DOGS

Chapter 43

Monday morning the whole school is called to the auditorium by Principle Evans for an assembly. Simone is glad because that means she'll miss most of Anatomy and they were supposed to be dissecting a sheep heart today.

She sits beside Camille and puts her backpack in the seat beside her to save it for Kenya. She watches the students fill up the seats in the auditorium and sees Faith sitting at the end of the first row by herself. She has a Dunkin Donuts cup in hand, but it doesn't look like she's drank much, which is weird because she usually finishes half of it by the time she gets to school.

Someone mushes the back of her head and she turns to see Eli taking a seat behind her. He flashes a smile and she sticks her tongue out at him. Justin sits down beside him but doesn't make eye contact with Simone. He pulls out his phone and messes around with it. Simone looks at Camille out the corner of her eyes, she's on her phone too but she's watching people's Snapchats and no texts have come though.

Principle Evans walks across the stage to the podium and waits for everyone to quiet down before speaking. After a lot of shushing and giggling, the auditorium is finally silent and Principle Evans can begin. Simone looks around for Kenya, wondering if she sat somewhere else or even came to school today. She talked to her last night on a three way call with Camille, she told them about what happened with Jayvin and then her breakdown at the nursing home. Camille suggested they do a drive by on Jayvin's street and TP his house, but Kenya rejected the idea. They talked for a while but she never mentioned skipping school today. If she did, Simone doesn't blame her, she did have a long weekend,

"Good morning everyone, I hope you all had a fantastic weekend. As some of you know, the junior class is required to do a social experiment throughout the year and present it at the end of the school year for Mr Bates class. One of our students has decided to present her project early and she wanted to share with everyone. Please pay attention to her presentation, it may help students who are still working on their projects, along with helping kick start the thought for future classes. Please listen attentively and refrain from having side conversations." She says, scanning the audience, "Now let's give a warm welcome to Kenya Walker."

The audience applauds dryly but Simone and Camille look at each other alarmed. Kenya didn't mention presenting the project today, as far as they knew the project was still going on. Simone looks around for James and spots him on the other side of the auditorium looking right at her. He glances down in his lap and a moment later her phone buzzes with a text.

"Did you know she was gonna do this?"

"No." She whispers back.

Camille leans over to see the text, concern in her eyes when she looks up again. "What is she doing?" She whispers.

From behind, Eli leans towards Simone's ear. "What kind of weird project did she conduct?"

She whips her head around to see if he's joking, but his face is completely straight. "You don't know?"

"No, why would I know?"

Camille shoots her another look and panic rises in her chest. In the first row, Faith turns ever so slightly with a grin on her face. She winks at Simone before facing forward again. Simone brings her thumb to her mouth and nibbles on the nail. Kyree didn't tell Eli about the project, so he has no idea what's coming. That explains why he's been so nonchalant towards her.

"Shit." She whispers under her breath, feeling like the room is closing in on her.

Kenya takes the stage and the room is so quiet you could hear the smallest pin drop. Her hair is no longer hanging in long twists by her waist, but instead is out in a large afro puff. She's dressed in a long orange colored dress with a kente pattern.
Her dark skin glows as she confidently steps up to the podium and places a stack of papers on to it. She raises her head and looks out at the student body with a small smile before beginning.