Before we say anything else about Rumeur, know that this is a story that she wanted to tell. Know that her parents support her. And know that the story of her essay, the legal cases it has led to, and the mention of Rumeur's name have already appeared in other published stories.
Know also that we're not going to use her last name, nor her mother's, nor are there any photos of the family, because despite the attention her story has gotten, Rumeur is still a child — albeit one who has gotten a lot of adults angry.
The thing is, two years after writing her essay (as part of a school project in Spartanburg), she still can't quite figure out what about her essay has made so many people so upset; nor why it cost her the friends she had up until the day she wrote it.
What follows is a coming-of-age story, about a little girl who spoke her mind and met the world at large because of it. It's also the story of some legal wrangling that could be on its way to the Supreme Court; and a story about what is considered appropriate to talk about among preteen schoolchildren.
