Belonging to Lust
Chapter 115: Strike At The Source
That following weekend, Zaiyia was dropped off over at Chasity's house by Heath. Her dad was at work in the city, but authorized his daughter a friend over in the meantime to have some company, and she chose Zaiyia after obtaining an vital voicemail from her. Waving adieu to Heath, Zaiyia made her way to Chasity's door, knocking three times. When the door jerked open, she grinned at her school mate. “Hey, girl! How you've been doing?”
“Pretty good. I got the whole place to myself.” Chasity beamed with limited excitement before stepping aside to let Zaiyia inside with a serious look. “Come on in so we can talk privately.”
Crossing the threshold, Chasity led Zaiyia upstairs to her room with refreshments and snacks awaiting them. Snagging a handful of pretzels and a Capri Sun, she commended Chasity's bedroom design. “I like, I like. I get the Turquoise blue, but I never pinned you for the Coral shades.”
“Forget about all that. It's not important.” Chasity dismissed with a wave of her hand as she shut the door behind her and bounced onto her queen size bed. “What was the voicemail you sent me the other day? You sounded urgent on the phone, like there was something major you had to speak to me about.”
“It is major, I guess.” Zaiyia sighed, perching across from her on her bed as she concluded chewing on the last of her pretzels. This was tougher than she thought it would be, to confirm when someone else was right and you were wrong, but that's exactly the kind of position she was in right now. Chasity had been right all along, and it's about time she heard it from the one person who rejected her the most. “I wanted to talk you about my situation face to face and...well, I guess I'll just come out and admit the truth.” Raising her eyes to her, Zaiyia took a deep breath. “You were right all along, Chasity Bennett. From the very beginning you were 100% right, and I should have listen to your from the start.”
Chasity tilted her head a bit, taken aback by Zaiyia's words. Was she giving her credit for what she speculated she was? Needing to know, Chasity inquired. “Right about what exactly?”
“Jesus, you're really going to make me say it, aren't you?” Zaiyia groaned, tilting her head up to roll her eyes. “Obviously you were right about all that bullying shit, and ending it all before it went to far! It was the only thing I should have been doing this entire time, and I stubbornly refused to.”
Now, Chasity allowed herself to be stun, and feel a little bit presumptuous. “Wow, I honestly didn't think I'd ever hear those words come out of your mouth in my lifetime, Zaiyia Halifax. As surprising as this all is, what I really want to know is what finally possessed you to change your mind on that?”
Great, I didn't want to have to go into this part either, Zaiyia thought to herself with a sigh. Only she and McCoy sisters knew the motivation behind the attack at Heath's house with the vandalism to his front window in the living room. No one else did, not even Chasity. Anticipating she wouldn't be mad, Zaiyia began carefully. “Do you remember that time you and the McCoy sisters slept over my house, and a rock was thrown into the bay window in the living room of the main house?”
“Yeah, I remember that.” Chasity nodded with a frown, not assembling that together with the bullying.
“That whole bullshit happened because of me.” Zaiyia confessed, looking down at Chasity's comforter with contempt.
“Because of you?!” Chasity proclaimed in dismay, not understanding how she could have came to such a conclusion. “But how? And why? What made you think that had anything to do with you, Zaiyia?”
“I found the two rocks that were thrown through the window and...they had the words 'whore' and such scrawled on them.” Zaiyia droned gradually, fidgeting with the golden bangles on her wrist. “I didn't tell anyone about them, but the McCoy sisters at the time.”
“WHAT!?” Chasity bellowed in shock, her eyes enhancing in size. “You told the McCoy sisters and you didn't tell me!? Why the hell not!? You've known me longer than you've known them!”
“True, but you tend to freak the fuck out!” Zaiyia defended her decision. “Besides, I couldn't chance you telling Heath that very night about what I found. I couldn't risk it!”
Chasity covered her hands over her face and began to pace her bedroom in irritation. As much as she wanted to dispute her belief, Zaiyia was right. She might have felt forced to notify Heath on everything that was going on that very night. It would have pissed her friend off, but she would have done it anyway. Lowering her hands, Chasity turned to face Zaiyia with her hands on her hips. “Zaiyia, this can't keep going on! You have to tell someone, an adult for Christ's sake!”
“Heath already knows, I came clean to him yesterday.” Zaiyia filled her in. Momentarily, she saw Chasity's face brightened with reprieve and then pride, that was until she opened her mouth again and said. “But I have a better idea than to get anyone else associated in this disaster.”
“Oh god, not another one of your ideas!” Chasity groaned in objection, covering her face again with both hands. “Zaiy-”
Jumping off the bed and onto her feet, Zaiyia interjected her. “Now, just you wait and minute and hear me out first. I can admit up to this point I have been going at this situation in all the wrong ways, but I'm certain that this new plan will definitely show better results than ever before. This time, we're gonna strike at the source of the problem instead of dealing with the little henchmen here and there.”
“Wait, are you talking about Alice White!?” Chasity gasped, gawking at Zaiyia like she lost her mind. “Is that what you mean by the source of the problem?”
“You're damn right!” Zaiyia confirmed, placing her hands on her hips.
“And how exactly do you plan to confront her about all this?” Chasity grilled her, keen on hearing more about her so called plan. “By walking right up to her in school?”
“Hell no! The teachers would never allow us two to get that close to each other nor skip class to meet up somewhere to hash this out, especially not with Principal Quinn's stringent security over me. He knows she's the beginning factor to all this after all.” Zaiyia vetoed, shaking her head. “And simply meeting in an enormous crowded place like the cafeteria won't work either. That's not the kind of place to properly hash out the beef we need to hash out.”
“That's a good point. Plus the whole school would be there to back her up...that is if she even shows up for school.” Chasity included in, tapping a finger to her chin in thought. “She spends more time out of school since the break up with Alan than she does in school.”
“Precisely, which is why my best shot at speaking to her about this is to take it right to that bitch's doorstep.” Zaiyia stated with a confident grin. “All I have to do is find out where she lives and confront her there!”
“Okay so when exactly did you plan to do this?” Chasity asked her, raising a brow. “Like first thing after school on Monday?”
“I was thinking more like during class on Monday instead.” Zaiyia confided with a casual shrug.
“During school!?” Chasity cried out in dread. “As in you're going to skip school to do all of this!?”
“Well, yeah!” Zaiyia replied, not seeing the dilemma in doing so. “I mean, if anything goes wrong her dad is the town drunk and allegedly abuses her anyway.”
“And?” Chasity pressed on. “What does that have to do with anything?”
“Worse case scenario, if I do end up beating her ass to smithereens, than her dad will be blamed for the damage.” Zaiyia heartlessly conspired, not an ounce of compassion for her enemy. “Not that I plan on beating her ass, of course.”
“Riiiight.” Chasity drawled in distrust. She wanted to accept that Zaiyia wouldn't stoop so low, especially if the stories were true and Alice White was abused by her father, but she couldn't chance it. Even though she'd be grounded for life if caught, Chasity nominated herself to go with Zaiyia to Alice White's place. Someone had to be the levelheaded mediator in all this, and it certainly wouldn't be Zaiyia or Alice. “Just so we can be sure of that, I'll be skipping school with you to go to Alice's house. Someone has to subdue the pandemonium you two start whenever you're around each other.”
“Pretty good. I got the whole place to myself.” Chasity beamed with limited excitement before stepping aside to let Zaiyia inside with a serious look. “Come on in so we can talk privately.”
Crossing the threshold, Chasity led Zaiyia upstairs to her room with refreshments and snacks awaiting them. Snagging a handful of pretzels and a Capri Sun, she commended Chasity's bedroom design. “I like, I like. I get the Turquoise blue, but I never pinned you for the Coral shades.”
“Forget about all that. It's not important.” Chasity dismissed with a wave of her hand as she shut the door behind her and bounced onto her queen size bed. “What was the voicemail you sent me the other day? You sounded urgent on the phone, like there was something major you had to speak to me about.”
“It is major, I guess.” Zaiyia sighed, perching across from her on her bed as she concluded chewing on the last of her pretzels. This was tougher than she thought it would be, to confirm when someone else was right and you were wrong, but that's exactly the kind of position she was in right now. Chasity had been right all along, and it's about time she heard it from the one person who rejected her the most. “I wanted to talk you about my situation face to face and...well, I guess I'll just come out and admit the truth.” Raising her eyes to her, Zaiyia took a deep breath. “You were right all along, Chasity Bennett. From the very beginning you were 100% right, and I should have listen to your from the start.”
Chasity tilted her head a bit, taken aback by Zaiyia's words. Was she giving her credit for what she speculated she was? Needing to know, Chasity inquired. “Right about what exactly?”
“Jesus, you're really going to make me say it, aren't you?” Zaiyia groaned, tilting her head up to roll her eyes. “Obviously you were right about all that bullying shit, and ending it all before it went to far! It was the only thing I should have been doing this entire time, and I stubbornly refused to.”
Now, Chasity allowed herself to be stun, and feel a little bit presumptuous. “Wow, I honestly didn't think I'd ever hear those words come out of your mouth in my lifetime, Zaiyia Halifax. As surprising as this all is, what I really want to know is what finally possessed you to change your mind on that?”
Great, I didn't want to have to go into this part either, Zaiyia thought to herself with a sigh. Only she and McCoy sisters knew the motivation behind the attack at Heath's house with the vandalism to his front window in the living room. No one else did, not even Chasity. Anticipating she wouldn't be mad, Zaiyia began carefully. “Do you remember that time you and the McCoy sisters slept over my house, and a rock was thrown into the bay window in the living room of the main house?”
“Yeah, I remember that.” Chasity nodded with a frown, not assembling that together with the bullying.
“That whole bullshit happened because of me.” Zaiyia confessed, looking down at Chasity's comforter with contempt.
“Because of you?!” Chasity proclaimed in dismay, not understanding how she could have came to such a conclusion. “But how? And why? What made you think that had anything to do with you, Zaiyia?”
“I found the two rocks that were thrown through the window and...they had the words 'whore' and such scrawled on them.” Zaiyia droned gradually, fidgeting with the golden bangles on her wrist. “I didn't tell anyone about them, but the McCoy sisters at the time.”
“WHAT!?” Chasity bellowed in shock, her eyes enhancing in size. “You told the McCoy sisters and you didn't tell me!? Why the hell not!? You've known me longer than you've known them!”
“True, but you tend to freak the fuck out!” Zaiyia defended her decision. “Besides, I couldn't chance you telling Heath that very night about what I found. I couldn't risk it!”
Chasity covered her hands over her face and began to pace her bedroom in irritation. As much as she wanted to dispute her belief, Zaiyia was right. She might have felt forced to notify Heath on everything that was going on that very night. It would have pissed her friend off, but she would have done it anyway. Lowering her hands, Chasity turned to face Zaiyia with her hands on her hips. “Zaiyia, this can't keep going on! You have to tell someone, an adult for Christ's sake!”
“Heath already knows, I came clean to him yesterday.” Zaiyia filled her in. Momentarily, she saw Chasity's face brightened with reprieve and then pride, that was until she opened her mouth again and said. “But I have a better idea than to get anyone else associated in this disaster.”
“Oh god, not another one of your ideas!” Chasity groaned in objection, covering her face again with both hands. “Zaiy-”
Jumping off the bed and onto her feet, Zaiyia interjected her. “Now, just you wait and minute and hear me out first. I can admit up to this point I have been going at this situation in all the wrong ways, but I'm certain that this new plan will definitely show better results than ever before. This time, we're gonna strike at the source of the problem instead of dealing with the little henchmen here and there.”
“Wait, are you talking about Alice White!?” Chasity gasped, gawking at Zaiyia like she lost her mind. “Is that what you mean by the source of the problem?”
“You're damn right!” Zaiyia confirmed, placing her hands on her hips.
“And how exactly do you plan to confront her about all this?” Chasity grilled her, keen on hearing more about her so called plan. “By walking right up to her in school?”
“Hell no! The teachers would never allow us two to get that close to each other nor skip class to meet up somewhere to hash this out, especially not with Principal Quinn's stringent security over me. He knows she's the beginning factor to all this after all.” Zaiyia vetoed, shaking her head. “And simply meeting in an enormous crowded place like the cafeteria won't work either. That's not the kind of place to properly hash out the beef we need to hash out.”
“That's a good point. Plus the whole school would be there to back her up...that is if she even shows up for school.” Chasity included in, tapping a finger to her chin in thought. “She spends more time out of school since the break up with Alan than she does in school.”
“Precisely, which is why my best shot at speaking to her about this is to take it right to that bitch's doorstep.” Zaiyia stated with a confident grin. “All I have to do is find out where she lives and confront her there!”
“Okay so when exactly did you plan to do this?” Chasity asked her, raising a brow. “Like first thing after school on Monday?”
“I was thinking more like during class on Monday instead.” Zaiyia confided with a casual shrug.
“During school!?” Chasity cried out in dread. “As in you're going to skip school to do all of this!?”
“Well, yeah!” Zaiyia replied, not seeing the dilemma in doing so. “I mean, if anything goes wrong her dad is the town drunk and allegedly abuses her anyway.”
“And?” Chasity pressed on. “What does that have to do with anything?”
“Worse case scenario, if I do end up beating her ass to smithereens, than her dad will be blamed for the damage.” Zaiyia heartlessly conspired, not an ounce of compassion for her enemy. “Not that I plan on beating her ass, of course.”
“Riiiight.” Chasity drawled in distrust. She wanted to accept that Zaiyia wouldn't stoop so low, especially if the stories were true and Alice White was abused by her father, but she couldn't chance it. Even though she'd be grounded for life if caught, Chasity nominated herself to go with Zaiyia to Alice White's place. Someone had to be the levelheaded mediator in all this, and it certainly wouldn't be Zaiyia or Alice. “Just so we can be sure of that, I'll be skipping school with you to go to Alice's house. Someone has to subdue the pandemonium you two start whenever you're around each other.”