[8] "It wasn't about you"
Wednesday morning
"We need to talk."
Nevaeh recognized Teddy's voice. She turned from her putting her books into her locker and stared at his face. She noticed his grimm appearance. "I liked the flowers but I'm still mad at you," she said while grabbing her physics book.
"Vay, I saw your diary. That's what I want to talk about, he blurted out.
Nevaeh dropped her book. "You did what?" Her diary? So much of her life was imbedded on those pages. She wrote in a journal as a method of therapy, not for anyone to read. "What? How?" she rambled.
Teddy bent down and grabbed the book. "I took the flowers to your room and it was on your desk."
"And it said, Teddy read me!" she yelled. "How could you?"
A few people in the halls were staring. Teddy cursed and grabbed Nevaeh's hand. He took her to the storage closet for privacy. She instantly smelled the bleach in the small room. This was one of the closets that their classmates used to screw each other during school. Great, this will give people more to talk about.
Teddy turned the light on. "I'm sorry," he apologized. "I'm sorry for what happened with Quincy and I'm sorry for reading your journal. It wasn't intentional. I don't like you upset with me. It makes my world unbalanced."
Nevaeh sighed. She couldn't stay mad at him. Not when his brown eyes were looking at her begging for forgiveness. "I'm still mad but I forgive you," she muttered. "A little bit."
A slow smile transformed on his face. "Well it's a start." He pulled Vay in for a hug. "I missed you yesterday."
"I needed a mental health day."
They remained wrapped in each other's arms until the late bell went off. She pulled away first. "What did you read?" There was no point in trying to avoid the conversation. "My fears about art school? My thoughts about my biological mom? Or that I wish I was gifted like my adoptive mom?" she listed. Her life was a complicated mess. She loved her mom but had thoughts about her dad's first wife, her biological mom. She hated that her brothers were gifted and could do things. At least she shared the connection with her dad of being regular. Art school was the smallest of her worries. She was more excited about taking that step in her life.
"It had future Mrs. Coleman written in it."
"Oh." Nevaeh forgot about writing that. She started fanning herself. She couldn't believe that Teddy had read it and was starting to panic. Is it hot in here?"
"Nevaeh, be real."
"It wasn't about you," she stated.
"Huh?"
"You aren't the only Coleman I know, Teddy. It was about Sammie."
He seemed surprised. "You like...Sammie?" he asked in a incredulous tone.
"Don't make it a big deal. It's just a crush that'll pass. I had one on you in middle school. That's why you couldn't sleep over anymore. My mom found out.
"You liked me?"
"Yes. I get it, you guys don't see me that way. What's going on with Sammie is nothing and I want it to stay between us."
Teddy seemed speechless. He couldn't quite grasp his words. "O-kay."
"Thanks. Let's get to class." She kissed his cheek and moved around him and left the closet first. Teddy came out after her still confused.
-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
Desiree walked into her first period class late. Being tardy was becoming a new hobby for her. She thought it was amusing that she set an alarm for 6pm instead of 6am, her dad didn't crack a smile when he came to pick her up.
Desiree approached the teacher and provided him her schedule. It took her a little while to find Mr. Black's history class.
"You weren't here Monday," he commented.
"I started Tuesday."
"Well don't make a habit of it." He grabbed an extra textbook and handed it to her. "Find any available seat.
Desiree only saw a few open seats. She avoided the two that were in the front row and opted for a seat in the middle. She sat down and pulled out her notebook to take notes.
Mr. Black lectured for the first half of the class and then assigned a chapter review from the book. Desiree was working diligently and quietly when the girl next to her tapped her shoulder.
"Yes?" she asked looking over at the other girl.
"What's your name newbie? I'm Jayda."
Desiree started working again but still answered the question. "Desiree."
"Desiree," the girl repeated. She let the name flow off her tongue as she tried to remember if she had heard it before. "I feel like I should know you but I don't know from where. I saw you on Monday with your parents."
"I'm not from here."
"Hmmm. Well how are you liking our fine lone star state?" she asked with a smile.
"It's fine. I need to really finish my work," Desiree stated before focusing on her book.
The girl slapped a piece of paper down in front of her. "Here, my boyfriend had this class first period."
Desiree took the paper unsure on if she should copy it. She scrutinized the work to make sure it was correct.
"He's not stupid."
She blushed a little. "Sorry, my parents expect a lot from me."
"Mine too. They want me and my cousins to be successful...blah blah blah. So any boys try to spit game?"
Desiree was confused. "Huh?"
"Step to you? Mack on you?"
It was obvious that Desiree was still confused so she tried again.
"Flirt....Conversate?"
"Oh! Yes, a few have."
Jayda was amazed. "Where in the hell are you from?" she said a little too loud. Mr. Black shushed her so she shushed him back. "Yeah yeah yeah, I'll keep it down."
"Miss Adams," he chastised.
"Mr. Black," she repeated.
Desiree watched as the teacher took a deep breath.
"I can't believe you talk to the teacher like that."
"He's knows better then to mess with me," she replied. "So...boys?"
Desiree face slumped. "There was one I thought was nice but I saw him today with his girlfriend. They came out of the storage closet together." She seen enough movies to know what happened in closets at school. Afterwards, she watched them walk away hand and hand.
"Well fuck him. You're the new girl, you're the next best thing after a freshmen virgin."
A guy on the other side of Desiree agreed. "She's right," he said while nodding his head.
Desiree faced flamed.
Jayda laughed. "What's his name?"
"Who?"
"Keep up." She rolled her eyes. "The nice boy." What's his name?"
Desiree tried to remember his full name but couldn't remember. "Teddy."
Jayda shook her head. "Teddy doesn't have a girlfriend."
"Are you positive?"
"As positive as Brenda's pregnancy test."
Desiree cocked her head to the side. "Who's Brenda?"
Jayda pointed to the back of the room. "The chick that's trying to hide her baby bump under a bubble jacket. It's fuckin 80 degrees outside, she ain't foolin nobody."
She looked back and saw the skinny fair skinned girl in the back of the room. "You're very blunt," Desiree concluded.
Jayda shrugged her shoulder. "Sorry, my aunt babysat me until I started school. I picked up on a few habits."
"Obviously."
Jayda smiled. "So what girl did you see Teddy with?"
"I don't know her?"
"Give me the demos?"
"I don't understand?"
Jayda sighed. "It's a thing we do here. We give demos...what does she look like?"
She thought about the girl she saw Teddy talking to. "Tall, a little darker than me but lighter then you. No offense."
"None taken, I love the skin I'm in."
"She had long curly hair and they were holding hands." The same way he was holding her hand yesterday.
Jayda realized who she was talking about. Teddy only really hung out with two girls. London and Nevaeh. London was normally attached to Chris so Desiree had to be talking about Vay. "That's not his girlfriend. They have this weird Dawson and Joey relationship."
"What?"
"They're just best friends. It's odd but true. They've never been together and they used to sleep in the same bed."
"Really?"
"They didn't skeet on one another."
"Miss Adams, I need for you to stop talking," Mr. Black interrupted.
Jayda looked back at the teacher. "You want me to stop talking? Me? Everyone knows that I'm a social butterfly and I plan on using my excellent verbal skills to become a famous reporter or journalist. Are you going to hinder my skills?"
"You're disturbing the class."
She snorted. "Technically sir, you're disturbing the class. We were having a private conversation and then you called me out." Jayda looked around the room and she lowered her voice. "Now the whole class is looking at us," she stated in a patronizing tone. "This is your fault. I'm just trying to help the new girl out. Do you really want her first two days at our school to end in a disaster because you wouldn't allow me to give her advice? Shame on you Mr. Black."
Mr. Black felt the pounding pain of a headache forming. Students like Jayda Adams made his job so much harder than it needed to be. He was happy when the bell signaled the end of class.
Jayda grabbed her things and winked at Mr. Black before walking out of the class. She grabbed onto Desiree before she could get away. "During lunch, you're sitting with me."
"Ok-ay but why?"
Jayda giggled. "I'm making you my new friend. Bye newbie."
Desiree pulled her schedule out and turned to walk to her next class. Not paying attention, she bumped into the lockers. A warm body was there to catch her before she fell.
"I'm sorry," she apologized.
"Don't worry about it."
Desiree turned and came face to face with Sammie. "Hi." Hi? That's the best you have to say?
"Hi." He mocked. "Today's must be my lucky day. I've been thinking about you since Monday, where are you headed?"
"I don't have a clue," she admitted.
Sammie took her schedule. "Well let me show you the way."