‘Jayda?’
‘Here Miss.’ I reply.
‘Why are you so depressed?’ Corahn asks nudging me. I turn to him with a smile.
‘I’m not.’ He gives me a look, and I suddenly realise something. ‘Oh my gosh, you got your braces off!’
‘Is that how much you don’t pay attention to me? I took them off before Christmas!’ He exclaims. I laugh, throwing my arms around him.
‘I love you. Now sorry, white teeth. Show me.’ I say. He grins, showcasing his straight pearly whites.
‘Woii, sorry pearly whites!’ I say and we both start messing around.
‘Corahn, we all know you have your braces off. Please, be quiet as I do the register.’ Our form tutor says.
‘Sorry Miss.’ Corahn grins. ‘Where’s Dontae?’ I pretend I didn’t hear his question.
‘Oi?’
‘Hm?’
‘I said, where’s Dontae?’
‘Oh, I don’t know.’ I reply shrugging. ‘Nia, I need to ask you something.’ I get up, going over to Nia before Corahn could ask me any more questions.
‘Going toilet, sorry.’ She says quickly, avoiding eye contact as she scurried out of the class. I was going to follow her but decided against it, maybe she just needed space.
It was such a shock when Nia had called me, after I left Dontae’s on the weekend, to tell me that she and Jayden had broken up. They had apparently broken up ages ago but didn’t tell anyone. I was so upset, and comforted her as she cried on the phone to me, that I didn’t even tell her about my situation.
It was actually surreal to hear Nia cry over a boy, and not just any boy, Jayden. I knew she was holding back on telling me why they had broken up, and so was Jayden but I would soon find out.
‘Jayda, sit down please.’ The teacher says. I roll my eyes, returning to my seat. Registration was soon over, and me and Corahn made our way to our first lesson.
As I walked through the yr11 corridor, I realised almost everyone was staring at me.
‘What’s going on?’ I ask Corahn, as literally everyone’s eyes were on me.
‘I don’t even know b.’ Corahn says, also frowning in confusion.
‘Jayda, let’s go.’ Aliyah came running towards me. She had a worried look on her face, as she looked around me.
‘Go? What are you on about? It’s first period I swear.’
‘Yeah, but let’s go that way. Please.’
‘No, what’s going on? And why is everyone staring at me?’ I felt self-conscious as everyone had gone nearly silent and was listening intently to us.
‘Jayda, trust me. Let’s just divert.’ Aliyah says again. Just then, my heart stopped as I saw Chennai strolling towards me. Her hand was firmly placed on the very obvious bump on her stomach and she had a sly smile on her face. Her once curly hair, was bone straight and she had died it jet black, which made her piercing dark eyes stand out.
As soon as I looked up from her belly, our eyes locked. All the eager pupils watched as she strode up to me.
‘Jayda.’ She starts in a sickly sweet voice, with a sickly sweet smile. ‘Be a darling and tell Dontae we need to talk, it’s about baby stuff.’ She rubs her stomach.
‘It’s not his.’ I say strongly, as mini thoughts of doubt clouded my mind.
‘Not his?’ She giggled as she placed a hand over her mouth.