Adree brought a steaming cappuccino, a vase filled with huge dark chocolate and rainbow sprinkle covered pretzels, and a metal CD by a band with a frontwoman (Otep's Generation Doom) to my door Monday morning. "If I remember correctly, you prefer doomed pretzels to dying flowers, right?"

"Totally," I said. "These poor guys are doomed to be my breakfast."

"Along with the bacon and grapefruit on the table," said my mom. "You girls will learn quickly that you can't just eat candy and coffee all the time. College is going to be rough on you."

So the two of us sat down and let my mom feed us, which she seemed to enjoy. She was getting pretty emotional now that the reality I might be leaving for college had settled in, being extra nice to me.

"So, you two, when were you planning to tell me you were dating?" Mom asked.

I choked a little bit on the cappuccino, avoiding Adree's expression. "Sorry. It's hot."

"Yes, it is hot gossip. I shouldn't have to learn about important life events from social media, sweetie," Mom told me directly.

"I've just been really busy, Mom. Sorry."

"Do you girls know about safe sex and all that? I can say that I don't know much about safe sex between girls, so I hope you learned something from sex education this year."

How embarrassing. Blush crept up my face, an unwelcome red creature. "We did, Mom. Affirmative consent and STDs and all that metal."

Mom didn't know when to stop. "Adree, what do you think about the fact that gay couples can now adopt in all fifty states? Did you know it didn't used to be that way?" I almost threw my grapefruit at her, because I didn't want to eat it anyway, and because why was she talking to Adree about this now? Awkward.

With the courage to finally look at Adree, I saw she was smiling. "I think it's awesome. All children deserve loving parents no matter what. I can't believe some people actually used to think that kids deserve 'a mother and a father' so much that they would deprive parentless children of both just to stop them from getting two of the same."

Mom smiled at Adree's answer, and I was worried she was going to start asking about whether we planned to adopt or do in-vitro fertilization, so I halted the possibility before it could come to fruition. "Will you clear our dishes, Mom? We need to run."

Without getting Mom's answer, I grabbed Adree by the hand and dragged her out of the house. 

* * *

When I checked the GoFundMe account after school and saw how much money the fundraiser was bringing in. After just one night it had earned $9700. $9700.00. In one night!

* * *

Thursday, I noticed a few surprising emails in my inbox amongst the slew of usual and growing weird fan and troll emails. I read each of them, one by one.

Delicious Equality <[email protected] >

To me

Hello Ms. Delaney,

We are a startup online feminist news source, Delicious Equality. We have followed your work with Girls Shit Too and have been particularly impressed with your most recent fundraising efforts for women in India. We would like to offer you an internship as a creative writer/vlogger. The internship is both paid and eligible for course credit for up to two semesters. The pay starts at $11.00/hr.

Totes Normal <[email protected] >

To me

Dear Ms. Delaney,

We are a nonprofit gay rights campaign, and we partner with several universities across the nation. As a lesbian with your platform and notoriety, you could do a lot for our activism efforts. If you plan to attend any of the universities we partner with, we would like to offer you an internship as a student activist. Your job would be to engage LGBTQI+ youth on campus; to discover, discuss, and create solutions for problems that queer students face on campus; to help with efforts to make your campus more inclusive; and to help in the creation and revision of resources, both online and not, that assist and empower LGBTQI+ students. The internship lasts one year, can be renewed, and covers the cost of your college up to $1,000 a semester.

Ardus Bolson <[email protected] >

To me

Greetings Ms. Delaney,

I am a teacher in the School of Social Transformation at Arizona State. I wanted to personally reach out to you because of how impressed I am with your recent efforts to help with the Clean India mission. If this line of work should continue to interest you, you should consider enrolling in one of our programs. We offer undergraduate degrees in justice studies, as well as many certificates, including one in human rights. In addition to that, we offer an accelerated master's degree program where you can obtain credit towards a master's degree during your undergraduate program. In one of these programs, you will be able to carry out work like the work you've completed with your latest fundraiser. With opportunities to study abroad, you can even travel to the source of the issues and help on the front lines.

Evie Green <[email protected] >

To me

Hello Dallas!

It's come to my attention that you've concluded your famed project, Girls Shit Too. This project has been very successful: Your Youtube channel has over 10,000 subscribers, and your videos have gotten over 10,000 watch hours in the past six months. I am here to ask you to consider becoming a Youtube partner. Whether you continue your original project, or create a similar video project geared towards your established audience, with the platform you have built as a new face of Youtube, you have the potential to earn money with the creation of new content. Our partner program allows you to monetize your content in several ways, such as through advertisements, paid subscriptions, and merchandise. Please take the time to think about this, and email me with any questions you have.

After reading and rereading each one, I realized that not getting the scholarship didn't mean that doors were shut and that opportunities were bleak. It didn't mean that at all. I had done a lot during the year, and I had left a mark on the social media world, even though I had done it by literally talking about shit. But that was how I was—metal, I went against the norm. And I had a platform now, and I was sure that companies like Delicious Equality knew that they could capitalize on it. And I could continue to, too.

That was my aha! Moment: I was ready to begin adulting.

* * *

The next day was graduation, and Adree and I were walking together. Valerie gave her Valedictorian speech, saying some stuff about our collaboration and about the entirety of the school year. The audience clapped, and I could feel several eyes on me. I looked around in the audience to find my mom, Roy and Jace. Even Josh was there; he had come home in time to see me walk. Though I couldn't hear them, I suspected they were clapping the loudest, and I beamed at them.

A while later, I found myself walking behind Adree, across the stage to receive my diploma. Ms. Brooks handed it to me, smiling. Next, Harber shook my hand, also smiling. Runsberger was the last school faculty member to shake my hand, and he frowned as he did it, but I didn't care about him. After tonight, I would leave him behind.

As I stepped off the stage, Adree whirled around and kissed me, and I picked her up and twirled her around and said, "We did it, Adree!"

"Thank you for letting me leech off of you this year," she said, touching my cheek.

"You're no leech," I said back, still holding her. "You're my amazing, sexy, talented Adree."

Suddenly, everyone was shouting "Girls Shit Too!" no doubt prompted by our PDA. Runsberger's mouth was to the microphone, and he was saying, "Can we please settle down? Let's stop this, now."

Then I looked out into the crowd. Even some parents were shouting. No way could Runsberger throw suspensions at graduating seniors and parents. I smiled at him when he looked over at me, and he frowned. Then he backed away to one of the chairs on the stage, sat down, and closed his eyes in defeat.

Ms. Brooks looked from him to me, and winked.

And I got the sense that I had changed the world, even if only a little.