A lesson in alternate history

Mr. Poszner started by explaining that history is written by the winners, and does not necessarily reveal the whole truth, then explained that the assignment involved imagining alternate history based on what America could have looked like and developed. He said that the class will be divided into partners who will approach one question from two diverse perspectives. "Maddy, I'd like you to imagine if Africans ruled America and Europeans were the slaves," he said, then encouraged the blonde girl to choose a partner from the class. Most of the class naturally assumed she would choose her best friend 'Lexi', but instead an audible gasp could be heard when instead she chose the weird and introverted new student Tyrone Dexler. Mr. Poszner rationalized the unusual choice, complimenting Madeline on her open-minded commitment to diversity. "I think a black boy and a white girl can come together and produce a very interesting result," he predicted. Leroy chortled at the teacher's phrasing, and Tyrone shot him a dirty look.

"What's funny?" Tyrone hissed. "She wants to be my prom date." The class erupted in murmurs; Madeline Esche was up to now unattainable, seemingly unwilling to indulge any boy at the high school's fantasy of carnal exploration of her perfect body. All eyes turned to Madeline, who blushed as she looked around at her slack-jawed classmates.

"I'm going to the prom with Tyrone," Madeline confirmed in a wavering voice, "If he'll take me."

There was a second when you could hear a pin drop, then it was Leroy. "Ahh, yeah, Maddy's going black!" he rejoiced, and Mr. Poszner struggled to regain control of the room, even as he worked to process his own shock at how quickly this dastardly plan was coming to pass.

"Alright, alright, let's focus," he urged the hormonal class, Alexis Carlson catching his eye as Madeline hid her face in her hair. "During and after slavery, the country continued to disempower blacks and many still feel like second-class citizens. Lexi, instead of peaceful transformation of the civil rights and affirmative action era, what if the black population decided to take by **** what they had been denied by the white elite." Lexi looked wide-eyed and shocked at the proposal, and at the partner she would be obliged to select. She couldn't even look at her boyfriend Kyle as she weakly announced Leroy Tyson as her selected partner.

"Hell yeah, we going to the prom too?" the portly buffoon bellowed as her boyfriend impotently called her name. Lexi just rolled her eyes as Mr. Poszner moved on to other partnerships, involving what seemed like less controversial issues, like what if the Indians were invited to be partners in building the new country, and what if America and Mexico switched places in economy and prestige?

Mercifully soon, Madeline was finally alone and working with Tyrone, where she realized that he was obviously intelligent but also sullen and kind of a jerk, and didn't seem as motivated to impress her as the other boys she knew at school. When she started coming up with ideas, he interrupted wondering if and how Africans could have embarked on colonization, or whether they instead would have overthrown then enslaved the Europeans who once brought over in bondage themselves. The cheerleader silently made notes while he mused about the conquest of her ancestors by his, and the funny thing was she found the whole experience strangely alluring. When he paused, Madeline let out a casual-sounding laugh as she flipped her blonde hair and batted her green eyes. "Oh Tyrone, could you imagine me as a ****?"

"Of course, but you would be different," he replied, fixing her with an icy glare. "You wouldn't think the world owed you a thing just because you're a white girl." The smile dropped from Madeline's face and she listened humbly as Tyrone continued. "You'd be full of insecurity and doubt, like whether if you're worth less or just treated that way, how can you transcend your limitations and become your true self? You'd seek out attention and approval of black men, hoping your children won't be cursed with fair skin and hair, resentment festering inside you."

"Tyrone, you are amazing," Madeline finally replied with a disbelieving shake of her head. "Can I use that for my report?" She looked over where Leroy was invading Alexis' personal space, putting his meaty hand up her cheerleader skirt while evidently describing their relationship in a black-ruled America. The petite blonde backed herself right off her seat, fixed Leroy with a dirty look and stomped over to her friend's desk.

"How's it going, Lexi?" Madeline asked her friend with a wicked grin. "Looks like you have your hands full."

"Or Leroy does, anyway," Tyrone added.

"Yeah, him trying to finger-bang me in class is kind of disrupting the project," Alexis complained, leaning over the table, lowering her voice. "I just hope Kyle didn't see that. He always thinks the black guys on the team are trying to steal me away from him." Alexis glanced over at Tyrone. "Uh, no offense."

"Maybe you aren't focused on the right project, right Tyrone?" Madeline winked at her partner, turning to her friend. "Like, maybe you have to understand why he treats you that way, and why you don't like it. Maybe it's racism?"

"Um, I guess so..." Alexis agreed, but looking confused and uncomfortable at the suggestion.

"Tyrone knows so much about this," Madeline exclaimed, smiling and nodding emphatically. "Like, white girls should feel kind of ashamed and should get with black guys to feel better about themselves, and make black guys feel good too, I guess. I don't know, it's kind of hard to explain but it makes alot of sense, and it means we're finished our project already!"

"Ugh, I am so jealous!" Alexis fumed. "Leroy says we have to finish this after school but if I'm alone with him he's gonna like **** me and Kyle will never forgive me." She sighed. "Maddy, you have to help keep him off me."

"Hey, maybe Tyrone can help, he's super smart and can tell us what to think!" Madeline suggested and Alexis' blue eyes lit up at the suggestion. "And maybe we can go over to his place, so Leroy doesn't try and **** us or something..."

"Yeah, and our dads would kill us if we brought a couple of negroes home after school!" Alexis added with a laugh. "Tyrone, I would owe you big time, can we come over to your house?"

"And we can get to know each other better, prom date..." Madeline added with a smile, taking hold of his hand.

"Ok, but we do things my way," Tyrone agreed, looking back and forth between the grinning blonde cheerleaders. "I'm in charge." Of course the white girls readily agreed.