The Black Girl

seven

Please don't take offence to this chapter, she's just an evil character, if you don't like it I'll rewrite it a different way..??

"My mum hates Laura, probably because she's white. Okay, that's the reason, she'd rather I date someone, you know, like us."

For all the respect I had for his mum, being a pastor and owning a church and all, I didn't think she'd be one to be completely prejudiced.

"Why?" I ask.

"Why does she hate white people?" He says almost like it's not a question and I nod, taking another bite out of my sandwich.

"Ok well, you probably know that my dad is white, and I don't know he just didn't treat her well, and he came home drunk all the time, and cheated on her. My dad's parents hate my mum, they wanted him to marry a pretty white girl and have cuter babies, but he loved my mum. A lot. Then eventually, my grandma, on my dad's side of course sort of put a spell on him, at least that's what my mum told me, and I don't know after one day, he just started to hate my mum, hit her a few times, slept with different women, I have four half siblings. Four. I don't know she just doesn't trust them."

I try to take it all in and at the end of it, he looks really upset and I try to think of ways to comfort him, but nothing comes to mind.

"I'm sorry." I blurt out without thinking about it twice.

He tells me it's not my fault, and he hates his dad for treating his mum that way, his mum had to work so hard to afford a roof over their heads.

"I'm sorry for telling you all this, I've just never spoken to someone who's not made a joke about everything I say just because they want to be popular or whatever." He looks down and begins to scratch at the table.

Lane has lots of friends. I never even thought anyone could have that many friends. Parties here and there, hangouts, you'd always see him surrounded by so many people with a huge smile on his face.

"I don't actually have that many friends to be honest," he says as if he can read straight through my mind, and I start to blush but quickly look away.

I want to tell him about my life but it's not about me to be honest, so I just let him go on talking.

"I don't have anyone I can really talk to, all my friends," he puts air quotes around the word, "they just like me for a reason I don't even know, but no one really talks to me about anything that really matters, it's all fuck bitches, get money."

The last part makes me want to burst into laughter but when I look away and smile, he notices.

"You can laugh," he says, when I turn around there's the bright award winning smile spread all over his face again, but what he says next totally catches me off guard.

"Maybe my mum's right, my life would be so much easier if I just dated you."