Belonging to Lust

All through Thursday, Alan glared at Zaiyia anytime they were within sight of each other. Sometimes she wouldn’t have to glance over to view his hated sneer from across the room. It was so intense she could literally feel it deliberately drilling itself into the back of her skull. It didn’t take a linguist for her to comprehend that he still hadn’t cooled down since she kicked him in the balls back on Tuesday in front of the school, and she honestly couldn’t blame him for it. Zaiya didn’t have testicles of her own, but she understood that there was just a shot one just didn’t take, and that was to go for a male’s genitalia.

Now, of course, this didn’t apply to an individual that was being attacked by a male. Hell, if that’s the way they wanna play it then they can’t get their nuts crushed and roasted over an open fire for the Holidays for all she cared! But this was Alan. The idiot was a moron a lot of the time, but that’s all he was guilty of when she hurt him. He wasn’t trying to forcibly get into her panties, just to get her to listen to the desperate ramblings of a madman that was also an ignoramus.

Zaiyia kicking him in the balls was likely perceived in Alan’s eyes as the ultimate transgression to his manhood. It wouldn't be even considered a forgivable act anytime soon, she imagined. But she couldn’t lie and say that it didn’t bother her even a little. In fact, she found it kinda annoying that he still hadn’t gotten over it two days later.

What did the guy expect her to do, go up to him and ask him what’s up?

Puh-lease! Not if Alan was just gonna flip out on her in front of everyone! They didn’t need anymore attention then they’ve already harvested before.

Which meant that Zaiyia had no choice but to accept that Alan wasn’t willing to talk right now. She should ignore him for the rest of the day and focus on any more of her foes that were thinking about making amends with her much like this morning.

When Zaiyia had at first arrived at school, she and Monnique ad spotted standing by her locker the tall, blonde, supermodel Eiliesse Baldwin and the ebony brunette with icy blue eyes, Hannah Davis. Slowing her steps, Zaiyia recalled just who these two reprobates were and how she knew them. Hannah Davis had tried to jump her in the locker room right before the bullying got started, and Eiliesse was a part of the posse of blondes that had got her suspended off of her own damn bus.

“Girl, what the hell those two want now?” Monnique whispered to Zaiyia as they took their time getting to Zaiyia’s locker.

“I can only think of one thing.” Zaiyia warned her with a grimace. It’s happened so many times already she could practically smell the reparation in the air by now.

Closing the distance between them and the two fair skinned students, Monnique cut to the chase with a nod of her head at them and the narrowing of her brown eyes. “Yo, what you two hanging around my girl’s locker for? You get lost or something?”

“Uh, n-no.” Eiliesse responded first, straightening up from leaning against the neighboring locker. With how tall she was, it made one wonder how she could appear so intimidated by both petite Monnique and Zaiyia’s presence. “We’re not lost.”

“We wanted to speak with Zaiyia.” Hannah Davis informed them, also straightening up from leaning against the lockers. Tugging on the hem of her top to make herself look more presentable, her blue eyes lingered on Monnique. “Alone.”

“Anything you wanna say to me, you can say to my bestie.” Zaiyia responded swiftly before Monnique could retort back. She also added in their favorite term ‘bestie’ so they would understand that her good friend, Monnique, wasn’t just anybody and had definitely earned the right to know what’s going on with her and these fools.

Instantaneously, Eiliesse understood the term ‘bestie’ wholeheartedly and didn’t push against Zaiyia’s demands. Clasping her hands in front of her, she sucked in a deep breath before letting it out in an apology she hoped would demonstrate her sincerity. “Zaiyia Halifax, I want to deeply apologize from the bottom of my heart for the things I said to you. Those…abhorring hateful comments I said and supported the others to say about the color of your skin, your hair texture and your nose.”

“Basically, all my black features. Yeah, I remember.” Zaiyia underlined then waved her hand to signal for Eiliesse to keep going.

“Y-Yeah…” Eiliesse whispered so softly it was barely audible. She shamefully dropped her gaze to the checkered linoleum floor.

“And I want to apologize to you for trying to beat you up in the locker room with the rest of my friends.” Hannah Davis inserted her own apology next. “In the name of Alice White or not, it shouldn’t have ever happened. I’m sorry, Zaiyia. Like seriously sorry, I don’t…I don’t really know how else to express how much I regret what I’ve done since it happened.”

“It’s cool, we’re all good here.” Zaiyia dismissed with another wave of her hand, not wishing to put any energy into their apologies. She hadn’t since her first one and didn’t plan to from here on out. “So if you could step aside, I need to get into my locker for my first class.”

“Oh, right! Of course!” Hannah Davis replied, hastily scooting aside to allow Zaiyia past her so she could open her locker and collect her necessary school supplies.

To Eiliesse it seemed way too easy for Zaiyia to forgive them so soon. Needing to be certain, she inquired. “Are you sure, Zaiyia? If not, I’m sure there is something we can do for you that’ll make things better between us. Perhaps pay for your lunch for the rest of the school year or carry your books?”

Monnique had to turn around to keep her smile from being seen. These repentant scenes tickled her so badly she didn’t know how she found it within herself not to burst out laughing til she cried.

“Like I said, it’s all good here.” Zaiyia replied, slipping her books into her backpack and shutting her locker.

“What class do you have next?” Eiliesse probed, unable to leave things as they were and accept her words as the gospel truth. “We can at least walk you there.”

Unable to keep her laughter under control, Monnique raised her arm up to her mouth and bit down on the skin. It was too much of a temptation to laugh when Zaiyia’s haters were all coming out of the shadows to repent for the abuse they’d done upon her. Never in a million years would they have apologized to her back in the day, but now that Alice and Zaiyia are cool with each other, they’re being made to plead for mercy from the person they’d terrorized.

“Uh, I got history.” Zaiyia answered with a sigh, not feeling like opposing these two persistent girls. Hell, if they wanted to walk her to class, carry her book or buy her lunch for the rest of the year, then that was fine with her. No one could say she didn’t deserve it.

“My class is right next door!” Hannah Davis exclaimed with delight, seeing this as a splendid opportunity to forge a friendship with Zaiyia too. Extending a hand to Zaiyia’s notebooks, she asked. “May I carry your notebooks for you along the way?”

“And I’ll take your backpack!” Eiliesse offered before carefully sweeping it off Zaiyia’s shoulder and onto her own with a warm grin.

“Sure.” Zaiyia said to them, allowing Hannah to slip her thin notebook out of her arms and into her own. Glancing over her shoulder at Monnique trying to get ahold of herself, Zaiyia oddly found herself amused by these changes in events too. One moment she didn’t deserve to live another day after ‘stealing’ Alan from Alice, and now here she was being doted on by her worst enemies. It was one of those moments that made a person wonder if they were dreaming or not. Zaiyia wouldn’t be shocked if it was. It was too good to be true.

“Thanks you guys, that’s very nice of you.” Zaiyia praised both Hannah and Eiliesse, a genuine smile on her face. Turning to Monniwue, she gave her a big goodbye hug considering they had different first classes in opposite directions. “And I’ll see you later at lunch, girl. Have a good day.”

“You too.” Monnique managed to get out before spinning around to head to her own class. Once out of range, she openly cackled all the way to her class, not caring of the weird looks she got.

Zaiyia led the way to her class, filling the time with answering every question from the two girls on what her favorite movie was, her favorite color, and favorite genre of music as well as musical artists.