Two Months Later
February 14
Friday
"Life's a mess. Minds in disarray, so are my clothes. As I undress and pick an outfit for this sunny day. Cause it's okay. I attempt not to let my optimism slip away."- Sunset x The Internet
⭐Omniscient⭐
"I hate valentine's day with a passion. It's like a blatant reminder and slap to the face that I'm single and nobody wants me." Nyla grumbled to herself, as her and Gabby sat down at their usual spot in the cafeteria.
She looked around the lunch room, spotting couples showing off their gifts, balloons, candy, and big teddy bears. People were boasting and bragging about everything they had gotten and whatnot.
Nyla hated the holiday for the simple fact that it made single and lonely people like her feel like shit. And it was intentionally done on top of that. But nonetheless not having a valentines, was the least of her worries.
Her mental, spiritual, emotional, and physical health had been her top focus as of late. And Nyla was doing much better than she initially was almost three months go. Going to her therapist for their weekly meetings helped to a certain extent, but Nyla soon realized that she didn't need it. She just needed love. Lots of it. And support. Nyla found that with the girls of BGA. Even though she avoided the meetings in the beginning, Nyla soon came around, and developed a close bond with the seven other ladies of the group. They all had unique stories of their trials and tribulations of being a young black girl in a world that doesn't accept them based off their gender and skin color. BGA was a safe haven for Nyla, and had become the sisterhood she never had.
As each day passed, it became easier for Nyla to deal with the tragedy of Lucas's death. Some days a brief memory of him would come to mind and make her sad because she missed him dearly, but praying, talking to Gabby or Lola, and writing out her feelings had become therapeutic that helped her to cope. Nyla just wanted to make the best of her senior year by staying involved in after school activities like student council, yearbook, BGA, and keeping busy by staying on top of her schoolwork and college endeavors. Things were finally starting to look up. Slowly but surely, time always heals all things.
Gabby sipped on her Gatorade. "Girl half of the people in here bought they own shit to front. Aren't you excited about Christian's pool party tomorrow though?" She asked changing the subject.
"Yeah, I guess. I'm just ready for my birthday to come up on the 25th. I can't wait to finally be 18." Nyla smiled, thinking about the thought of finally being considered grown.
"Yassss bish we gon turn up, and I'm gonna get you some-"
"Hey babe."
Lance appeared from nowhere, wrapping his arms around Gabby. "I missed you." He pecked her lips repeatedly.
After admitting to liking each other, and getting past the talking stage, Gabby and Lance had made their relationship official a month ago. The two were cuteness overload, and Nyla was happy that her friend had found someone who accepted her for her.
"But you just saw me last period." Gabby giggled giddily. Whenever Lance was around, she could never stop laughing and smiling.
"I can be around you all day, and the second you leave, start missing you terribly." Lance replied. "Aw bae." Gabby cooed, grabbing his cheek.
"But anyways. Happy Valentine's Day!" He pulled a bouquet of flowers from his backpack along with a gift basket filled with candy, perfume, lotion, and other items.
Gabby clutched her chest. "Aw thank you so much for this!" She pecked his lips, which turned into a mini make out session.
How Nyla was looking:
"Y'all two need to get a room!" She huffed, feeling like an obvious third wheel.
"Sorry." Gabby apologized, pulling away from Lance. "Are you staying for lunch?"
He shook his head no. "I have a meeting with NHS that I'm actually..." Lance glanced at his watch. "Five minutes late too. So I gotta go. I'll see you after school." He kissed her cheek, before jetting off towards the hall.
"Aaahh." Gabby sighed dreamily, watching him walk away. Nyla slapped the back of her neck. "Shut yo sprung ass up. Y'all cute asses make me sick." She stated playfully.
Her brows rose seeing Christian up ahead, carrying a load of Valentine items while his current girl toy, Krista, followed him. "Looks like cornbread had a excellent Valentine. I guess being a hoe pays off." Nyla commented.
"Oh lawd he's coming over here." Gabby snickered as Christian made his way to their table.
"Hello beautiful people." Christian chirped cheerfully, placing the array of items on the table.
"Looks like you're in a good mood today." Nyla smiled. "I like your hair like that." She commented, admiring the twisted dreaded locs that decorated the type of his head.
"Oh thanks." He pulled at the twists, adjusting his hat. Christian had decided to grow his hair out, and try something different with his hair instead of the usual fade look he went for.
"You giving gifts to all your hoes?" Gabby laughed, looking at the big teddy bear, candy basket, bouquet of flowers, and gift basket that stood before them.
"Hahaha you funny." Christian fake laughed, before averting his attention to Nyla. "This is for you. Happy Valentine's." He pushed the items her way.
Nyla's eyes nearly bucked out her head from surprise. "For me?" She gawked pointing to herself.
"Nah it's for Casper. Yes it's for you little girl."
"He only got that for you because he felt sorry for you." Krista suddenly spoke up, looking from her phone.
Christian whipped his head in her direction, glaring at her. "And what did you get? Nothing. At least not from me. And here you are following me around like the thirsty girl you are. Leave me alone man."
Krista's eyes immediately brimmed with tears. "Chris I-"
"You should just walk away before I really hurt your feelings because you just pissed me off." He cut her off mid sentence.
Krista's bottom lip trembled, as she swiftly turned around, walking away from the three.
"Damn she about to go cry in the bathroom." Gabby burst out laughing. "So. I don't give a fuck." Christian shrugged nonchalantly.
Krista was just a girl he had been entertaining here and there simply because she was just another girl chasing after him, and his attention. He knew she liked him, and wanted more than occasional kisses, and dick, but he didn't care about her on that level. And Krista knew it too. Yet, she was persistent in pursuing him. Christian had Monophobia, the fear of being alone, which is why he felt a need in keeping random females around to fill that loneliness he had deep within. But of course it was just a physical thing. Christian didn't want to get emotionally attached, or fall in love with any of them. He feared it. He had Philophobia. The fear of falling in love. Well in his case, falling in love, again. Which was Jessica's fault.
Nyla gawked at the gifts, still in shock that Christian would go out of his way to get these things for her. "You didn't have to do this." She said, feeling the softness of the red rose petals.
"I'll take my shit back then." Christian responded in all seriousness.
Nyla hugged the three and a half foot bear. "No! I didn't mean it like that. I just wasn't expecting this from you. Thank you for the gifts Christian." She said in a genuine tone.
"No problem. I felt like being nice. Besides you was rambling on the phone last week about how you never had a valentines or anybody get you gifts so I thought why not." Christian hunched his shoulders up. "But I gotta go. Y'all coming to my pool party tomorrow right?" He looked between Gabby and Nyla.
"Yeah. We'll be there." Gabby replied.
"Alright." He nodded at them, before walking out of the cafeteria.
"Wow this is a lot of stuff." Gabby looked at all the items. "So weird seeing Christian be nice."
"Well we've become good friends." Nyla stated in all honesty. Over the past two months, the two had developed a friendship, and were on good terms opposite the ill feelings they held toward each other in the past. Despite this, Nyla felt like there was so much she didn't know about Christian due to him being so closeted when it came to his personal feelings. It's like he pushed you away if he felt like you were getting too close. In return, Nyla did the same thing.
>>
"I'm so happy to see all of your beautiful faces this afternoon. My gorgeous black queens are sitting on their thrones with smiles, and heads held high." Ms. Sonya Wise smiled, at the group of girls who stood before her. She was the teacher sponsor of Black Girls Association.
Nyla sat between Gabby and Tori, beaming with happiness at the moment. She had stayed after school for the weekly BGA meeting. She'd been looking forward to the meeting all day. They had become the highlight of her day.
"I really like your hair like that Sonya. It's so pretty." Gabby complimented.
"Why thank you." Sonya did a hair flip.
She cleared her throat before speaking. "Well as you all know, this month is full of activity for us. We're going on our field trip to the Houston African American Museum next week. And at the end of this month we're having our yearly Black History Month show which I want you all to be apart of. Skits are going to be done, singing, dancing, spoken word, ASA and the step teams are performing, along with our dance team. It's going to be a great show! There's still time left to audition, and be apart of the production if you ladies want too. Just let me know."
Nyla raised her hand. "I actually wanted to do a spoken word poem. And I talked to Ms. Omokoro. She told me it was okay for me to dance with ASA." Sonya nodded. "Oh good. All I need is for you to give me a copy of your poem by tomorrow so I can look over it."
"I'll make sure to do that."
"So did y'all enjoy Valentine's Day?" Sonya clasped her hands together.
Mumbling, and grumbling filled the room.
"Hell no." Tasia smirked.
"Eff love, and eff valentines day." Tyra stated solemnly.
Sonya's thick brows furrowed into a frown. "Oh god, what happened? Y'all look so angry." Her eyes connected with each girl briefly.
"Okay let me go first." Destiny stood up, causing everyone to fall silent. "I've been liking this guy for awhile now, and just a few weeks ago I finally mustered up the courage to tell him how I really felt. Turns out he liked me too. I was thinking that we were going to be more than friends after that, but negative. He told me that he didn't want to get in a relationship with me because he wanted to be a hoe, and not break my heart. I appreciated the honesty, but then he turns around and kisses me. Like, it was so confusing, so I decided to leave him alone. But to make a long story short, we agreed to be each others valentines, and I brought him a gift. He did also, but come to find out, he got a gift for a whole 'nother girl. I should've known, because he gave me my gift in the dark end of the hallway, before leaving quickly. I'm mad because I felt played, but then I'm like he's not even mines, so why should I care." Destiny sighed, taking a seat.
"That's so messed up." Kayla sympathized. "Something similar happened to me so I know how you feel."
"You have every right to be mad Destiny. You had feelings for this guy, and he didn't reciprocate them. He's a boy. Still maturing, and doesn't know what he wants." Sonya added in. "Anyone else have stories?" She looked around.
"I need some advice." Daya spoke, fiddling with her fingers. "I've been with my boyfriend for six months now, and the relationship is starting to change, because he wants to take things to the next level, and I'm not ready. I'm a virgin, and I know I'm not ready nor do I want to have sex right now. But Marcus doesn't seem to understand that. I've noticed that he's been pushing me away, and becoming distant because of my decision. I'm just so scared, because I feel like he might end up cheating on me to have his sexual needs satisfied, or that I might lose him completely." She exhaled deeply. "I'm just so confused. Part of me says no to remain true to myself, but then the other part says yes because I love him, and I want to make him happy."
"Don't do it." Nyla said. "Virgins still matter in this society that glorifies and worships sex all the time. If you know you aren't ready, then don't do it, because in the end, you'll regret it. Once your virginity is taken, you can't get it back. It's gone forever. I gave my v-card to a nigga who didn't care about my feelings, and only wanted one thing; and it shattered my heart into a million pieces. The heartache was unbearable. I don't want you to experience that."
Sonya nodded in agreement. "Nyla is right. This is your body Daya. Your gift. It hasn't been touched. Do you really want to give it away to someone who doesn't respect your decision to wait?" She paused for a second.
"I can't stand guys that pressure a girl to have sex if she doesn't want too. Like that should be classified as mental rape if you ask me. It's her body! He has no right." Kiara balled her small fist up as she spoke.
"If he really cares about you, he wouldn't make you feel bad about your decision. So many young girls forget that they have the upper hand in a relationship. You have so much control, but we forget that because we get so stuck on pleasing a man, and being everything he desires. Naturally, women are more loving. We love harder than men do. All a woman wants is to be loved. But sometimes she does the craziest things to get it. She obsesses over her appearance, her sexuality, and all these other factors to please him. And it shouldn't be like that, because that's not balance." Sonya responded.
Nyla soaked up every word she was saying like a sponge. She admired everything about Sonya. He spirit, her aura, her essence. She really knew how to leave an impression on the mind.
"This is so hard." Daya mumbled. "I'm sure you'll make the best decision for you." Tori said, rubbing her back in a soothing manner.
"I want all of you to know that no matter the situation, you want to find someone who will value your worth. Who will treasure your principles and morals. Y'all are still young with plenty of time to fall in love, so don't rush it. The crazy thing about love is that when it's not forced, you always find it when you least expect it. And most importantly, be happy being alone. You can't be happy with someone else, if you're not happy with yourself. Some people hate being alone so much that they'll settle for any and everything in a relationship. Get to know yourself, and the inner person. And never forget that the heart is treacherous. It can be dangerous, if you listen to it all time." Sonya concluded.
"The heart is treacherous." Nyla repeated to herself, knowing the statement all to well.
❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
This chapter was trash asf. Next update will be better. Writers block has been kicking my ass. Sorry. 😔
Also, I am more than aware that in (real life) Nyla's ethnicity is South Sudanese. But in this STORY, she's NIGERIAN. I chose for her character to be Nigerian because even though I am not African, I am more familiar with the culture of Nigeria because I have a lot of Nigerian friends and even dated one. I don't know too much about South Sudan, so I just chose to make it about what I was familiar with. Which is why I chose REAL Nigerians to play her parents, and gave them a Nigerian last name.