"Wherever your soul was before, mine was there too." - Hira
He's Jackson. But he's also:
Daniel.
Theodore.
Nathan.
Nicholas.
Zachary.
She's Aaliyah. But she's also:
Grace.
Kathryn.
Jessica.
Amaya.
Eve.
It's the same story every time. They meet, they...
"No! Mason was trying to come on to me!" She said quickly, making him freeze.
What. The. Fuck.
These were the words that passed through his mind the second he heard what was happening. He hugged her tighter and pressed a kiss against her forehead. "Okay look, I'll come with you to get a late pass," he tells her. He takes her hand and they start walking till they heard a voice yell behind them yell, "hey dweeb!".
Mason appeared, this time with Alex in tow. He had a wicked grin on his face as he made their way towards them both. Theo shoved Katheryn behind him as he faced off his brother's. "What do you guys want?" He asked.
Both guys looked at him before looking at her once more. "Come on Theo. It's not fair you get to keep this one all to yourself-"
"You guys promised!" He exploded, making them laugh at his distress.
Mason walked closer, giving him a cold smile. "Promises weren't meant to be kept little brother," he tells him. "You should know this by now."
"Plus, she's a fox," Alex eyed her up and down.
"No!" Theo started to get aggressive, more aggressive than she's ever seen him been. "I️ don't ask you guys for anything! The one thing I️ ask is that you leave her out of this!"
Mason rushes forward and shoved him into the locker behind them, making Kathryn gasp. He wrapped his hands around his throat and squeezed, not hard enough to choke him but just enough to show him who's boss. "Don't make me beat you in front of your little nigger girlfriend," he threatened in his ear. He then let him go, giving him one hard last shove, walking off.
"See you guys around," Alex waves following him out.
Theo lets out a breath as Kathryn rushes up to help him. "Oh Theo," she frowned, reaching up to touch his face. "Are you okay?" She asked.
"Forget about me." he mumbled, "Did he touch you?" He asked.
She shook her head no. "I️ ran off before he could. I️ actually think I️ made him angrier," she worried. "What did you mean when you said all that back there? Talking about promises..."
"When we started school last year, I️ already knew how my brothers were," he told her painfully, still recovering from the head wound he got from being pushed against the lockers. "I️ knew Mason was a bully but Alex..."
"He goes after black girls," she finished.
"No," Theo shakes his head. "No, he doesn't just go after them, he harasses them. And he hurts them, physically," he tells her, making her look at him in fear.
"Don't tell me he..."
"Remember Darla?" He asks her. She gasps in horror, covering her mouth.
Darla Williams was this really pretty (in Kathryn's opinion), really smart black girl from her neighborhood whom she known forever. They weren't best friends but Darla's family and hers were close.
Code word, were.
But earlier in the year, something happened. Nobody knew what, but a lot of black folks suspected Alex Raines has something to do with it. A lot of people have seen Alex practically harass and chase Darla for three months until one day, he stopped.
All of a sudden, Darla started skipping school. When she didn't skip school, she was breaking down in the middle of class. A lot of people simply wrote her off as crazy, but Kathryn knew something deeper was going on. She went over to her house one day, only to get screamed at and getting kicked out by her mother.
"You better be careful of that Raines boy. Might turn out to be as rotten as the other two," she hissed, before shutting the door in her face.
Kathryn never knew what happened to her. Until now.
"What did he do?" She demanded to know. Theo remained silent, not wanting to scare her. "Did he hurt her?" She asked him again.
"Yeah..."
"Theo how do you know this?" She frowned.
"I️ heard him bragging to Mason about it one night while I️ was going to sleep. All Mason said was "why do you bother with those..."n-words" anyways?"." He mocked him. "All I️ asked for them was to leave you alone. That's it," he told her. "Mason and Alex laughed and said they'd never want anything to do with you anyways."
She wasn't sure if she was insulted or relieved.
"But I️ don't know. I️ don't know what's going on now," he shook his head. "I️ don't know why they're like this. Why they hate me," he frowned.
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"They don't hate you Theo," she comforted him.
Their actions said otherwise. ____________________________
