How Green Becomes Wood

"Huh," Milo murmured, looking curiously at Alec for a few moments longer before turning his attention to class. They were finally getting their grades back on their big project, and he was a little nervous, but had genuinely worked hard on it so he was trying to tell himself it would be okay.

Xander felt like he was missing something that Milo had caught, but he didn't question it. He didn't have time to question it. The grades were passed out along with their (usually) neat folders with their projects in them. Xander received a B+, which he was very satisfied with. It wasn't anything mind-changing or anything, but he'd dug in and tried to find lesser known facts about his event in history and present them in a clear way. The "presented in a clear way" was his weakest point, but at least he'd done well!

Alec sat frowning at his folder, confused. He'd received one point above passing. A solid D. Nearly an F. This had to be a mistake. He'd put in a lot of work and effort and had even asked Becky to look over it to make sure he was presenting it clearly. If Becky could follow something historical, you know you did something right. Maybe it was a mistake. He'd ask about it after class.

Milo raised his eyebrows when his assignment was turned back with a solid A-. He was proud of the work he had done, so it was nice to see it recognized. After he put his away in his bag, he turned to talk about it with his friends, but after seeing Alec had done poorly, he shut his mouth and looked away, not wanting to seem like he was bragging.

Xander tipped his head and frowned when he saw Alec's grade. "I thought it was pretty good," he said, having helped Alec with some of it and having been one of his sounding boards.

Alec shrugged. "Me too, but maybe I missed something. What'd you get?" When Xander showed him, he smiled, genuinely happy for him. "Nice! Well done! How about you, Milo? What did you get?"

"I thought I saw an A," Xander said, turning to him. "Hope I didn't see wrong."

"It was an A-," Milo said, rubbing the back of his neck, "but, um, if your grade is lower than you thought, maybe there was a mistake somehow? So we should maybe wait and see."

"I'm sure you earned yours," Alec quickly assured him. "After all, Xander got a good grade, too. Maybe I missed something in the instructions or something." He had a quiet, sneaking suspicion about why his grade was low, but he didn't want to voice them. It was the kind of thing that couldn't be easily taken back once said.

"Yeah, maybe," Milo agreed cautiously, although he wasn't totally sold that Alec had earned such a low grade, "What does the rubric say?"

Alec looked it over. "It says my citations and/or sources are not scholarly? It questions the legitimacy of my claims." He scowled. "They are not credible, and, therefore, my work is an excellent piece of fiction. It is well written, but uncredible."

"Really?" Xander said dryly.

"What were your sources?" Milo asked, frowning slightly. From what he knew, Alec had worked hard to accumulate them.

"I got some online stuff, I can't remember the exact sites, but I made certain to write them all down," Alec said, quickly shuffling through his project and trying to find the right paper. "I also got some papers from my aunt. She works in the FBI. Admin or something like that, I think. She got me some papers that are open source, only some minor redaction, but anything that any member of the public could ask to see."

"That doesn't make sense then," Milo said, "because those are good sources. It'd be one thing if you got points off for how you cited them, but that wouldn't mean you're inventing them."

"Exactly," Alec said, nodding. "I can get if I got the citations wrong, but I didn't just make it all up." He glanced at Milo. "Maybe she doesn't believe the FBI thing?"

"That's just one source, but I probably wouldn't believe it either," Xander shrugged.

"But if it's publicly available, she should be able to find it and verify it," Milo pointed out.

"It's harder to find stuff, which is why I asked my aunt, but, yeah, she should be able to verify it," Alec agreed. He sighed and shifted the project to one side. "I'll try to talk to her after. Maybe I'm missing something."

"I hate talking to people, but it does seem like the right thing to do," Milo replied, leaning over to read the rubric again, "Even if you did misunderstand something, she could've been nicer about it and actually made that clear."

Xander nodded. "Very true. We'll talk after class. Worst thing, you get some clarity."

Alec smiled at them both. "Thanks for the backup and making me feel like I'm not crazy to think this might be a wrong grade."

"It's important," Milo agreed, although he hoped he was allowed to support Alec from behind, "and I guess the point of school is being able to have those conversations."

"Yeah, that's true!" Alec smiled.

Xander grunted and stretched out. He had the same suspicions Alec did, but he didn't dare to say anything, either.

After class, Alec gathered his courage to approach the teacher with Xander trailing behind. "Ma'am? I have some questions, please."

She looked up from some papers on her desk and glanced between them. "As long as it's quick. The next class is supposed to start in ten minutes."

At the end of class, Milo glanced at his too friends, and then stepped into the hallway to wait for them, not wanting his presence to cause any level of disruption.

"I'll try to be quick," Alec assured her. "The thing is, I'm not sure why I deserve this grade. The rubric says that my sources aren't right, but I checked during class, and I'm positive I did them all right. Did I actually do them wrong?"

The teacher sighed and set down her pencil. "They looked correct, yes, but do you really expect me to believe you got some of that information from the Federal Bureau of Investigation?"

"They are all open source, Ma'am, just kind of buried. All I had to do was ask, and I was allowed access to certain files," Alec explained. "You can always call my contact and check." He wrote down the number on a Post-It and set it on her deck.

She didn't take it. "I'm sure you have a very convincing person on the other end of the line. It disappoints me to see what a good student like you has fallen to."

"Ma'am," Xander said, stepping forward. "He's not lying."

She raised a brow at him. "I'm afraid a brother backing up a brother is not the best vote of confidence."

Xander scowled, but she was right. He stepped back reluctantly.

"If you did, indeed, get these documents from the FBI - and I am still skeptical to that - there is no world in which they would actually release the real documentation regarding that period of time. Public opinion and all that," she said. "They would need a certain amount of doctoring to be properly accepted by the public. They are not going to tell the truth of the Iraq situation for fear of stirring up anger in the citizens. They do not need civil unrest, not with the number of Iraq people who live here."

"Wait," Alec frowned. "That can't be right. I was given the correct information, and I cross-checked it."

"I'm sure you thought you had it correct, and many other people have accepted these lies before, but that is all it is," she said in a gracious tone. "The truth is much darker than that." She checked her watch. "And that is time. I expect better from you in the future. Less fantasy-coated fratinerzation with the enemy." She handed him her own Post-it. "Here is a list of reading I would like you to do."

"Fratinerzation," Xander started to growl, stepping forward.

Alec caught his arm. "Yes, Ma'am. Less frantinerzation with the enemy. Would you please tell me who the enemy are?"

She flicked her hand. "Those... people... who chose to be the enemies of these United States by murdering a lot of people in the name of their demented religion that glorifies death by suicide in killing others. Now. On your way."

Alec nodded and half dragged Xander out.