, what? Bitch, you look like you’re tryna get some dude to tie you up at some kinda kink club, not participate in a school presentation! You couldn’t wear something…I dunno…more FORMAL??” Emmie nearly yelled, more scared than outraged at her friend’s choice in clothing.

Sophia just rolled her eyes. “Oh pleaaaase. What, just cuz I’m not dressed like a Mexican disguised as a white business woman, I’m wrong? Chill out, girl. If anyone is dressed weird, it’s you.” She said, rubbing her hands up and down a sort of purple latex bodysuit that made her look like a cross between Ariana Grande and a softcore dominatrix.

“It’s BUSINESS CASUAL! I’m trying to look like a pro, not a ho!” Emmie snapped.

“Yeah, like I get that….but like…I mean….It’s also Bright U, babe.” Sophia reasoned. “A little bit of ho might do you some good. I figure I’m just playing to what these rich white guys OBVIOUSLY seem to want. I’m actually kinda playing it smart, you know? Sexy is the new formal.” She said with a flirty wink and a toss of her long, straight hair behind her shoulder.

Emmie wasn’t happy with what she was hearing, but even so, she couldn’t completely say that Sophia was wrong either. It seemed that every single woman she’d seen here with the exception of a few scraggly freshmen were obscenely curvaceous with very, very few of them owing their looks to natural physicality. Every nine out of ten girls were bouncing around with fat, plastic butts and oversized silicone tits that shrieked for sex and attention wherever they roamed. The men came in all shapes and sizes….so long as the size was “Beefy” and the shape was “Muscle.” Indeed, Emmie constantly felt insecure about her body after being surrounded by jocks and bimbos day in and day out, taking classes that seemed to focus more and more on physical appearances. Both of her classes were no different. Diversity Studies was beginning to lean into cultural clothing and dating culture in other nations after just a few weeks and Journalism was instituting homework that involved watching red carpet premiers and fashion shows then writing articles on best and worst dressed. It was stupid, annoying, time consuming, monotonous work, but it was easy. And easy work meant easy A’s.

“Besides,” Sophia said, popping a piece of banana taffy into her mouth. I’m more dolled up than Toni. She didn’t even TRY to dress for the occasion.”

“Wait, what?” Emmie said, her heart once again pounding with fear for the integrity of her presentation. Even if SHE looked proper and professional, her presentation was about promoting diversity. As such, Emmie had asked the other members of B.B.W. to prepare statements on their findings and rehearse them in their own words to better provide testimony against the school’s current prevailing culture of dismissing and completely overlooking anyone who didn’t fit the mold. But if everyone in her diversity group strolled in looking like hot garbage or if they didn’t know what the hell they were saying when they were called upon to present, then that would make not just Emmie but the entire program look ridiculous and not worth listening to.
“What’s she wearing?!” Emmie said, already sighing at the fact that she was being pushed into having to ask such vapid sounding questions. 

“Just like…casual shit. Pants and a shirt. Showing a little more skin than she prolly expected, but that’s what happens when you don’t watch what you eat. Freshman 15’s a bitch.” Sophie snarked, grinning slightly to herself as she finished her candy and then immediately pulled another out of her purse. Emmie noticed the arrogant disparity in what her friend was saying about Toni and what she herself was doing. Sophia had been pretty slim when they had first moved to the campus housing area a few months ago, and in that time she had taken to partying constantly and getting wasted every chance she got. If anything, Toni was her partner in crime in that regard and the rest of the girls were beginning to notice the effects of her lifestyle in the way she filled out her increasingly tight jeans more and more every week. It was a good thing she didn’t try to wear something of the sort today, lest the BOA also notice the way her shirts rode up just enough to reveal the very top of her plump, bubbly buttcrack as she wiggled her hips from place to place, often stopping to do the “pull up your pants” dance when she felt to much of the breeze on her backside.

Emmie glanced at her phone and saw the time. She had only five minutes to get inside, and thus had no time to worry about what her compatriots were wearing. She just had to get in and present, and then hopefully this debacle could be turned around if she was good enough and the girls didn’t say or do anything to make her look bad. She grabbed her large, folder-stuffed Trader Joe’s bag and began power-walking towards the presentation room, passing by an oblivious Toni on her way in. She had to call out to the honey-caramel skinned girl and direct her to where she was going upon realizing that while Sophia knew exactly where to be, Toni was still walking around the general vicinity looking for the right building. Emmie sighed and shook her head as she reached for the lobby door, unable to shake the petty thought that jumped into her brain and wouldn’t leave until she vocalized it.

“…..Jeez, she HAS put on weight.” She thought bitterly, still filled with righteous, vengeful indignation at her friend’s careless and somewhat sloppy appearance.

(2)

“Wait!! Wait wait wait!” A voice called out over the heavy clip-clopping of someone who didn’t quote have the hang of walking quickly in chunky heels yet.
“OH MY GOD, THANK YOU LORD JESUS.” Emmie gushed in relief upon seeing Kei hobbling her way over in a legitimately pretty and professional dress and makeup. No slutty latex, no lazy muffintop, she wore just a flowing, colorful dress and a small pink purse that perfectly complimented her outfit. Emmie helped the poor girl into the door and complimented her outfit, eliciting a beaming, sunny smile from the curvy Hawaiian girl. Kei was kind enough to remind her friend to stop and breathe for a moment to calm her nerves, and then then they walked into the meeting room together, followed shortly by Sophia and Toni.

(3)

Emmie set up her presentation and booted up a powerpoint on the school computer with only minor trouble, as was obligatory for any important presentation while the BOA all shuffled into the room and took their seats. Most of them were just about what she expected: Stuffy men all between the ages of 30 and 60 wearing expensive looking suits and bored expressions on their faces. 

“…Ffffffffffffuck.” She muttered under her breath as she saw Professor Boardwell walk in with the unwarranted confidence of a middle manager who makes himself feel powerful by drinking alone and rehearsing speeches about how he could destroy his underlings and usurp his bosses if he ever really wanted to…but never actually would. He smiled his most genuine, polite “Fuck You To Death And Beyond” smile and took his seat, making sure she was looking at him before he winked at her. She knew that he was aware that his being present made her nervous, and despite being only one of seven men on the board, he was going to make sure to use every ounce of his temporary authority over her in any way he could as revenge for all the times she told him off or refused to listen to his narcissism and gaslighting.

Every one of the board members but one were now seated, and Emmie tapped her foot impatiently, waiting for the last person to walk in the door just so she could hurry up and ve done. The men were already getting bored just sitting there, and she was worried that their frustration would be taken out on her if they had to wait much longer. She was about to say something when Professor Boardwell beat her to the punch.

“Well, I see we’re down a member, but since we’re ten minutes in and Little Miss Emmie here hasn’t taken the initiative on her own, may I request that we get this thing started so that no one ends up late for something more important?”

Her heart sank as the room filled with agitated sighs and grumbles of agreement. Emmie grabbed the microphone with shaky hands and cleared her throat nervously before getting as far as “Oh! Um..Yes. Okay” before the presentation room door opened again, disrupting the presentation even further.

“Hey guys! Sorry I’m late! I was on my way over and I saw this little number trying to jog all the way down here and picked her up. Then she wanted coffee which made ME want coffee and then there was a huge liiiine….and it was just a whole thing. 

Anywaaays…” Malcom said, half-jogging over to the podium with a cup in his hand while a sweaty Kat pulled out her phone and snapped a picture of Emmie at the podium and then another of herself before sitting down. She too was underdressed, but at this point that was the least of her worries and at very least, her softly toned abs looked more professional than the puffy pudge spilling over Toni’s cargo pants. As she took her seat, Malcolm bounded over carefully and goofily, holding the cup still in proportion to his arm, causing him to hold both arms up like a goose sunning it’s wings, or like he was just really bad at trying to sneak.

(4)

“Here you go. I figured you’d want to some too if you didn’t have any already. I know you live and breathe the covfefe so I wanted to make sure you had some before your presentation started. Glad you don’t already have one!” He said before dashing all the way to his chair half-shouting “Sorryyyyy, sooorrryyyyyy!”

She took the cup in her hand as a mixture of confusion and gratitude washed away her sour expression, nearly turning to tears when she saw that “Emefa” had been written on the side in black marker. 

Her courage renewed, she began her speech.
“Hello everyone, my name is Emefa Kikelomo and I lead the Diversity and Inclusion initiative: Better, Brighter, Whiter.”

She felt an electric jolt of excitement in her stomach as her momentum ramped up, the warmth causing her heart to pound.

With her confidence bolstered and the genuine comfort of sweet, sweet, delicious, perfect coffee, Emmie was able to breeze through her presentation with an impressive eloquence that even she didn’t know she had. 

“Miss K.” Began Benson Grey, a one of the founders of Bright University. “Do you have any evidence that this discrimination you keep talking about is even occurring? You’re not the only black girl here you know.”

Emmie batted her long eyelashes prettily and smiled at the man for once again giving her an opening. She imagined she must have been looking pretty good given the unexpected effect her physical displays of sarcasm had on the rest of the board, Malcolm especially beaming.

“Well sir, I actually do.” She said.

“On record? Physical evidence? No anecdotes?” He clarified, now smiling in a more friendly was as he spoke, a bit of playful comfort in his voice. She could tell he was into her.

“Well yes, Mr. Grey. Assuming that my official transcripts and acceptance-slash-denial letters with Mr. Aloysius’ name and signature on them count as evidence.” She said, a big smile that showed off her perfect teeth. “And while I am aware that I am not the only black student here, men are not the victims of the discrimination I am talking about. While black MEN can attend at a normal rate, there are no dark skinned women at this school at all. There are only TWO of us in the entire school, and BOTH of us are mixed. That means that even if you combined the two of us, you would STILL only have one black woman in the entire school, and another blonde, white chick. In fact, I wouldn’t even BE here if I didn’t change my name on my application from ‘Emmie Kikelomo’ to ‘Emily Knight’. Emily was accepted. Not me.” Emmie said, and clicked her powerpoint slide to a pair of pictures of her two application responses, clear as day.

Mr. Grey seemed pleased with the answer, and nodded his head.

“Well…That is unfortunate to see and hear Miss K. I WILL say that we’re glad you had the fortitude and outright gumption to get here and shove the truth in our faces. The problem is obvious, but that’s why we have you. With what you’ve told me, I will be personally investigating the admissions department as I am sure Mr. Aloysius will be doing as well. In the meantime, I do request that you send me a list of your ideas on how we can improve the situation. Email or Facebook is fine.” He said.

Emmie was on fire. She would have never imagined that this would have gone so well. Emmie proceeded to have each of her friends give their personal anecdotes on discrimination against them they’d experienced on campus. Whether or not they were all enraptured by Sophia’s pouty-lipped tale about having a professor try to impress her with a wet-back joke or if their eyes were glued to her latex body suit. Either way, from the moment they asked for her name and student mantra, they looked just about ready to agree with everything she said. 

Kat relayed similar tales about having the school weightlifting coach blatantly advise her against bulking up anymore because if she did, she would “lose her tits”, and after that, Tori told the board about how her Nutrition teacher pulled her up to the front of the class to use as an example of “What happens when you don’t stick to your diet.” Not only was she told to strip down to be picked apart for being fat in front of the whole class, the chubby blonde informed them that diets were mandatory to all women in the class, completely ignoring the men.

(5)

By the end of the presentation, every board member including Professor Boardwell were expressing their support in various degrees of enthusiasm and with varying levels of sincerity in their smiles. Emmie had to stifle the urge to run over and tackle Malcolm once she heard that policy changes were going to begin immediately, and that the monthly stipends allotted to them by their financial would increase by another $1500 for each member of B.B.W. as a means of reparation as well as compensation for the work they had been doing. She refrained, given that doing so would not only make the board suspicious of bias on his part, but the man was so thin that she worried that a full blown tackle from 130 pounds of squealing joy would break him in half.

Upon making it home and changing out of her fancy business clothes, Emmie sighed away the last of her stress and poured herself a glass of wine from the cabinet. She wandered around in a quiet, stunned daze, still shocked by her own dramatic victory. She pulled out her phone to photograph and record the moment, but stopped to watch the beautiful girl looking back at her from the camera.

“I did it. It’s finally happening.” She said, snapping a picture of a pose that emphasized her tousled blonde hair and big doe eyes. She looked at it and sighed again.

(6)

“Real change.”