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ZION
"Man, stop talking to me!" I heard Leila's voice from my room, I assumed she was arguing with my mother because since she'd been expelled that's all she found herself doing.
"Go up there and write that fucking report! You have no respect, that's why you got expelled dumb ass!" My mom screamed up the stairs.
"I hate you!" Leila yelled back before she has came into my room, shutting the door behind her. "Your mother is annoying."
"I know, but you have your moments too." I sat up in the bed and stared at her. "Y'all act just alike, it's just the fact that neither one of y'all see it."
"Whatever, I don't act like that weird ass woman." She flopped down on the bottom of my bed.
"You do, you are quite literally one of the only people that can't see it." I leaned back, opening up my workbook for my Personal Finance class. I went back to school tomorrow but I could barely work, the doctor still hadn't called with my results yet and the weekend was basically over.
"Mhm," She looked up at me. "What's that?"
"Homework, something that you have when you're still enrolled in school." I joked, making her roll her eyes.
"I'm not technically expelled. There's always a chance that I could go back."
"You haven't even started on the paper to make the school consider allowing you back." I explained. "Has Venus started?"
"I don't know, she hasn't been talking to me much. She said she's trying to focus on getting her friendship with Salome back on track and she can't do that with me being involved." She said, from that I could tell she was a little hurt.
Venus was her only close friend, her and Salome got along but it wasn't like they'd have sleepovers or get on the phone like she and Venus did. The only other semi-close friend she had was Aniyah, Mekhi's little sister. I'm not sure how they even clicked.
They were friends for a decent amount of time, probably since their freshman year. Aniyah changed Leila, I wasn't one to blame another person for someone's actions, but Leila was never into any drama until she got close with Aniyah--clearly, she was the issue.
"Can you blame her?" I asked, I didn't really think this was a situation in which you could play the blame game.
"I mean, no? But, at the same time the video literally only got out because she was recording Salome getting head in the first place. She sent it to me, it's not like she couldn't have just hung up the phone like any normal person."
"You're the one who sent out the video, though."
"But who did I get the video from? Exactly, Venus is literally the problem here. I don't care how you view it. I never said I didn't do anything wrong but it all started from her actions. Not mine."
"Okay." I dismissed the conversation. Clearly, she knew much more about the situation than I did, so I was just going to leave it alone.
"Okay, fuck." An attitude taking over her tone, I let out a slight laugh because she caught an attitude for no reason. I wasn't trying to paint her as the bad guy, I just wasn't going to make her seem like the innocent one in this story when she's nowhere near it.
Around seven minutes into me doing my homework, my phone had began to ring. I reached over, feeling around my bed for the phone before finally getting it. I stared at the Caller ID, nerves getting terrible just as I stared at it.
"Why are you shaking like that?" Leila leaned up with her face scrunched. "You're literally shaking like you're having an orgasm."
"Like, shut up," I quickly got out of the bed, answering the phone and immediately putting it to my ear. "Hello?"
"Hello? This is Doctor Pryce, is this Zion Baker?" The woman asked and I nodded my head before realizing that she couldn't even see me.
"Uh, yes...this is she." I messed with the curls from the twist-out I had did last night.
"Okay, great! I'm calling about the results from your last appointment, they came back positive for pregnancy."
My life is ruined.
"..."
"Due to the circumstances of which the pregnancy came to be, if you decide to terminate the pregnancy we have people you can speak to. If you do not wish to terminate the pregnancy, we have people here who you can speak to about your situation. We wish you the best no matter the decision you choose to make, you are a very beautiful girl, Zion. I am so sorry that you had to experience that, I only wish the best. Have a great day."
"You too." I got out, feeling my throat seem to close and my eyes get teary. I hung up the phone and turned towards Leila, who had her eyes glued to me.
"What happened? You okay?"
"..." Tears flowing out of my eyes as I tried to wipe them quickly, but Leila had already seen them by the time I'd wiped them.
"Oh no.." She got out of the bed, pulling me into the tightest hug known to man.
She didn't have to say anything and neither did I, the look on my face said it all.
"Just let it out, it's okay. I'm here."
Once she allowed those words to leave her mouth, I immediately burst into tears. Not only had I been taken advantage of, but now I'm pregnant because of that too. The news was too fresh for me to even take in, and nothing about the entire situation even seemed the tiniest bit of real. It just felt like a terrible ass nightmare that I was never waking up from.
▂
"Hey," Saida smiled as she appeared at my locker. I glanced at her before going back to staring at myself in the small mirror that was inside of my locker.
I had cried all last night, all while I was getting dressed this morning, and also on the way here. This was the only time since I found out that I hadn't let some tears fall, with the amount of tears I've cried within these past 14 hours, it wouldn't surprise me if I didn't have any water left in my body.
"..."
"You okay?" She questioned, examining my face. "Why are your eyes so puffy?"
"I left the window open overnight, it's just my allergies." I shrugged my shoulders, trying to see if she was going to buy into it.
She was a very bright girl when it came to me...
Usually.
Today was not one of those days where she could read me like a book, because she completely ignored me, unless she knew something was up but still dropped it.
"It's not even that cold out, but okay.."
"It's not, but you know it gets colder during the night. That's all, just drop it. It's not that deep, I promise." I dismissed. "You look cheery."
"I mean, I'm happy but not anymore. Somethings off about you today."
Now, as much as I hated doing this...I was going to play the victim card.
I just need her to leave me alone for one second.
"My life has been shitty since that party, my bad if I'm down sometimes."
I mean...I wasn't lying.
"I-" She seemed a little caught off guard, I didn't completely blame her for being confused, though. "My bad, I'll just talk to you next period?"
"Mhm." I nodded. She stared at me for about two and a half seconds before turning around and walking off, glancing back twice before she stopped turning around.
Realizing that the bell was soon going to ring off, I grabbed my book and pen for my next class before shutting my locker. I began to make my way to the Chemistry class and walked in, heading straight for my seat near the far back of the class.
I sat my things down and grabbed my phone from my back pocket, preparing myself to check it before I gave the teacher all of my attention. There wasn't anything out of the blue besides one thing, I furrowed my eyebrows and clicked on the notification that had caught my eye.
(216) 742-0394
Today 10:58 AM
Lol havin yo lil sister try ta
tell OSU about wat happened that
night will never end well lols
I immediately knew who the number was, so I didn't even bother responding. I knew I'd need this message later on down the line when it came to pressing charges against Xavier and all of his sick ass friends, so I was just going to keep it for that.
▂
*sexual assault mention*
"Zion," Mr. McKinney called as he walked back into the classroom.
I looked up from my notes and made eye contact with him. "Yes?"
"You're wanted in the principle's office."
"For?" I scrunched my face up, gaining a few looks from fellow classmates.
"Lying on them niggas." Someone spoke from the back of the class.
A few people laughed.
A couple people agreed.
I had gotten used to it, honestly. I shouldn't have to get used to it, but I did. People were ignorant and no one really seemed to care about sexual assault victims besides other victims. The staff still pretended as if those boys did nothing wrong, so I couldn't really blame the students if they believed they did nothing wrong either.
"Hey!" Mr. McKinney looked back at whoever made that comment. "We don't say stuff like that in this classroom."
"My fault."
"Also, Zion, I'm not sure why they want you to go up there, they had just pulled me out of class so I could let you know."
"Okay," I got ready to get out of my seat.
"Take all of your belongings with you."
I stared at him for a minute before grabbing all of my stuff and walking out of the classroom. There was some Asian lady waiting outside of the classroom. She was older, and on the taller side with her hair pulled back into a bun. I had never seen her before.
"Zion, right?"
"Yes.." I stared down at my Crocs before glancing back up at her. "Am I in trouble?"
"Why would you be in trouble?" She laughed a little. "Also, I'm Kim, it's nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you, too. And I don't know, maybe I'm being framed."
"You're not being framed, come on, follow me."
I followed Kim all the way to Principal Franklin's office and took a seat in the chair that was directly in front of his desk. "So...why am I here?"
"Xavier Mitchell came to my office earlier to file a complaint. He implied that you and your sister Leila have been harassing colleges that scouted him, trying to get them to get rid of his offers."
"Fake news."
"I never said that you did it."
"You're implying it."
"I'm not, I just wanted to know if that was the case. You could ruin his life."
What?
"Him and his friends ruined mine but it seems like nobody in this fucking school cares. I have been harassed and called a liar by students and staff. You have done everything in your power to protect Xavier and his friends from the, what, three people that actually believe he did this to me. Yet, I haven't even been checked on since I told you all what happened. That's so fucking weird. I had my virginity stolen from me by four guys I had only spoken to for a total of twenty minutes that day. Sure, I may have been drunk but I can remember getting raped. That was not a figment of my imagination. I did not make that up."
"We are not saying that you did-"
"Then why are they still allowed to go to school? My sister and her friend did something that was terrible and nearly ruined a girls reputation and they're rightfully unable to attend school right now, however, those boys stole my virginity and are still allowed to come to school and everyone just acts as if nothing even happened."
"Those are two completely different situations."
"Yeah, because they didn't sexually assault Salome. What they did wasn't something you could drop like it's nothing because we know the damage it could do to her mental and we know it could lead to the unimaginable, y'all don't seem to care when it comes to me. I'm not trying to make it seem like whatever Salome went through wasn't terrible, because it was, but if they're being punished for what they did then those boys need to be punished for what they did to me. Until you grow a pair then don't ever call me into this office about anything involving those boys, especially if they're still going to be in attendance."
"Zion-"
"Don't speak to me, bro." I gathered up all of my things and stood up.
Nobody in this school cared about what happened because I was being silent, but it's time I show my ass. Maybe they'll care.
SAIDA
"Excuse me," Some guy came up to me and Zion's lunch table. "You're Saida, right?"
"Uhh.."
"Depends on who's asking." Zion spoke, eating some of her Baked Hot Cheetos. "Because if somebody wanna fight we can tussle."
"Zion." I side eyed her. "Yes, I'm her."
"Okay, good." He nodded his head. "Do you mind moving your food?"
Zion looked at her snacks that were spread out all across the table before scooping them up, allowing the boy to stand up on the table, gaining a lot of looks from everyone in the cafeteria. "AHEM! MAY I HAVE YOUR ATTENTION?!"
"Standing on tables like a hooligan already got you some attention, no point in asking." Zion mumbled, making me laugh a little.
She didn't lie though, this was definitely something that would turn heads.
"There is someone who has a very important question for this young lady right here. Saida, raise your hand for me."
I didn't.
He leaned down and grabbed my arm, lifting it up. "Anyways," He mumbled. "Mekhi, pop the question!"
"What?" I furrowed my eyebrows, Mekhi was usually in class when I was in lunch so I was confused, unless he had changed his lunch, which I doubt he did, he wouldn't be in here.
Surely enough, Mekhi walked into the cafeteria and made his way over to my table. He looked at me and smiled before getting on the table as well. Someone from the table beside ours reached down before passing him a poster.
"Homecoming was in October." Zion said from beside me as other people recorded.
"Saida," Mekhi began. "For the past two months I've spent every day talking to you, trying to make you laugh, wondering which shirt you'd like the most, which cologne you'd fall in love with, doing everything in my power to impress you. I've spent hours trying to figure out where to take you for our first date and I could still never settle on one place because I'm so scared to pick out the wrong thing. I have about five ideal dates written down in my notes and it's up to you to choose, all you have to do is say yes.."
He turned the poster around and it clearly read 'WILL YOU BE MY GIRLFRIEND?'
"Of course," I smiled, the people surrounding us started to clap, scream 'aww', as others continued to record and take pictures.
He hopped down from the table and grabbed my chin, kissing my lips. It was definitely going to be a lot more passionate, but we were in school so we had to deal with it.
Once he pulled away from the kiss, I grabbed a handful of his shirt. It wasn't a lot, just enough so that he wouldn't leave. "Come over...my parents are going to this movie marathon. It'll be just us," I spoke barely above a whisper.
"Huh?"
"Just me and you...with an entire house to ourselves." I pulled him in closer, pressing our foreheads against each other. "Unless I go to your house?"
"It's a lot going on in my house right now, but you can come over next time. I'll see you after school, though. Let me know when they're gone. I got to go to class." He backed up as I let go of his now wrinkled shirt.
"Okay." I smiled, taking the poster out of his hands before he left the cafeteria.
"That nigga owe me fifteen dollars for doing this shit, he not slick at all." The guy who was standing on top of the table muttered, hopping down. "Congratulations though, because he does not shut up about you. You would've been thought he bagged you from the way he be talking about you."
I couldn't help but smile. He was talking about me? Before today? It made me feel special that he even thought to bring me up when I wasn't around.
▂
*eating disorder mention*
___________________ ___________________
whyh8saida 13h •••
"I never understood why people did that," Mekhi said, he was talking about something on the T.V. that I genuinely didn't care about.
"Mhm," I tilted his head over, beginning to kiss on his neck.
"I'm trying to watch the game," He moved his neck. "Just wait until half time."
"I look better than the Browns but whatever." I rolled my eyes, my stomach beginning to growl.
Wrong time! My man is here!
Mekhi turned his attention away from the T.V. and looked directly at me. "You ate today?"
"Yeah," I lied. The truth is, I haven't really eaten anything recently. A granola bar or Pop-Tart here and there but nothing serious, it doesn't really stay down regardless.
He didn't know about my eating disorder. The most he knew was that I had one last year and passed out from it, as of right now? He thinks I've recovered from it.
We had just got together officially, I definitely wasn't going to tell him this early on. If I didn't fix it soon, he just would never find out.
"Ate what?"
"Granola bar."
"The fuck? That's not food, Saida."
"It filled me up at that time."
"You need to eat a real meal, your stomach sounding like that is crazy, not gonna lie."
"I'm not hungry, it's just my body being weird."
"I don't believe that at all."
"Well, don't believe it. It's the truth regardless." I shrugged, hearing the doorknob start to jiggle.
I squinted at the doorknob and waited until the door opened, revealing my parents...who weren't even supposed to be back yet.
"Here we go," I mumbled, seeing my mom spot Mekhi on the couch. He had ended up turning his attention back to the game and must've turned down his hearing as well.
Because HELLO!
"Saida.." My mom started laughing lowly, gaining Mekhi's attention. "This is the third time.."
That you've caught me.
"Mariam." My father spoke from behind her, she was making her way over here and I was slowly getting up.
Mekhi eyed me before side eyeing my mother who seemed like she was nearing me in ultra speed. "Ma...why are you moving so fast?" I moved back some more.
"You better stop right there."
Bet I won't.
Once I backed into the T.V., I walked towards her and leaned right before taking off and running left. She was chasing behind me as I ran down the hall, she must've forgot I ran track from sixth to ninth grade, so I was quick on my feet.
However, we lived in a one-story, so I was assed out.
I opened up the bathroom door and rushed in, trying to shut it but her foot stopped me from closing it all the way.
"Fuck," I mumbled lowly, on the verge of tears because I already knew this wouldn't end well.
Mekhi being here to witness this also adding onto the tears of embarrassment.
The door swung open, hitting me in the face. "Ouch.." I placed my hand on my forehead, knowing a knot was going to come in sooner or later.
"You have lost every brain cell that you've ever had," She shoved me back, it wasn't hard, but it wasn't soft either. However, it was hard enough for me to come in contact with the towel rack.
"Ow!"
One injury at a time, please.
"You are an idiot, Saida!" She used her wallet to smack me, it didn't hurt, it was just a lot going on so the minor pain from that felt major. "I told you that boy only wanted to have sex with you! I told you this!"
"Why is it so hard for you to believe that a boy just likes me? I'm your daughter, you should be happy that I found someone that makes me feel beautiful because I feel the complete opposite at home!" I semi-yelled, tears burning my eyes.
Don't cry, don't let her get to you.
"Because he doesn't. If he liked you he wouldn't sneak over here all of the time, knowing the consequences if you get caught."
I shook my head. "He only sneaks because otherwise I'd only see him in school. You are such a terrible parent it's insane. Even if we put this situation on the backburner, you have never been a top tier parent. You point out every single thing I'm confident about and turn it into my biggest insecurity. You gave me an eating disorder! You made me hate my body! I haven't been able to keep a meal down since my sophomore year! Now, I found someone that makes me happy and you make me second guess every good thing he's done for me! You want me to be miserable like you so bad!"
The tears were just coming at this point.
"Now I'm miserable because I'm looking out for you? The boy doesn't want you, and you're done seeing him."
"I'm not going to stop seeing him." I sniffled, wiping my eyes.
"You're not?"
"No."
"Then you're going to stop living here." She shrugged her shoulders, walking out of the bathroom.
"What?" I followed her into my room, seeing that she was tossing my clothes into the tote bag that was in my closet.
"Ma, stop!" I reached over, trying to grab the clothes but she shoved me back and continued to toss them in the bag.
My face was cherry red now.
She finally stood up and tossed the tote over her shoulder. She grabbed my arm and started yanking me out of the room. We got to the main area and she let my arm go, opening the front door and screen door, it was raining...hard.
"Get out." She pointed outside and I stared at her before looking around the living room.
"Where's Mekhi?" I asked my dad.
"I asked him to leave once you took off running. He was stubborn, so it got a little physical."
"You touched him?!"
"He wasn't leaving."
I hate them.
"I said get out, Saida." My mother pointed at the door. "Or I'll throw you out."
I stood there.
She grabbed onto my arm once again and shoved me out of the front door, our porch was big so I didn't fall down the stairs or anything. I was just there.
She threw the tote out also, but with it being so light it made it onto the lawn, quickly becoming drenched in rain.
"And until you can follow directions, don't even think about coming back. And if you're on my porch in the next ten minutes I'm calling the police!" She slammed both doors shut after that.
I have never hated my life more.
a/n:
hey guyssss, u miss me? ik im inconsistent but i'ma work on it.
how do u feel about this chapter? a lot happened.
zion's pregnant.
xavier is still painting her out to be in the wrong.
saida and mekhi finally made it official.
saida finally snapped on her mother.
lastly, saida has been kicked out.
had to come back on bs sorry. hope y'all enjoyed! <3
; 🅿️