Belonging to Lust

Day of the assembly had finally come, and Zaiyia was an anxious wreck. It should’ve been because she and Alice were about to confront the whole school together at the end of the day, but it wasn’t. She was a wreck because she’d been blowing up Alice’s phone since yesterday and the girl hadn’t picked up once. She was unreachable. At first, Zaiyia had jumped to the conclusion that Alice had selfishly changed her mind about attending the assembly today and didn’t have the courage to update any of them ahead of time. But now that Zaiyia was sitting in class, she was beginning to wonder if Alice’s dad had something to do with her being absent. Dread filled her stomach to a nauseating level, her eyes staring down at her open textbook that would be needed when class started. What atrocity could that man have done to Alice to keep her from answering her phone? Perhaps the better question was, what wouldn’t that man do to his own daughter?

Biting her bottom lip, she flashed back to what Principal Quinn had told her when she spotted him waiting outside in the front of the school for her. “I don’t wish for you to fret, Ms. Halifax, but I haven’t heard a word from either Alice or her father. I’ve called and sent emails but haven’t got any responses back.” Placing a hand on her arm, he gave her an assuring squeeze with a matching smile. “I wanted to let you know that this doesn’t change anything. If Alice doesn’t show up today, this assembly will proceed without her and I shall speak in her stead.”

Zaiyia had been grateful for his generous attempt to calm her nerves and told him so. “Thank you, Mr. Quinn. I appreciate your support and all the efforts you put into this for me, but…and don’t take offense to this, please, but I’d rather have Alice here today. It would mean more to everyone including myself to hear the words come out of her mouth instead.”

But what could Principal Quinn do about it? What could she do about it? Absolutely nothing. If Alice wasn’t going to make an appearance today, then she wasn’t going to make an appearance today and that would be it. Still, the possibility made Zaiyia feel sick to her stomach for the continuation of the day.

“Hey, Zaiyia!” A voice called out, winning Zaiyia’s attention. It was Chastity. Wading through meandering students blocking the doorway, she helped herself to the unoccupied seat in front of Zaiyia and faced her, her eyes filled with concern as she leaned over to whisper in secrecy. “I wanted to drop in and check on you before class starts. Has Alice got into contact with you at all?”

“No.” Zaiyia sighed forlornly, her eyes dropping back down to her textbook. Suddenly, hope brightened her entire face as she lifted it to inquire back. “Has she contacted you?”

Chasity abhorred telling her the truth. Cringing, she whispered out faintly. “No.”

Slumping back down in her seat again, Zaiyia let out a whine and covered her face with her hands. “God, I’m scared her ass ain’t gonna show up today, Chasity! What the fuck am I gonna do!?”

“Alice is probably scared shitless right now at the thought of speaking in front of the whole school.” Chasity stated the fact they all were cognizant of before this plan had been set into motion.

Dragging her hands from her face, Zaiyia still contended that case. “Yeah, I get that, but I fucking promised her I’d stand by her side in front of all of hating ass friends and have her back no matter what! She literally has nothing to worry about here, I do!”

“Maybe she’s got more than that to worry about right now.” Chastity presumed with a shrug, not sure what she could say that would assuage Zaiyia. “Other than her dad being a jerk, we don’t know much about her.”

Her friend had a good point. Zaiyia whined again, leaning her head back and closing her eyes with a long sigh. “Fuck, I hate this shit.”

“Zaiyia, everything is gonna be fine!” Chastity tried to console her, leaning over to give her arm a pat. “If not, then we’ll think of something else. Principal Quinn certainly won’t give up on you.”

“True.” Zaiyia admitted with a pout, lowering her head back down. “But what other plan could work better than this one?”

“I have no clue, to be honest with you.” Chasity agreed with a matching pout before the first bell ring, signaling that class was about to start soon. Rising from her chair, she apologized for having to make her exit prematurely. “Damn, I have to be getting back to class.”

“Then go before your ass is late.” Zaiyia pressed her to go with a grateful smile.

Smiling back, Chasity slipped from the classroom before the other students began to swarm in. Soon after, the final bell rang, signaling class starting. As the clock ticked by, there was still no word from Alice, or from her friends about her as they too kept a lookout for her from their own areas in the school. What was surprising to Zaiyia was that the entire time she was awaiting for reports on the blonde, she didn’t detest her to the point of committing her murder. But neither was she in high spirits either. Disappointment was where she was at. Such extensive disappointment to the point of nearly breaking into tears. When the time finally came, Alice had let her down in the end. Perhaps Zaiyia should have seen this coming from the very beginning. She did have a voice in her head that was constantly imploring her to accept this probability as true, but she urged herself to give Alice the benefit of the doubt to the point where she began to have faith in her. And now here she was. Sidelined. Hell, maybe she deserved it. She could have been a better friend, or at least an honorable human being to the people in her lives. This let down could be the result of karma coming back to bite her in the butt.

By the time lunch finally rolled around, Zaiyia was working on accepting that she would have to handle this all alone. Traipsing over to the usual table she hanged out at with her friends, everyone murmured out a bleak greeting. It turned out she wasn’t the only one disappointed by Alice’s no show.

Out of the corner of her eye, Zaiyia could see Chasity open her mouth to probably inquire if anyone had heard from Alice yet today, but Zaiyia didn’t allow her to get the word out. Raising a hand, she stated. “Don’t, Chasity. Alice isn’t coming today. End of story. We can all let it go now and move on.”

Chasity frowned, shaking her head in denial. It was clear everyone else was giving up, but she wouldn’t. She couldn’t. “No. No, I won’t accept that.”

“Me fucking either!” Monnique concurred passionately, dropping her plastic fork onto her lunch tray and turning in her seat to face her sisters. “Yo, you guys wanna ditch school with me to go find this bitch and drag her ass back before the assembly starts?”

“Fuck yeah!” Assata settled, more than ready to get this mission iniatiated as soon as possible.

“No, you guys! Don’t!” Zaiyia interjected. “Forget about Alice. I need you guys here for support. This is a big day for me.”

“But what about Alice?” Monique lamented, becoming irked.

“Just let it go! Pretend she never existed to begin with if it helps.” Zaiyia resolved weakly. She was relieved when her friends all accepted defeat and nodded. They went back to eating their lunches.

“HEY ALICE!” A voice hollered out some time later.

Everyone at Zaiyia’s table stiffened before nearly snapping their necks towards the entrance of the cafeteria. Standing right on the threshold was Alice White in the flesh garbed in an oversize blush colored hoodie, matching converses, and blue jeans. Her blue eyes overlooked her friends to find somebody, and then locked on Zaiyia’s face. Lazily, a smile stretched across her face before she gave her nod.

Zaiyia understood that smile better than words could ever spell out. Alice was still on with their plan! The grin suddenly splitting across her face was so profound tears of exhilaration glazed her eyes. Proudly, she gave her a clear nod back, letting her know she’d have her back.

Alice turned her attention to her friends who were hollering her name. She lifted a hand to wave at them before she noticed her ex-boyfriend Alan was staring right at her from his table. Instantly, the light in her perished. Her smile dropped and the blood drained from her face. Her blue eyes overflowed with tears, compelling her to turn around and flee back the way she’d come.

Monique shot a glare to the back of Alan’s head. “Jesus Christ, what the fuck does he want now?”

“Don’t care as long as he doesn’t fuck up the plan.” Aishah replied, glaring at him too.

“Exactly.” Zaiyia voiced, hoping that Alan wasn’t scheming to sabotage their plan.