Belonging to Lust

Monday rolled around, and all Zaiyia had on her mind was stalking Alice down as soon as she could to talk with her about her home situation. As she was driven up to the parking lot of the school by the McCoy sisters, her brown eyes didn’t have to scour the horde of students for long before pinpointing the very blonde mentioned. Her eyes widening a bit with urgency, Zaiyia shoved the passenger door open and hollered out her name without considering who might take notice. “ALICE!”

And it turned out, neither did Alice who hastened to close the distance between them from where she had been lurking in the shadows of the school’s pillars. She was out of breath by the time she slowed before the vehicle to greet everyone. “Hey, you guys. How’ve you been?”

“Been fine, I guess.” Zaiyia shrugged, adjusting her backpack rightly.

“God, this is weird.” Monique couldn’t resist uttering what she, and probably the other people that were witnessing this scene from a distance felt. She gestured between the once mortal enemies. “Just seeing you two talking to each other like this in front of the entire student body that still wants to kill you...”

“It’s fucking nuts!” Aishah added in wonderment, her brown eyes darting between the two young girls.

“I hate to sound negative, but I have to agree as well. This is strange.” Chastity coincided as soon as she walked up to the group of girls from behind Alice. “But soon it’ll be a typical sighting that no one will ever question again.”

“Oh shit, I totally forgot y’all already got a plan brewing about that shit.” Assata remarked. “Can you run it by me again?”

“I need to confront the whole school about bullying Zaiyia, but the Principal hasn’t been available to help us. He has some kind of family emergency and so I haven’t been able to talk to him yet.” Alice anxiously updated, averting her eyes down to her shoes the moment all eyes landed on her. “I’m not sure what the plan is gonna be today if he’s still not here.”

Chastity mulled over it for only a minute before sharing her opinion. “I think it would actually be smart if we all stay away from each other until he does show up. Especially you and Zaiyia.”

“How come we have to split?” Zaiyia inquired with a frown, not liking the idea of being divided from Alice when she still needed to talk to her about her father’s abuse. After leaking Alice’s secret to Heath, he’s been hounding her to get her little talk out of the way so they could confront her about her abusive father. Wanting to please him, she was desperate to speak with her former adversary alone.

“Because as far as this whole school is concerned, you two are still enemies.” Chastity reminded her. “Nevermind that things have been a lot less violent since Principal Quinn has cracked down on the whole bullying warfare. If you two are seen together like this, the students could rampage against you and really hurt you this time, and I don’t want that happening to you.”

“Neither do we!” Aishah fully conceded. “And so it’s settled! You two better keep your asses away from each other until the damn Principal shows up, or else Imma make you.”

“And if you think those other little girl’s piddle-paddle punches hurt, then you ain’t felt nothing yet.” Assata forewarned them fairly, raising her closed fist for the two to see. “This shit hits like a motherfucking semi truck, so I’ve been told.”

“But then how are we supposed to keep each other in the know of what’s going on?” Zaiyia disputed, looking desperately between her four obstructing friends. This surely couldn’t be part of the plan!

“We got cell phones, dummy. If you really need to talk to each other just send a quick covert text.” Monique advised, waving her phone in front of their faces. “But other than that, fuck off from each other just like the good old days, okay? You’re ‘pretend enemies’ now.”

“We’ll keep you guys posted, I promise.” Chastity promised Zaiyia before linking her arm through Alice and leading the feeble girl away towards the entrance of the school.

“Let’s go, Zaiyia!” Aishah called to Zaiyia, breaking her from reverie as she stood there watching the two go. “We still gotta get an education here, so hop to it!”

Sighing testily, she curled her fingers around the straps of her backpack and followed the three sisters through a second entrance into the school that was opposite of the one Chasity and Alice took. Beneath her breath, she muttered to herself. “Can’t believe this bullshit.”
________________________________________________________________________________
At the beginning of Zaiyia’s class before lunch, her name was called to the Principal’s office from the intercom. Praying that Principal Quinn was finally back from his family emergency, she wanted to skip all the way down to his office. The paranoia that there could be other students waiting to jump her in the open uninhabited halls sobered her up pretty quick as she exited through the classroom door and was met with a small team of three security guards. They were there to ensure she’d made the journey there safely. Thankful for their protection, she followed them down the hall.

Principal Quinn’s office door opened before she could knock on the frosted glass door, and was greeted by the man himself. “Morning, Ms. Halifax! I received a call from your guardian, Mr. Sullivan, that you wished to see me ASAP.” Stepping aside, he allowed her to access his office and dismissed the security to return to their previous posts. Shutting the door, he returned back to his desk. “So, why did you need to see me so urgently, Ms. Halifax? Have any students been giving you trouble while I was away?”

“No, nothing like that.” Zaiyia assured him, taking one of the two chairs in front of his desk. “Actually, I wanted to meet with you so we can talk about something important.”

“What is it?” Principal Quinn asked, leaning back in his chair and giving her his full attention.

“First, I need you to do me a favor before we start.” Zaiyia inquired, fidgeting with her fingers nervously in her lap. This was it, their plan was finally going to come to fruition! She never thought this day would come no matter how many times she’d daydreamed about it. Now she only had to convince him to direct Alice to his office next. “I need you to call Alice White in here too.”

Taken aback, Principal Quinn gaped at her for a long time, trying to register her request. Blinking several times, he sat up in his chair and stared hard at his desk as if he was pondering if he was having a stroke. “I’m sorry, I don’t think I heard you right. Did you say...you wanted me to summon Alice White into this here office? With YOU in here?”

“Yes, sir. That’s exactly what I said.” Zaiyia verified for him. “I know, it sounds crazy, but I need you to do this for me.”

Leaning forward, Principal Quinn scrutinized her up and down skeptically. “Zaiyia, are you feeling well? Do you need me to call the nurse in to check your temperature?”

“No, man, I’m feeling great!” Zaiyia said, going so far as to show off a tremendous smile to hopefully satisfy him. “What I need is for you to call Alice White in here so we can both talk to you.”

Principal Quinn was still averse to doing what she asked. Those two girls had always had hostility between them and so the scheme of putting them in the same room together sounded treacherous for both of their well-being. “Zaiyia, why on earth do you want Alice White in here with you? Especially with all the malice you two have for each other?”

“Because that malice is dead and gone, Principal Quinn.” Zaiyia declared proudly. “I know it sounds absurd, but it’s true. Alice and I are good with each other now.”

“I don’t know about this…” Principal Quinn drawled, clearly in doubt of her word and not wishing to take the risk.

“Dude, I swear on your favorite paper weight!” Zaiyia vouched, holding up a hand as if she were swearing before a court of law. “I’m not here to start any drama, or beat a bitch’s ass all up in your office. I’m genuinely here to talk with my new friend, and former enemy, Alice White alongside me.”

“Since when has Alice become a friend to you?” Principal Quinn interrogated her. “Fill me in, because I have clearly missed something since I’ve been gone if you two are now buddy buddy. Only a while ago if I put you two in three feet of each other you would have thrown yourself at her and ripped her to shreds like a Barbie Doll! Now you’re telling me that all of that is ancient history and you two can sit in those two chairs in front of my desk without clawing each other’s eyes out? No, Zaiyia, you’re gonna need to do better than that. You’re gonna need to tell me everything first, and I mean EVERYTHING.”