Chap­ter 61 of If These Wings Could Fly opens with the pro­tag­o­nist, Leighton, being sum­moned out of her art class by Mrs. Riley to dis­cuss an impor­tant mat­ter in the news­room. As Leighton enters the space, Mrs. Riley reveals that the coun­cil has decid­ed to award her a schol­ar­ship of five thou­sand dol­lars in recog­ni­tion of her essay. This announce­ment ini­tial­ly fills Leighton with joy, but her hap­pi­ness quick­ly turns to con­fu­sion when Mrs. Riley informs her that the coun­cil has also decid­ed not to pub­lish her essay in the Auburn Gazette. Leighton’s excite­ment over the schol­ar­ship is soon over­shad­owed by ques­tions about why her work, which was clear­ly deemed wor­thy of a finan­cial reward, is con­sid­ered unsuit­able for pub­lic con­sump­tion. Mrs. Riley, attempt­ing to clar­i­fy, explains that while the coun­cil acknowl­edges the qual­i­ty of Leighton’s essay, they have labeled it a “lia­bil­i­ty.” This term, used in ref­er­ence to some­thing that could cause harm or legal trou­ble, leaves Leighton ques­tion­ing who stands to be hurt by the essay’s pub­li­ca­tion.

Leighton’s mind begins to race as she won­ders how the essay could affect her, her fam­i­ly, or the com­mu­ni­ty at large. Mrs. Riley, sens­ing her con­fu­sion, sug­gests that the poten­tial dan­ger extends to both Leighton and her fam­i­ly, indi­cat­ing that the town’s inter­ests are also at stake. The council’s hes­i­ta­tion to pub­lish the essay adds an unset­tling lay­er to the sit­u­a­tion, as it becomes clear that the deci­sion is not just about the con­tent of her work but the con­se­quences of mak­ing it pub­lic. Leighton’s con­cerns deep­en as she pon­ders the broad­er impli­ca­tions of this deci­sion. The more she thinks about it, the more she real­izes that the town’s col­lec­tive inter­ests might be influ­enc­ing this seem­ing­ly per­son­al mat­ter. As Leighton con­tem­plates the coun­cil’s moti­va­tions, she notices Joe, a char­ac­ter con­nect­ed to her in some way, sit­ting out­side, a silent wit­ness to her tur­moil. His pres­ence, though unspo­ken, ampli­fies her dis­com­fort, inten­si­fy­ing the unease that has already begun to set­tle in her mind.

In an effort to resolve the sit­u­a­tion, Leighton pro­pos­es a solu­tion: she sug­gests that the coun­cil pub­lish her essay anony­mous­ly. This idea, she believes, would relieve her of the per­ceived lia­bil­i­ty while still allow­ing her mes­sage to be heard. Mrs. Riley, how­ev­er, hes­i­tates at the sug­ges­tion, express­ing doubt about whether the coun­cil would agree to such a com­pro­mise. Leighton, unde­terred, argues that by pub­lish­ing anony­mous­ly, the lia­bil­i­ty would shift to the coun­cil, absolv­ing her of any risk. She points out that if the coun­cil con­tin­ues to refuse her request, it would only reveal that their con­cern for her safe­ty is less about pro­tect­ing her and more about safe­guard­ing their own inter­ests. Leighton’s unwa­ver­ing insis­tence shows her deter­mi­na­tion to have her work rec­og­nized, despite the council’s reluc­tance and the per­son­al cost it may car­ry. Her resilience is evi­dent as she fights for the val­ue of her words and the oppor­tu­ni­ty to make an impact, even when oth­ers seem hes­i­tant to sup­port her.

Fur­ther, Leighton shares her plan to use her essay for oth­er col­lege appli­ca­tions, regard­less of whether it is pub­lished in the Auburn Gazette. She explains that the recog­ni­tion of her work doesn’t need to come from the coun­cil, as long as it can help her future prospects. This for­ward-think­ing approach shows Leighton’s strength and deter­mi­na­tion to keep mov­ing for­ward despite the chal­lenges. Mrs. Riley, see­ing Leighton’s dri­ve, agrees to approach the coun­cil on her behalf, offer­ing a glim­mer of hope that the sit­u­a­tion might be resolved in Leighton’s favor. Yet, despite this small reas­sur­ance, as the con­ver­sa­tion ends, Leighton looks back out the win­dow and notices that Joe has dis­ap­peared. His absence high­lights the emo­tion­al iso­la­tion Leighton feels in this moment—surrounded by peo­ple, yet still alone in her strug­gle. This moment of soli­tude, under­scored by the empti­ness left by Joe’s dis­ap­pear­ance, inten­si­fies Leighton’s sense of being dis­con­nect­ed from those around her, fur­ther empha­siz­ing the inter­nal bat­tle she faces as she nav­i­gates the com­plex­i­ties of her sit­u­a­tion. The chap­ter, through its qui­et moments and intense reflec­tions, under­scores the emo­tion­al weight of Leighton’s jour­ney as she grap­ples with the pres­sure to be both seen and heard in a world that seems reluc­tant to acknowl­edge her.